Culross is a connoisseur's piece — a tiny village on the north bank of the Firth of Forth that looks much as it did in the 16th and 17th centuries. There is nothing in the surrounding landscape to prepare you for it; the shipyard town of Rosyth is nearby and the approach is unremarkable. Then you turn a corner and find yourself in the most complete example of a Scottish burgh from the 1600s.
Nearly all the houses are original, with crow-stepped gables, red pantile roofs, and cobbled streets where the raised central stones were literally reserved for council members while commoners walked in the gutters either side. The National Trust for Scotland owns most of the historic buildings, including the ochre-painted Culross Palace — not really a palace, but a prosperous coal merchant's house with remarkable original painted ceilings — and the Town House with its witches' prison in the attic. The ruins of a Cistercian Culross Abbey sit on the hill above, the choir of the medieval church still serving as the parish kirk.
If you are staying in Edinburgh for more than a couple of days, Culross makes an excellent half-day trip — about 35 minutes by car across the Forth Road Bridge. Fans of the television series Outlander will recognise it as the fictional village of Cranesmuir.