Capital gains: the best of London and Edinburgh in pictures

Edinburgh is a handsome city in a striking setting. Start your exploration at Princes Street Gardens, beneath the shadow of the city’s ancient castle and presided over by the 200-foot-high Scott Monument, erected in memory of revered writer Sir Walter Scott. Climb the interior spiral staircase for views over his hometown. Photograph: Image Source/Getty Images/Image Source

Nowhere knows how to party like Edinburgh and there’s no greater party than the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Set against the backdrop of the city’s imposing castle, this unforgettable spectacle features almost 1,000 pipers, drummers, singers and dancers, including massed military bands who emerge from the castle gates playing stirring battle tunes. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The Royal Mile runs for almost exactly that – from Edinburgh Castle through the Old Town to Holyrood Palace – and is lined with stately, historic buildings. Many of these now house touristy shops and cafes, but worth a look are Gladstone’s Land, a typical 17th-century tenement building, and the Writers’ Museum. Photograph: Walter Bibikow/Getty Images/AWL Images RM

London’s West End is the best place in the world to see a show, with some 40 theatres showing an ever-changing selection of world-beating musicals and top-notch plays, such as Mama Mia. The longest running musical in West End history is The Mousetrap, now in its 62nd year, while Les Miserables has been showing since 1985. Photograph: Cultura Travel/Alex Holland/Getty Images

Few buildings can match the Tower of London for sheer weight of history, playing host to almost 1,000 years of coronations, executions and murders. Tour the White Tower where the child princes Edward and Richard were said to be imprisoned and visit the priceless crown jewels, still worn regularly by the Queen. Photograph: Chris Hepburn/Getty Images

Edinburgh Castle, perching atop a volcanic plug, cannot be missed. Enter via the Esplanade to check out the city’s oldest building, the 12th-century St Margaret’s Chapel, and gawp at the Honours of Scotland, the country’s crown jewels, not used since 1651. Photograph: Doug Corrance./Getty Images

Few cities can rival London for shopping and the heart of it all is Oxford Street, lined with the flagship outlets of dozens of British high street names, from M&S and John Lewis to Topshop. It’s more than a mile long, so hop aboard one of the world-renowned red double-decker buses to save the shoe leather. Photograph: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy

Beneath Whitehall lies the Cabinet War Rooms, an underground maze of rooms that sheltered Winston Churchill and his ministers during the second world war and formed the nerve centre of the British government from 1940–1945. See where it all happened before learning about the great man himself in the adjoining Churchill Museum. Photograph: Steve Vidler/Alamy

How many capital cities can boast their own volcano? Edinburgh can, and you can climb it in little more than an hour from the city centre, hiking up through Holyrood Park to the cliffs of Salisbury Crags and on up Arthur’s Seat for views over the ancient city and to the Firth of Forth beyond. Photograph: Allan wright/Alamy

London has a new high point – the ArcelorMittal Orbit at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Designed by Anish Kapoor it features a lift to whisk you up to 114 metres for views over the Olympic stadium and towards the city centre. A spiral staircase “orbits” you down around the UK’s tallest sculpture back to earth. Photograph: imageBROKER /Alamy