food-forwardheritage

Grassmarket: the under-city below the rock

The square under the castle, Victoria Street's curve, the West Bow, and the Cowgate canyon.

Photo: Allie_Caulfield / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Drafted by Claude — the editor hasn’t walked this one yet. We’ll update this notice once it’s been verified on the ground.

Distance

2.5 km

Time

~ 70 min

Difficulty

Easy

Start

Edinburgh Castle Esplanade

End

Edinburgh Waverley

Best at

afternoon

Right now

19°C· Overcast

Open in Maps for turn-by-turn, or take it offline as GPX.

Most of Edinburgh's Old Town is a ridge; this walk is about everything that fell off the sides of it. The Grassmarket sits in a hollow directly beneath the castle rock, and the streets around it — Victoria Street's curve, the West Bow, the sunless Cowgate — are the city's basement. Two and a half kilometres, mostly downhill then a climb out.

Start at the top of the Mile and drop off the ridge past the Camera Obscura onto Victoria Street, the stepped, curving terrace everyone photographs. Walk the upper level first for the view down the bend, then the shopfronts below. It pours you into the Grassmarket, the wide square with the castle rearing up behind — sit here with a drink and look up. The West Bow dog-legs east into the Cowgate, the canyon street that runs in permanent shadow under George IV Bridge and South Bridge, at the literal bottom of the city.

Climb out up Cockburn Street's Victorian curve, which delivers you to Waverley with the Old Town stacked overhead. You leave the under-city the only honest way: by climbing.

The route

On the map.

A soft dashed line, numbered stops. It’s a suggestion, not a turn-by-turn.

Elevation

↑ 60 m·↓ 98 m·67–105 m ASL

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

01
1
Castlehill viewpoint
Start at the top of the Mile and look south-west, down off the ridge. The whole point of this walk is below you — the Grassmarket sits in the hollow under the castle rock. Find the steps down past the Camera Obscura and start dropping.
01
Castlehill viewpoint
Start at the top of the Mile and look south-west, down off the ridge. The whole point of this walk is below you — the Grassmarket sits in the hollow under the castle rock. Find the steps down past the Camera Obscura and start dropping.
02
2
Victoria Street
The curved, stepped street that everyone photographs and few walk properly. Take the upper terrace first for the rooftop view down the bend, then the lower pavement past the shopfronts. The colours are real; the curve is the thing. Half the cafés have a window seat over the street.
02
Victoria Street
The curved, stepped street that everyone photographs and few walk properly. Take the upper terrace first for the rooftop view down the bend, then the lower pavement past the shopfronts. The colours are real; the curve is the thing. Half the cafés have a window seat over the street.
03
3
The Grassmarket
The wide market square, with the castle rearing up behind it on its crag. A weekly Saturday market sets up here; any day, it's the best place in the Old Town to sit with a drink and look up. The Covenanters' memorial in the cobbles marks the old gallows site — Edinburgh's history is rarely far from a hanging.
03
The Grassmarket
The wide market square, with the castle rearing up behind it on its crag. A weekly Saturday market sets up here; any day, it's the best place in the Old Town to sit with a drink and look up. The Covenanters' memorial in the cobbles marks the old gallows site — Edinburgh's history is rarely far from a hanging.
04
4
West Bow
The dog-leg where Victoria Street meets the Grassmarket at the bottom — the surviving stub of the old zig-zag road that climbed to the Mile before Victoria Street was cut. Look back up it for the full stacked-tenement effect. Then head east into the Cowgate.
04
West Bow
The dog-leg where Victoria Street meets the Grassmarket at the bottom — the surviving stub of the old zig-zag road that climbed to the Mile before Victoria Street was cut. Look back up it for the full stacked-tenement effect. Then head east into the Cowgate.
05
5
The Cowgate
Drop into the canyon — the street that runs under the bridges, in permanent shadow below the Old Town it once rivalled. George IV Bridge and South Bridge pass clean overhead; you're walking at the bottom of the city. Grim and grand at once. Quiet by day, a different animal at night.
05
The Cowgate
Drop into the canyon — the street that runs under the bridges, in permanent shadow below the Old Town it once rivalled. George IV Bridge and South Bridge pass clean overhead; you're walking at the bottom of the city. Grim and grand at once. Quiet by day, a different animal at night.
06
6
Cockburn Street
Climb back toward the Mile up Cockburn Street's gentle curve — Victorian, gabled, full of small shops — which spills you out near Waverley. Trains down in the valley, the Old Town stacked above. A fitting way to leave the under-city: by climbing out of it.
06
Cockburn Street
Climb back toward the Mile up Cockburn Street's gentle curve — Victorian, gabled, full of small shops — which spills you out near Waverley. Trains down in the valley, the Old Town stacked above. A fitting way to leave the under-city: by climbing out of it.

Grassmarket: the under-city below the rock

On the map.

Things to notice.

Castlehill viewpoint

Castlehill viewpoint

Victoria Street

Victoria Street

The Grassmarket

The Grassmarket

West Bow

West Bow

The Cowgate

The Cowgate

Cockburn Street

Cockburn Street

Two more, on similar days.

The Royal Mile: castle to palace, downhill all the way

Greyfriars: the kirkyard, the wall, and the school