Edinburgh is a city of many attractions. Everyone knows about the major events such as the Edinburgh International Festival and the Festival Fringe which runs alongside it, with the Military Tattoo taking place against the incomparable backdrop of the Castle. In recent years the Hogmanay Festival has drawn visitors in the Winter season too, while events such as the 2003 International Festival of the Sea are increasingly appearing on the schedule.

The capital is steeped in history and and contains a wealth of historic buildings and fascinating sights. The Royal Mile, running down the spine of the Old Town from the Castle to Holyrood Palace is an ideal walk, while the Georgian New Town is a mecca for students of architecture. For a more light-hearted tour you can visit the old underground closes or take ghost tours through the old city graveyards, while readers of Edinburgh crime-writer Ian Rankin can take Inspector Rebus tours which visit the detective's favourite haunts, including St. Leonards Police Station, the Meadows and the City Morgue!

A good way to see the breadth of possibilities is to take one of the open-top bus tours around the City, taking in sights such as the new Scottish Parliament Building and Our Dynamic Earth - a popular attraction for young and old alike and situated next to Holyrood Park where James Hutton made many of the key discoveries of modern Geology.
Art enthusiasts will find a range of galleries in Edinburgh with the Royal Scottish Academy and the Scottish National Gallery situated on the Mound in the centre of Princes St, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Queen's St and the Dean Centre and the Gallery of Modern Art a few minutes from the West End. There are also many fascinating Museums too, some run by the National Museums of Scotland and some by the City of Edinburgh Museums.

Britannia - formerly the Queen's Royal Yacht - is berthed permanently at Leith and is a popular outing for anyone who likes seeing how the "other half" live.

Shopping is always a popular pastime and there are a number of centres that will attract those of you just itching to get out those chequebooks. See our Shopping page for more information.

Rugby fans are always popular visitors in the city when the Six Nations Championship comes to the magnificent Murrayfield Stadium. Golfers are well catered for too with a number of excellent courses within the city boundaries and many more outside them. The famous links of Gullane are just down the coast, and the Fife courses of St. Andrews only a hour or so away across the Forth Bridge. See our Golf page for details of some of the nearby courses.

It's not just the golfers who find Edinburgh an excellent centre for trips further afield. Many sights and attractions are only a short journey away.
To the West there are the Forth Bridges, the Palace of Linlithgow, and a new attraction in the Falkirk Wheel - an amazing piece of machinery which connects the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal - all less than an hour away. Even Glasgow - City of Culture can be reached by train in 45 minutes.
In the East there are the coastal towns of Dunbar and North Berwick which has the award-winning Scottish Seabird Centre where you can watch the Gannets, Gulls and sometimes Puffins on the Bass Rock by close circuit camera. To the North lie Stirling with its castle and the Wallace Monument, and the lovely town of Perth, while to the South there are the Borders, with attractions such as Traquair House - the oldest inhabited building in the country - and the lovely St Mary's Loch.