The University: South Bridge and the Old College
Adam's great quad, the National Museum's grand gallery, and the student quarter around Bristo Square. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. South Bridge
Start on the bridge that doesn't look like one — a Georgian viaduct so built-over you'd never know it spans the Cowgate far below. Cross south towards the university; the bookshops and the noise of students start here.

2. Old College quad
Robert Adam began it, William Playfair finished it, and the result is the calmest courtyard in the city. Step through the South Bridge arch into the quad and look up at the dome and its golden Youth figure. Free, and quieter than it has any right to be.

3. Talbot Rice Gallery
Tucked inside Old College, the university's own art gallery — contemporary shows in the white space, the Georgian Gallery upstairs unchanged since Playfair. Pop in; entry's free and you'll likely share it with two art students and a guard.

4. National Museum of Scotland
Round to Chambers Street for the Grand Gallery — a Victorian birdcage of cast iron and glass that floods with light. Go up to the roof terrace for the castle view, then back down through the galleries. You can lose a whole afternoon; don't fight it.

5. Greyfriars Kirkyard
A short step west: the kirkyard with the loyal dog at its gate and the Covenanters' graves within. Wander the table-tombs against the back wall; the names on them, so the story goes, fed a certain wizarding novelist next door at the Elephant House.

6. Bristo Square & McEwan Hall
End in the student heart — the curved sandstone of McEwan Hall, the skaters on the square, Teviot's turrets behind. In August this is Fringe ground zero; the rest of the year it's just the university breathing. Buses run from here down to anywhere.

The University: South Bridge and the Old College