Nature's guide to Edinburgh, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

🌳 I lived in Edinburgh for 4 years during my bachelor degree. Biology to be precise so as you can guess I spent lots of my free and uni time in nature. And Edinburgh is a perfect place for this! Mix of history, culture and nature. Within few minutes walk you can get from modern art museum to hilly park. Or short local bus ride will take you to a massive regional park. 🌳 In this guide you'll find 10 nature spots in Edinburgh if you want to escape the city a bit and enjoy Scottish wilderness. All spots are accessible either by walk or a public bus.

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Updated ago

Buses 🚌

Some of the places are rechargeable with a local bus. You can find more details about Edinburgh buses in the link below. Single fare costs 2£ and day ticket costs 5£. You can pay directly to the driver by cash (exactly fare), card or buy tickets on the app.

Lothian buses

www.lothianbuses.com

Here are the recommendations:

Sorted from the closest to Prices Street to the most distant

Princes Street Gardens

@BackpackAleks

First spot is located right in the heart of the city - Princes Street Gardens. Perfect if you don't have much time but still want to escape the hustle of the city. Good for break of picnic with a castle view. Fun fact: did you know that the Gardens are built on a dried out river?

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Calton Hill

@BackpackAleks

Only 10 min walk from Princes Street you'll find Carlton hill. Youll need to climb up a little bit but I promise it will be worth it! You'll have a view on the Princes Street and this classic Edinburgh picture you always find in all the guides. Later you can walk around the hill and also have a view at the sea and Arthur's seat

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Arthur's Seat

@BackpackAleks

Arthur seat is the name of the highest peak in the Holyrood park on the east side of Edinburgh. From Princes Street you'll need a 20 minute walk to get there. I'd recommend hiking to the top to have a panoramic view of the city, it's especially nice at sunrise or sunset. Holyrood park is way bigger than you think, you can spend entire day there. Behind the peak there is a lake very popular with birds. Deer and foxes also like to visit to keep your eyes open.

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Dean Village

@BackpackAleks

Probably my favourite spot in Edinburgh. 20 min walk from Princes Street you'll find Dean Village. Cute little village with picturesque houses and old bridges. And my favourite part - river walk. It takes you along the village and the water, through forest that gets absolutely magical in fall 🍁if I have to recommend one place to visit in Edinburgh that will be definitely it. It can be quite busy especially on Sunday afternoon with sunny weather. If you can I'd recommend early morning start just to have the place to yourself

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Meadows Play Park

@BackpackAleks

The social heart of the city. It might not impress with forest or flowers but it's the perfect spot for a picnic with friends, reading a book in sun or playing sports. If you're a Harry Potter fun I'd recommend trying to find out when Quidditch practice is. As someone who played for years I can confirm it's a lot of fun and we practiced every week in Meadows 🪄 You'll find the Meadows on the south of Prices Street, about 25-minute walk

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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

@BackpackAleks

Royal Botanical Gardens are located on the North side of the city and you'll need to make a 30-minute walk from Prices Street to reach them. We would often visit them during any botany courses as the variety of plans inside is impressive. But if you're not interested in plants and their detailed work you can just enjoy a stroll through small forest and flower covered meadows. Botanical gardens are free of charge. However, if you want to access the glasshouses you'll need to pay a small entrance fee

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Inverleith Park

@BackpackAleks

30-min walk from Princes Street. Very good for sports as you have lots of open space. It also has a small lake for walk but mainly perfect space for playing

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Blackford Hill

@BackpackAleks

Now we're moving a bit out of the main city. Blackford hill is on the south end of the city, 1 hour walk or 30-min bus ride from Princes Street. It's located right behind University of Edinburgh Science Campus and that was one of the main locations for my biology degree. Blackford is full of life - meadows, river, forest. Which means it's full of biodiversity both flora and fauna. But most importantly it's a very scenic walk - through Scottish forest and up the hill from where you can see whole of Edinburgh and the classic shape of the Arthur's Seat

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Musselburgh

@BackpackAleks

From Princes Street 2 hour walk or 30 min bus ride. I walked all the way there once, it takes you mostly through suburbs and is definitely a long walk. If you can I'd also recommend getting a bike, good compromise between walking and bus. Musselburgh is located on the sea edge if you're missing the ocean view. However, it got it's fame from the bird life. The locations makes it very favourable with birds especially migrating sea birds. People from all over the UK come here to spot some rare species. If you're a bird lover this is a perfect spot for you 🐦 Did you know you can see Puffins in Edinburgh? In the bay there is Isle of May, puffin colony. In the summer month you can join a boat tour that will take you there to see the clowns of the sea 🐧

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Pentland Hills Regional Park

@BackpackAleks

Most remote but most rewarding. It will take you 1 hour by bus to get there but it's definitely worth it. Massive park streches forever and you can spend whole day hiking here. It'll give you sneak peak of Scottish Highlands which you should definitely visit if you have time!

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Check out my Scotland intierary

If you're planning a trip across Scotland check my itinerary. With this guide you can plan your perfect Scotland trip anywhere between 8-16 days. You won't need a car and you won't break your bank as it's a budget trip

Backpack Aleks

Available for hire

Scotland on a budget without a car. 8-16 day itinerary 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

As a teenager, I visited Scotland for a few days, and that in addition to Outlander binge watching ended up with me moving to Edinburgh next year. I spent a few years living there and falling more and more in love with the country. The only problem was that it was my university years which meant a tight budget but still the need to explore. So this guide is a summary of a few years of budget travel in Scotland and what I think it's the best compromise between budget and exploring everything this magical country has to offer. ⛰️ This guide will help you plan your perfect Scotland trip - on a budget and without a car. The base of this trip is a loop which you can start in either Glasgow or Edinburgh and which will take you 8 days. Then, at every stop, I'll give you some day trip options so that you can extend your trip depending on what you want to see and how much time you have. If you go for all-day trips this full itinerary will take 17 days. 💷 I'll give you a full breakdown of the cost. The basic loop will require around 210£ for all transport and accommodation. I'll provide you with a spreadsheet that breaks down each cost and each day trip so you can also plan and adjust your trip according to your budget. I'll also share with you accommodation recommendations and a breakdown of all the buses/trains you'd need to take.

Backpacker • Car-free • Couples • Digital Nomads • Family • Groups • LGBTQ+ • Pets • Female Solo • Plus Size • Adventure • Art • Budget • Camping • History • Outdoors • Overlanding • People & Culture • Photography • Relaxation • Road Trip • Romantic • Slow Travel • Sustainable/Eco • Wellness • Van Life

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Itinerary

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Backpack Aleks

Available for hire

Hi! My name is Aleks and I have been full-time travelling for the last 7 years. During that time I visited 4 continents and 37 countries and am still discovering more. My travels started during my university years, which often meant a tight budget. Instead of giving up travel I just decided to become resourceful and find the perfect itineraries that still fit my tight budget and let me explore the world. On this account, I will be sharing many of the tips and tricks I learned along the way as well as full itineraries that I did and you can follow. My first years of travel were typical backpacking style, hostels, moving from place to place many people and experiences. But as time went by I was also able to do more comfort travel, renting a car with friends and going on road trips. Either way, before every trip, I spend weeks planning and researching and it's one of my favourite parts of the adventure. However, I know it can be overwhelming and tedious at times so I decided to share my research and my itinerary with you. At the moment I still mostly do backpacking-style trips - many destinations, constantly on the move and discovering as much as possible. So if you are looking for an active itinerary you found a perfect place! ✨Testimonials ✨ 'Wow. I am super impressed by the itinerary designed by you. You are meticulous and consider all requirement from us and also consider other aspect. The itinerary format is superb and very easy to read. A lot of effort is done in this itinerary. I have never seen any itinerary as good as your. Thank you! 😊😊'

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