Plan a visit
Art walks
Self-guided trails that string together a city's public art into an afternoon on foot. Follow the route on the map, stop by stop.
Edinburgh
A short, steep climb to Edinburgh's open-air acropolis. Start among the radicals in Old Calton Burial Ground with Lincoln's Scottish-American memorial, then take in the Burns Monument before the summit set pieces: Dugald Stewart's rotunda, the Nelson Monument and the famously unfinished National Monument — with the best panorama in the city thrown in.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh top to bottom: from the Witches' Well on the Castle esplanade, down the full length of the Royal Mile past philosophers, firefighters and poets, round the foot of Calton Hill, then the long satisfying descent of Leith Walk to the cobbled Shore — finishing with Burns, anchors and the Merchant Navy memorial where the city meets the sea.
Aberdeen
From the Castlegate's mercat cross and gold postbox, drop down Marischal Street to the working harbour and follow the quays east to Footdee — 'Fittie' — the fishing village squeezed between harbour mouth and sea. War memorials, salty plaques and the best people-watching in town, ending on the beach esplanade.
Glasgow
The full sweep of Glasgow in an afternoon: medieval roots at the Cathedral precinct, the Victorian city centre, the Clyde at La Pasionaria, then west through Kelvingrove Park — climbing Park Circus for the city's best skyline view — to finish among the spires and statues of the University of Glasgow.
Dundee
The cheeriest half hour in Scottish public art. Dundee celebrates its comic heritage in bronze: Desperate Dan strides across City Square with Minnie the Minx in pursuit, a dragon coils nearby, Oor Wullie sits outside the McManus, penguins march along the wall — and the Lemmings (born in Dundee) get their own monument.
Edinburgh
A gentle wander from Princes Street Gardens — Wojtek the soldier bear, the Scottish American war memorial and a clutch of Victorian worthies — through Charlotte Square to the leafy Dean valley, where St Bernard's Well presides over the Water of Leith. Finish among the cafés of Stockbridge, spotting a Gormley figure standing in the river on the way.
Inverness
A cross-town expedition from legend to engineering: King Duncan's well and grave (of Macbeth fame) on the eastern edge, back through the centre, then out along Telford's Caledonian Canal towpath to Clachnaharry, where the sea lock meets the Beauly Firth — battle memorial, railway swing bridge and Highland views included.
Stirling
Start among the town-centre statues — Rob Roy, Burns, the wolf that saved Stirling — then leave the crowds behind on the riverside path, crossing the Forth by footbridge to the village of Cambuskenneth, where King James III lies buried in the abbey grounds. Flat, green and quietly historic.
Glasgow
From the tobacco lords' grand halls to the people's park. Weave through the Merchant City's statues and street art, pass the Clutha mural on the riverside, then follow the Clyde into Glasgow Green for Nelson's obelisk, the gloriously over-the-top Doulton Fountain and the Templeton carpet factory's gates, ending on the elegant St Andrew's Suspension Bridge.
Edinburgh
A short loop through the medieval heart of Edinburgh, tracing the city's love of the sculpted figure — from a famously loyal terrier to the philosophers who made the Old Town a capital of the Enlightenment.
Inverness
The Highland capital's compact monument circuit: the mercat crosses of Falcon Square and the High Street, the Cameron Highlanders' memorial by the station, then up Castle hill to Flora MacDonald gazing down the Great Glen — one of Scotland's finest statue viewpoints — finishing with the Faith, Hope and Charity figures by the Ness.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen's grandest granite quarter in a brisk half hour. William Wallace hurls defiance at His Majesty's Theatre, Prince Albert broods over Union Terrace Gardens, and General Gordon guards Schoolhill — with a suffragette mural and Robert the Bruce outside gleaming Marischal College to finish.
Inverness
Inverness's loveliest walk: upstream from the war memorial and Cavell Gardens along the riverbank, over Victorian footbridges through the wooded Ness Islands, returning past Bellfield Park's bandstand and the Tomnahurich cross of sacrifice. Flat, pram-friendly and full of river views back to the castle.
Edinburgh
A gentle walk from the Gothic rocket of the Scott Monument out across the gardens and into the ordered streets of the Georgian New Town, taking in monuments to a bear, a physicist and a fictional detective.
Stirling
Stirling's hilltop in half an hour. From Robert the Bruce on the castle esplanade — with the Forth valley and the Wallace Monument spread out below — drop through the Valley Cemetery's reformers and the extraordinary Star Pyramid, past the Church of the Holy Rude, to the mercat cross on cobbled Broad Street.
Glasgow
Glasgow's biggest open-air sculpture gallery, packed into one square and one street. Circle George Square's parade of bronze worthies — Burns, Watt, Victoria and Scott on his towering column — then finish up pedestrian Buchanan Street past the Duke of Wellington in his traffic-cone hat to Donald Dewar above the steps.
Dundee
A long riverside afternoon from the submarine memorial east of the bridge, along the waterfront and through the West End to Magdalen Green's bandstand — pausing at McGonagall's Walk and the sobering Tay Bridge Disaster memorials, with the rail bridge's curve across the firth for company most of the way.
Aberdeen
The full south-to-north story of Aberdeen. Start among Duthie Park's fountains and the statue of insulin pioneer J.J.R. Macleod, cross the granite city centre via the prehistoric Lang Stane, then follow King Street into cobbled Old Aberdeen — university courtyards, the medieval Market Cross — through Seaton Park to the 700-year-old Brig o' Balgownie over the Don.
Stirling
Scotland's two great victories in one long walk. Climb Abbey Craig to the National Wallace Monument, descend through Causewayhead past the pioneering Barnwell Brothers, cross the old town beneath the castle, then strike south through St Ninians to the Bannockburn battlefield, where Bruce's statue and the commemorative cairn close the story. A proper day out — pack lunch.
Dundee
Dundee old and new in one loop: the regenerated Tay waterfront with its whale sculpture and Discovery Walk, Admiral Duncan and the witch-burning memorial to Grissell Jaffray, the statue row of Albert Square behind the McManus, and the centuries of carved stones in the Howff burial ground.