The Edinburgh Portal
Welcome! — Fàilte! — Walcome!
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Edinburgh castle and Balmoral Hotel clock tower at night. -
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Old town Skyline. -
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View across Calton Hill monuments to Firth of Forth and Fife beyond. -
Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags, part of Holyrood Park. -
Edinburgh panorama from Calton Hill, early evening .
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Edinburgh (/ˈɛdɪnbərə/ ⓘ Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə]; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann [ˌt̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ]) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. The city is located in south-east Scotland, and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The wider metropolitan area has a population of 912,490.
Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, the highest courts in Scotland, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world. It is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest in Europe, and the thirteenth largest internationally.
The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. (Full article...)
Selected location article
The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street, facing Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town across the geological depression of the former Nor Loch. Together with the West End, the New Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site alongside the Old Town in 1995. The area is also famed for the New Town Gardens, a heritage designation since March 2001. (Full article...)
Selected images
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Two Edinburgh Trams seen at the West End - Princes Street stop -
The High Street, part of the Royal Mile -
The National Monument of Scotland (right) and Nelson Monument (left) -
Charlotte Square, a garden square in the New Town -
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The BT building in Edinburgh Park -
Queensferry Crossing road bridge -
Sir Walter Scott -
View over Edinburgh -
The Governor's House -
The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle -
The Castle Rock -
St Giles' Cathedral, the principal place of worship of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh -
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David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist born in Edinburgh in 1711 -
Edinburgh (from Salisbury Crags) by William Crozier, a painter associated with The Edinburgh School -
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The Princes Street Gardens, the best known park in Edinburgh -
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View looking west along George Street -
Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland -
City Observatory, the Gothic Tower -
The ruins of Holyrood Abbey -
Scottish baronial-style turrets on Victorian tenements in St. Mary's Street -
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Architecture in Edinburgh -
Fountain at Holyrood Palace -
Jenners Department Store, the oldest department store in Scotland -
Ratho Park Golf Club -
The Dean Gallery, part of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
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Selected transportation article
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Edinburgh Airport is 8 miles (13 km) to the west of the city centre, on the A8 trunk road, and is the principal international gateway to the city, as well as the busiest airport in Scotland. It is owned and operated by Global Infrastructure Partners. The airport serves a wide range of domestic and an expanding number of European, transatlantic and Middle East destinations, handling over 12 million passengers per year.
The main terminal building was built in 1977 by the Edinburgh architect Robert Matthew, and was substantially extended and modernised in the late 1990s. A £14m project to construct a new international pier, further increasing capacity, was completed in 2006. (Full article...)
Selected area article
Balgreen (/bɔːlˈɡriːn/ or /bɔːˈɡriːn/) (Scottish Gaelic: Baile Griain) is a suburb of Edinburgh, located approximately two miles west of the city centre, most commonly known for its primary school, Balgreen Primary. It is located to the west of Murrayfield and Saughtonhall, to the east of Corstorphine, and to the north of Gorgie. It is bound to the north by Corstorphine Hill, to the west by Carrick Knowe Golf Course, and roughly to the east by Water of Leith. (Full article...)
Selected environment article
Like most of Scotland, Edinburgh has a cool temperate maritime climate (Cfb) which, despite its northerly latitude, is milder than places which lie at similar latitudes such as Moscow and Labrador. The city's proximity to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Winter daytime temperatures rarely fall below freezing while summer temperatures are moderate, rarely exceeding 22 °C (72 °F). The highest temperature recorded in the city was 31.6 °C (88.9 °F) on 25 July 2019 at Gogarbank, beating the previous record of 31 °C (88 °F) on 4 August 1975 at Edinburgh Airport. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −14.6 °C (5.7 °F) during December 2010 at Gogarbank.
Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills, it is renowned as "the windy city", with the prevailing wind direction coming from the south-west, which is often associated with warm, unstable air from the North Atlantic Current that can give rise to rainfall – although considerably less than cities to the west, such as Glasgow. Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but considerably colder, and may be accompanied by haar, a persistent coastal fog. Vigorous Atlantic depressions, known as European windstorms, can affect the city between October and April. (Full article...)
Did you know?
- ... that George Parks was president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and his son Rowan Parks became president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh?
- ... that Prince Philip was the first member of the British royal family to fly in a helicopter?
Selected arts article
The Edinburgh Filmhouse is a cinema located in Edinburgh, Scotland, which opened in 1979. It was home to the world's oldest continually running film festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival. The cinema closed in October 2022 when its parent body went into administration. As of September 2023, a campaign organised by former staff is underway to reopen Filmhouse. (Full article...)
Selected education article
List of schools in Edinburgh is a list of schools in the City of Edinburgh council area of Scotland. It lists schools both within Edinburgh itself, and in outlying villages within the local government boundary. (Full article...)
Selected sports article
The Edinburgh Diamond Devils are a baseball club that was formed in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club has 3 senior teams, the Diamond Devils, Cannons, and Giants. All 3 teams train together and play their home games at Warriston Playing Fields near the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The club refers to the field as Bobby Thomson Field in honour of the former major leaguer who was born in Scotland.
The club also has a little league baseball programme which shares the same field. All teams are open to players of all abilities. (Full article...)
Selected religion article
The Archdiocese of Saint Andrews & Edinburgh (Latin: Archidioecesis Sancti Andreae et Edimburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Scotland. It is the metropolitan see of the province of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, consisting of the additional suffragan sees of Aberdeen, Argyll and the Isles, Dunkeld, and Galloway. The archdiocese is led by Archbishop Leo Cushley, and its cathedral is St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh. (Full article...)
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