Calton Hill

Calton Hill, a ten-minute walk east of Princes Street, is the best viewpoint in Edinburgh. The hill is low enough to climb without serious effort and high enough to give a panorama of the whole city: the castle on its rock to the west, the New Town grid below you, the Firth of Forth and the hills of Fife to the north, Arthur's Seat and the Salisbury Crags to the south. The view is especially good at dusk.

The summit is cluttered with monuments in a very Edinburgh way: the unfinished National Monument, the Nelson Monument (a tower you can climb for an even better view), the City Observatory, the Dugald Stewart Monument and several others. The whole ensemble has a pleasantly eccentric, slightly ruinous character that suits the city. The hill is freely accessible at all hours.

things to do oldtown sight park
A story
Calton Hill's most recognisable feature is the National Monument — twelve Greek Doric columns, started in 1826 to commemorate the Scots killed in the Napoleonic Wars and never finished due to lack of funds. Edinburghers call it "Scotland's Disgrace," a nickname that cuts both ways — it could refer to the funding failure or to the city's enduring habit of not completing things. The unfinished columns have a grandeur that a completed building might not have matched.