Arthur's Seat
An extinct volcano of two hundred and fifty metres, twenty minutes from the centre, with the city below.
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 2 hrs 30 min
Difficulty
●●●○○
Best time
At sunset
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Arthur's Seat is the summit of a volcano extinct for three hundred and forty million years, in the middle of Holyrood Park, at two hundred and fifty metres. It survives inside the city because the park is royal and was never built on.
It was here that James Hutton, in the eighteenth century, observed the rock intrusions that let him establish that the Earth was vastly older than anyone believed: modern geology was born on this slope. The summit gives you the city, the Firth of Forth and, in clear weather, the Highlands to the north.
Getting there
Holyrood Park entrance at the end of the Royal Mile, behind the Scottish Parliament. The climb starts straight away.
Rules on site
The wind at the top is violent and shifting, even when it is calm below: it has knocked walkers over near the edges. The Salisbury Crags path runs along an unfenced cliff.
