To my mind this is Britain’s finest World Heritage Site, both in terms of what there is to see and also the visiting experience.

I knew that Edinburgh was a rather hilly city, but I was still surprised by just how craggy it was. The castle sits atop an extraordinarily high outcrop, especially when viewed from the bottom of Princes Street Gardens, which sit in the ravine that divides the old and new towns. To my surprise Edinburgh also manages to contain a ‘mountain’ in the heart of the city, with the looming presence of Salisbury Crags and Arthurs Seat providing the backdrop for the new Parliament Building and Holyrood Palace.

The World heritage inscription makes a point of this being the Old and New towns of Edinburgh and there is a very big difference between them. The Old town feels very medieval, focused around the touristy Royal Mile. I enjoyed strolling along here, but had more fun ducking off down the side alleys to clamber up and down streets of stairs or fine lovely secluded parks like Dunbar Gardens. The well planned New town reminded me of Dublin and Bath, and I really enjoyed strolling around here and heading down to the Stockbridge area for a leisurely brunch on Saturday morning.

The differences between the Old and New towns were a large inspiration on Jekyll and Hyde, written by Edinburgh native Robert Louis Stevenson. This is just one of the points that illustrates Edinburgh’s huge literary heritage. It ranges from the works of Sir Walter Scott through to the modern detective fiction of Ian Rankin or as the inspiration for Harry Potter novels. This was the reason it was made UNESCO’s first city of literature. Edinburgh also had a large impact on Political, Economic and Scientific thought which led to it being termed the ‘Athens of the North’. This also explains the national monument in the shape of the Parthenon which is situated on Carlton Hill and offers magnificent views.

I visited during the famous festival in August, and I really loved the buzz that came with being in the centre of the world’s largest arts festival. I really loved the city, and for the first time visiting a WHS city in Britain I really got the frisson I get from visiting unique foreign destinations. It offered so much to do that I would have no problem heading back up for a repeat visit, there is so much more I could write but I don’t want to bore people.

Britain’s best world heritage site!

[Site 8: Experience 8]