10 Most Famous Streets in Edinburgh and What to do in Them

Coming up: Dean Village, cobbled streets, Sir Walter Scott, Princes Street Gardens, the Royal Mile, the Scottish National Gallery, a surprising number of wands, and the 10 most famous streets in Edinburgh.

Here at Travelness, we’ve already brought you loads of guides on Edinburgh.

Such as: the city’s best road trips, bike rides, and FREE museums.

… and we’ve even put together a big fat two-day itinerary, so you can switch off your brain and do absolutely zero planning.

(We’re good to you like that here at Travelness)

But today, we’re back with something a bit more niche. Like any other city in the world (obvs) Edinburgh has loads of streets – but which ones should you wander along? Which ones have the most tourist attractions?

And, on which ones can you pretend to be a teenage wizard?

Coming up, all that and more: here are the 10 most well-known streets in Edinburgh (and exactly what to do in each one).

Grab your bagpipes and come join the fun!

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1. The Royal Mile

Best for: seeing the sights, exploring the heart of tourist-ville, and learning about Scottish history.

The Royal Mile is the most famous street in Edinburgh by a very long way…

(… and also one of the most action-packed streets in Edinburgh by a very long way).

It gets its ‘Royal’ name because it connects Holyrood Palace on one side, to Edinburgh Castle on the other. And as you’ll soon find out, both sites have big links to royal people and places.

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Some of the most famous attractions on the Royal Mile include:

• Edinburgh Castle: at the very western side of the Royal Mile, one of the most famous castles in the world. To skip the line and learn all about Edinburgh Castle and its history, I recommend taking a tour.
• St Giles Cathedral: Edinburgh’s most important church, St Giles Cathedral is brimming with stained glass windows and 1,000 years of history—and links to wars, raids, and religious conflicts.
• The Palace of Holyrood House: the official royal residence in Edinburgh, Mary Queen of Scots once lived here, her private secretary was murdered here, and some monarchs are buried here. If you’re interested in royal families, this is THE place to visit in Scotland. It’s also known as simply ‘Holyrood Palace.’
• There are various museums along the Royal Mile: including the the Museum of Edinburgh (obviously!), the Museum of Childhood (with loads of retro games and toys), The People’s Story (where the city’s past is unpacked through the words of its people), and The Writer’s Museum.
• Kid-friendly stuff: including Dynamic Earth (with interactive exhibits about planets, science and geology), Camera Obscura (with loads of illusions and tricks), and the Chocolatarium (a hands-on tastefest where you can make your own chocolate).

… but if you reeeaaally want to understand The Royal Mile and its unique importance, you should take a guided tour. This is the best of them, and gives lots of juicy details about Edinburgh Castle, the history of the Royal Mile, and much more.

Or if you want to eat and drink your way through the Royal Mile (and many other streets), take this flavor-packed food tour.

Fun Fact: Although this street is referred to as a ‘mile’ (that’s 1.6km to you guys who don’t use ridiculous ancient medieval systems of measurement), it’s actually just over a mile.

2. Victoria Street

Best for: snapping photos, wandering along some cobbles, and feeling like you’ve stepped into a Harry Potter book.

If you’ve come to Edinburgh to see Diagon Alley, Victoria Street is the place you’ve been looking for.

A short curved cobbled street, this scenic little place is one of the most photographed spots in the city. But it’s nowhere near as big as you probably think: it takes two minutes to walk the length of Victoria Street.

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Some of its most famous shops include:

• The Enchanted Galaxy: a Potter-related gift shop with merchandise, collectibles, wands, figurines, and loads more. It has basically anything you could ever imagine, along with thousands of things you never would.
• The Cadies & Witchery Tours: a themed tour agency, these guys specialize in showing you the spooky and sinister sides of Edinburgh’s life. You can visit the tour store in person… or you can save time (and sometimes money!) by booking online: here’s their graveyard tour, and here’s their ghosts and gore walking tour. If you like scary stuff, I genuinely can’t recommend these tours enough.
• Museum Context: similar to the Enchanted Galaxy store, but smaller, more charming, and more like an ‘experience’ than a store.

To be honest, wandering around Victoria Street alone won’t give you much information or insight into Harry Potter. So if you want to learn about the city’s connection to the scar-headed wizard, I recommend taking this tour. The city has a surprising number of links to the franchise (including cafes, gravestones, monuments, and more), but only if you know where to find them.

3. Princes Street

Best for: shopping, people-watching, exploring green spaces, and visiting the Scottish National Gallery.

Lying right at the foot of Edinburgh Castle (and therefore offering the best possible views of Edinburgh Castle!), Princes Street is (slightly) less touristy than the Royal Mile…

… and measuring in at around 1.25 miles (2km), it’s the city’s biggest shopping street. So you can expect well-known stores, lots of chains and cafes, and a big Jenners department store—along with some pretty monuments and architecture.

On the south side of Princes Street, you’ll find Princes Street Gardens.

Made up of two separate but connected public parks, Princes Street Gardens has monuments, memorials, walking paths, and nice views of Edinburgh Castle. For city views, stroll to the little man-made hill known as ‘The Mound.’ Take some drinks and sandwiches, hope the weather is gonna be nice, and do some people-watching. And for the best views of the castle, head to the iconic Ross Fountain.

Princes Street Gardens is also home to The National (formerly known as ‘the Scottish National Gallery’). The Scottish National Gallery exhibits both local and international art, stretching from the 14th century to the 20th century.

The eastern side of Princes Street Garden is home to the massive Gothic Sir Walter Scott Monument (named after the poet and writer Sir Walter Scott, and more famously known as ‘The Scott Monument’). Big and photogenic, it features lots of pointy intricate details, and a statue of Sir Walter Scott himself (and his dog!).

If you’re in Edinburgh during winter, head to Princes Street Gardens for the Winter Wonderland—featuring Christmas markets, an ice rink, a massive Ferris wheel, and loads of seasonal food and drink. It’s one of the best Christmas markets in the UK.

4. Rose Street

Best for: sipping, slurping, and Saturday nights.

Running parallel to Princes Street, Rose Street is the next-street-north from its more-famous neighbor.

Known as one of the city’s best drinking areas, it’s full of pubs and bars.

Some of its best drinking dens are:

• Dirty Dick’s: stuffed with miscellaneous tat, including tools, pipes and foreign banknotes
• The Kenilworth: an age-old legend, it features leather, wood, and an ornate ceiling
• Never Really Here: an elegant cocktail bar with a speakeasy vibe

On Rose Street, you’ll also find loads of places to eat. Top restaurants include:

• The Mussel Inn: an award-winning place with delicately flavored plates of local seafood
• The Abbotsford: an old-school wood-paneled bar serving Scottish classics and drinks
• Miros Cantina: for imported-from-Mexico ingredients with a cozy upbeat atmosphere

5. Mary King’s Close

Best for: getting all spooky and scary, and learning about the gory side of Scottish life.

Not quuuiiite a street.

So here’s a swift language lesson for you, before we go any further: a ‘close,’ in Scotland, is… sort of like an alleyway, usually connecting a main street to another street (or connecting a main street to a courtyard).

… and Mary King’s Close is a bunch of these closes.

But—and here’s the twist!—the closes of Mary King’s Close were all gradually sealed off from the 18th century onwards. So, now, the whole spooky little area sits underground.

Apparently one of the city’s most haunted areas (if you believe in all that stuff), it’s a maze-like mishmash of tight alleys and dark corners. Its past includes plague outbreaks, ghostly visions, regular seances, and a stinky man-made lake.

The only thing to really do here (and I reckon it’s one of the best things to do in the whole of Edinburgh) is to take a guided tour:

This one has been voted Scotland’s Best Heritage Experience, it serves up 400 years of history, and it features costume characters from a bunch of eras (including an appearance from the notorious beak-faced Plague Doctor George Rae).

(oh, and because this street is connected to The Royal Mile, you don’t need to wander far to find it).

6. Hawthornbank Lane

Best for: getting quaint and cozy, escaping most of the tourists, and exploring the vastly underrated Dean Village.

Okay, maybe not one of Edinburgh’s most famous streets (I hope you can forgive us for including it here) but definitely one of its prettiest streets.

Sitting inside the little-but-relatively-central Edinburgh suburb of Dean Village (a once-important water-milling area with retro stone homes, many millstones, and a whole bunch of charm), Hawthornbank Lane is home to the super-scenic ‘Dean Village View Point.’

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Here, on this part of Hawthornbank Lane, you get a lovely view of a stone bridge, the river running through its arch, and some pretty ol’ buildings. To reach the viewpoint, head to 3 Hawthornbank Lane.

… beyond that, Dean Village doesn’t really have anything else to ‘do,’ except for seeing more nice viewpoints, and visiting a couple of alluring cafes. But it’s pretty, it’s cute, and I recommend it.

And because it sits vaguely outside the most famous parts of Edinburgh city centre, Dean Village is in a nice spot for escaping most of the city’s busy bustle.

Pro Tip: While you’re in Dean Village, head to the very-nearby white-walled Cairngorm Coffee—for some of the city’s best coffee, and tasty grilled-cheese sandwiches.

7. Cockburn Street

Best for: taking photos, looking at photos, watching movies, and getting all spooky and scary.

Actually pronounced “Co-burn Street,” Cockburn Street is sort of similar to Victoria Street (cos it’s curved and cobbled, and home to pretty architecture).

And also like Victoria Street, it’s also pretty small. But although it looks like Victoria Street, it’s not Harry-Potter-related (though, by perfect coincidence, there is another branch of Museum Context sitting on it).

There’s not a huge amount to do here, but it’s nice for walking, and snapping some photos. And because it’s right in Edinburgh city centre, it’s easy to see (as you’ll find out by walking along it, Cockburn Street connects the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Waverley train station).

Two of the street’s top attractions are:

• Stills: a small independent gallery (and film space), this charm-fest offers photo exhibits, screenings of unusual films, themed exhibitions, and interesting work from lesser-known local artists. And they even offer courses! If you like independent art, you’ll love it.
• The Edinburgh Dungeon: sitting just off the northern end of Cockburn Street, this is one of the city’s most popular interactive attractions. A grisly 70-minute tour, it’s one of the best ways to learn about the horrid sides of Scottish history. It’s often busy, so book a ticket online to save time.

8. Circus Lane

Best for: taking photos, moving on swiftly, and heading to Stockbridge Market.

One of the city’s most Instagrammable streets, Circus Lane is quaint, cobbled, and cute.

There’s really really not much to do here, except take some photographs and say things like ‘oooh, wow, Circus Lane is really cute.’

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Dotted along the cobbled streets of Circus Lane, you won’t find any attractions or things to do (cos it’s a residential area). Instead, you’ll just find terraced houses, hanging baskets, colorful doors, and ivy-fronted homes.

But very close to Circus Lane, you’ll find the popular Stockbridge Market—so it’s worth coming here even if you’re not too bothered about photogenic streets. Taking place every Sunday from 10am until 4pm, it’s home to independent traders, local food, and a welcoming vibe.

Circus Lane sits a 20-minute walk north of Edinburgh Castle.

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Pro Tip: If you want to get good photos of Circus Lane, head here in the early morning. Yep, it’s not the most popular street in the world, but plenty of tourists still know about it.

Pro Tip #2: Cos this is exclusively a residential area, the locals are probably a bit tired of tourists hanging around here. So try to be respectful.

9. Portobello Promenade

Best for: shores, sands, fish and chips, and slurping on an ice cream.

Another entry that isn’t really a street. Woops.

… but if you’re spending a while in Edinburgh and you aren’t visiting the beach, you’re doing it wrong. And, good news for you: this is Edinburgh’s best close-by beach.

Obviously, because it sits on the seaside, Portobello Promenade is not in Edinburgh city centre. And it’s far from all the famous streets, like the Royal Mile.

But instead of big buildings and built-up suburbs, Portobello Promenade gives you sandy walks, kayaking, ice cream and fish and chips, and lots of swimming and sunbathing (well, if the weather is good).

Other things to do in and around Portobello Promenade include:

• Portobello Swim Centre: the only public Victorian Turkish baths in Scotland, this place offers impressive architecture, heated pools, and a plunge pool.
• Shrimp Wreck: a wood-covered sea-front informal restaurant, Shrimp Wreck serves up affordable but high-end unique seafood eats.
• The Portobello Bookshop: a cozy and cute independent bookstore with a real community vibe (all of Portobello has a tangible community spirit).
• Figgate Park: home to a little lake and a burn, you can wander through here to head back towards Edinburgh (if you wanna take the trip on foot).

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In ever better news, all this fun isn’t very far from central Edinburgh: Portobello Promenade sits around 3.5 miles (6km) from Edinburgh Castle. Many buses regularly run the route, and the trip takes between 20 and 30 minutes.

10. Leith Shore

Best for: eating, drinking, exploring independent venues, and appealing dockside lazing.

The trendiest area in Edinburgh, Leith was once a bit grubby and grimy—and some parts were even considered no-go zones.

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These days, the district has retained its rugged charm, but it’s now partially gentrified and a bit more upmarket. So it’s home to quirky cafes, hip eateries, and a non-touristy combo of both new-school and old-school vibes.

Collectively, the waterside docks zone and the mouth of the riverside area leading to it are known as ‘Leith Shore.’

… so if you’re here on a sunny day, head to Leith Shore and have a picnic (or pick a shoreside pub to sip in). Some of my favorite food and drink spots here include Innis & Gunn Taproom, Teuchters Landing, and Malt & Hops.

The neighborhood’s most famous attraction is the Royal Yacht Britannia. The Royal Yacht Britannia was launched by Queen Elizabeth II (and Queen Elizabeth II and other royal family members often used the ship for events, celebrations, visits, and trips). These days, it serves up historical insights and some tasty cream teas.

For more Leith wanders, stroll along the Water of Leith Walkway. One of my favorite picks for lesser-known Edinburgh adventures, this big long waymarked walking trail stretches 13 miles (21km), and goes all the way from Balerno (in Edinburgh’s outskirts) to Leith itself. Along the way, you’ll hit spots we’ve already mentioned (like Dean Village and central Edinburgh) and spots we haven’t (like Slateford, Currie, and some surprisingly rural places).

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