Things to do in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is two ideas set side by side. The Old Town runs down a tail of rock from the castle. The New Town below it is a Georgian grid, laid out from 1767.

The rock and the grid

Both halves went on the UNESCO list together in 1995, and the contrast is the point. One is medieval and vertical. The other is rational and flat.

• The castle — on a volcanic plug, with its one gentle approach along the Royal Mile.
• The Royal Mile — a straight run down to Holyroodhouse, closes dropping off both sides.
• Grassmarket and Victoria Street — curved shopfronts under the castle wall.
• Greyfriars Kirkyard — table tombs, a watch-house, and the names the walking tours borrow.
• The New Town — James Craig's grid, Charlotte Square, the galleries on the Mound.
• Calton Hill — monuments, one of them unfinished, and the view of the whole arrangement.

Ghosts, wizards and the hill

Two things drive the guided walks here. One is the underground city of vaults and closes. The other is a set of Potter locations the city is happy to point at.

• Old Town walks — plague, body-snatchers and the closes, usually after dark.
• Potter routes — the cafés Rowling wrote in, Victoria Street, the Greyfriars headstones.
• Escape games — self-guided puzzle routes over the same ground by daylight.
• Arthur's Seat — 251 metres of extinct volcano, forty minutes up from Holyrood.

Practical

• Weather. Summer tops out near 19C and the wind off the Forth is the real factor. Sea fog can sit over the city on a bright morning.
• August. The International Festival and the Fringe, running since 1947, take every bed and stage. Prices climb and the Royal Mile stops being walkable.
• From the airport. The tram takes about half an hour to the east end of Princes Street.
• Underfoot. The Old Town is stairs and cobbles, and the closes are steep. Soles matter more than style.
• The castle. Timed tickets, with the early slots going first. A gun fires from the ramparts at one o'clock, six days a week.
• Money. Scottish banks print their own notes and they spend fine here. Ten per cent in restaurants, nothing at a pub bar.
• Booking ahead. The castle, Holyroodhouse and anything at all in August.