Campus visit
Student-led tours are ideal for visitors to the city who want to find out more about student life and our campuses. We provide tours for both the Central Campus and King’s Buildings Campus.
January visits
Our campus visits are for potential undergraduates and postgraduates from all over the world, interested in any subject. The focus of the tour is on what it is like to be a student at Edinburgh, but you will also be sent a recorded presentation to provide you with further information about the University.
The campus visit is free to attend, but you must book your space in advance. Family and friends are also welcome, however, we kindly request only one additional guest accompanies you on the tour. This is in order to ensure there is as much availability for prospective students as possible.
Please note that we are unable to offer detailed subject-specific information as part of this visit, and it will not include meetings with subject areas or potential supervisors.
We will explore all options to avoid cancelling our tours, however there may be rare occasions where tours are cancelled at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. We are unable to accept liability for any costs incurred by visitors (e.g. travel, accommodation). You might want to consider travel insurance or flexible tickets.
Register now to attend a Campus Visit
Travelling with more than one guest?
If you have travelled to visit us with more than one guest they are welcome to explore the University at their own pace using our self-guided audio tour. Alternatively, our University has many wonderful cafes and a beautiful local area to walk around.
Are you visiting Edinburgh on a day when we are not hosting tours?
Don't worry! You can explore the campuses with our self-guided tour at a time that suits you.
Download our self-guided tour now, and have it ready for when you come to our University:
If you have any particular questions about the student experience please ask our student ambassadors on Unibuddy, who would be delighted to assist. You can do this at any time during the year:
Chat to our students with Unibuddy
More information
During December, due to exams and the Winter break, we will not be hosting campus tours in person.
You can however, explore the campuses with our self-guided tour at a time that suits you.
Download our self-guided tour now, and have it ready for when you come to our University:
If you have any particular questions about the student experience please ask our student ambassadors on Unibuddy, who would be delighted to assist. You can do this at any time during the year:
During January campus visits will run on Mondays and Fridays starting on Monday 15 January 2024 at the following times:
Central Area:
- 1200-1300 * This tour is suitable if you wish to attend either of the King's Buildings tours later in the day
- 1300-1400 * This tour is suitable if you wish to attend the 1530 King's Buildings tour
King’s Buildings:
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1415-1500
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1530-1615
Central Campus Tour:
You should check-in at the University Visitor Centre at 2 Charles Street (EH8 9AD) around 10 minutes prior to your campus visit start time.
The tour gives you an overview of the University of Edinburgh from someone who knows it best: one of our current students. We will take you around George Square and the surrounding region, referred to as the central campus. The tour will give you an insight into what life is like as a student here.
The tour does not include visits to specific Schools, departmental buildings or student accommodation, however, your guide will share their experience of studying and living in Edinburgh.
King's Buildings Campus Tour (self transfer):
Please check-in outside the Nucleus Building around 10 minutes prior to your campus visit start time . If you use what3words for navigation, the Nucleus Building is: https://w3w.co/metals.shape.mouse
This tour is specifically aimed towards students who will be studying degree programmes in the College of Science and Engineering who will likely split their time between both central and King’s Buildings. Please note this does not include School of Informatics or Deanery of Biomedical Sciences as they are based in the Central Area.
The tour does not include visits to specific Schools, departmental buildings or student accommodation, however, your guide will share their experience of studying and living in Edinburgh.
Climate Conscious Travel
We highly encourage climate-conscious travel for our staff, students and visitors and would ask that you consider low-carbon travel options where possible. Specific details about how to travel to the city of Edinburgh and our campuses can be found on the University's "Travelling the the University" web pages:
Public Transport
The city of Edinburgh and has excellent public transport connections and it's possible to walk from city centre to the central area campus.
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Train - Edinburgh Waverley Railway station is walking distance from our central campus. It will take approximately 15-20 minutes to walk to the University Visitor Centre.
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Bus - Edinburgh has an excellent bus network . If you're coming directly from the Airport, the Airlink airport buses operate their services from the airport directly into the city centre where you can transfer to local Lothian bus routes to either the central campus or the King's Buildings campus.
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We'd recommend using the Lothian Buses journey planner to help you navigate your way.
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Google Maps also provides helpful information about bus routes. If searching Google Maps, bus stops near to the Central campus include: "Bristo Square", "Potterrow", "Surgeon's Hall"and "Chapel Street". For King's Buildings, the bus stop within the campus is entitled "Kings Buildings", but "West Mains Road" and "Rankin Drive" will also bring you within walking distance of the campus.
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Tram - Direct route from Edinburgh Airport to Princes Street however this is approximately a 20-25 minute walk away from central campus. From the Princes Street tram stop you can choose to continue your journey to our campus via walking, bus or taxi.
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Taxi - Taxis are widely available throughout the city. There are designated taxi ranks located outside Waverley train station's Market Street exit and outside Edinburgh airport's Arrival area.
Personal Vehicles
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There is extremely limited parking around the campuses for visitors so we would strongly advise you to plan parking in advance should you drive to visit us . Please see the University's Parking web pages for more details:
Undergraduates
The University hosts undergraduate Open Days every year which will include an opportunity to find out more about specific subjects, to speak to academic, admissions and support service staff; and to visit university accommodation.
Postgraduates
Postgraduate specific events continue to be hosted virtually. If you will be travelling to Edinburgh and wish to visit your potential supervisor or programme team please email them directly to ask if this can be arranged.
For bookings of more than 5 people please email us:
Virtual Alternatives
You can also find out more about the University and what being a student here is like from the comfort of your own home, anywhere in the world.
Take our virtual tour and explore what it's like to study and live in Edinburgh
Unibuddy gives you the opportunity to text chat to our current students about their experience. You will be able to choose to connect with a range of students, from different countries, studying across different subject areas and levels of study.
You can view the event details and book on to the sessions below. Please use the tags to select sessions appropriate to your study level of interest: PG indicates postgraduate, UG indicates undergraduate.
Session recordings
Some of these sessions may be recorded. If they are being recorded you will be told about this during booking and at the beginning of the session. Any information that you provide during a session is optional and in doing so you give us consent to process this information.
Recorded sessions will be stored by the University of Edinburgh for one year and published on our website during that time.
By taking part in a session you give us your consent to process any information you provide during it.
Privacy statement
In order to facilitate online bookings for our events we use GeckoEngage and EventsAir - third party services which are not operated by the University of Edinburgh.
For more information about how we use your personal data, please view our privacy statement.
Find us on social media
If you'd like to connect with us, our team are available: