Attractions

Start your visit on our Ground Floor. Our friendly team are waiting to welcome you and answer any questions. You will also find our well stocked Gift Shop, offering a wide range of souvenirs, gifts and refreshments. 

Exhibits on the Ground Floor include the famous AutoWed marriage machine and Giant Kaleidosphere. 

This is just the start of five floors and over 100 interactive, hands-on exhibits, with something fun to entertain all ages.

On Floor 2 immerse yourself in Bewilderworld, a collection of our most popular, biggest and fun illusions. A scramble for the senses, which will leave you feeling fully bewildered! Make sure to take pictures, they’ll be the most unusual souvenirs to share with friends.

Lose yourself in our magical Mirror Maze, a bamboozling jumble of hallways that seemingly stretch for miles. Will you make it to the other side? The Vortex Tunnel is a highlight of any visit. Get ready for a mystifying, turning, tilting, twisting, crazy experience like no other! This discombobulating spinning tunnel will confuse and baffle all ages. Can you walk through without losing your balance? Spot the hidden images in Hidden In The Middle, marvel at the Chaotic Pendulum and look out at the Edinburgh view from our glass bridge. 

See Edinburgh from a different vantage point on Floor 3. 

Get interactive and use our cameras and mirrors to view yourself and the world around you in a new way. You can zoom in on the very small with our marvellous microscopes and make sure to see your reflection in the Victorian inspired Bendy Mirrors, which are almost impossible to look at without laughing. Once you travel through the sparkling and colourful Infinity Corridor you’ll find our live city Viewcams, powerful modern cameras showcasing the city in real time!

Our Thermal Camera offers you the chance to see just how hot, or cold you are and the gallery also houses the Singing Cats, and other wonderfully detailed automata. There are also lots of tricky optical illusions to keep you on your toes.

Our Light Fantastic exhibition, on Floor 4, is a filled with interactive fun, tricks, and illusions – many unique to Camera Obscura. 

Stand opposite someone and count how many versions of them you can see in our Kaleidohead. View a selection of holograms, an amazing set of unique, 3D images. Are you a musical maestro? Beam out a song with our (Not A) Light Harp, and see the notes light up as you tap out a tune.

The Ames Room is a brilliant piece of trickery, which can shrink and grow you instantly; a great photo opportunity for the whole family. Then you can try the Severed Head, a clever illusion that makes it look as if your head is being served for dinner!

And don't leave without making in impression at our newest exhibit, the Pinwall. Made of thousands of long plastic pins that create a three-dimensional impression of any object pressed against them. 4947 pins to be exact! 

You can also find our Quiet Space on Floor 4 as well as a toilet and water refill station. Ask our team for more details during your visit. 

On Floor 5, the Magic Gallery houses some of our most electrifying exhibits, a great variety of cool optical illusions and hands-on, interactive experiences. Like every aspect of your visit, it's also great fun!

Walk through the Electric Room and touch our collection of Plasma Tubes and Globes bring electricity right to your fingertips. You can literally light up the room by using your hands to connect our giant Plasma Ball to a light tube on the wall. Don't worry if you feel the spark as a tiny shock - it's a very small current, which is quite safe.

Explore classic optical illusions including maddening magic eye pictures and mind-bending mirrors. Become a 'big head' with the giant lens. Swap noses and heads with your friends, or shake hands with yourself. Don't miss the Shadow Wall, which captures your shadow in a flash! Introducing our newest exhibit, Light Dancer, where you can bring ballet to life with your own hands. This beautiful spinning machine is our modern take on one of the earliest forms of animation: the zoetrope.

On Floor 6, at the very top, high above this World Heritage Site, our Rooftop Terrace offers a blockbuster panorama of Edinburgh’s famous attractions. It’s an unbeatable vantage point for ultimate 360 degree views of Edinburgh and beyond. The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, the Firth of Forth – all your favourites are visable from here. This is the perfect point for capturing breathtaking photographs and Edinburgh Castle selfies. 

Now get even closer. Use the telescopes and binoculars to take in the view – they’re completely free. These powerful lenses will swoop you right down to the action on Princes Street Gardens, or all the way up to Arthur’s Seat. And that’s the Kingdom of Fife you can see to the north. Take it all at your own pace, high above the Royal Mile’s crowds and queues. 

Enjoy astonishing views, day and night, in any weather, all year round! Famous for 'the best views in the city.' 

Discover Edinburgh's oldest tourist attraction, the Camera Obscura. At the very top of our building, on Floor 6, step inside our 173-year-old Victorian rooftop chamber and experience Edinburgh like never before! Marvel at a live panorama of the city, accompanied by an informative tour of Edinburgh's rich history. It's a view that's both fascinating and surprisingly spectacular! 

The Camera Obscura consists of a dark room, a large table and a beam of light. When you walk into our special rooftop chamber, things seem pretty straightforward. But wait...an image of Edinburgh appears on the table. The narrow closes of the Old Town. The wide open streets of the New Town. What happens next is like nothing you’ve seen before.

The Camera Obscura uses daylight and reflections to project a live image internally onto a table within a dark chamber. In daylight hours, your guide will take you on a live tour, showing off some of the city’s best landmarks.

After dark or in poor weather, we offer a fantastic projection show, showing-off the same magnificent views observed from the Camera Obscura, with footage recorded from the very top of our tower during daylight hours.

Discover how the Camera Obscura works here.