The Edinburgh Tour Guide
The Grassmarket is the wide cobbled square directly beneath the south face of the castle rock, at the bottom of Victoria Street, and it is the easiest good hour in Edinburgh: it costs nothing, it is five minutes from everything, and it has the best free view of the castle in the city. It is also the ground the city used to hang people on, which almost nobody mentions while ordering a pint on it.
Walk in, look up, and eat here rather than on the Royal Mile. The square is free, the castle view from it is the best one in Edinburgh that costs nothing, and the pub terraces sit on the old public execution ground. The single most useful thing on this page is where to buy tartan that was actually made in Edinburgh, by a community project two minutes away that pays us nothing.
Cost
Nothing
What it was
The execution ground
Buses
8, 27 and 41
Bookable tours of it
None
The gallows stood where the tables are
The square has records going back to the 14th century and has been a gathering place for more than 500 years. It worked as a market, a fairground, a place for public proclamations and, less cheerfully, for public punishment. Edinburgh World Heritage puts it plainly: from the 16th to the 18th centuries the Grassmarket was the site of numerous public executions, the gallows stood here, and many Covenanters were among those executed.
One thing we are going to be careful about, because it is the sort of story that gets repeated without anyone checking. In 1736, Captain John Porteous was responsible for the killing of rioters, was sentenced to death, and was then controversially reprieved, which caused public outrage and disturbances. That is what the heritage body's own page says, and that is therefore all this page says. There is a much more dramatic version of what happened next that you will hear on tours. We have not verified it, so we are not printing it.
The other names attached to the square are worth knowing: Robert Burns and William Wordsworth both passed through, and so did Burke and Hare, which is the thread most ghost tours pull on. Those tours mostly take you to the Covenanters' Prison at Greyfriars, which is a separate place a short walk uphill, and we compare them properly on that page rather than here.
Where to buy tartan that was actually made in Edinburgh
Two days ago, on our Royal Mile page, we told you not to buy tartan on the Royal Mile: it is the most expensive place in the country to do it and a great deal of what is in those shops was not made in Scotland. That is a complaint rather than an answer, so here is the answer, and it is two minutes from this square.
The Grassmarket Community Project, at 86 Candlemaker Row, is a community organisation that runs a set of social enterprises. Its own site describes them like this:
What the Grassmarket Community Project runs
- Greyfriars Tartan, described on its own site as an
award-winning, hand-crafted tartan range
. This is the thing to buy instead of a Royal Mile scarf. - The Wood Workshop, making hand-crafted wooden gifts and products.
- Coffee Saints, its café, which it bills as
coffee with a conscience
. - Event hire and a community picturehouse, plus free activities, classes and support for its members.
We have no commercial relationship with any of it and earn nothing if you go. That is rather the point: it is the honest answer to a question our own Royal Mile page raised and could not solve.
Is it worth it, and is there anything to book
It is worth an hour or an evening, and it needs no planning at all. What it is not is a destination you tour. There is nothing to enter, nothing to queue for, and no ticket, which is why every page competing for this search struggles to fill itself out and ends up listing pubs.
Nothing on the big booking sites sells the Grassmarket. We checked. The square is full of independent pubs, cafés and shops that do not distribute through marketplaces, so the honest answer is to walk in and spend your money directly. Two Old Town experiences run close by and are genuinely good, and we are labelling them precisely as what they are rather than dressing them up as Grassmarket tours.
90-Minute Underground Whisky Tasting, Old Town
An introduction to whisky in an underground close a few minutes away. Rated 4.85 across 472 reviews, and the cheapest properly-reviewed tasting we found in the Old Town.
Eating Edinburgh: Old Town Food and Drinks Tour
Three hours, four tastings, twelve people maximum. Its own itinerary lists the closes, the Royal Mile and Victoria Street, which is the street that runs down into this square. Rated 4.95.
There is also a weekly market in the middle of the square, and the detail is oddly hard to confirm. The market's own Instagram account says it runs every Saturday, 10am to 5pm. We could not find a website for it, and two likely domains did not resolve, so treat that as the organisers' word rather than a confirmed fact and check before building a Saturday around it.
Getting there, which is mostly a matter of walking downhill
The Grassmarket sits directly below the castle esplanade, so if you have just come out of the castle you are already on top of it. The nice way in is down Victoria Street, the curved shopfront street from George IV Bridge, which delivers you into the square at the eastern end.
| Way in | Detail |
|---|---|
| On foot from the castle | Straight down. The square is immediately below the esplanade |
| Down Victoria Street | From George IV Bridge, the curved and colourful way in |
| Lothian Buses | Services 8, 27 and 41 stop close by, around ten minutes from the area's main attractions |
| Hop-on hop-off | Both the Edinburgh Bus Tour and Bright Bus Tours routes include it. Whether that is worth a ticket is a separate question |
Bus numbers and routes are from the official Edinburgh tourism site, read on 19 September 2026. Worth saying, though: this is a square you will almost certainly reach by accident while walking between the castle and Greyfriars, and that is the right way to arrive. Work it into the shape of your day rather than making a special trip.
Quick answers
What is the Grassmarket in Edinburgh?
A wide cobbled square in the Old Town, directly beneath the south side of Edinburgh Castle rock, with records going back to the 14th century and more than 500 years as the city’s main gathering place. It was a livestock and produce market and, from the 16th to the 18th centuries, the city’s public execution ground. Today it is a square of pubs, cafés and independent shops, and it costs nothing to walk into.
Is the Grassmarket worth visiting?
Yes, and it takes very little effort, because it sits directly below the castle and at the bottom of Victoria Street. It is not a ticketed attraction, so treat it as somewhere to eat, drink and look up rather than somewhere to tour. The castle view from the square is one of the best free ones in the city.
Were people really executed in the Grassmarket?
Yes. Edinburgh World Heritage records the Grassmarket as the site of numerous public executions from the 16th to the 18th centuries, with the gallows standing in the square and many Covenanters among those executed. The pub terraces occupy the same ground.
Where can I buy tartan that was actually made in Edinburgh?
The Grassmarket Community Project at 86 Candlemaker Row runs Greyfriars Tartan, which it describes as an award-winning hand-crafted range, alongside a wood workshop making hand-crafted gifts and a café called Coffee Saints. It is a community project supporting people to build skills and confidence, it is two minutes from the square, and it is a considerably better answer than the tartan shops on the Royal Mile.
How do I get to the Grassmarket?
Walk. It is directly below the castle and at the foot of Victoria Street, which comes down from George IV Bridge. If you would rather not walk, the official Edinburgh tourism site lists Lothian Buses services 8, 27 and 41 as stopping close by, about ten minutes from the area’s main attractions, and both the Edinburgh Bus Tour and Bright Bus Tours hop-on hop-off routes include the Grassmarket.
Is there a market in the Grassmarket?
There is a weekly market, and the detail is harder to pin down than it should be. The market’s own Instagram account says it runs every Saturday from 10am to 5pm in the centre of the Grassmarket. We could not find an official website to confirm that, so check before you plan a day around it.
Can you book a tour of the Grassmarket?
Not really, and that is fine. Nothing on the big marketplaces sells the Grassmarket itself, because it is a public square full of independent businesses that do not sell through them. Old Town food and whisky tours pass nearby and one of them walks Victoria Street, which ends in the square, but none is a Grassmarket tour. Walk in and spend your money in the pubs instead.
About this guide
Written by Diego Fresno, Independent travel writer and researcher. The history on this page, including the executions, the 14th-century records and the 1736 Porteous affair, comes from Edinburgh World Heritage; the bus services from the official Edinburgh tourism site; and the Grassmarket Community Project details from its own site, all read on 19 September 2026. Tour prices, ratings and itineraries came from a live Viator lookup in GBP the same day. Deliberately not claimed: the dramatic version of what happened to Captain Porteous, which our source does not state; that any specific pub is Edinburgh's oldest, which several claim; and the Saturday market's hours as fact, since the only source is the market's own Instagram. This page carries affiliate links, and its main recommendation is a community project we earn nothing from. Verified: August 2026. About the author →