Sights—The view of Edinburgh Castle and the city center from Calton Hill; New Town; Edinburgh Castle; the Royal Mile; Forth Rail Bridge; Royal Yacht Britannia; the Edinburgh Tour on a red double-decker bus.

Museums—The Museum of Scotland with its Victorian Royal Museum of Scotland; the National Gallery of Scotland; the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Dean Gallery; The People's Story.

Memorable Meals—Haggis in phyllo pastry at Stac Polly; an assortment of authentic vegetarian dishes at Kalpna; dinner by candlelight at the Witchery by the Castle; smoked salmon and scones at Urban Angel; a romantic dinner at Rhubarb; trawler-fresh seafood at Creelers.

Late Night—Checking out hip grooves at the Liquid Room; stand-up comedy at the Stand; dancing into the wee hours at the Honeycomb or Cabaret Voltaire; listening to live jazz or funk at The Jazz Bar or The Jam House; sipping a cocktail at Tigerlily; a pint of heavy at Milne's; joining one of the city's growing number of ghost tours after dark.

Walks—Climbing Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park; strolling through the Royal Botanic Gardens; following the Water of Leith, making sure to stop off in Dean Village and Stockbridge.

Especially for Kids—Experiencing earthquakes at Our Dynamic Earth; watching the penguin parade at Edinburgh Zoo; handling creepy-crawlies at Edinburgh Butterfly & Insect World.

From its location on the banks of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh enjoys one of the most dramatic settings of any European city. The most distinctive natural landmark, Arthur's Seat, is an extinct volcano around which the oldest parts of town, from Castle Rock down the Royal Mile, cluster on a narrow, rocky ridge surrounded by bare moorland.

The main shopping thoroughfare of Princes Street marks the southern edge of New Town, which is connected to the Old Town by George IV Bridge and the gentle slope of The Mound. Calton Hill looms over the east end of Princes Street, and beyond it is Leith Walk, which leads to Edinburgh's port of Leith. On the west end of Princes Street is Lothian Road, famous as Edinburgh's financial district.

Edinburgh's growth has swallowed up villages to the north, including Stockbridge and Dean Village, which sit on the Water of Leith, a river that runs through Edinburgh and empties into the Forth. Farther out, the city is ringed by distinct neighborhoods, from well-off Morningside to working-class tenement areas such as Dalry. To the northwest and southeast, money-starved 1960s housing projects provide a stark contrast to the grandeur of the city center.

Castle Rock has been inhabited since the early seventh century, when the Celtic tribe Gododdin named it Dunedin, meaning "hill fort." In the 15th century, the Scottish royal family (spelled Stuart or Stewart, depending on who you read) associated itself with Edinburgh, and from then on, the city was the locus of activity during turbulent, unstable times. In a centuries-long struggle for power between the English and the Scots, the city was a target for English armies, the scene of popular uprisings, the setting for some dramatic moments in the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the headquarters of Bonnie Prince Charlie's unsuccessful attempt to claim the throne of Scotland in 1745-46.

The focus of power shifted away from Edinburgh after the Act of Union in 1707 combined the parliaments of England and Scotland into one body, centered in London. That gave the city a chance to concentrate on itself, and just in time—by the 1760s, the overcrowding, squalor and disease had become too dangerous to ignore, and building began to the north on what is now called New Town, a masterpiece of neoclassical architecture.

Edinburgh grew and prospered, becoming a center for law, medicine and intellectual pursuits in the 1700s and 1800s. The 20th century saw it blossom on other fronts: The foundation in 1947 of the Edinburgh Festival and its more diverse sister festival, the Fringe, established the city as one of the world's leading centers of art and culture. Edinburgh has also flourished as one of Europe's financial centers. The millennium ended on a high note with the re-establishment, after nearly 300 years, of a parliament in Scotland's capital and the opening of the new parliament building.

Edinburgh is a popular film location. Movies set there range from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Trainspotting. However, you'll also see the city's streets in films set in other places—its old buildings have stood in for locales in London, Cambridge and Prague.

The Merchiston area of the city has become a writer's enclave. Crime writer Ian Rankin, Kate Atkinson and Alexander McCall Smith all call the area home. In 2004, Edinburgh became the first UNESCO City of Literature.

The Encylopaedia Britannica was first published in 1768 by William Smellie at his printing shop in Anchor Close, off the Royal Mile.

Drink in the footsteps of Inspector Rebus, the melancholy, hard-drinking detective of Ian Rankin's mystery novels, at the Oxford Bar on Young Street, which is as unreconstructed as Rebus himself. Rankin can occasionally be spotted there among the regular clientele of off-duty cops, judges and lawyers.

The Hawes Inn in South Queensbury is featured in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped. It's also home to the Loony Dook, a New Year's Day event when hundreds take a dip in the chilly Firth of Forth to raise money for charity.

Then-unknown author J.K. Rowling reputedly started writing her first Harry Potter novel over coffee at The Elephant Cafe.