Royal Mile
One downhill mile along a crag-and-tail ridge, with a castle at the top and a royal palace at the bottom.
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The street follows a crag-and-tail formed when retreating ice sheets deposited debris behind a volcanic plug — Edinburgh Castle sits on the crag, the palace sits at the foot. Steep closes (narrow alleyways) drop off both flanks between tall tenement buildings called "lands." Parliament Square, mid-route, is home to both the High Court of Justiciary and the Court of Session.
What to look for
- The closes — alleyways that cut sharply downhill off the main street between the tall tenement lands on either side
- Parliament Square, the seat of Scotland's two highest courts, sitting at the heart of the route
- The gradient itself: the castle end stands at 358 feet above sea level, Holyrood Palace at 138 feet — a 220-foot descent over roughly one mile
Walk from castle to palace (west to east) to go downhill; during Edinburgh Fringe the High Street section fills with buskers and entertainers, making it slow going.
Royal Mile is one of 28 sights worth the detour in Edinburgh, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Edinburgh pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Edinburgh
- Edinburgh CastleAttacked 26 times over 1,100 years — research calls it the most besieged place in Great Britain.
- Holyrood PalaceScotland's working royal residence since the 1500s — the actual rooms where Mary, Queen of Scots lived are open to walk through.
- The National (Scottish National Gallery)Since 1912, two near-identical neoclassical buildings have stood side by side on The Mound — visitors have been walking into the wrong one ever since.
- National Museum of ScotlandDolly the sheep, one of Elton John's extravagant suits, and a Victorian cast-iron hall — all under one free roof on Chambers Street.
- Murrayfield StadiumScotland's largest stadium opened in 1925 with a Grand Slam win — 70,000 people watched it happen.
- St Giles' CathedralA prayer book read here in 1637 caused a riot that sparked a rebellion pulling three kingdoms into war.