Showing 1–13 of 13 free attractions in Edinburgh
SightseeingSandemans Edinburgh Free Tour
MuseumsNational Galleries Scotland: Portrait
MuseumsNational Galleries Scotland: Modern
MuseumsThe Museum of Edinburgh
MuseumsMuseum of Childhood Edinburgh
Parks and PlaygroundsInverleith Park
MuseumsMuseum on the Mound
MuseumsThe People's Story Museum
MuseumsDovecot Studios
SightseeingCocktail Mafia
Parks and PlaygroundsMeadows and Bruntfield Links
MuseumsSt Cecilias Hall Museum of Instruments
Parks and PlaygroundsRBGE and John Hope Gateway
Free Family Days Out in Edinburgh
What stands out about Edinburgh's thirteen free entries is how many of them are small. St Cecilias Hall Museum of Instruments, Museum on the Mound, Dovecot Studios and Cocktail Mafia are the sort of place you can see properly in under an hour, which is a better fit for a young family than a vast collection nobody finishes. Ten are indoor. The national galleries are here too, National Galleries Scotland: Portrait and National Galleries Scotland: Modern, and Inverleith Park covers the case where somebody needs grass.
Small venues are underrated with children. Two short free visits and a park in between will beat one long museum almost every time, and Edinburgh is compact enough to make that a real plan rather than a nice idea.
Free days out in Edinburgh: FAQs
How long should we allow for a visit here?
Shorter than you think, and that is a feature of this particular list rather than a warning about it. Several of these are single-room or single-floor collections that a family can take in without anybody flagging. Building a day out of two brief visits with something in the open air between them tends to work far better than committing three hours to one building and hoping everyone holds out.
Is any of this suitable for a baby or a toddler?
Physically, mostly yes, though older buildings in this city are not uniformly generous about lifts and stairs, and that is worth confirming rather than assuming. What matters more with the very young is noise tolerance: a quiet gallery makes a parent tense in a way an open park does not. Inverleith Park exists in this list precisely for the stretch of the day when nobody can be quiet.
Does a free walking tour count as free?
Sandemans Edinburgh Free Tour operates on the tip-at-the-end model that these tours generally use, so there is no ticket to buy but there is a social expectation at the close. That is a fair arrangement for adults and an awkward one to explain to a child mid-tour, so decide in advance what you are doing and factor it in. Weather is the other consideration, since the whole thing happens outdoors.