Travel · Jun 11, 2026 · 5 min read
How to see a famously busy old town at its quietest, and why the best hour is before the coffee shops open.
By mid-morning the lanes of the old town are full of people, bicycles and tour groups. At half past five they belong to the shopkeepers sweeping their doorsteps and the occasional dog.
I spent two weeks there on assignment and walked the same loop every morning: along the river, through the market as it set up, and back through the yellow streets as the first light hit the top of the walls.
The colours are the reason to go. Most buildings are painted in soft, chalky tones, and in low morning light they glow without looking garish. By noon the sun is overhead and everything flattens out.
If you visit, stay in town rather than at a beach resort, set an alarm you will hate, and leave the camera in your bag for the first ten minutes. Just walk. The pictures will be easier to see.
Elena CrossLandscape and travel photographer, writing between trips from Edinburgh.
