Explore Edinburgh

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street holds Scotland's national collection of portraits, all of Scots though not necessarily by them, and the Scottish National Photography Collection. Its red sandstone Gothic Revival building was designed by Robert Rowand Anderson and built between 1885 and 1890.

Calton Hill rises at the east end of Princes Street and is part of Edinburgh's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its grassy summit holds a group of monuments, among them the unfinished National Monument, the Nelson Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument and the City Observatory, with views over the Old Town, Arthur's Seat and the Firth of Forth.

The Scottish National Gallery is Scotland's national gallery of fine art, on The Mound between the two halves of Princes Street Gardens. Its neoclassical building by William Henry Playfair opened in 1859 and shows Scottish and European painting and sculpture from the Renaissance to the start of the 20th century.

The National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street covers Scottish history, natural history, science and world cultures. It joins the Victorian Royal Museum of 1866, with its cast-iron Grand Gallery, to the sandstone Museum of Scotland building of 1998. Exhibits include the Lewis chessmen and Dolly the sheep, and a roof terrace looks over the Old Town.

Greyfriars Kirk is a Church of Scotland parish church in Edinburgh's Old Town, built between 1602 and 1620 on the grounds of a former Franciscan friary. The National Covenant was signed here in 1638, and a small museum shows an original copy. The church stands in Greyfriars Kirkyard, laid out as a burial ground after the Reformation.

The Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood, at the foot of the Royal Mile, has housed the Scottish Parliament since 2004. It was designed by the Catalan architect Enric Miralles, who died before its completion, and mixes concrete, oak and granite in leaf-like forms. Visitors can see an exhibition, watch debates from the public gallery and join guided tours.

Princes Street Gardens are two public parks along the south side of Princes Street, below Edinburgh Castle. Laid out in the 1820s on the drained bed of the Nor Loch and divided by The Mound, they hold the Scott Monument, the Ross Fountain, a floral clock from 1903 and many statues, with the railway running through the valley.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was founded in 1670 as a physic garden near Holyroodhouse and moved to its present site at Inverleith in the 1820s. Its 28 hectares hold a living collection of more than 13,000 plant species, with a rock garden, a Chinese hillside and the Temperate Palm House built in 1858.

Arthur's Seat is an extinct volcano and the main peak of the hills in Holyrood Park, about 1.6 km east of Edinburgh Castle. Formed some 340 million years ago and later shaped by glaciers, it rises to 251 metres; several footpaths lead to the rocky summit, which looks over the city, Salisbury Crags and the Firth of Forth.

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art shows art from about 1900 to the present in two buildings facing each other on Belford Road, Modern One and Modern Two. The collection ranges from Matisse, Picasso and the Scottish Colourists to Dada and Surrealism, and the grounds hold outdoor sculpture and Charles Jencks's Landform.