Cheap flights to Edinburgh
Looking more like a film set than a city, Edinburgh is a picture postcard of Gothic and medieval streets that will impress even the most experienced traveller. Nicknamed the Athens of the North, Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful and atmospheric cities in Europe. It is certainly one of the most visited, seeing over a million tourists trampling its streets each year. They come for its snaking, medieval streets, Georgian architecture, popular festivals and the majestic Edinburgh Castle that has overlooked the city for centuries.
As the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh is full of things to see and do, from its scary age-old dungeons and submerged and forgotten medieval streets to art-filled galleries and royal palaces.
April 2013
Concrete Wardrobe is a treasure trove of craft as art for the home at the bottom of Broughton Street. It specialises in quality, one-off or short-run pieces by Scottish-based designers (50A Broughton Street, New Town, tel: 0131 558 7130, concretewardrobe.com).
April 2013
They're having a laugh at the National Portrait Gallery, where Scottish comedy merchants are the subject of the Tickling Jock exhibition. Featuring greats from Rikki Fulton to Ivor Cutler, by way of Lulu and Billy Connolly, visitors are invited to enjoy audio and video clips in special listening booths. Until 25 May (Queen Street, tel: 0131 624 6200, nationalgalleries.org).
January 2013
The Southside, just past the Meadows, is a great place to browse for antiques and clock quirky architectural anomalies, such as Basil Spence's iconic 1960s garage (now a wine emporium) among the 19th-century tenements.
January 2013
The Lammermuir Hills, half an hour's drive east of the city, are not as vertiginous as the Highlands. But they still provide rugged walking across lonely, heather-filled hillsides, with long views south across the Borders and north across the Forth.