Date Night Ideas in Edinburgh

Setup.Comfortable shoes, a flask of something hot, and a card or a few coins in case you want to leave a donation at the garden. Start at the west end of the Innocent Railway path at St Leonard's.

1. Walk the tunnel first. It is 566 yards long, lit along its roof, and was built for a horse drawn railway that opened in 1831 to haul coal into the city.
2. Follow the path east through the trees, with Duddingston Loch showing on your left, until it meets a road. Turn left there for the village and look for Old Church Lane.
3. Look round Duddingston Kirk, then slip into Dr Neil's Garden, which sits between the kirk and the loch, and find a quiet corner by the water.
4. Watch the reeds for herons before you head back, or climb the steps from the village up into Holyrood Park if you both still have the legs.

Talk about:If we lived in a village this small, what would a normal Tuesday look like for us?

Setup.A short iron or wedge, a putter and a ball each. Players bring their own, so borrow a set if neither of you plays. Pick a light evening between late April and September.

1. Walk onto the Links and find the first hole. There is no booking system; you just play in turn.
2. Play nine holes. Whoever loses a hole picks the next question the other has to answer honestly.
3. Keep going if it is fun, call it a draw if it is not.
4. Walk home across the Meadows next door while it is still light.

Talk about:What is something you were terrible at the first time and quietly love now?

Setup.A grey afternoon and nothing booked. General admission is free; check hours before you go.

1. Stand in the entrance hall together and try to name faces in the frieze before reading any labels. There are more than 150 of them.
2. Split up for 30 minutes. Each find one portrait you would invite to dinner and one you would avoid at a party.
3. Meet back in the hall and pitch your picks. The other person decides who gets the invitation.
4. If any photographs are on display, swap and do it again with those.

Talk about:If someone painted your portrait for this building, what would you want in the background?

Setup.Layers and a hat, even in summer, because the wind off the Forth does not care about the forecast. Buses run regularly from Princes Street.

1. Get off in Portobello and head straight down to the beach.
2. Walk the promenade east towards Joppa, then come back along the sand if the tide leaves you room.
3. Stop outside the swim centre on the prom. It was built in 1898 and holds one of only three Victorian Turkish baths left in Scotland.
4. Find something hot to eat and sit facing the water until your hands get cold.

Talk about:If we could spend one year living by the sea, which sea, and what would we do every morning?

Setup.Shoes with grip and a phone torch for the way down. Aim to enter the Hermitage of Braid from Braid Road about an hour before sunset.

1. Follow the main path along the Braid Burn through the Hermitage woods.
2. Leave the trees and head up onto Blackford Hill. It is not high, but some paths are rough, steep or muddy.
3. Face north and name every landmark you can see, then turn round for the Pentland Hills.
4. Come down on the road past the Royal Observatory to the arch near King's Buildings. It is steep in places, but a road is easier to follow than a woodland path once the light goes.

Talk about:Point at the part of the city where you were happiest this year. What happened there?

Setup.Shoes with grip, water, and a warm layer for the top. Check the park's bus guide for the stop nearest Hillend; the park asks visitors to come by public transport where they can, because its car parks fill up.

1. Start at the lower car park at Hillend Country Park and follow the castle waymarkers.
2. Climb up and over the top of the dry ski slope. Stop often, turn round, and look back at the city.
3. Drop down through Swanston and walk slowly past the thatched cottages around the green.
4. Finish on the farm track back to Hillend. It is about 4 km in all.

Talk about:What is one hill, real or not, you want us to climb together next year?

Setup.A pub running weekly trivia. A team name. A pen.

1. Order food before the quiz starts.
2. Argue every contested answer.
3. Stay for the prize round even if you cannot win.

Setup.A pumpkin patch (October only). Boots, it gets muddy.

1. Walk the whole patch before picking.
2. Hayride if available.
3. Carve at home that evening.

Setup.A pub with a weekly quiz night. Most pubs run them, usually free entry.

1. Order food before the quiz starts. Eating mid-quiz is hard.
2. Pick a team name. Submit it confidently.
3. Argue every contested answer.
4. Stay for the prize round even if you cannot win.

Setup.A Christmas market in December. Mittens, hats, cash for the stalls.

1. Glühwein first, the mug is your warming tool.
2. Walk the market once before any food.
3. Pick one ornament you both like, ban impulse buys after.
4. End at a Christmas concert if there is one nearby.

Setup.An antiquarian or used bookshop in a literary city. Cash for small purchases. A budget.

1. Each picks the section they would never otherwise visit.
2. Spend 30 minutes there. Pick one book.
3. Reveal at the till.
4. Read at a café for 30 minutes before walking on.

Setup.A Sunday roast pub for lunch. A second pub within walking distance for after.

1. Reserve the roast, Sundays book up fast.
2. Walk slowly to the second pub.
3. A half-pint and a dessert at the second.
4. Quiz night if you happen on one, stay.

Setup.A restaurant doing weekend bottomless brunch. Reservations.

1. Order water alongside everything, important.
2. Eat the eggs first, the cocktails second.
3. Walk for at least 30 minutes after.

Setup.An independent cheese shop with a counter. Cash for tips.

1. Tell the cheesemonger your style, soft, hard, blue, weird.
2. Six tastes between you. Buy three to take home.
3. Pair with bread and fruit at home.

Setup.A drive-in cinema. A blanket for after sunset, snacks pre-packed.

1. Arrive 30 minutes early for a good spot.
2. Tune the radio to the listed FM frequency.
3. Recline seats for sightlines.
4. Coffee on the way home, drive-ins end late.

Setup.A poetry book or 5 printed poems. Most public domain poetry is free online.

1. Take turns reading one poem each, slowly.
2. After each one, sit with it for 30 seconds, no rushing to the next.
3. Each picks a favourite line and writes it on a card.
4. Put the card somewhere neither of you would normally look.

Setup.A café neither of you has been to, ideally with a window seat.

1. Order one drink each, slowly. Take the window seat.
2. Pick three strangers. Each invents their backstory in 60 seconds.
3. Compare. Vote on the most plausible one.
4. Stay one full hour. Order a second round if you must.

Setup.Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube. One shared playlist. A theme.

1. Agree on the theme, "songs from our first year", "Sunday morning", "rage drive".
2. Each adds 10 songs in 30 minutes. No vetoes during the round.
3. Press shuffle. Listen end-to-end together.
4. After the playthrough, each can remove three of the other's picks. No more.