Edinburgh Hogmanay Torchlight Procession || Scotland | Travel Diary

As part of the annual opening celebrations to Edinburgh's Hogmanay festival, there is a Torchlight procession on the 30th December. We decided to be a part of the tradition, and carry a torch ourselves, along with 8,000 other participants!

Lend me a light.

The Torchlight Procession started at 7:00pm from George IV Bridge in the old town, ready to walk through the city streets in the middle of Edinburgh's city.

 The procession making its way to Calton Hill, which you can see lit up red in the distance.

 We arrived at Calton Hill just as the fireworks started and the bonfire was already ablaze.

Being part of the procession was a great experience and I really felt involved and welcomed into Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations.

A beautiful view of Edinburgh below, through the haze of bonfire smoke.

The procession was well organised, and child-friendly (as far as flaming torches go, unlike the Lewes event). But we did queue for over an hour.

My advice is, next time, rather than starting at the very beginning and queuing with 8,000 other people. I would prefer to watch the parade with my un-lit torch in hand, and then light it once the rest of the parade (full of yelling Vikings, bagpipe bands and other performers) has come past, and then join in with the rest of the torch bearers. I feel that even though it was fun to participate in the torchlight procession, I also missed seeing the rest of the parade.

Also if you want to hold a torch you are required to wear gloves, which isn't an issue since it was pretty cold anyway, but make sure those gloves are dark in colour, and not your favourites. At the end of the procession almost all of us had paraffin wax, soot and a disgusting smell all over our gloves and hats, which would not go away until after a thorough washing.

The Christmas market was a logical next destination after the fireworks had finished, so we made our way back, enjoyed some tasty brews and bratwursts, then returned back to our accommodation. For it had been an incredible but exhausting day, with the "Hairy Coo Tour" as well as the Torchlight Procession. We needed to regain our energy for the Hogmanay New Years Eve Street Party the next day.