Edinburgh’s historical attractions will leave you spellbound and awed!

Historic attractions in Edinburgh are plentiful, but the colorful history of our capital city can be seen, felt and read about on almost every corner.

Don’t be fooled by the serenity, Edinburgh is a city with a vibrant and violent history. Once home to brutal murderers, grave robbers and cannibals who have left the locals with more than a handful of blood-curdling stories…find it all out at the Edinburgh Dungeon!

‘Auld Reekie’ (or ‘Old Smoky’, Edinburgh’s nickname as a result of notoriously poor air quality in the past) is also a city of writers, inventors and royalty.

World-renowned authors Sir Walter Scott and Sir Arthur Conan Dolye were born in Edinburgh, as was Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.

For history buffs, the first stop in Edinburgh should always be Edinburgh Castle. The jewel in our city’s crown has always been and always will be the most important of all Edinburgh’s historic attractions.

Having played a role in key passages in Scottish history, such as the Wars of Independence and the Jacobite Rising, a visit to Edinburgh Castle is essentially a journey through Scottish history itself.

Sloping downward from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace, the Royal Mile or High Street is the backbone of Edinburgh’s Old Town and Scotland’s most famous street. It’s also your point of descent into Edinburgh’s dark past on one of our famous ghost tours.

At the bottom of the Royal Mile, you’ll find the futuristic tent-like structure that houses Our Dynamic Earth, an incredible interactive museum that will fill your boots with the history of our planet if Edinburgh’s colorful history isn’t enough for you. you.

A short walk from the Royal Mile over the George IV Bridge will take you to the National Museum of Scotland, where you can learn all about the history of Scotland and its people. Edinburgh’s historic attractions appear around every corner.

The mile-long High Street has played a central role in Edinburgh’s history since the 12th century. The Royal Mile, once the scene of an open-air shopping market, became home to thousands of people when wooden buildings were erected. The spaces between these buildings were and still are known as ‘enclosures’. On your visit to the Royal Mile, be sure to explore the dozens of alleyways that branch off the main street.

After the destruction of the medieval township in 1544 by the English, stone dwellings were erected and the Royal Mile became increasingly crowded. In the mid-17th century, around 70,000 people called the Royal Mile home.

Modernization of the street took place in the mid-19th century and it began to take on the appearance of the Royal Mile we see today. As you walk down this street, try to imagine what life was like back then, the misery, the dirt and the disease. It would be hard to find a more distinctive street anywhere in the world. Of all Edinburgh’s historical attractions, it is without a doubt the most evocative.

Edinburgh old town

Effectively, the section of the city center south of Princes Street Gardens and Edinburgh Castle is the Old Town. This part of Edinburgh along with the New Town is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Being situated on the slopes of the volcanic Castle Rock, the old town is spread over different levels, which means that steep streets, narrow alleyways and small bridges are the norm. In my opinion, this makes the old town a great place to explore and get lost.

In the last thirty years, underground vaults have been discovered that were at one time used for storage and as housing for relatively poor merchants. It is also rumored that serial killers Burke and Hare searched the vaults for potential victims and stored dead bodies there as well!

Edinburgh’s famous ghost tours will give you access to some sections of the vaults and also underground streets like Mary King’s Close, which were supposedly closed during the 17th century to contain the spread of the bubonic plague. Edinburgh’s historic attractions don’t get scarier than that!

Today the Old Town, where 80,000 people lived in the 18th century, is extremely popular with locals and tourists looking to learn about 10 centuries of history and spend time in some of the countless pubs, bars and nightclubs that line the town. in almost every corner.

Old town areas such as Cowgate and the Grassmarket, which was a venue in days gone by, are now party spots. It’s a special feeling to relax with your friends in traditional pubs and modern hangouts surrounded by hundreds of years of history.

Greyfriars Bobby

Greyfriars Bobby’s story has touched the hearts of many people around the world.

Bobby was a Skye Terrier belonging to Mr. John Gray, a night watchman for the Edinburgh City Police. After spending two years almost permanently at his owner’s side, Bobby was left to fend for himself when Gray sadly died of tuberculosis in the winter of 1858.

The little Terrier spent the last fourteen years of his life tending the grave of John Gray in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh’s Old Town. Greyfriars Bobby died in 1872 and was buried near the gate of Greyfriars Kirkyard, just a few yards from the grave of his owner.

This fourteen-year-long display of loyalty and devotion moved the local citizens and Lady Burdett-Coutts had a small statue of Bobby placed at the corner of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row a year after his death. This statue has become one of Edinburgh’s most popular and important historical attractions.

This story has spawned a number of books and movies, and Bobby’s statue and grave have become popular with tourists and locals alike wanting to pay their respects to the loyal creature.

Such is the importance of Bobby’s heartbreaking story to the people of Edinburgh, he is as much a part of Edinburgh’s history as any other key figure or event.

The Edinburgh Dungeon

Well, Edinburgh Dungeon is not for the faint hearted! In fact, it’s definitely the creepiest, scariest, and arguably the most entertaining of all Edinburgh’s historic attractions.

The Dungeon is located on Market Street, next to Waverley Train Station, a stone’s throw from Princes Street and will transport you back to Edinburgh and Scotland’s dark and downright dangerous past. Although most countries have a suspicious and sinister history, Scotland really stands out from the rest when it comes to murder, incest, cannibalism, theft, disease and bloody wars… have I discouraged you yet?

For some reason we Scots like to talk about our murky past like it’s something to be proud of… as a result, we have the Edinburgh Dungeon… an attraction packed with shows, special effects, creepy Wrinkles and scares! They give you a very real insight into our violent past!

You’ll discover age-old torture methods, callous criminals, the fate of Scottish patriot William Wallace, and the brutal crimes of some of Edinburgh’s most notorious murderers, including Burke and Hare and the family of Sawney Bean…

If you still have your stomach in check after all that, try the infamous Extremis ride… I’ll let you find out for yourself! Opening hours vary throughout the year, but Edinburgh Dungeon’s opening hours are generally longer during the summer months and on weekends.

However, be careful! If I regularly get up close and personal with Loose Gut Syndrome at the Edinburgh Dungeon, young children might also find this unsettling attraction. Please use your own discretion… oh and don’t try anything you see at home!

Our Dynamic Earth

If you’ve learned everything there is to learn about the history of Edinburgh, why not start with the history of planet Earth? Our Dynamic Earth is an incredibly interesting ‘museum’ situated next to the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace, at the foot of the Royal Mile.

I put museum in quotes because Dynamic Earth is, in fact, so advanced in terms of its scope and configuration that it almost goes beyond the definition of a museum into an interactive universe of knowledge for the 21st century.

Housed in a futuristic, white, armadillo-shaped tent (a blunt but accurate description!) Our Dynamic Earth will take visitors from the beginning of time, introducing the big bang theory, through the creation of Earth , the time of the dinosaurs to the world we know (or think we know) today.

Expect to experience our planet’s many climates through interactive displays and awesome technology. Confront possibly drastic changes to our way of life as you learn about population growth and climate change. Our Dynamic Earth is an attraction that will fascinate, excite, shock and inspire visitors young and old alike.

The Edinburgh Museum of Children

What makes this museum so unique is the fact that it was the first of its kind in the world in 1955. No other museum had specialized in the history of childhood before the Edinburgh Museum of Children opened its doors. doors.

The museum not only looks at how children were raised and educated in Scotland, but also displays toys and games from around the world to give visitors an international perspective on childhood.

Among the museums, numerous multimedia exhibits are the 1930s classroom and the 1950s street games exhibit, where visitors can observe how children were taught and entertained in decades past.

One of Edinburgh’s most popular historical attractions with young children, families and young-at-heart adults, the Museum of Childhood has countless children’s toys, games and memorabilia from the past and present on display and many audio recordings of children singing and playing while walking through the museum.

Admission is free, so it’s a great way to keep the kids (and yourself!) entertained without reaching into your pocket. The Edinburgh Museum of Children is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. During the summer months of July and August, the museum is also open on Sundays from 12:00 to 17:00.