Rosslyn Chapel from Edinburgh: £12 timed tickets, bus 37, the carvings to look for and the Da Vinci Code link

💡 The Short Version: Rosslyn Chapel is £12 for a 90-minute slot (£10 reduced, under-17s free), booked online at rosslynchapel.com. It is seven miles south of Edinburgh in the village of Roslin: Lothian bus 37 from Princes Street takes 45 to 60 minutes. No photography inside. The Chapel is open Monday to Saturday 9.00 to 17.00 and Sunday 12.00 to 17.00, and a guide gives a talk half an hour into each slot. Allow half a day with the bus. Or book a tour: Rosslyn Chapel and the Scottish Bordersad is from £48 for 7 hours, and Rosslyn, Stirling Castle and Dunfermline Abbeyad from £65 with the entry fees included. A tour replaces the bus and adds the Borders or Stirling (GetYourGuide).

Tickets and hours

Prices are the Chapel’s own, from rosslynchapel.com. Tickets are sold online only and are not posted: show the confirmation on your phone or printed.

• A ticket is for one slot. Changes are possible up to 24 hours ahead through the link in your confirmation email, and tickets are non-refundable.
• Cards from Historic Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland give no free or discounted entry.
• Arrive at any time within your slot, but a late arrival shortens your 90 minutes.
• Outside guides cannot lead groups into the Chapel. They can talk in the grounds.

It is open daily except 24 and 25 December and 1 January. Church services are at 10.00 on Sunday mornings and visitors are welcome at them.

Tours worth paying for

Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult. Each tour is a day out from Edinburgh with the Chapel as one stop, so check what the price includes: two of the four charge the Chapel’s entry as an extra.

Rosslyn Chapel and the Scottish Borders

From £48 · 7 hours · Rabbie’s Small Group Tours · 712 reviews

From Edinburgh: Rosslyn Chapel & Scottish Borders Tourad is a 16-seater minibus that leaves from Edinburgh Bus Station, stops at Melrose for lunch and the abbey, and passes the Eildon Hills. Entry to the Chapel is optional and is added when you choose it.

Rosslyn, the Borders and Glenkinchie

From £46 · 8 hours · Timberbush Tours · 296 reviews

Edinburgh: Rosslyn Chapel, Borders & Glenkinchie Distilleryad leaves from the NCP car park on Castle Terrace and adds Melrose Abbey and the Glenkinchie Distillery, one of the Lowland distilleries. Entry to the Chapel, the abbey and the distillery tour are optional extras.

Rosslyn, Stirling Castle and Dunfermline Abbey

From £65 · 9 hours · Highland Experience Tours · 493 reviews

Rosslyn Chapel, Stirling Castle & Dunfermline Abbey Tourad includes the entrance fees at Stirling Castle and Rosslyn Chapel, and stops at Dunfermline Abbey, where Robert the Bruce is buried, and the Bannockburn battlefield. The interior of the abbey is closed on Mondays from 1 October to 31 March, when the tour sees the outside. The Stirling Castle guide has the castle’s own prices.

Rosslyn Chapel and Hadrian’s Wall

From £89 · 10½ hours · Heart of Scotland Tours · 336 reviews

Rosslyn Chapel and Hadrian’s Wall Small Group Day Tourad is a minibus for up to 16 with lunch and the entry to the Chapel and Housesteads Fort included. It crosses into England at Carter Bar and stops at Melrose and Jedburgh.

What to see

Rosslyn Chapel was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair and took more than 40 years to build. It was unfinished when he died in 1484, and nearly every surface inside and outside is carved. The Chapel hands out a free map in 13 languages that marks the main carvings.

The south front of Rosslyn Chapel. Photo: Ymblanter, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Take the talk first. A guide speaks half an hour into each slot, so enter at the start of your slot and walk round with the map until then.
2. The Lady Chapel, at the east end, is the most decorated part. Look up for the angels playing a lute, violin, psalter and bagpipes, thought to be one of the earliest depictions of the instrument, and for the cubes carved with lines and dots that stick out from the arches. Theories say they are a secret code or musical notes, and a piece called the Rosslyn Motet has been composed as one answer. The Dance of Death is here too: skeletons pull people of every rank away.
3. The Apprentice Pillar is the most elaborately carved pillar in the Chapel. The story is that an apprentice carved it from a dream while his master was away, and the master killed him in a jealous rage.
4. The south aisle carries the seven virtues and, opposite, the seven deadly sins, each as a row of carved figures.
5. The Green Men, carvings of a face with vines growing from the mouth, appear throughout. The Chapel runs a count-them trail on its map.
6. The Sacristy, or crypt, is reached by a steep flight of steps. It was the masons’ workshop while the Chapel went up, and the drawings on its walls show the designs they used. A folder of photographs is available for visitors who cannot manage the steps.

What to skip: the visitor centre exhibits, if your slot is nearly over. Take the last 15 minutes to look at the outside, where photography is allowed.

Rosslyn Chapel from the forecourt. Photo: Syrio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown’s novel ends at the Chapel, and most of the 2006 film’s interior scenes were filmed there in 2005. The aerial view in the film is a one-sixth scale model, because the Chapel was under scaffolding, and replica walls hid the scaffolding in the interior shots. The Chapel says visitor numbers rose to over 176,000 a year at their peak after the book. The Sacristy is the crypt that featured in the film’s finale.

Getting there and what to know

Chapel Loan, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PU · seven miles south of the city centre

• Bus 37. Lothian bus 37 runs from Princes Street (shop side) or North Bridge. Check that the front says “Penicuik/Deanburn via Roslin”. It takes 45 to 60 minutes, and the Chapel is a few minutes’ walk from the stop at the Original Rosslyn Hotel. Edinburgh public transport has the bus fares and the contactless cap.
• Train and bus. The Borders Railway takes 18 minutes from Waverley to Eskbank. Buses leave from the Muirpark stop on Bonnyrigg Road, and the bus adds about 30 minutes to Roslin.
• Taxi. About 40 minutes, and the Chapel puts the fare at £30 to £40 each way. Uber drops at the Chapel but does not pick up there, so plan the return.
• By car. Roslin is off the A701 and the Chapel has a free car park with an electric vehicle charging point.
• Photography. None inside, and no video. Camera-enabled glasses, including Meta and Google models, must be switched off or removed.
• Dogs. Assistance dogs only, in the Chapel, grounds, visitor centre and coffee shop.
• Drones are not normally permitted.
• Facilities. There is a coffee shop with a terrace over Roslin Glen, a gift shop and the visitor centre. Rosslyn Castle, the St Clair family’s old home, is a short walk down the glen.

Rosslyn Castle, seen from Roslin Glen. Photo: Kognos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Chapel is one of the day trips from Edinburgh. What to book before you go to Edinburgh has the tickets that sell out, and Edinburgh Castle tickets has the castle’s timed tickets. Edinburgh Airport to the city covers the first and last day, and where to stay in Edinburgh compares the areas.