Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh

What it’s like

Wander round an art college campus for exhibitions, talks, concerts and a guided tour of the buildings.

This is a working art college, not a museum built for visitors, and that's part of the appeal if you've got a teenager who's curious about what studying art actually looks like. The Talbot Rice Gallery hosts exhibitions worth a wander, and ECA Talks brings in lectures if that's more your speed. There are also performances and concerts on through the year, so it's worth seeing what's on before you plan around a specific one.

The campus tours are the easiest way in if you don't already know your way round the buildings. They meet at the Main Building reception on Lauriston Place, and the site lists the next run as October to December 2026, every Monday from 2.30pm to 3.30pm, alongside separate Central Campus and King's Buildings tours. That's a fairly narrow window, so if a Monday afternoon doesn't fit your week, you'll be looking at the exhibitions and talks instead.

The building itself is open to ECA students from 8am to 9pm on weekdays and 10am to 6pm at weekends, though what that means for a visiting family with younger kids depends on what's actually on that day. This isn't somewhere with a ticket desk and a gift shop at the end. It's a real college campus, and the best days out here are the ones built around a specific talk, exhibition or tour rather than just turning up and hoping for the best.

Plan your visit

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