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32 Best Sightseeing Attractions In Edinburgh and Lothian
Almost nothing at the top of this list is a building you queue to enter. The best-rated sightseeing entries around Edinburgh and the Lothians are routes and rooms: The Cadies and Witchery Tours walks you through the closes, Huntfun Edinburgh hands you a self-guided hunt to follow at your own speed, and Escape Reality Edinburgh and Escape Hunt Edinburgh shut you in with a puzzle.
That is a city shaped by its own ground. The old town is stacked along a ridge and small enough to cross on foot, so the thing that thrives commercially is the walk — and when the wind gets up, the same streets sell you an hour indoors instead. The Chocolatarium is the exception that proves the rule: a roofed visit with something at the end of it that children actively want.
Top sightseeing attractions in Edinburgh and Lothian
Showing 1–12 of 32
SightseeingHuntfun Edinburgh
SightseeingEscape Hunt Edinburgh
SightseeingThe Chocolatarium
SightseeingEscape Reality Edinburgh
AdventureNorth Berwick Mystery Treasure Trail
SightseeingThe Cadies and Witchery Tours
SightseeingSandemans Edinburgh Free Tour
SightseeingLinlithgow Palace
SightseeingMaid of the Forth
MuseumsThe Royal Yacht Britannia
MuseumsJohn Muirs Birthplace
SightseeingCocktail Mafia
Away from the city the shape changes again. Forth Boat Tours puts you out on open water beneath the bridges, and North Berwick Mystery Treasure Trail is a printed route round a coastal town rather than a place with a door. Both are at the mercy of the weather in a way that a locked room never is.
Sightseeing Attractions in Edinburgh and Lothian: FAQs
Are the ghost and witchery walks suitable for children?
The Cadies and Witchery Tours trades on being frightening, which is both the point and the difficulty. Walks of this sort normally set a lower age limit and will tell you what it is when you book, so ask rather than guess. A child who enjoys being scared on purpose will have a very good hour indeed. A nervous seven-year-old will spend it wanting to go home, and there is no graceful exit from the middle of a walking tour.
Locked room or self-guided hunt for a family afternoon?
A room is fixed: Escape Hunt Edinburgh and Escape Reality Edinburgh give you a set time, a set group and no way to pause when somebody needs the loo or loses interest. Huntfun Edinburgh is the opposite — you carry the route with you, stop when you like and finish when you have had enough. With children under about eight the second shape usually wins, whatever the ratings say about the first.
What is worth doing in the Lothians rather than the city itself?
Forth Boat Tours is the obvious one, because a boat gives you the bridges from underneath and that is a view the city cannot offer. North Berwick Mystery Treasure Trail turns a coastal town into a walk with a purpose, which suits children who need a reason to keep going. Both are outdoor entries, so they want a settled forecast and warm clothes even when Edinburgh itself looks perfectly reasonable.
Why are there so few conventional attractions in this category?
Partly because the city's famous buildings sit under other headings on the site, and partly because Edinburgh genuinely does sell experiences more than admissions. Of the thirty-two entries here, twenty have indoor space and twenty-two have outdoor, which tells you how many are doing both — a walk that starts in an office, a tour that ends in a room. Read each entry for what happens rather than for what it is called.