St Giles' Cathedral

mrsmollyc

06 Jul 2026

Stunning cathedral with beautiful features

4

4

Date of visit: June 2026

I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.

I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair

Overall Rating

Good

St Giles Cathedral is a popular place to visit and it’s clear why. It’s absolutely beautiful inside and I really enjoyed exploring it. The stained glass windows and the organ were my favourite parts. It’s free to enter and I was able to see the main parts of the cathedral thanks to some ramps. There were a couple of places that had a step or two that I wasn’t able to reach.

Disabled Access In and Around

Good

At the entrance to the cathedral there are two ramps and when I visited, one was being used for people entering and one for people exiting. However, the one to enter was steeper than the other and because of how much it was raining, and because there was a short queue on the ramp, I asked a staff member if I could use the exit ramp instead because I was concerned about slipping back down the entrance ramp. On a day with less rain it probably would have been fine! But the staff were also happy for me to use whichever ramp was better for me. Once inside there was another ramp to enter the main area of the cathedral. At the top of the ramp there was an information desk with a volunteer there. There was a mass taking place when I visited so everyone was very quiet and the priest could be heard through the sound system around the cathedral. There were lots of seats throughout where you could sit and listen. There were some amazing things to see inside. There were a couple of areas that seemed to only be accessed via a step or two, which was a bit of a shame. But I really enjoyed exploring the parts of the cathedral I could get to. The floors throughout were really smooth without many gaps or lips between the flagstones. It was fairly busy when I went, once inside it didn’t feel like an overwhelming amount of people because it was really quiet inside. This may vary at different times of the day.

Accessible facilities: Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals

Parking & Transport

Average

I travelled to this place by walk or wheel

There isn’t any dedicated parking for the cathedral so if you were looking to drive you would need to look for on-street parking or public car parks nearby. Edinburgh Waverley is a short walk away from the cathedral, roughly 350 metres. The closest bus stops are on George IV Bridge, outside the National Library of Scotland.

Staff

Excellent

The staff were really helpful and there were people clearly visible around the cathedral. I was always shown the best routes to take in my wheelchair if it varied from the way the crowd was going.