Edinburgh Royal Mile: What to See First
The Royal Mile is completely free to walk, one mile downhill from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and it is also built to separate you from your money the entire way down. The trick is knowing which stops are genuine and which are tourist-tat: St Giles’ Cathedral is free, the closes running off either side are free, and the one paid stop that earns its ticket is the Real Mary King’s Close, an excavated 17th-century close sealed beneath the street for around GBP 25.
Key Facts: Price, Hours and the Walk
| Detail | What to know |
|---|---|
| Price | Free to walk the street; St Giles’ Cathedral free/donation; Real Mary King’s Close around GBP 25 |
| Hours | Street always open; St Giles’ roughly 9am-7pm in summer, shorter in winter; Mary King’s Close runs set guided-tour times |
| Time needed | 45-90 minutes end to end, longer with stops |
| Booking lead | None for the street or St Giles’; book Mary King’s Close a few days ahead in summer |
| Getting there | The Castle end sits a 10-minute walk from Waverley Station |
Is the Royal Mile Actually Worth Walking?
Yes, but not for what’s directly on the pavement. The main drag is lined with kilt-hire touts and tartan shops running a genuine tourist markup, comparable to Champs-Elysees dining prices in Paris. The real reward is stepping into the closes, the narrow alleys running off the street, where the Old Town’s actual medieval texture survives and the crowds thin out fast.
What’s Actually Free on the Royal Mile?
St Giles’ Cathedral, on the High Street roughly halfway down, has been a church on this site since the 12th century and costs nothing to enter, with an elaborately carved Thistle Chapel from 1911 that most visitors walk straight past. The Canongate Kirk further down, free too, holds economist Adam Smith’s surprisingly modest grave. The closes themselves, including White Horse Close and Riddle’s Court, cost nothing to wander.
Is Mary King’s Close Worth GBP 25?
For anyone genuinely curious about how 17th-century Edinburgh actually worked, yes. It’s a guided-tour-only visit through real sealed closes beneath the City Chambers, no self-guided option exists, and the story of a city built literally on top of itself is the kind of thing photographs of the street above can’t convey. Check the official Real Mary King’s Close site for tour times, or book a skip-the-line slot on GetYourGuide if your dates are already set.
The Scottish Parliament building at the foot of the Mile, opened in 2004, runs free public tours and sits a short walk from where Mary Queen of Scots’ secretary David Rizzio was stabbed 56 times in Holyroodhouse’s supper room in 1566, a brass plaque still marks the spot. For deeper coverage of the Castle end, see Edinburgh Castle’s ticket page , and if your visit lands during the August festivals , expect the entire Mile to double as a stage for street performers handing out flyers.
If you’re basing yourself nearby, compare Old Town hotels on Booking.com rather than paying the Mile’s own inflated rates, and check the official St Giles’ Cathedral site for current opening hours before building a tight schedule around it.
Skip the tartan shops directly on the street and detour into Advocate’s Close or Bakehouse Close instead; that’s where the Old Town’s real texture survives, and it costs nothing to look.