Doors Open Days Can Help Us Fall In Love With Edinburgh Again
Over 100 venues across Edinburgh and East Lothian to open their doors for Scotland’s largest free heritage festival
Fall in love with Edinburgh again – that is the challenge to residents as Doors Open Day returns with its most accessible ever programme of events.
The two-day festival on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2026 will give locals free access to buildings, unique experiences and a new perspective on the spaces and stories that shape Edinburgh and East Lothian.
Coordinated locally by The Cockburn Association, Edinburgh’s civic trust, this year’s event will bring together over 100 venues spanning the length and breadth of the city, and beyond, with a programme ranging from guided walking tours, events for children and young people, novel partnerships, and rare behind-the-scenes opportunities.
This year’s theme, Heritage at Risk: Revive, Resist, Reimagine, invites participating venues and visitors to explore how Edinburgh’s built heritage is being protected, adapted for new uses, and reimagined for the future.
As the coordinators of Doors Open Days in a region shaped by the pressures of over-tourism, The Cockburn Association believes residents should also benefit from their own city’s cultural landscape, and that engaging with local heritage brings genuine benefits to health and wellbeing.
This year’s festival builds on our digital offerings, making it more accessible than ever and giving residents more ways to take part without leaving their homes.
Now in its 36th year locally, after beginning in France in 1984. Doors Open Days first arrived in the UK in Glasgow in 1990. It has since grown into Scotland’s largest free cultural festival, with more than 950 venues taking part nationally last year.
Unlike much of Edinburgh’s cultural offer, Doors Open Days is aimed squarely at residents, encouraging people to see their own city with fresh eyes, and it’s FREE.
Stephen Jardine, President of The Cockburn Association, said: “At a time when Edinburgh is under more pressure than ever, it’s easy to overlook what makes Scotland’s capital so special.
“Doors Open Days is a chance for us to encounter the amazing heritage we have all around us. I’d encourage everyone to use it as an opportunity to explore the city with fresh eyes….and to fall in love with Edinburgh again”
Rowan Brown, Director of The Cockburn Association, said: “I’m thrilled that the Cockburn is coordinating part of Scotland’s largest free heritage festival and delighted that it’s set to be our most accessible yet, with something for all ages, interests, and abilities.
“There is unequivocal evidence that engaging with heritage makes you happier, and healthier, so be kind to yourself, your friends and your family and join in one or, ideally, several, free Doors Open Days events.
“I’m extremely grateful to our Doors Open Days Venue Hosts and Volunteers, my colleagues and our sponsors, the City of Edinburgh Council and the Neilson Family Foundation, whose collective civic spirit is simply inspiring.”
INVITING EVERY PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILD IN EDINBURGH, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH IMPACT ARTS
This year’s festival also includes a landmark initiative to send a Doors Open Days invitation to every primary school child in Edinburgh, extending the festival’s reach to the city’s youngest residents and helping build a lifelong relationship with the city’s heritage from an early age.
Delivered in partnership with Impact Arts, a Scottish charity established in 1994 that uses creativity to tackle inequalities and transform young people’s lives, engaging communities across almost all of Scotland’s local authorities, the first 10,000 primary school children to attend selected venues on the 26 and 27 of September will receive a free box of Cockburn-branded coloured pencils and a monochrome artwork created by Impact Arts.
Due to a shipment delay, free boxes of Cockburn-branded coloured pencils will be available at some, but not all, participating venues.
Children are then invited to colour in their artwork and submit it as part of a competition, with prizes generously donated by Camera Obscura, Filmhouse, the National Galleries of Scotland and Contini which will be awarded by our President. Competition entries must be submitted by Friday, 9th of October.
Winners will be notified on Monday, 26th of October, ahead of our prize-giving ceremony on Thursday, 12th of November (venue to be announced).
Impact Arts will also host an exhibition at St Michael’s Parish Church, accompanied by a booklet showcasing the artwork and participating venues, available in print and online.
PARTNERING WITH INVISIBLE CITIES
This year’s festival also includes a partnership with Invisible Cities, a social enterprise that trains people with experience of homelessness to become walking tour guides.
The Cockburn Association has funded four tours over the Doors Open Days weekend, giving residents a unique perspective on the city.
PARTNERING WITH THE TRINITY NETWORK
As part of the digital offerings, The Cockburn Association is also partnering with Jill Harrison, a research associate at the Open University and the lead of the Trinity Network to curate an online exhibition on Trinity Apse, one of Edinburgh’s finest medieval structures, and all that remains of a church built in the 1460s for Mary of Guelders, Queen of Scotland.
Built around this year’s Doors Open Days theme, Heritage at Risk, the exhibition revives the story of the apse and its founder, resists their slide into obscurity, and reimagines what the building’s future could hold.
All events are free to attend, but on some experiences, spaces are limited.
The full programme of venues and activities went live on the Doors Open Days website on 31 July 2026, at www.doorsopendays.org.uk.
