Dunbar's Close Garden
9 minute walk from Edinburgh station · Edinburgh and South East · Free entry
Dunbar’s Close Garden is a hidden gem located on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh’s Old Town. This historical site has been carefully laid out in the style and character of an authentic 17th-century garden. While it was a building site until 1976, it was transformed by the Mushroom Trust into the peaceful public space that exists today.
Visitors enter through a narrow, cobbled close that opens into an elegant parterre of clipped shrubs and a tulip tree. The grounds feature a series of distinct parterres, each offering a different atmosphere. High church walls and hedging provide a sheltered, tranquil environment that makes you feel as though you are one of the few to have discovered it.
The garden is free to enter and offers a "cosy" green canopy of trees and seating for those looking to enjoy its sense of place. It is particularly special when the trees are in full leaf, providing a quiet escape in the heart of the city centre.
Visitor information
- Place type
- Garden
- Good for
- Gardens, Parks & green spaces, Trees & woodlands
- Characteristics
- Open-air, Walled
- Admission
- Free
- Region
- Edinburgh and South East
Stations within walking distance
- Edinburgh station — 9 min walk, 0.7 km
- Haymarket station — 34 min walk, 2.7 km
Other places near Edinburgh
- Stockbridge and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh — 1 min walk from the station
- Calton Hill, Edinburgh — 2 min walk from the station
- New Town, Edinburgh — 2 min walk from the station
- Mansfield Traquair Centre — 11 min walk from the station
- Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Park, Edinburgh — 15 min walk from the station
- Traverse Theatre — 16 min walk from the station