Review: The easy hiking route to Arthurs Seat

climbing up arthurs seat easy way
The view is breath-taking, even on the easy path.

There is an easy hiking route to Arthur Seat, which does not involve the straining of calf muscles – perfect for the unfit city-dweller like yours truly looking to explore Edinburgh’s hills without having to pant too much. It’s the perfect leisurely stroll – you don’t need a marathoner’s stamina or a mountain climber’s sure-footedness. You just walk. We came across the easy hiking route to Arthurs Seat by chance. After huffing and puffing to get to the top of Arthur’s Seat through the challenging way, S decided to look around for an easier path. And I’m glad we did find one, if not getting down the challenging path would have been tough.

climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Love the lone tree across the landscape.

Scenery

I find both the scenery of the challenging and easy route memorable. Perhaps because the easy route was less taxing on the mind and body, I could lift my head and admire the azure sky, along with the wild flowers lighting up the green hills. The worry that a misstep could send me tumbling down the hilly slopes had diminished, as I looked to admire the city-scape of Edinburgh.

climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Feels abit like Lord of the Rings?
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Love the lone tree in the middle of the sky.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
With the paths crisscrossing – like cracks in the hills.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
A bird’s-eye view of Edinburgh, or perhaps, that is Arthur’s view.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Unlike what was taught in art class, hills are not simply triangular shapes – they are made of undulating hills.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Seems like a really long walk, but it takes less than 2 hours to descend the hill.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
The easy path.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
A geologist’s dream – I imagine.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
What’s it like on the top. (Looks like a scene from Everest Base Camp?)
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
As we descend. There is no fixed path, it’s made of many paths.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Shadow.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Flowers littering the hills. Thought they were nice from afar.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
The wild flowers are more beautiful – close up.

Accomplishment

As we were going down, I felt a strong sense of satisfaction as we passed other travellers who were ascending Arthur’s Seat. Perhaps in my mind, I had the thinking that we were so accomplished to have taken the challenging way up. Or perhaps, it was just a ‘been there done that!’ sort of situation.

climbing up arthurs seat easy way
We came across many hills like that. Short but beautiful.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Cut my finger on a rock while going up.

So here comes the inevitable question – how does one locate the easy hiking route to Arthurs Seat?

A: After arriving from Holyrood Park, face the hilly mass of rocks and take the path with the gentler slope. Avoid the path with a steep slope!

OR

A: Follow Google maps, and head in the direction of Dunsapie Loch.

There’s a path up the hill from there, which is really straightforward.

Dunsapie Loch arthurs seat
The Dunsapie Loch at Arthur’s Seat
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Essentials of a childhood painting – the sun, a hill and a tree. Path near Dunsapie Loch.
climbing up arthurs seat easy way
Path next to Holyrood Park. Where we first came from.

The Travelling Squid’s Take

Taking the easy hiking route to Arthurs Seat was certainly a walk in the park for me. I could better appreciate the surroundings, without feeling concerned that I was going to fall, twist my ankle and be immobilised on a hill with rather steep slopes. That said, I still feel that it was meaningful to have taken two routes, and in particular the challenging path while ascending. It would have been a tad difficult to descend, especially given the inexperience hiker I was. I was glad to have experienced different types of scenery and terrain. The landscape was not only awe-inspiring, but the fact that we had perspired and panted made it feel that Arthur’s Seat was a hill like no other. There was blood too! As I scraped my thumb while attempting to scramble up the rock terrain.

Cheers to ascending this short summit! Have you climbed Arthur’s Seat before? Please share you experience in the comments section below.