National Museum of Scotland: Edinburgh Travel Guide (4.8★)

Two buildings, one ticketless door

The museum is really two buildings joined together. On Chambers Street you’ll see the Victorian half first, a long façade of carved stone. Inside, the Grand Gallery rises under a roof of cast iron and glass, with white balconies stacked around a bright central hall. It opened in 1866 as a museum of science and art.

Next door is the 1998 extension, built in honey-coloured sandstone with a round tower on the corner. Its galleries tell Scotland’s story from geology up to the present day. General admission is free. Some special exhibitions charge, and their prices are listed on the museum’s website.

What to track down

The floors are deep enough to eat a whole day. If you have limited time, these are the pieces most visitors look for:

• Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, preserved in the science galleries
• The Lewis Chessmen, the walrus-ivory gaming pieces found on the Isle of Lewis (some are here, the rest are in the British Museum)
• The Maiden, Edinburgh’s early guillotine, in the Scottish history floors
• The Millennium Clock, a tall, carved kinetic sculpture in the Grand Gallery
• Window on the World, the multi-storey wall of objects that rises through the atrium
• The natural history galleries, with a T. rex skeleton cast and suspended skeletons of large animals

Most people spend two to three hours here. Families with children often go straight to the hands-on science and technology galleries.

Beating the Chambers Street crowds

This is one of Edinburgh’s most visited attractions, so when you arrive matters more than which route you take. 10am–11am is the quietest window on weekdays and weekends alike. On weekends, try not to arrive between 12pm and 4pm, because that’s when the Grand Gallery fills with families and school groups.

• Go to the far galleries first, the top-floor Scottish history or the natural history wing, and leave the Grand Gallery for the end.
• There are donation boxes near the entrances. Giving is optional and most people pay by card at the contactless points.
• Ask at the front desk about the rooftop terrace. When it’s open, it looks out over the Old Town rooftops to Edinburgh Castle.
• At the moment the museum opens 10am–5pm every day of the week. Hours can change around holidays, so check the official site that week.

If you come after lunch on a Saturday, start upstairs. The crowds tend to stay on the lower floors.

Around the doorstep

You’re already standing in the Old Town. From the museum entrance:

• Greyfriars Bobby, the statue of the faithful terrier, stands just around the corner where Candlemaker Row meets George IV Bridge.
• Greyfriars Kirkyard is behind the statue, a churchyard full of old tombs and memorials.
• The Royal Mile is a few minutes north, up George IV Bridge.
• The Grassmarket is downhill, with pubs looking up at the castle rock.

Edinburgh Waverley station is roughly a 15-minute walk, uphill through the Old Town. Lothian buses stop on the South Bridge and on George IV Bridge, both close to Chambers Street. Pair the museum with the kirkyard for a half-day without leaving the area.