{Edinburgh} Leith Links Play Park
Starting the year as he means to go on, my 8 year old decided he wants to carry on the quest he started last year, to visit as many different playgrounds in Edinburgh as possible, so we jumped on a bus and headed to Leith Links. It was a bit complicated to get there, as Leith Walk was is still partially closed so the bus took an unexpected detour, but usually it’s fairly easy as you can just take a bus straight down Leith Walk (known as ‘the foot’ of Leith Walk) and from there it’s a short walk to the Links.
Although it was bitterly cold, my son really enjoyed this playground. It’s really big, with a lot of play equipment. There’s a sand area, with play equipment aimed at younger children, including a pirate ship, play unit with climbing features and sand toys, and toddler slide.
In a separate area, there’s another bigger pirate ship, with lots of different play features, including climbing net, zip line, fireman’s pole and slide. Separate play equipment includes climbing climbing boulders, various swings, a roundabout, balancing beams, trampoline, climbing frame, and another bigger zip line.
All this is within one fenced-on play area, and opposite that is another separate play which contains one giant climbing net. There’s picnic tables available at Leith Links Play Park too, and we saw some toilets advertised, though we popped in to the use the toilets at the Tesco Superstore instead, as that was on the way back to our bus.
There’s a lot there for all ages at Leith Links playground. My 8 yr old gave it a double thumbs up – the highest rating on our scale – and wants to come back with his big brother (who was feeling a bit poorly on this occasion). It’s definitely worth making the trip out to Leith Links just for this playground.
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Playground Stats
Name: Leith Links
Location: Leith, Edinburgh
Map coordinates: 55.9709927,-3.1663623
Best for: All ages
Ground cover: Sand, Rubber, Wood chips, Grass
Rating: Double thumbs up
Last visited: 2 January 2023
Play Equipment
- Sand play area
- Toddler play unit with climbing features and sand toys
- Toddler slide
- Wobbly pirate ship
- Spring rockers
- Climbing boulders
- Pirate ship themed play unit with climbing features, a slide, swinging seats, small zip line, fireman’s pole, telescope and more
- Regular swings, toddler swings, and a basket swing
- Roundabout
- Big zip line
- Climbing frame
- Balancing beams
- Trampoline
- Big climbing net
Facilities
- Picnic table & benches
- Large park to run around in
- Nearby toilets
How to get there
There are around ten different Lothian Bus lines that all stop either at the Foot of Leith Walk, or on Duke Street and Hermitage Place, on the south end of Leith Links. It’s less than a ten minute walk from the bus stops to the play park area.
Edited (July 2023): The Tram line now also goes to Leith, so you can get a tram to the ‘Foot of the Walk’ stop.
Check out our A to Z map of public playgrounds in Edinburgh to plan your next playground visit, and let us know your favourites that you think we should check out in the comments below!
