Princes Street Gardens: the valley under the castle rock
The garden in a drained loch, the Scott Monument, the Ross Fountain, and the galleries on the Mound. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. The Scott Monument
Start at the east end below the great Gothic rocket built for Walter Scott — the largest monument to a writer anywhere. Climb the 287 narrow steps if you've a head for it; otherwise just stand under it and crane your neck. Either way, then drop into the gardens.

2. The Floral Clock
By the West Princes Street Gardens gate, the working clock planted entirely in flowers — the oldest of its kind anywhere, replanted each summer with thousands of tiny plants. Time your visit for July or August when it's fully grown in.

3. The Ross Fountain
The cast-iron fountain of mermaids and walruses, French-made, gaudy, and gleaming again after a recent restoration, with the castle rock rising straight behind it. The single best photograph in the gardens, and you don't have to work for it.

4. Below the castle rock
Walk the lower path right under the crag, where the castle walls grow straight out of the volcanic rock above you. In August the gardens hold the Tattoo crowds and the festival fireworks; the rest of the year it's just you and the pigeons.

5. The Mound and the galleries
Climb the path up the Mound — the artificial ridge built from New Town diggings — to the two classical temples of the National Galleries: the Royal Scottish Academy and the Scottish National Gallery behind it. Free, and the Scottish rooms are the ones to make for.

6. St Cuthbert's and the west gate
Leave at the west end past St Cuthbert's, the church in the green hollow with a circular watchtower built to foil grave-robbers. From here it's a short walk to Haymarket and the train or tram.

Princes Street Gardens: the valley under the castle rock