What to do on Princes Street, the shopping street in Edinburgh

In your trip to edinburgh, there are two major arteries through which you must move and develop your visit.

On the one hand, the Royal Mile, central axis of the medieval city, which runs along the top of the hill located in the center of the city.

On the other hand, Princes street, which has become the main Street for the newtown, edinburgh new town.

With a kilometer and a half in length, it is the Edinburgh main shopping street and currently it is mostly pedestrian.

This is Princes Street in Edinburgh's New Town

Opened in the mid-19th century, at that time it marked the limit of the edinburgh new town.

george street, a street that runs parallel and is wider, was designed to be the axis of the aforementioned new city, but finally, due to its excellent location, Princes street  has become the main artery of said area of ​​the scottish capital.

When talking about the edinburgh new town, you should not think of the equivalent of an area such as the Paseo de la Castellana Madrid.

En Princes street you will find a succession of victorian era buildings, in many cases with architecture known as the Scottish manor style.

Princes Street Gardens

A great attraction for our visit will be the presence of the Princes Street Gardens that run along it on its southern side, and from which you will have the best views of the medieval city, as well as the Edinburgh castle.

At east end of Princes Streetyou will see the lavish building of the Balmoral Hotel, next to the Waverley railway station.

The street itself is a typical commercial thoroughfare with many brand stores, which has limited traffic only for public transportation, through which trams have been running for a few years.

But, as I have already mentioned, if you are not going to do Shopping, the true attraction of Princes street is in their grounds.

On the one hand, with the beautiful views of the medieval city; and on the other, for the various monuments and corners that you will find in them.

Scott Monument on Princes Street

The most notable monument is the Scott monument.

What may initially seem like the sharp point of a Gothic cathedral is actually a monument built in 1846 as a tribute to the Scottish writer. Walter Scott, author of works such as Ivanhoe.

After the death in 1832 of Walter Scott, an architectural competition was called to build the memorial which finally began to rise in 1840.

With an unequivocal Gothic style, Scott Monument Edinburgh It has a height of 60 meters.

At the base of the monument, in the center of it, there is a sculpture of the writer Walter Scott accompanied by his dog.

El Scott monument It is open to the public, so you can walk up its 257 steps to enjoy views of the medieval city and the modern city of Edinburgh.

El Scott Monument visiting hours It is from 10 a.m. to 19 p.m. in summer, and only until 16 p.m. in winter, with ticket prices (2019) for adults of 8 pounds, and for children and students, 6 pounds.

National Gallery of Scotland

Finally, in Princes street you will also find the National Gallery of Scotland, the great Edinburgh art gallery, or the corner where the Floral Clock, the oldest in the world.

The Visiting hours of the National Gallery of Scotland are, every day, from 10 a.m. to 17 p.m., and on Thursdays, until 19 p.m., with free entrance.

Here you have all the information for visit the National Gallery in Edinburgh.

Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh

Precisely one of the Edinburgh's most charismatic buildings we find it in Princes Street.

This is the Balmoral Hotel, inaugurated in 1902 and built with the Victorian architectural style, in its variant known as Scottish manor style, which tries to revive Gothic architecture.

This luxurious five star hotel It was called until 1980 as North British HotelThe simplemente NB, since it was built by the railway company North British Railways.

It was a traditional hotel aimed at travelers arriving at the annex Waverley railway station.

El Balmoral Hotel has maintained a traditional competition with the other great hotel in Edinburgh, the Caledonian, located to the west of Princes Street Gardens, just opposite the Balmoral.

Currently, the Balmoral Hotel is integrated into the Rocco Forte Collection, a company that manages twelve luxury hotels in different European cities.

The beauty of the architecture of Edinburgh Balmoral Hotel, in which the clock tower stands out, will leave us impressed and will be one of the memories we will have when we return from our trip to Scotland.

Do not miss it.