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For arts, folklore, ghost stories, and great whiskey (or whisky, as the Scots spell it), Edinburgh is wonderful year-round, particularly when hosting one of its many festivals, such as Edinburgh Fringe. Its city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with many well-preserved examples of medieval architecture in Old Town. Much of the rest of the city is split into little "villages," like up-and-coming Leith and bustling Stockbridge down the city's New Town area.Edinburgh Castle, the National Galleries of Scotland, and Museum of Edinburgh each provide a different glimpse at Scotland's heritage and that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you'd like to see the city in the company of a guide, and you have the time for a themed tour, there's a choice of ghost tours, literary tours, motorcycle tours, or yes, whisky tours.
A rocky bastion of Scottish tradition, Edinburgh is also a town that knows how to throw a party. Stern Edinburgh Castle glowers above the Old Town, the jumbled medieval heart that runs along the Royal Mile, its main thoroughfare. The more orderly grid of New Town, the Georgian half of the city center, laid out in the 18th century, is today the energetic shopping and commercial district. Headline events include the longstanding Edinburgh Festival -- “the Fest,” featuring classical and contemporary music, literature, theater, dance and more -- and the comedy, experimentation, performance art and general creative zaniness of the associated Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world.
Edinburgh is not only the capital of Scotland but the hub for business and industry (coal, iron, whisky), an educational center and a cultural mecca. The city's famous Edinburgh Festival is an event that has attracted thousands of international visitors, as well as film and theater stars, since its inception in 1947. The simultaneous Festival Fringe, which features hundreds of performers - none invited - has been dubbed the largest arts festival in the world by the Guinness Book of Records. The Edinburgh International Science Festival is the world's largest public festival of science and technology. Located on the southern shores of the Firth of Forth in southeastern Scotland and home to about half a million people, Edinburgh is divided into two sections. The Old Town, situated on the slope of Castle Rock, dates from the 11th century and is site of the Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle, the city's top tourist attraction. The New Town to the north is not really so new: It dates to the 18th century. Plenty of famous folks have either hailed from this city or found their way here and stayed - Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell, Robert Louis Stevenson. Then there are the members of the Royal Family who drop by quite often and stay at Holyrood Palace.