A day trip to Pentland Hills from Edinburgh

Share this post:

When in Edinburgh, you may notice some hills in the background. Those are the Pentland Hills and they are an ideal place to unwind from the bustle of the city. Like my previous blog post, this one was also organised for the Photographic Society of The University of Edinburgh.

During our trip, we followed this walking route.

Disclosure: Please note that this post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link marked with [AD] and proceed to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Getting there from Edinburgh

You can reach Pentlands by bus from Edinburgh. To follow the above route you need to take bus 101 or 102 and get off at Nine Mile Burn. The bus journey is about one hour long. There is a bus every hour (Monday to Saturday; less frequent on Sundays) and you can take it from various locations around Edinburgh.

Pentland Hills cover a large area, so if you want to follow a different walking route, then you may prefer to get off at a different stop. For example, you can get off at Silverburn (bus 101), Easter Howgate (bus 101) or Snowsports Centre (bus 4, X15 or101).

Hint: Make sure to let the bus driver know when you want to get off so that they stop. The same is true for the return leg: you need to signal the driver to stop, otherwise, they will keep going. Lastly, as the drivers don’t stop on every stop the bus may arrive earlier than planned, so ensure that you leave plenty of time to return to the bus stop and wait for the bus. Don’t forget that they are not that frequent.

Things to do

Pentland Hills are great for outdoor activities, such as walking, cycling and running. The area website talks about horse riding, fishing and camping as well. You can also visit the Midlothian Snowsports Centre for practising your winter sports skills (but don’t expect real snow).

Day Trip to Pentland Hills – Photo Diary

The views from the top were breath-taking (quite literally as it was so windy)!

I remember falling a few times while getting down the hill. Nevertheless, we made it safely to the bottom to realise we can’t find our location on the map (the signal was very weak) and that there were no signs to show us the path!

All photos were taken using the camera Sony ILCE-5100 ^[AD] and the 16-50mm ^[AD] or 55-210mm ^[AD] lense unless otherwise specified.

P.S. Make sure that you have an offline map on your phone (or a hard copy one) because the phone signal is not great there. Also, make sure that you always follow the signs of the route because it is very easy to lose track of the path.

Did you like this post? Save it for later!