National Museum of Scotland

📌 Old Town, City of Edinburgh
★★★★★

The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh is Scotland’s most popular visitor attraction, and its most amazing museum by a considerable margin – despite stiff competition. With eight floors and two linked buildings, this is an enormous place; it took me several visits to explore it all. The museum essentially does an outstanding job of distilling all the country’s other museums into one (whisky distilling can be found on level four, by the way). At the time of writing, the spacious Grand Gallery houses sculptures and the main entrance facilities, with several themed galleries leading off it, each with multiple floors: Natural World; World Cultures; Art, Design & Fashion; Discoveries; Science & Technology are the broad themes. This is all housed in a Victorian building, while an adjacent, modern wing is home to the Scotland gallery, which charts the country’s entire history from Picts to present day. This wing is surprisingly easy to miss for a first-time visitor, but spreads over six floors laid out in such a manner that you never know quite which one you’re on. At the very top, a lift leads to a rooftop terrace with decent views over the city – a neat finish to the vertical timeline. Auditoriums, education wing, cafes and restaurants, gift shops and temporary exhibitions round it all off. All in all, it’s the perfect, encyclopaedic introduction to a special country. Admission is free.