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Travelling Gallery (various locations within Edinburgh) – this is a mobile art gallery that goes from place to place – bringing contemporary art exhibits into school and communities within the Scottish capital and other parts of Scotland. The Gallery usually tours two exhibitions per year for about four months at a time and is often at a different venue each day. Admission: free. Hours vary. Check this gallery’s website for details: www.travellinggallery.com

The Writers’ Museum (Lady Stair’s Close, Edinburgh) – this museum pays tribute to the lives of three major Scottish writers: Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Tourists can see portraits, rare books and personal objects including Burns’ writing desk, the printing press on which Scott’s Waverley Novels were first produced, and Scott’s own dining table and rocking horse. We have Robert Louis Stevenson’s riding boots and the ring given to him by a Samoan chief, engraved with the name ‘Tusitala’, meaning ‘teller of tales’. There is also a plaster cast of Robert Burns’ skull, one of only three ever made. Admission: free. Hours: 10 am – 5 pm (Monday – Saturday), 12 pm – 5 pm (Sunday/August only).

The People’s Story (Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh) – this museum is located within the 16th century structure known as Canongate Tolbooth. Unlike other museums, this one uses oral history reminiscence and written sources to reveal the accounts of those ordinary individuals who’ve lived and worked in Edinburgh from the 18th century to the present. Admission: free. Hours: 10 am – 5 pm (Monday – Saturday), 12 pm – 5 pm (Sunday).

Scottish National Portrait Gallery (1 Queen Street, Edinburgh) – tourists can see one of Edinburgh’s most iconic buildings and explore a fascinating overview of Scotland’s past and present though a wealth of imagery encompassing painting, photography, sculpture and film. Such individuals are those who helped shape the nation’s identity at home and abroad: from Mary — Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie, to more recent figures such as James McAvoy and Susan Boyle.

Visitors can see the outstanding national collection in its newly refurbished 19th century home, from the suite of grand, top-lit galleries to smaller, intimate rooms, and discover the new Photography Gallery and the atmospheric Victorian Library.  The building’s elaborate Arts and Crafts decorative scheme, its glittering friezes, evocative murals and extensive sculptural embellishment, make for an unforgettable experience. Admission: free. Hours: 10 am – 5 pm (daily, except Thursday – closing at 7 pm)(closing at 6 pm during August).

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (73/75 Belford Road, Edinburgh) — Home to Scotland’s outstanding national collection of modern and contemporary art, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art comprises two buildings, Modern One and Modern Two. Set in beautiful parkland close to the Waters of Leith you can explore sculpture by major artists such as Anthony Gormley, Henry Moore, Rachel Whiteread and Barbara Hepworth, and discover the dramatic lawn at the front of Modern One, designed by landscape architect, Charles Jencks.

The collection at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art ranges from 1900s to the present day, including works by Matisse, Picasso, Vuillard and Dix, as well as a superb selection of paintings by Scottish artists such as Peploe, Fergusson, Gillies and Redpath. Also on display are postwar works by Bacon, Freud, Davie, Hockney and Leger and more recent pieces by Turner prize winning artists Richard Wright and Martin Creed, alongside Karla Black, Douglas Gordon and Tracey Emin to name a few.

Admission: free. Hours: 10 am – 5 pm (daily; 6 pm closing in August)

Queensferry Museum (53 High Street, South Queensferry) — located in the historic former royal burgh of Queensferry (just west of Edinburgh), the museum commands magnificent views of the two great bridges spanning the Forth. Its collections trace the history of the people of Queensferry and Dalmeny, the historic ferry passage to Fife. Admission: free. Hours: 10 am – 1 pm; 2:15 pm – 5 pm (Monday, Thursday-Saturday); 12 pm – 5 pm (Sunday). Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Heart of Neolithic Orkney — the group of Neolithic monuments on Orkney consists of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites. The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago.

Note: given its location off the mainland coast of Scotland, touring these sites are only for those who can arrive at the island of Orkney, such as cruise ship passengers, or those arriving via ferry boat. Those who are able to do so should book a tour with an excursion outfit, such as: http://www.greatorkneytours.co.uk; http://www.orkneyarchaeologytours.co.uk; http://orkneyuncovered.co.uk; and www.see-orkney.co.uk