A unique example of our industrial heritage in the form of a fully operational Victorian Letterpress Printing Works in the Borders town of Innerleithen. Discover at this fascinating restored printing works, how the industry worked at the beginning of the 20th century. See the printing presses in action and try your own hand at old-fashioned typesetting! A reconstructed water wheel shows how the works were originally powered. Shop with authentic replicas of Victorian printed goods.

Historical

Acknowledged as one of the world's finest gardens. Stunning 72-acre garden in the heart of Edinburgh, featuring a magnificent Victorian Palmhouse. Events and exhibitions throughout the year. Admission to gardens FREE.

The Royal Museum houses the International Collections and contains an extraordinary range of objects from around the globe. It covers life, the universe and beyond.

The Royal Observatory Edinburgh Visitor Centre is a window into the world of one of Scotland's leading centres of science and technology. We have the (second!) biggest telescope in Scotland. Our scientists are investigating the origins of the Universe and the birth of stars. They are searching for new solar systems like our own and for asteroids and comets that pass nearby! Our technologists are building some of the best instruments in the world to aid our astronomers - and scientists around the world - in their studies.

Come along and enjoy a tour of the Observatory Dome housing one of the biggest telescopes in Scotland! As the Summer nights are getting longer, come and observe the Sun, safely, using our new Solar telescope. See what activity there is on the Sun. Can you see any sunspots or prominences? See our collection of meteorites and handle rocks from outer space! Ask our Astronomers anything you ever wanted to know about the entire Universe!

You'll receive a truly warm welcome at Britannia's Visitor Centre in Ocean Terminal before you step on board. Here you can view displays and historic photographs that detail Britannia's fascinating past.

The original ornate binnacle, which the Royal Family would gather around for family photographs, is on display here. This was carved from a single piece of oak and is displayed alongside a recreation of the Wheelhouse so you have a taste of the Britannia experience before you even step on board.

Before you step on board the Royal Yacht, you will be given a complimentary audio handset that is full of captivating stories and provides a rare glimpse into the life of the British Royal Family.

From Sir Winston Churchill to Boris Yeltsin, Rajiv Gandhi to Nelson Mandela, some of the world’s most influential people have been welcomed aboard Britannia; now you can stand where they stood and see what they saw.

Starting at the Bridge, the self-guided tour covers five of Britannia’s magnificent decks, taking you through the fabulous State Apartments and crew’s quarters, and ending in the gleaming Engine Room. The majority of items on board are the original pieces, which have been kindly loaned by the Royal Collection. Highlights of the tour include the State Dining Room, the Sun Lounge and the Officers’ Wardroom.

Back on dry land, our award-winning shop in Ocean Terminal has exclusive gifts and popular Britannia souvenirs as distinctive as Britannia herself. What will you choose to remember your visit?

The Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, housed in St Cecilia's Hall on Niddry Street in the Cowgate, Edinburgh is one of the world's most important collections of its type, and attracts visitors from all over the globe. It presently comprises some 51 instruments dating from the middle of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Most of these are the precursors of the piano - harpsichords, spinets and virginals which produce sound by mechanically plucking the strings, and a large number of restored clavichords which strike the strings with metal blades know as tangents. But there are also some important early pianofortes, including the earliest extant English grand piano, together with a number of small pipe organs from the same historical period covered by the rest of the instruments.

The Scotch Whisky Experience visitor attraction brings 300 years of Scotch Whisky history to life.

This unique interactive visitor attraction Edinburgh, allows you to experience the sights, sounds and smells of whisky, and the opportunity to discover how scotch whisky is made.

Amber Restaurant at the Scotch Whisky Experience has won the highest accolade “gold award” from the discerning palates of critics of the Edinburgh Restaurateurs Association.

Agriculture / Working Farms

Home to Scotland�s outstanding national collection of modern and contemporary art, the Modern Art Galleries include the Gallery of Modern Art and the nearby Dean Gallery.

Both Galleries are set in extensive parkland, where visitors can discover sculpture works by important artists like Ian Hamilton Finlay, Henry Moore, Rachel Whiteread and Barbara Hepworth. The lawn to the front of the Gallery of Modern Art was re-landscaped in 2002 to a design by Charles Jencks. This dramatic work, or �landform�, comprises a stepped, serpentine mound reflected in three crescent-shaped pools of water.

The Gallery of Modern Art shows special exhibitions and works from c.1900 to the present day, while the Dean Gallery shows works from the Gallery�s internationally renowned Dada and Surrealist collection alongside pieces by Eduardo Paolozzi.

The Collection

Gallery of Modern Art
The first floor is most often used for special exhibitions and smaller, temporary displays. Works from the Gallery�s collection, augmented by special loans, are presented on the second floor. The early part of the collection features French and Russian art from the beginning of the twentieth century, Cubist paintings and superb holdings of Expressionist and modern British art. Special highlights include paintings by Matisse and Picasso.

The Gallery also has an outstanding collection of international post-war work and the most important and extensive collection of modern Scottish art. The post-war collection features art by Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Andy Warhol and Lucian Freud, with more recent works by artists including Antony Gormley, Gilbert & George, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery provides a unique visual history of Scotland, told through the portraits of those who shaped it. It explores the lives of great Scots, past and present, who have inspired and changed the world - royals and rebels, poets and philosophers, heroes and villains.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery was the first purpose-built portrait gallery in the world. The impressive building, overlooking Edinburgh�s historic New Town, has become a favourite destination for 200,000 locals and tourists every year, with its welcoming mix of special exhibitions, two floors of portraits from the national collection, and its fantastic shop and cafe.

The Collection
Since the Gallery first opened its doors, the collection has grown steadily to form an unequalled kaleidoscope of Scottish life and history. Among the most famous historical portraits are Mary, Queen of Scots, Allan Ramsay's portrait of the philosopher David Hume, Alexander Nasmyth's portrait of Robert Burns and Sir Henry Raeburn's Sir Walter Scott.

Special Exhibitions
Special exhibitions, exploring Scotland�s people, artists, cultures and heritage, or showcasing the work of major portrait artists and photographers, are most often held on the ground floor of the Gallery. Current exhibitions are listed in the What�s On calendar.

Visitor Facilities
The Gallery has a large shop and cafe, both of which are firm local favourites.

The Gallery also has a print room, reference section, library and archive of negatives, which form an invaluable resource for genealogists, students, scholars and any visitor interested in the people and history of Scotland. These services are available by appointment only.

The Scottish Seabird Centre is an award winning wildlife visitor centre and one of Scotland's five star attractions. From its stunning location overlooking the sea and islands of the Forth, visitors enjoy a close encounter with nature to remember.

The ultimate in remote viewing, cameras on the islands beam back live panoramas and close-ups onto giant screens of such good quality that visitors can even read the rings on individual birds' feet!

World famous Bass Rock gannets to comical puffins in spring. Guillemots huddled together like penguins on the sea clifffs and the fluffy white newborn seals on the Isle of May. Wading birds along the shore in winter and the occasional rare and spectacular sightings of dolphins, porpoises and whales in summer. You can enjoy it all at the Scottish Seabird Centre.

Arts, Crafts & Textiles

An attractive ecclesiastical building, Seton Collegiate Church has a 15th century chancel and apse. The church's steeple and transepts were added by the widow of the Lord Seton, who was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Thereafter, Lady Janet Seton, nee Hepburn, generously endowed the Church but, in 1544, it was destroyed by the English, during the invasion of the Earl of Hertford, who looted and stripped the vestments, communion vessels, organ and bell before burning the timber work in the building. In 1580, the Church was united with Tranent and was well patronised until 1715 when it was entered by the Lothian Militia.

Set high on a rocky outcrop, Smailholm is a well-preserved 15th century rectangular tower set within a barmkin wall. Inside the tower is a model of this Pringle residence and a charming collection of costume figures and tapestries relating to Sir Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders". It was the sight of Smailholm which fired Walter Scott's imagination when, as a young boy, he was brought up by his grandparents at the nearby farm of Sandyknowe.

A National Nature Reserve, and important site for cliff-nesting sea-birds from May to August. Visitors can watch them wheeling and diving in countless numbers below the high cliffs here on the edge of the North Sea. Visit this reserve for its stunning cliff scenery, which supports large colonies of breeding kittiwakes, fulmars, guillemots, razorbills, shags and puffins.
Wonderful spring flowers form part of the rich but fragile coastal grasslands.
The steep cliffs drop into the clear seawaters below, which support a varied marine life that attracts large numbers of underwater divers. Car park, exhibition and ranger-guided walks. Tearoom (not NTS).

St Giles' Cathedral is the historic City Church of Edinburgh with its famed crown spire on the Royal Mile between Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Also known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, it is Presbyterianism's Mother Church and contains the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle (Scotland's chivalric company of knights headed by the Queen).

St Giles’ contains almost two hundredmemorials honoring distinguished Scots and remembering Scottish soldiers. Most of these memorials date from the 19th century and early 20th century.

St Giles’ has a notable collection of stained glass windows. They date from the 1870s onwards and show a broad range of traditional and contemporary styles.

St Mary's is the Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The original See of St Andrews was founded before 900; erected into a Metropolitan See by Bull of Sixtus IV on 17th August 1472 and was vacant for 307 years from the execution at Stirling of John Hamilton, eighth Archbishop, on 6th April 1571 until the restoration of the hierarchy in 1878. It is with the ancient primatial See of St Andrews that our present Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh has continuity. However, the story of the Mother Church of the Archdiocese - St Mary's - begins during the days of the Vicars Apostolic prior to the restoration of the hierarchy in 1878. Bishop Hay, Vicar Apostolic for the Lowland District, chose the site of St Mary's in 1801. He had seen his Chapel in Blackfriars' Wynd burnt down by a mob, and hoped that the new site would be a more sheltered spot, protected by the surrounding buildings. But it was Bishop Cameron who actually opened the Chapel of St Mary's - designed by the prominent ecclesiastical architect, James Gillespie Graham - in 1814, with the first Masses being celebrated in August of that year. Under the successors of Bishop Cameron the church was considerably embellished and in 1878 on the restoration of the Scottish hierarchy it became the pro-cathedral of the new Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

This beautiful neo-gothic building, consecrated in 1879, is the mother church of the Diocese of Edinburgh.

The Cathedral’s three spires which dominate the Edinburgh sky line are a sign of a place of worship and prayer and peace in Scotland’s capital. Visitors from all over the world are drawn here by the beauty and dignity of the architecture, by our choir (unique in that it is the only Cathedral choir in Scotland to maintain the daily choral tradition) and by our liturgy. The Cathedral is home to a thriving congregation of all ages. As you explore this website, you can discover all that is going on here.

During any year the Cathedral is host to numerous events that fill the building: concerts and plays, school services, exhibitions. We also host many events during the annual Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe. The Song School, where the choir rehearses, is noted for its fine murals by Phoebe Anna Traquair, which have been beautifully restored and can be viewed during the Edinburgh Festival or by prior arrangement with the Cathedral Office.

Summerlee Heritage Park's 22 Acres form one of Scotland's foremost industrial heritage visitor attractions and is situated around the site of the 19th Century Summerlee Ironworks and a restored section of a branch of the Monklands Canal.