Calton Hill (100m), rises dramatically above the eastern end of Princes Street, making its city views just as impressive as its collection of grandiose early-19th-century follies and memorials.

Not only can you survey much of the city centre from here, you can also look out to sea: an ample reward for a couple of minutes' grunt up a flight of stairs at the eastern end of Waterloo Place.

The National Monument

Calton Hill's buildings are based on Greek Classical architecture and none more than its imitation-Parthenon. It was intended a grand National Monument to Scotland’s dead in the Napoleonic Wars, until the money ran out and it ended up imitating a ruin, with arguably more powerful effects.