Places to visit near West Calder: Five Sisters Zoo & more
3 of the 5 places to visit in and around West Calder are museums or galleries. West Calder itself has none of them. Further afield, Edinburgh Castle is 26 km from the centre.
Just outside West Calder, the best known
Five Sisters Zoo aside, the next best known are 3 museums and a heritage railway.
Each has a page of its own: what it is, who runs it, the weather month by month and what else is near it.
The lie of the land
Head to the north for most of the 5 on the list.
The dashed line is West Calder’s locality; orange marks its middle (where most people live). Numbers match the list below. © OpenStreetMap contributors · NRS locality 2022
The kinds on offer
Museums or galleries are the biggest group (3), then zoos, theme parks or other days out (2).
Green: inside West Calder. Grey: within 5 km of its edge.
All of them, one by one
Its 5 places all lie within 5 km of its edge.
Almond Valley Light Railway
Narrow gauge heritage railway in West Lothian, Scotland, UK.
Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry
Museum in West Lothian, Scotland, UK.
Almond Valley Heritage Centre
Museum and visitor attraction in Livingston Village, West Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Close and well known first. Churches and listed buildings are on the History page, not here.
4 listed buildings and 1 scheduled monument are on West Calder’s History page → · Parks, footpaths and green space in West Calder →
Further out, the best known
Allow a day for Edinburgh Castle, 26 km away, the pick of 12.
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandEdinburgh Castle26 km northeast
Big drawArt galleryNational Gallery26 km northeast · 661K visitors a year (2021)
PalaceLinlithgow Palace14 km north
Historic housePalace of Holyroodhouse27 km northeast
FortAntonine Wall34 km northwest
MuseumNational Museum of Scotland26 km northeastCastleCastle · Historic Environment ScotlandStirling Castle38 km northwest
CathedralSt Giles' Cathedral26 km northeast
Art galleryScottish National Portrait Gallery26 km northeast · 313K visitors a year (2015)
Art galleryScottish National Gallery of Modern Art24 km northeast · 458K visitors a year (2015)
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandDunfermline Palace & Abbey (ruins)25 km north
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandBlackness Castle18 km northPlaces well known beyond West Calder (Wikipedia articles in several languages, published visitor counts, or a National Trust for Scotland or Historic Environment Scotland property), close and famous first. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the town.
What visitors ask about West Calder
What is there to see near West Calder?
No attraction is mapped inside West Calder itself. Within 5 km of it are Five Sisters Zoo, Almond Valley Light Railway, Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry and Almond Valley Heritage Centre.
Does West Calder have a museum?
3 museums and galleries are in or within 5 km of West Calder: Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Centre and The Wee Museum of Memory.
Is there a National Trust for Scotland or Historic Environment Scotland property near West Calder?
None within 5 km. The nearest well-known one on our list is Edinburgh Castle (Historic Environment Scotland), 26 km northeast.
What are the best-known days out near West Calder?
Within 40 km: Edinburgh Castle (26 km), National Gallery (26 km), Linlithgow Palace (14 km), Palace of Holyroodhouse (27 km).
Where are West Calder’s historic buildings listed?
West Calder has 4 listed buildings. They are on its History page, from Historic Environment Scotland’s list, not repeated here.
How is this list made?
From OpenStreetMap (museums, galleries, zoos, theme parks and attractions, castles, forts and abbeys, and historic houses and gardens that are open to visitors) and Wikidata (what each place is, who runs it, its website and visitor counts). A place counts for West Calder when it is inside the NRS 2022 locality boundary, and as nearby within 5 km of its edge. Opening times and prices are not shown: check the official site.
Places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database Licence) and Wikidata (CC0), placed in the NRS 2022 locality (Open Government Licence v3.0). Visitor counts are the latest Wikidata gives, with their year.
Photos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (11)
- Edinburgh Castle: Stephencdickson, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- National Gallery: 瑞丽江的河水, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Linlithgow Palace: Alex Sanz, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Palace of Holyroodhouse: 瑞丽江的河水, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Antonine Wall: Chris Wimbush, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- National Museum of Scotland: Maccoinnich~commonswiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- St Giles' Cathedral: 瑞丽江的河水, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Scottish National Portrait Gallery: Original uploader was Maccoinnich at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art: Grousebeater2, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Dunfermline Palace & Abbey (ruins): Chiswick Chap, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Blackness Castle: Dr John Wells, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
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