Itinerary · 3 days · 13 places
3 Days in Edinburgh
Three days in the heart of Edinburgh: the Old Town around the Grassmarket and Victoria Street to settle in, a full day from the Castle down the Royal Mile to Holyrood, and finally whisky in two very different venues, plus the New Town and Dean Village before the flight home.
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Photo: Himalay Patel · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival and a first loop through the Old Town
Arrival in Edinburgh
Hotel check-in
Base yourself between the Grassmarket and the Cowgate, where you can walk back down from the Castle in the evening and be on the Royal Mile in ten minutes in the morning.
Grassmarket
The former cattle market and execution site below Castle Rock, now a row of old pubs with the best view up to the south face of Edinburgh Castle.
Greyfriars Kirkyard
An old graveyard with the Covenanters' burial vaults and the names J. K. Rowling later borrowed; by the gate sits the statue of Bobby the terrier.
Victoria Street
The curving row of brightly painted shopfronts winding up from the Grassmarket to George IV Bridge — above it, Victoria Terrace runs along like a balcony.
Evening: Cowgate
The deep-cut street beneath the Old Town's bridges, in the evening the city's densest row of pubs and live-music cellars.
Day 2From the Castle down the Royal Mile to Holyrood
Edinburgh Castle
The fortress on its basalt plug, with the Scottish Crown Jewels and tiny St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest building in the city.
St Giles' Cathedral
The Royal Mile's principal church, with its crown of stone ribs above the tower and the neo-Gothic Thistle Chapel full of carved coats of arms.
The Real Mary King's Close
A guided tour of the built-over closes beneath the Royal Mile, where 17th-century living rooms and workshops lie hidden in the foundations of the City Chambers.
Palace of Holyroodhouse
The official royal residence in Scotland at the bottom of the Royal Mile, with Mary, Queen of Scots' chambers in the old tower and the roofless ruin of Holyrood Abbey next door.
Scottish Parliament
Enric Miralles' idiosyncratic building opposite the palace — the debating chamber seen from the public gallery, plus the upturned-boat and bamboo motifs on the façades.
Evening: Calton Hill
The hill at the east end of Princes Street with the unfinished National Monument and the Nelson Monument — the hour after sunset shows the Old Town skyline and the Firth of Forth at once.
Day 3Whisky, New Town and farewell
The Scotch Whisky Experience
An introduction to the five whisky regions on the Castle Esplanade, with a tasting and the Diageo Claive Vidiz Collection, around 3500 unopened bottles in a single room.
Johnnie Walker Princes Street
Eight floors in a converted department store at the west end of Princes Street, with a blend tasting tailored to your own palate and a rooftop bar above the gardens.
Dean Village
A former mill settlement on the Water of Leith, ten minutes' walk below the New Town — half-timbered-looking granaries, the weir and the riverside path towards St Bernard's Well.
Departure from Edinburgh
Make it your trip
Viatro AI opens this plan in the app — with map, travel times and opening hours. You change the days, pace and places yourself.
