Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh: A city centre volcano:

Where is Arthurs Seat?

Arthurs Seat is situated in the city of Edinburgh in Holyrood Park. We started this walk close to the Scottish Parliament Building off Queen Drive. Having visited Edinburgh for a few days and enjoyed some great food and drink we were keen to get some form of hiking under our belts and Arthurs Seat was perfect.

Is Arthurs Seat difficult to climb?

There are certainly steep and jagged sections to the walk but in general it is a fairly easy climb. We reached the top within half an hour of setting off from the car park below. There were plenty of people about but it still didn’t feel like we were in a busy city centre either.

Facilities

There is a pay and display car park on Queens Drive. There are also plenty of public transport links which will get you to Arthurs Seat.

Route Description

We were staying less than an hours walk away, therefore decided we would walk to Holyrood Park as we knew it was a relatively easy hike. From the car park on Queens Drive we crossed over via the zebra crossing and followed the main path heading to the left.

St Anthony’s Chapel

• At the first corner there is a fork, the right path leads you to Hunter’s Bog ignore this path and take the left.
• We then took the path along the foot of the cliffs, although there is an easier route past a boulder marking St Anthony’s Well. Regardless of which one you take they merge higher up.

Heading towards Arthurs Seat summit

• From here continue to climb ensuring you take the time to enjoy the views. Dunsapie Loch should be visible below you at this point.
• You will soon reach a couple of rocky paths, both of which take you to the summit – the choice seems to be made on which one is busiest.
• And there you have it – a short city centre hike will give you views over Edinburgh that you would be sorry to have missed.

The return route

• You have a few options on routes taking you back down.
• We retraced our steps back down to the rocky path which led to some steep steps.
• After a short while this opened up into a grassy area at the end of Salisbury Crags and before we knew it we were back down and ready for some lunch.