Edinburgh With Kids: Age Limits and Costs
Check the age floors before you check the prices
Edinburgh has more genuinely good family attractions than a week can hold, and three of them will turn a child away at the door. The Edinburgh Dungeon admits no child under five, recommends eight and over, and sells no walk-up tickets at all. The Real Mary King’s Close also admits no child under five. Camera Obscura is stairs only, so pushchairs stay at admissions. Sort the ages first and the itinerary writes itself.
The age and access rules, in one place
| Attraction | Age rule | Access note |
|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh Dungeon | no under-5s, 8+ recommended, under-16s with an adult 18+ | pre-booking essential, no walk-ups |
| The Real Mary King’s Close | no under-5s | guided groups only, timed |
| Camera Obscura | 12 and under with someone 16+ | six floors, stairs only, no pushchairs past admissions |
| Deep Sea World Junior Shark Dive | ages 8 to 15 | book ahead |
| Royal Yacht Britannia | 0 to 6 free, 7 to 15 priced | no cash accepted on board |
Deep Sea World, North Queensferry
This is the aquarium near Edinburgh: a 15-minute train from the city to North Queensferry, free on-site parking, open every day except Christmas Day. Europe’s largest collection of sharks, an underwater tunnel, and the Bridge café looking straight at the Forth Bridge. Adults can book a Shark Dive; children aged 8 to 15 can do a Junior Shark Dive. Current times and prices are on Deep Sea World’s site . Pair it with the walk down into South Queensferry on the other side of the water and you have a full day for the price of two rail tickets and one admission.
Camera Obscura, for the wet afternoon
Top of the Royal Mile, next to the Castle. £24.95 adult, £17.95 child 5 to 15, £21.95 student with ID, with £4 off online at selected early and after-7pm slots. Over 100 interactive exhibits across six floors, a Mirror Maze, the live Camera Obscura show on the roof and a terrace with a city view. It is stairs only, so leave the pushchair at admissions, and children 12 and under need someone aged 16 or over with them. A valid ScotRail Kids for a Quid ticket gets one free child per paying adult, and the SCOTRAILKIDS40 code gives free child entry before 11am and after 6pm. Tickets at Camera Obscura .
The National Museum of Scotland is the best bad-weather building in the city
Free, on Chambers Street in the Old Town, roughly 10am to 5pm daily. Dinosaur skeletons, Dolly the sheep on display since 2003, the Fashion and Style gallery, hands-on science and technology galleries on the upper floors, and a free roof terrace with the best Castle view in Edinburgh. The Grand Gallery is the arrival space and holds over 800 objects on its own. Details at the museum . The Museum of Childhood on the Royal Mile is also free and is exactly what the name says.
Dynamic Earth and the Edinburgh Dungeon
Dynamic Earth on Holyrood Road, beside the Parliament, is the science centre and planetarium, built around the geology that James Hutton worked out on the hill next door. It runs roughly 10:00 to 17:30 daily, extending to 18:00 in July and August. One structural thing worth knowing: a single admission converts into 12 months of unlimited return visits, which changes the maths completely for anyone in the city more than a couple of days. Current tickets at Dynamic Earth .
The Edinburgh Dungeon starts at £19 per adult online against £25 on the door, with higher combination tiers at £24 and £30. There are no walk-up tickets. It is deliberately frightening, which is the whole design, so treat the 8-plus recommendation as real rather than cautious. Rules and tiers at the Dungeon .
For something underground that is written for children rather than adapted for them, Mercat Tours runs Gory Stories, a kids’ tour of the Blair Street Underground Vaults; you can book the kids’ vaults tour ahead.
Edinburgh Zoo and Britannia
Edinburgh Zoo at Corstorphine runs the Penguin Parade, a tradition going back to the 1950s, with over 100 gentoo penguins at Penguins Rock. The honest framing is that the parade happens when the penguins decide to walk, not to a fixed timetable. Koalas and sun bears are the other draws. One warning nobody puts on the website in bold: the site is a large hillside and a genuine climb, which surprises people pushing a buggy. Current opening at Edinburgh Zoo .
The Royal Yacht Britannia at Ocean Terminal in Leith is free for children aged 0 to 6 and £11.50 online in advance for 7 to 15s, and it is now a straight tram ride from Princes Street. The audio guide comes in 42 language versions and has its own children’s route. Allow about two hours, and note that Britannia does not take cash. You can book a Britannia ticket or check visiting details at the ship’s own site .
Free outdoors, with the honest version of each
- Holyrood Park. The child-scale version is the near-level loop past St Margaret’s Loch and the ruin of St Anthony’s Chapel. The 251m Arthur’s Seat summit above it is a genuine hill walk: rough, rocky ground, a final section of bare rock that goes slippery in rain and ice, footwear with real grip rather than trainers, and summit weather nothing like the weather on Princes Street, with the wind off the Firth of Forth the part people underestimate. Allow 45 to 60 minutes up and check a forecast before you take children.
- Inverleith Park, next to the Botanics, has a pond built in the 1890s as a model boating pond and still used as one by the Edinburgh Model Boat Club. Watching the fleet out on a Sunday is a genuinely charming half hour.
- Portobello beach and promenade, reached on buses 15, 26 and 45, the 26 running every 10 minutes and taking 25 to 30 minutes. Gently shelving sand and a “good” bathing-water classification for 2026, but there is no lifeguard, the Firth of Forth is cold even in August, and conditions change quickly. Paddling with an adult in arm’s reach is the sensible version.
- The Royal Botanic Garden’s grounds are free and open daily. The glasshouses are closed; the Palm Houses reopen on 2 October 2026 with advance booking only.
The Scottish Parliament also runs free arts and crafts activities for all ages, and its free guided tour works well with older children.
For the adult version of this list, see the Edinburgh activities guide . Closing tip: book the Dungeon first, because it is the only thing here you genuinely cannot buy on the day, and build the rest of the morning around whatever slot you get.