Victoria Street is one of Edinburgh's most attractive streets — a curving, cobbled lane that descends from George IV Bridge to the Grassmarket in a graceful arc, with coloured shopfronts and a raised terrace walkway above. It is dense with independent shops: a whisky merchant, a vintage clothing shop, a kitchen goods store, a map seller, a cheese shop, a games shop. The kind of street that city centres used to have before chains took over.
Walk the upper and lower levels separately — the terrace gives a different perspective on the street below, with the castle visible above the roofline. The Grassmarket at the bottom is a historic square with a good selection of pubs and the old city gallows site; a plaque on the wall marks where executions took place. The Grassmarket market on weekends has food stalls and vintage goods.