Queensferry: Sightseeing Cruise to Inchcolm Island

This sightseeing cruise takes you from Queensferry, just outside Edinburgh, out across the Firth of Forth and beneath the Three Bridges to Inchcolm Island. Onboard commentary points out landmarks along the way, and you can pick up a drink or snack from the bar while scanning the water for seals and puffins.

Once you land on Inchcolm Island, you're free to explore at your own pace. The island's abbey is one of the best-preserved groups of monastic buildings in Scotland, with cloisters, a chapter house and other structures still standing centuries on. Wartime coastal defences built into the island's landscape add another layer of history, while the beaches offer a quieter spot to sit with a picnic and look back across the water to the Edinburgh skyline.

It's a round trip that combines a scenic boat journey with genuine time ashore, mixing maritime views, wildlife spotting and medieval history in one outing from Edinburgh.

Your visit begins in Queensferry, where you board a spacious vessel for the crossing to Inchcolm Island. As the boat navigates beneath the Three Bridges, onboard commentary highlights points of interest while you relax with a drink or snack from the bar and watch for seals and puffins in the water.

Once ashore on Inchcolm Island, you can wander through the medieval abbey, one of the best-preserved monastic complexes in Scotland, and take in the wartime coastal defences scattered across the island. There's time to walk the shoreline, settle on the beach with a picnic, and enjoy views back across the Firth of Forth to the Edinburgh skyline before rejoining the boat for the return crossing.