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19 Best Museums In Edinburgh and Lothian
Edinburgh's weather changes faster than anybody's plan does, which is the argument both for this category and for clustering your day. Eighteen of the nineteen museums here are flagged indoor, and several of the city ones sit close enough together that a turn in the sky costs you a short walk rather than a whole afternoon, National Galleries Scotland: National, National Galleries Scotland: Portrait and St Cecilias Hall Museum of Instruments among them. Beyond the city the list spreads out, and John Muirs Birthplace, Bo'ness Motor Museum, National Mining Museum Scotland and The Royal Yacht Britannia are single-destination trips rather than links in a chain.
Top museums in Edinburgh and Lothian
Showing 1–12 of 19
MuseumsSt Cecilias Hall Museum of Instruments
SightseeingLinlithgow Palace
MuseumsNational Galleries Scotland: Portrait
MuseumsThe Royal Yacht Britannia
MuseumsJohn Muirs Birthplace
MuseumsNational Mining Museum Scotland
MuseumsNational Galleries Scotland: Modern
MuseumsNational Galleries Scotland: National
MuseumsThe Linlithgow Story Museum
MuseumsBo'ness Motor Museum
MuseumsDovecot Studios
MuseumsCamera Obscura and World of Illusions
Think twice about Linlithgow Palace. Our record marks it outdoor only, which for a roofless royal palace is exactly right, and it makes it a bright-day visit rather than a fallback. The other seasonal factor here is light, since the darker months take the afternoon away early and an indoor museum copes with that far better than a site whose appeal is a courtyard or a view. Put the roofed options at the centre of a winter day and keep the open ones for long evenings.
Museums in Edinburgh and Lothian: FAQs
Can we realistically do more than one museum in a day?
In the city centre, yes, and it is the standard way to handle unreliable weather here. Several of the central collections are close together, so you can move on when children have had enough of one without losing time to travel. Two is comfortable; three stretches anyone under ten. Outside the city the sites are spread out and each one is better treated as the day's single fixture.
Which of these are the wrong choice when the weather is poor?
Anything roofless. Linlithgow Palace carries no indoor marker, and a palace without a roof in driving rain leaves you walking round some very good stonework in the wet. A few of the others also show an outdoor marker, usually for grounds or a yard included in the visit. Check that flag before you commit, because it separates a genuine fallback from a day you end up abandoning.
Does the sea fog make a real difference?
It does, and it catches visitors out because it is local rather than general. Cold, damp air rolling in off the Forth can sit over the coast and the city while the ground further inland is clear and bright, and it takes the temperature down sharply with it. It rarely stops anything, but it does make an outdoor plan much less appealing at short notice, which is another reason to have an indoor option already chosen.
What works best in the middle of winter?
Indoor sites, and preferably ones you can reach without a long journey at either end of a short day. The light goes early enough that an afternoon start leaves less than you think, so a morning arrival gets far more out of the trip. A large museum or gallery is also simply a warm place to be for a stretch, which with young children is worth as much as the collection itself on a cold, dark afternoon.