Literary route through the Edinburgh of Stevenson, Scott and Conan Doyle

Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, Arthur Conan Doyle, Muriel Spark, Ian Rankin… Writers from every era have walked the streets of the Scottish capital, and this literary route through Edinburgh brings them together in a two-and-a-half-hour walk.

The route starts at the Wellington statue with a look at Scots and Gaelic, and continues via the Café Royal, where Allan Ramsay and George Mackay Brown are remembered, and St Andrew Square, where David Hume is remembered. At the Scottish National Portrait Gallery you'll travel through centuries of Scottish writing, and in Queen Gardens you'll hear about Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Next you'll reach Robert Louis Stevenson's house on Heriot Row, and North Castle Street, which bears the mark of Sir Walter Scott, a pioneer of the historical novel. There's also room for Ian Rankin's crime fiction at the Oxford Bar, for Muriel Spark in Charlotte Square and for pioneering women writers such as Margaret Oliphant and Susan Ferrier. The route ends in Stockbridge with Alexander McCall Smith and returns to the starting point.

And if you're travelling to Edinburgh with Harry Potter fans, there's also the Harry Potter free tour.