What is the Edinburgh outdoor escape game?
The Edinburgh outdoor escape game takes the escape room idea outdoors: puzzles are hidden in plain sight at 10 landmarks along Princes Street, the Royal Mile and Calton Hill, and you work through them on your phone. Set aside about 2 hours, 56 minutes of which is walking over 4.1 km, and start on a day of your choosing.
The Castle Esplanade, the crown spire of St Giles' Cathedral, the Grassmarket under the castle rock and the Greyfriars Kirkyard gate with its statue of Greyfriars Bobby each hold a puzzle of their own, with no storyline tying them together. If one will not give way, up to three hint levels help. The Old Town is built on a ridge, so short climbs and cobbles come with the territory, while the distances stay small.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 56 min · 4.1 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What you do on the escape game
Work it out
Each landmark sets a puzzle that is answered from the surroundings, by reasoning rather than by knowing the history.
Read the detail
Carved stone, gravestones and inscriptions carry the clues, so a slow look around usually beats a quick guess.
Walk the ridge
Google Maps points the way from stop to stop: 56 minutes of walking across 4.1 km.
Keep your own pace
No clock runs against you. Take a hint, stop for a pint or a coffee and pick the game up later or another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it suits
Friends
Each puzzle leaves the group with something to thrash out on the next climb, and no local knowledge is needed.
Couples
A shared problem to chew over between landmarks, without a timer deciding how long you linger.
Team building
Teams of up to 5 play on their own phones, so colleagues can set off together with little organising.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Puzzle route: from the Scott Monument to Calton Hill
10 stops · about 56 min walking · start: Scott Monument · finish: Calton Hill
Puzzle one sits beneath the Scott Monument on Princes Street; the climb up the Mound then passes the Royal Scottish Academy to the Castle Esplanade. The Hub marks the top of the Royal Mile, then the route drops to the Grassmarket and Greyfriars Kirkyard, comes back up to St Giles' Cathedral and follows the Canongate downhill. The Burns Monument is the last stop before the finish on Calton Hill. Daylight suits the puzzles best, the order can be rearranged in the app, and no entry tickets are needed.
Open the route map ↗
1Scott MonumentStart
This Victorian Gothic spire on Princes Street honours the novelist Sir Walter Scott and was completed in 1844 to a design by the self-taught architect George Meikle Kemp. It is about 61 metres high, and under its canopy sits a white marble statue of Scott with his dog Maida by John Steell.
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2Royal Scottish Academy
William Henry Playfair designed this Greek Doric temple at the foot of the Mound, which opened in the 1820s as the Royal Institution and later became the home of the Royal Scottish Academy. Look up at the end facing Princes Street, where a seated statue of the young Queen Victoria by John Steell crowns the building.
3Castle Esplanade
The Castle Esplanade is the wide parade ground in front of Edinburgh Castle, laid out in the 18th century. Every August since 1950 it has hosted the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and at its eastern end a small iron fountain, the Witches' Well, recalls the people executed here for witchcraft.
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4The Hub
This former church at the top of the Royal Mile was built in the 1840s to designs by James Gillespie Graham and Augustus Pugin, as a meeting hall for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Its Gothic spire is one of the tallest landmarks of the Old Town skyline, and since 1999 the building has been the home of the Edinburgh International Festival.
5Grassmarket
Below the southern cliffs of the castle rock, the Grassmarket served as a market place for horses and cattle from the 15th century. It was also a place of public executions, and a round memorial at its eastern end remembers the Covenanters hanged here in the 17th century. Today the square is lined with pubs, one of them aptly named The Last Drop.
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6Greyfriars Kirkyard
Greyfriars Kirk opened in 1620, and in 1638 the National Covenant, a founding document of Scottish Presbyterianism, was signed here. Many notable people of Edinburgh lie in the surrounding kirkyard. Outside stands the statue of Greyfriars Bobby, the Skye terrier said to have guarded his master's grave for 14 years.
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7St Giles' Cathedral
St Giles' Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh on the Royal Mile, is topped by a stone spire shaped like a crown, dating from the late 15th century. John Knox, leader of the Scottish Reformation, was its minister, and according to tradition a market woman named Jenny Geddes threw her stool at the preacher here in 1637 in protest against a new prayer book.
8Canongate
The Canongate, the lower part of the Royal Mile, was a separate burgh until it joined Edinburgh in 1856. Its name comes from the canons of Holyrood Abbey, founded by King David I in 1128. Look for the Canongate Tolbooth of 1591 with its clock projecting over the street, and the kirkyard where the economist Adam Smith is buried.
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9Burns Monument
This round Greek temple below Calton Hill honours Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet. It was designed by Thomas Hamilton and built in the 1830s, modelled on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens.
10Calton HillFinish
Calton Hill offers wide views over the Old Town, the castle and the Firth of Forth. The National Monument, a copy of the Parthenon honouring the Scots who died in the Napoleonic Wars, was begun in 1826 but left with only twelve columns when the money ran out. Nearby, the Nelson Monument is shaped like an upturned telescope.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
It was a pleasant experience…the only issue I had was with mobility, most areas were stairs so I had to do a lot of walking to find an accessible entrance for my baby’s pram.
elodie– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
cala montre les principaux points à voir dans edinbourg, mais cela manque d interactivite vocale. il faut tout lire, et en même temps observer l image à l écran pour certaines enigme.
United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Too long
Tijana– Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Super activité que j’ai faite seule, ça m’a permis de découvrir de jolis coins en toute liberté de m’arrêter dans des cafés ou des boutiques sur le chemin. Les énigmes étaient variées, des plus simples et des plus complexes. Je recommande l’activité !