St Andrews museum is set in a lovely park surrounded by tennis courts, bowling green and a small…read moreputting green all open in summer months. The museum itself has two galleries one of witch stays the same all year and is the history of St Andrews, the other changes every few months. Cafe in the park is situated on lower floor of museum and is a bright welcoming place to have a spot of lunch at great prices, well worth a visit!!!

Worth it especially if the weather is nasty! This was a great place for us to hang out for 2 hours…read moreand beat the wind and cold. I wish it was a teeny bit cheaper, but it actually was a pretty cool museum with some interactive elements.

If golf is your thing then this place will be of great interest to you, if not then you will have…read morethe worst time of your life. There is all sorts of golfing history to be viewed in here from the anciant clubs once used to the ancient players that used to swing them. As a mild fan of golf I found it ok to a point but my friend who is a huge golf fan though this place was excellent so it really is a place only suited to golfing fanatics.

Free entry at the National Museum of Scotland. Filled with rich history and interactive booths…read more There is a cafe with grab and go options and a gift shop too. The best photo op is the third floor balcony overlooking the atrium! Such a gorgeous spot and great option to get out of the rainy weather!

It's the museum on Chambers Street. The entrance is in the round tower that is across the street…read morefrom Greyfriars Bobby. You might as well rub his nose for good luck before crossing over. There is a beautiful & bright atrium in the heart of the museum. You can see all 4 floors from this spot as you look up from the first floor. There are galleries and exhibits all around it. We started our journey on the ground floor of the tower in the Kingdom of the Scots, and then worked our way up and over. It truly is the perfect place to go on a rainy morning. The best part is that it's free admission, but donations are always welcomed. There were many highlights for me. The Maiden that was used for public executions in Grassmarket, Mercat Cross, and Castlehill was certainly eerie to look at along with some of the torture devices used back in that period. The display of items belonging to Mary, Queen of Scots was presented beautifully. Especially that lovely jeweled necklace. The exhibits of the Americas was nicely done. I even saw a gut parka on display that was similar to one we saw in Alaska earlier this year. The displays of musical instruments and ceremonial dance costumes was vibrant & interesting. I was drawn to the Bloody Empire display. It was a very artistic expression of anarchism in the form of wallpaper. It's unique. I have to say the same thing about the Slit Gong musical instrument that is said to bring out the voices of a dead ancestor. Very creepy stuff! The subject matter lightened up a bit as we walked through the technology & industry part of the museum. It was cool to see "The Hawk" as well as the display of bicycles and phones (including a Mickey Mouse one). But, I think the best part was the spectacular view of Edinburgh from the open rooftop. It would have been better on a sunny day, but it was still a great sight to see. It's worth taking those outdoor spiral steps up to see it. I love that there's a mini garden with upland grasses and plants along the lookout walls of the roof. A nice little touch. We spent about 2 hours here, but could have easily stayed longer. There's a balcony café on what is technically the 3rd floor of the building (2nd floor when looking up from the main atrium). There is a fee-based exhibit called "Monkeys Our Primate Family" that may be of interest to some. It ends on 30 Nov 2025. Overall, the museum is great fun for all ages. It's a great way to learn more about the Scottish innovators throughout history.

The Heritage Pass will get you in here. Very interesting castle. There's a mine and a dungeon. A…read morelittle creepy and dark. It's all pretty accessible. Go up the tower and walk around. There's a great view of the cathedral ruins from one of the towers. I thought it was worth it using the Heritage Pass. I don't know that I'd pay extra to get in.

Note: This is not closed! Not sure why it says this…read more Went a few weeks back. When you pay to go in, you walk through s brief little history lesson as well so you have some idea of what you're looking at. A gorgeous castle site on the coast. It's amazing soil erosion hasnt wiped this out in the hundreds of years. The edges of the castle still stand but most of the walls are collapsed from the battle destruction and wear and tear. There is still plenty to see and take in. They labeled what all the parts of the castle once were. You can even see the creepy dungeon prison. One of the cooler things is the tunnel. I couldn't do it because of general claustrophobia. But during a battle the enemy was tunneling under the castle. They started a counter tunnel to block them and they successfully did. So, you can walk through the original tunnel. Talk about being in the heart of history!

So glad we ran across these Kelpies when we were in St. Andrews, so we could see them up close. We…read morefirst knew and saw Kelpies when our tour minibus was on the M9 driving back to Edinburgh from the West Highlands, and our driver pointed them out as we were passing by the small town of Falkirk. Andy Scott created the Kelpies, which are mythical equines that are said to have the strength of 10 horses. These sculptures are a tribute and hearken to Scotland's horse-powered past. You won't miss these horses. They're by the British Golf Museum and across from St. Andrews Links which is incidentally the birthplace of golf. It's going to be hard taking a pic of these horses without other people in your pics. There's simply way too many people around!

The architecture of this centre of design building and where it is situated on The riverside…read moreesplanade overlooking the river Tay is stunning but what it has to offer in the interior is not very much. The highlight of the whole visit was the silent disco included in the extortionate Night Fever club culture exhibition and the equally extortionate gift shop. Despite this I really enjoyed the exhibition learning about raves, techno music and studio 54 and all the interesting audio and visual exhibits was fantastic but apart from that, there really isn't anything else to comment on. I expected more of a WOW factor and I didn't get that unfortunately.

What a fabulous building! A spectacular piece of architecture, both outside and inside. Shame about…read morethe boxy carbuncle of a building that's going up across the road from it that completely obscures it from the town. I have to say though, I was a bit disappointed with the use of space inside. The vast atrium takes up most of the building, which means there are really only two main exhibition spaces; one of these housing the temporary (paid) exhibitions, the other the more permanent exhibits. The temporary exhibit on ocean liners was really great; we loved seeing the history of (mostly) Scottish shipbuilding, and there was a good selection of artefacts illustrating just how sumptuous and decadent some of these grand liners were - although once it got past the 1930's I mostly lost interest (I was never a fan of 70's design at the time and I'm still not!). We particularly liked the video wall recreating an ocean view off the deck with renowned ships like the QE2 sailing past (good photo opp!). Of the other exhibition, the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Oak Room was the main attraction for us, and the main reason we came. But it felt like the rest of it should have been about three times the size it actually was. We actually spent some time looking around for a third gallery that isn't there. The restaurant on the top floor had a reasonable menu, but the prices were rather on the expensive side so we gave it a miss. The cafe on the ground floor didn't draw us either so we went elsewhere for lunch. The whole visit took us two and a half hours. It was worth a look, but apart from the architecture, we found it slightly underwhelming.

Situated in the heart of Edinburgh, the Scottish National Gallery is a small but delightful museum…read more While Scottish artists are the main focus, the National Gallery also houses works of art from famous European artists. All of Edinburgh's publicly owned museums and galleries offer free entry to their permanent collections, and National Galleries Scotland manage five buildings which provide access to a fantastic array of artworks. In the very heart of Edinburgh, on the Mound, which connects both Old and New Town, is the original National Gallery of Scotland itself, alongside its sister gallery, the Royal Scottish Academy building. Inside the building is a sumptuous series of open spaces with works by some of the world's greatest classic artists on display, alongside iconic works by Scottish painters. Artists like Rembrandt and Van Dyck are represented alongside Monet, Reubens and Titian, as well as British painters like Constable and Turner. One iconic picture which is often considered a definitively Scottish work is Edwin Landseer's Monarch of the Glen, featuring a majestic stag in front of a Scottish Highland backdrop.

Superb gallery in Edinburgh - well worth the visit…read more We stopped by on our third morning and had a wonderful time. This is not a massive (aka tiring) place, but it has excellent representation of Masters (Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian), and even a specially designed octagonal room dedicated to Nicolas Poussin's Seven Sacraments (1644-1648) - considered one of the greatest sets of paintings in the history of Western art. But my favorites pieces were by lesser known English, Scottish and Italian artists - such as Monarch of the Glen, Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, and The Campbell Sisters. They have a small cafe which we visited when we needed a little coffee and cookie break, and the staff were very helpful and gracious. Would be happy to return.

If you're local or in the area, you might as well visit, but not necessarily worth a special trip…read more It has amazing views if you walk to the top of the tower though!! I went here in the January with my nieces and nephews. My niece, who is nine and not feral at all, and to be fair well versed on behaving in museums / churches etc. She asked me to take a photo next to a mannequin and the women behind the desk case straight over "stop touching that!! It's delicate! Don't be ruining it!" And so on. Cripes the poor child hadn't touched it or gone near enough to think of touching it. The the women proceeded to glare and make us feel really uncomfortable. My poor niece was proclaiming her innocence! The artefacts in show are for the local size museum/castle interesting enough. If the kids aren't against it we will probably go back, to walk along the battlements and walk up the tower for the view, but, i really do hope the worker has taken a chill pill!

Cool castle - pretty small but just as neat as the others, it's obvious it's old! It's pretty also…read morebecause it's right next to water. Make sure to check the hours before you go to make sure you can go up into it!