East Lothian is the stretch of coast east of Edinburgh along the south shore of the Forth. It’s one of those places that Edinburgh residents have traditionally kept to themselves, which tells you something. Good beaches, good golf, good walking and easy access from the city – it gets busy at weekends in summer but is quiet most of the rest of the time.
North Berwick is the main town and has a proper seaside feel without trying too hard. The harbour is small, the high street is decent and the beaches are good.
The Scottish Seabird Centre on the harbour looks out to the Bass Rock – a large chunk of volcanic rock offshore that turns white in summer with the bodies of around 150,000 gannets. It’s one of the larger gannetries in the world and boat trips run out to it through the season. Worth the trip if you can time it for when the gannets are there.
The golf here is significant. East Lothian has an unusually high concentration of links courses for its size – 22 in a relatively small area. Gullane has several courses running into each other on the links above the village.
Muirfield, nearby, is one of the most respected courses in the world and hosts The Open regularly. North Berwick Golf Club has a West Links course with a famously tricky par three across a sea inlet. Most are accessible to visitors with a handicap certificate.
Aberlady Bay is a nature reserve good for waders and wildfowl, and the walk from there along to Gullane and Dirleton passes through varied coastal habitat. Haddington, inland, is a well-preserved market town with a medieval church – St Mary’s is the largest parish church in Scotland – and a quiet, slightly old-fashioned high street. It’s a good place for a slow afternoon.
Dunbar at the eastern end of the county is a working town with a ruined castle above the harbour and strong associations with John Muir, who was born here in 1838. Muir went on to found the American national parks movement, and the John Muir Country Park west of town covers dunes, saltmarsh and cliff coastline in his memory.
Musselburgh, closest to Edinburgh, has a racecourse and access to Portobello beach. The county as a whole tends to be better than people expect.