Ratho brings together a historic village centre south of the Union Canal, routes along the canal and the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena. These offer different starting points for a stay: the village’s character and architecture, the landscape, and climbing. When choosing accommodation in Ratho, these themes can help you weigh up your interests. You do not need to combine them into a fixed day-by-day itinerary; they first provide a guide to deciding what interests you most about the area.

Village Centre and Architecture

The historic village centre lies south of the Union Canal and follows an L-shaped plan. Its location and shape offer two specific features to look for in Ratho: the old centre lies south of the waterway and has its own distinct layout. For anyone interested in the spatial form of a place, this provides a more detailed impression than simply describing it as a canal village. The layout is a distinctive part of the village’s character.

Small-scale cottages in a traditional vernacular style give the village centre in the Ratho Conservation Area a cohesive character. Traditional building materials are also used consistently there. This shared impression comes from several recurring features: the scale of the cottages, their style of construction and the materials. Both the individual architectural features and the way they work together are therefore of interest when exploring the historic surroundings.

Canal Paths and Landscape

The Union Canal Towpath and Union Canal (CEC 15 and CEC 15W) pass through Ratho and by the EICA. The Union Canal towpath is open to cyclists; the restored cycle route covers 35 miles. The route’s length can help you get a general sense of a bike ride. As local path conditions can change, it is advisable to check them before setting out.

A hill route leads south from Ratho to Tormain Hill and Craw Hill. Tormain Hill has cup-and-ring-marked rocks designated as a Scheduled Monument. This brings together a named route with two destinations and a specific piece of cultural heritage on one of the hills. If you are interested in both the landscape and cultural history, you can bear this distinction in mind when planning.

The routes also differ in direction: the canal corridors mentioned above pass through Ratho and by the EICA, while the hill route heads south to the two hills. This gives you two distinct spatial reference points for exploring the area.

Climbing in Ratho

The Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA) is in Ratho and is Europe’s largest indoor climbing arena. It is also home to the UK’s only IFSC world-standard facility for speed and lead climbing. The size claim describes the arena as a whole; the IFSC reference, by contrast, applies to two specific climbing disciplines. If you are considering Ratho for climbing, this gives you a concrete idea of what makes the area special for the sport. The size of the arena and the facility’s specialisation are two different features.

Discover more destinations: Queensferry, Currie, Newbridge, Leith.

For the main travel overview: Edinburgh.