Portobello: Edinburgh's seaside
A mile of sand, a Victorian promenade, Turkish baths, and the cafés that face the Forth. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Bath Street
Cut down Bath Street from the High Street and the sea arrives all at once at the end of it. This is the proper way in — a tight Victorian street that opens onto the whole firth. Get a coffee on the High Street first; you'll want it on the prom.

2. The Promenade
The mile-long seafront walk, built when Portobello was Edinburgh's Victorian resort. Walk it slowly with the sand on one side and the painted terraces on the other. On a clear morning the light off the Forth is the whole reason to come.

3. The beach
Real sand, properly long, and emptier than it has any right to be on a weekday. You don't have to paddle — but the firm sand at the water's edge is the best surface to walk on. The Fife shore sits across the water.

4. Portobello Swim Centre & Turkish Baths
The Victorian baths on the front, with one of the few surviving Turkish baths in Scotland still working. You can swim, steam, or just admire the 1901 building. A genuine survival, hiding in plain sight on the prom.

5. The Victorian villas
Behind the prom, streets of seaside villas from the resort years — wide bays, balconies built for watching the sea, the odd surprising bit of grandeur. Wander a block back from the front and look up. This was where Edinburgh came to take the air.

6. Joppa
The quieter east end where the prom runs out and the rock pools begin. The crowds thin, the sand turns to shingle, and the walk ends naturally. The bus back into town runs from the road behind.

Portobello: Edinburgh's seaside