Something for the weekend
Everything you need to know for a holiday
Plan your way round the country
Background
Edinburgh Castle © Tom Hunt, 2006
Climate and weather
Scotland has a reputation for being cold, windy and rainy. To a large extent this is fair. Edinburgh however is near the coast in the southeast of Scotland. This means that it doesn't get nearly as cold as the Highlands or even central Scotland, and is less rainy than Glasgow and the west of Scotland. To be fair though, it's still pretty grey and unpleasant for a lot of the winter. The summer is short and not opressively hot.
Landscape and scenery
Central Edinburgh has easily the most impressive scenery of any big city in Britain. The Castle Rock is an impressive cliff in its own right, even before somebody built a pretty castle on the top. At the other end of the centre Arthur's Seat and the crags are a huge green space which you can see from anywhere in town. Climb up Arthur's seat, and you will see the Firth of Forth just a couple of miles away and the hills of Fife just over the water. To the south the Pentland Hills are a large area of national parkland, easily accessible by a short bus ride, and perfect for spending the afternoon getting lost.