There’s a reason people travel from all over the world to visit Edinburgh. This is one of our favourite cities on the planet, bursting with food, culture, and all-round great vibes, all while looking a bit like it’s a made up place from a gothic novel. 

Firstly, of course, there’s the Fringe, the largest arts festival in the whole world, taking place throughout August. But at any time of year, you’ll find charming old-school pubs, top-notch restaurant scene and plenty of cute cafés to break up a day of mooching. Whatever your vibe, here’s our local’s guide to the best things to do in Edinburgh. 

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This guide was recently updated by Time Out’s features editor Chiara Wilkinson, who is originally from Edinburgh. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.