The Best Walks in Edinburgh: Seven Routes from a Local
Seven of the best walks in and around Edinburgh, with difficulty, distance and where to stop afterwards. Written from a hotel on the edge of the Links.
The short answer
For the view, climb Arthur's Seat. For a gentle hour, walk the Water of Leith through Dean Village. For hills without the crowds, take Blackford and the Hermitage of Braid. For a proper day out, head for the Pentlands.
Edinburgh is a rare city in that you can be on a hilltop with a view to Fife within half an hour of leaving your room, on foot. Here are seven routes worth the walk, in rough order of effort.
At a glance
1. Bruntsfield Links and The Meadows
Easy · 30–45 minutes · flat, surfaced paths
The one on our doorstep, and the one visitors most often miss. Bruntsfield Links is common ground that has been played on since the fifteenth century — this is the oldest surviving golf ground in the world, and there is still a free short-hole course you can play in summer, clubs available from the Golf Tavern across the road.
Walk east and the Links runs straight into The Meadows, a mile of tree-lined avenues between Bruntsfield and the Old Town. In late March and early April the cherry blossom along Middle Meadow Walk is the best free spectacle in Edinburgh, and in August the whole place becomes an informal extension of the Fringe.
It is also the most useful walk in the city: keep going and you arrive at the university, the Old Town and the castle without ever touching a main road.
Afterwards: you are already at our front door. The Neighbourhood does coffee, lunch and a fire, and the garden is heated when the weather turns.
2. Dean Village and the Water of Leith
Easy · 1–2 hours · mostly flat, some steps
The Water of Leith Walkway runs nearly thirteen miles from Balerno to Leith, but the two-mile stretch from Roseburn to Stockbridge is the one everybody means. It takes you through a wooded gorge, past St Bernard's Well, and into Dean Village — a former milling settlement of red pantiles and stepped gables that looks nothing like the city a hundred yards above it.
There were once eleven working mills here, driven by the current. Today the river carries trout, herons and, if you are lucky and early, otters.
Afterwards: Stockbridge has more good cafés per street than anywhere in Edinburgh. Söderberg for cinnamon buns, Cairngorm Coffee if you want the coffee taken seriously.
3. Inverleith Park
Easy · 45 minutes · flat
Beside the Royal Botanic Garden in the north of the city, with a pond, a playground, sports pitches and one of the best framed views of the castle in Edinburgh — the classic photograph across the water is taken here. Locals will tell you it is also the best place in the city to watch the Hogmanay fireworks.
Combine it with the Botanics for an easy half-day that suits every age group.
4. Blackford Hill and the Hermitage of Braid
Easy to moderate · 1.5–2 hours · woodland and grass paths, muddy after rain
One of the seven hills, 164 metres, and a view the equal of any of the famous ones without the queue at the top. The best approach is through the Hermitage of Braid — a wooded glen following the Braid Burn — before climbing out onto open hillside with the Royal Observatory on the ridge.
This is the local's hill. On a weekday morning you will meet dog walkers and very little else.
Getting there from Bruntsfield: twenty-five minutes on foot down Comiston Road, or three stops on the bus. It is the closest proper hill walk to us.
5. Braid Hills
Easy to moderate · around 2 hours · a long steady climb
South of Blackford, largely given over to golf courses, and topped by the Seven Hills Outlook view indicator at 213 metres — which points you to all seven of Edinburgh's hills in turn, and is the quickest way to understand the shape of the city.
You may walk across the golf courses. You may not walk on the greens.
One for golfers: the Braids and Bruntsfield Links between them make a good case for a walking-and-golf weekend, which is what our Stay and Play package is built around.
6. Arthur's Seat
Moderate · 1–2 hours · rocky in places, proper shoes needed
A dormant volcano in the middle of a capital city, 251 metres, with views to the Forth bridges, Fife and the Pentlands. There is no good reason to visit Edinburgh and not climb it.
Three routes are worth knowing. From Dunsapie Loch it is a fifteen-minute walk to the summit and the easiest way up by a distance. From Holyrood Palace, the Radical Road along the base of Salisbury Crags and past St Anthony's Chapel is the most dramatic — though check the Radical Road is open, as rockfall has closed it for long periods [VERIFY]. And the quieter circuits over Whinny Hill, Crow Hill and Nether Hill give you most of the scenery and almost none of the people.
Go early. At sunrise in summer you will share it with a handful of people; at midday in August you will share it with several hundred.
7. Pentland Hills
Moderate to challenging · half a day or more · hill walking, come prepared
The Pentlands run twenty miles southwest of the city, and the regional park at the northern end covers thirty-five square miles with over a hundred kilometres of signposted routes. This is where Edinburgh stops being a city walk and starts being a hill day.
The classic short version starts at Swanston, the thatched village where Robert Louis Stevenson spent his summers. The most popular starting point is Flotterstone. Both car parks fill early at weekends, so go on the bus or go at eight.
Two warnings, both from experience: the weather up there is not the weather in town, and during lambing season your dog goes on the lead and stays there.
Common questions
What is the best walk in Edinburgh?
Arthur's Seat, if you only do one. It is the highest point in the city at 251 metres, reachable from the centre on foot, and the view takes in the Old Town, the Forth and the Pentlands. For something gentler with as much charm, the Water of Leith through Dean Village is the better choice.
Are there good dog-friendly walks in Edinburgh?
Yes — Blackford Hill, the Braid Hills, the Water of Leith and Bruntsfield Links are all popular with dog walkers. Holyrood Park allows dogs on leads. In the Pentlands, keep dogs on the lead near livestock, especially during lambing in spring.
How long does it take to climb Arthur's Seat?
Between fifteen minutes and an hour, depending on the route. From the Dunsapie Loch car park it is a short, steep fifteen-minute push. From Holyrood Palace, allow an hour up and forty minutes back down. It is rocky near the top, so proper shoes matter more than fitness does.
Where can you walk in Edinburgh when it rains?
The Water of Leith Walkway and the Hermitage of Braid. Both are sheltered by woodland for most of their length, and both are on made paths that cope with wet weather. The exposed hills — Blackford, the Braids, Arthur's Seat — are miserable in driving rain and genuinely unpleasant in wind.
Can you walk to the countryside from central Edinburgh?
Almost. The Pentland Hills Regional Park starts around six miles from the city centre and is twenty-five minutes on the bus. From Swanston you are in open hill country immediately. Few capital cities offer that.
Where to stay
The Bruntsfield looks directly over Bruntsfield Links, which puts three of these seven walks within half an hour on foot and the bus for the Pentlands at the end of the street. We are used to walkers: boots dry, dogs welcome in the right rooms and The Neighbourhood serves food from morning to evening for whenever you get back.
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