Arthur’s Seat is an iconic local landmark in my city. If you’ve ever been to Edinburgh, you’ve definitely seen it. Rising above Holyrood Park, this ancient extinct volcano – with its craggy cliffs and verdant green slopes – is a memorable sight and it definitely adds to the city’s unique majestic, almost magical, feel. (Though the fact that we’ve also got a castle here, and a palace, and some of the most beautiful historic buildings in the world doesn’t hurt either!)

Once described by Edinburgh local and famed author Robert Louis Stevenson as “a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design”, Arthur’s Seat has been featured in books, movies and TV series past and present. Off the top of my head, I recall scenes in the recent Netflix adaptation of Dave Nicholl’s iconic love story One Day where the couple hikes up there for a graduation picnic. There’s also a very memorable and spooky scene in James Hogg’s wonderfully weird and compelling 19th century novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.

Despite the hill’s fame, and the fact that I’ve lived in Edinburgh for several years now, I actually went the full way up for the first time this summer. For full disclosure: I’m not much of a hiker. And I’ve strolled around the hill before, but I think I was intimidated to actually “climb” it to the top. I’ve had some not-so-great experiences with hiking in Scotland before, where the weather is often rainy and the terrain can be quite slick. Lots of my friends go hiking all the time, but it’s just not really my thing. I’m more of a “stroll in the park” kind of gal, rather than a full on mountain climber. But I was assured that it was a pretty easy hike (more on this later!) and well worth it for the views.

So, one sunny day in June, a friend and I set off to climb up Arthur’s Seat. She’d been up once or twice before, and suggested that we approach it from near Holyrood Palace. There are different ways that you can climb up, depending on what you want out of the experience. This site has a good breakdown of the different routes up (according to their map, we took the “green route” which is the “best way to reach Arthur’s Seat”).

There was a very well marked out path that we followed, with great views the entire way (that only got better as we got closer to the top). As for difficulty level: I had to stop several times to catch my breath and have a drink of water. It was a pretty hot day (for Scotland) and I think that affected me more than the actual climb, though the climb itself wasn’t exactly “easy” either. For reference: I’m a reasonably fit thirty-three year old, not an athlete by any means, but I go to the gym and I walk around the city a lot. People made it seem like it would be a BREEZE and it was definitely a work out (at least for me!) to climb up. Though, if you take breaks, it’s definitely managable and doesn’t take too long.

We stopped once we reached a grassy plateau with great views out over the water – to take photos and fortify ourselves before the final climb to the craggy, tipity top!

We made a final push and climbed the – much rockier – final ten or fifteen minute stretch up to the actual top of the hill. It’s worth it to make this final push because up there we were rewarded with the best city views. Though I thought this part was probably the hardest in terms of the climb because the path was pretty rocky and a little uneven. I definitely wouldn’t want to do this with lots of wind or rain.

For our descent, we decided to go down a different path. It was an extremely gentle and quick walk back to the base (the “yellow route”, I think, if you’re consulting the map on the site I linked), which passes by Dunsapie Loch. Then we looped around the park until we reached Queen’s Drive again (our starting point).

So what’s the verdict? Is the climb worth it or not?

The views out across the city were spectacular but, for my money, you can get excellent views (perhaps even equally good?) at Calton Hill (more on that in another post) and it only takes like 5-10 minutes to walk up to the top of that hill. So I’d suggest doing Arthur’s Seat if you want the exercise and have like two hours that you can devote to it. It just depends on how long you’re in the city. If you live in Edinburgh, or have a longer stay here, it’s definitely worth doing! Just make sure that the weather is on your side, as you definitely wouldn’t want to be stranded up there on a bad day. And wear a good pair of shoes with some grip.

After our walk, we were both exhausted but also curious about the origins of the name: Arthur’s Seat. After a bit of research, we discovered that…it’s not entirely known. But I’ve read that the name is tied to the legend of King Arthur. Arthur’s Seat might actually have been the site of Camelot! Of course this isn’t known for sure, but I like the idea.

Have you been up Arthur’s Seat before? What were your impressions? Are there things in your own city that you’ve been meaning to do but haven’t gotten around to yet?

This post was a little light on the “history” side of things, but here in Edinburgh history is alive and all around us, so I thought I’d try a different kind of post. I hope you enjoyed it and keep your eyes peeled for more posts this autumn. I’m going to try to return to my schedule of one post per month, on the first Monday of the month. See you next time!

More about Arthur’s Seat:

• Earth Trekkers: Arthur’s Seat: Climb an Extinct Volcano
• Visit Scotland: Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat
• The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg (a favorite of mine and one that I could easily do a future post about if you’re curious. The father of one of my best friends is an expert on the book. I liked this description from the Penguin edition: “Subversive and unsettling, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) is a compelling psychological depiction of religious bigotry and the seductive effects of power on a tormented soul.” I’ll have to reread it now that I’ve visited Arthur’s Seat!)

Madeira Mondays are posted on the first Monday of every month and explore history and historical fiction. If you enjoyed this post please share it, subscribe to the blog, or you can support the blog by buying me a coffee on Kofi. Thank you so much for reading.