Take the Family holiday rating
| Timezone | GMT |
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| Local Currency | British Pound |
Because the capital of Scotland is jam-packed with things for kids to see and do, including one of Britain's greatest castles. So it’s a great place for a fun and educational family break taking in lots of history and culture – especially when the world-famous Festival is in full swing.
Edinburgh also has a gentler pace than many comparable cities (outside the Festival period, that is), and you can walk around its historic centre with relative ease. There’s a plethora of family-friendly eateries and accommodation options, plus great shopping in its department stores, from long-standing traditionalist Jenners to funky modern Harvey Nichols.
Edinburgh is a great family-break destination at any time of year, but do avoid August and early September unless you've specifically come for the Festival (see below) – it’s packed and expensive.
To see the city in its full glory, come for Christmas and particularly Hogmanay (New Year's Eve), when Edinburgh celebrates in great style, with a ‘Winter Wonderland’ featuring fairground rides and a big wheel, ice-skating, German markets and a Highland Fair, and New Year frolics galore (watch the incredible fireworks from the calmer surrounds of Calton Hill if you have kids, and don’t miss the dog-sled races in Holyrood Park).
If you’re in a big hurry and need to fly, Edinburgh has an airport 11km from the centre, with connections throughout the UK and Europe and transatlantic flights; see our flight deals page.
Otherwise, Edinburgh has good rail links with the rest of the UK. One of the best ways to get to Edinburgh from London (or Watford, Crewe or Preston) is by Scotrail’s Caledonian Sleeper, with accommodation options including bargain berths (standard-class double cabins) from London Euston starting at just £19pp one-way. Interconnecting double cabins are available. The London–Edinburgh journey takes 6hrs 30mins, and there are two departures a night except Saturdays.
For those driving, Edinburgh is 650km north of London, giving a driving time of around 7hrs. From Leeds it’s about 360km, or just over 4hrs by car.
Edinburgh has a great range of family-friendly accommodation options, from luxury hotels such as the superbly located Balmoral with its swimming pool and Family Affair packages (see also below, Eat) to cosy B&Bs and flexible self-catering apartments such as the Knight Residence.
Kids stay and eat free at the Apex International Hotel on Grassmarket, which also offers an ozone swimming pool, board games and ‘toys on tap’ to use in public areas, free use of the DVD library, family rooms with two queen-size beds, a kids’ menu, baby facilities, and discounts on certain city attractions. Or try the five-star Edinburgh Residence with its very large, family-friendly suites featuring microwaves and cutlery so you can eat in (although there’s also 24hr room service with a great kids’ menu) and its Family Fun packages.
Take a look at more of our favourites in conjunction with our partners Active Hotels, or find your family the perfect cottage retreat in or around around Edinburgh with Cottages4you and enjoy the 5% discount exclusive to Take the Family users.
Don’t miss the Castle, which dominates the city skyline and is home to the Scottish Crown Jewels (the Honours) as well as the famous One O'Clock Gun, as well as offering stunning views. Every evening in August, the Castle is the floodlit backdrop for the Military Tattoo, a mix of pageantry and parade with its fair share of bagpipes and weeping Americans and Australians tracing their families back to the old country – for sheer soldier per square foot, it can’t be beat. The Castle is also the permanent home to the National War Museum.
Stroll down the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse at the other end from the Castle – it’s the Queen’s official residence in Scotland but is more famous for having been home to Mary Queen of Scots during her turbulent reign (it was the setting for the murder of her secretary Rizzio by her jealous husband). An interactive family tour enlivens the visit for kids, and there are family workshops and activities for ages 5–11 at weekends and in school holidays (younger visitors get access to toys, games and other resources in the Palace Family Room or Coach House).
Explore the former royal hunting estate of Holyrood Park, now a free-access swathe of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, cliffs and natural springs. Arthur’s Seat rising up at its centre is a popular and fairly easy walk, rewarding you with splendid city and countryside views.
Get cultural at the Edinburgh International Festival, when classical music, theatre, opera and dance artists from every corner of the globe descend on the city. Running simultaneously (more or less – as part of ‘the Festival’) are the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where ‘anything goes’, from musical theatre and cutting-edge comedy to children’s shows and free street performances on the Royal Mile, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which also includes lots of events for children.
Get spooky, beginning at The Real Mary King’s Close Experience, a warren of ancient ‘closes’ that lay hidden beneath the Royal Mile for centuries, including the home of a gravedigger’s family where you can learn about the plague. Open to ages 5 and up, it’s said to be one of Scotland’s most haunted sites, and special Supernatural History tours up the creepy ante for those that way inclined. Ghoulishly minded kids 5 and up may also enjoy some of the outings run by Mercat Tours, which include Ghosts and Ghouls, and Ghostly Underground. The Edinburgh Dungeons is as schlocky as its counterparts elsewhere.
For something a little more wholesome, visit the Camera Obscura & World of Illusions on Castlehill, where, within a Victorian rooftop chamber, through the use of a mirror, lenses and daylight, you can see a live moving panorama of Edinburgh projected onto a viewing table. Kids love pretending to pick people up on their hands and squash them, or make the traffic climb over paper bridges, while adults enjoy listening to the guide tell stories of Edinburgh past and present. The same venue holds the Magic Gallery where you can, for instance, make your hands glow as if they’re being X-rayed and paddle in a virtual fish tank, a Light Fantastic exhibition of holograms, Edinburgh Vision, featuring old, new, live and unique pictures of the city, Fun, Games & Stairway, where you can learn how artists use optical illusions in their work, and lastly, panoramic city views aided by telescopes and viewing panels.
Get up-close and personal with the inhabitants of Edinburgh Zoo, best known for its penguins, who enjoy the luxury of the world’s biggest penguin pool, but also home to tigers, lions, gorillas and more. Other nature-based attractions are Our Dynamic Earth, where all the family can learn about the planet in an interactive, fun way, and Deep Sea World, Scotland’s national aquarium (a 20-minute drive outside the city at North Queensferry).
Discover Edinburgh’s fascinating museums, including the National Museum of Flight (30km outside the city), with hands-on galleries where you can find out how aircraft fly, and how to fly them. The National Museum of Scotland traces the history of the local land, people and culture, with Discovery Zones allowing younger visitors to play as a Roman soldier and a Viking trader, connect with Dolly the sheep, design a robot, test-drive a Formula 1 car, and blast off into Outer Space. Then there’s the Museum of Childhood, described as ‘the noisiest museum in the world’, and opposite it the Brass Rubbing Centre, with a collection of replica brasses allowing you to make rubbings of everything from medieval knights to Celtic designs
Experience the Scottish Storytelling Centre, a unique modern building on the Royal Mile, celebrating the art of storytelling through a child-friendly exhibition called Scotland’s Stories, temporary displays, and events including family activities and live storytelling (see also ‘Eat’, below).
Tour the Royal Yacht Britannia 3km outside the centre in the port of Leith, where kids enjoy seeing the Queen’s old bedroom and an on-board garage still housing one of her Rolls Royces. There’s a special audio-guide for kids.
Venture 40km east of the city, to the seaside town of North Berwick on the Firth of Forth in East Lothian. Sights close to it include the ruined medieval fortress Tantallon Castle, dramatically sited on a promontory, and Bass Rock, an island that appears white due to much of its surface being covered by gannets (and their guano!). Although Bass Rock can’t be visited, the Scottish Seabird Centre on-shore screens live-action footage from the island, some by cameras that visitors can operate themselves by remote control. There’s also a discovery centre, a play area, a program of events and workshops for kids, and boat-trips around the island, which is in fact the world’s biggest single-island gannet colony.
An Edinburgh oddity is fish and chips served with ‘chippie sauce’ – a runny brown sauce with vinegar that locals swear by. For something a bit more refined, the family-friendly hotel Malmaison out at the port of Leith is big on ‘Homegrown & Local’ food, from North Sea hake to Buccleuch Estate rib-eye steak, and kids under 12 (‘Mal Monkeys’) eat for free. Another great hotel for eating with kids is the Balmoral (see above), where the stylish Hadrian’s restaurant has a Family Weekend Menu featuring the likes of ‘Five a Day’ seasonal Scottish vegetable soup, fresh Scottish salmon fingers with baby new potatoes and garden salad, and Blairgowrie strawberries with vanilla ice cream. There are toys, books, colouring items, board games, an X Box and portable DVD players to hand so parents can linger over coffee while the kids enjoy themselves. The hotel kitchen will also make up a ‘Posh Picnic’ for guests, with the concierge happy to recommend great picnic spots, from Arthur’s Seat (see above) to stately homes or beaches on the outskirts of the city
Edinburgh is a cosmopolitan city so you’ll find a wide-range of restaurants and cafés offering child-friendly international favourites, particularly in the centre. A good daytime option is the Storytelling Café at the Scottish Storytelling Centre (see above), open for lunches, coffees and snacks, wine and beer, and offering a kids’ menu.
See also Dea Birkett’s feature on Eating in Edinburgh.
Like any capital, Edinburgh can be an expensive city once you’ve factored in accommodation, eating out and entrance fees to its many attractions, but it’s nowhere near as expensive as its southern rival London, with budget-busting cottages and apartments sleeping 4 available for less than £400 a week.
by Dan Lerner
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Local writers take you down the cobbled alleys of the Old Town, through ultra chic bars of the New Town and right out to the tranquil beaches of Gullane.
by Laura Burgess
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