Edinburgh Castle has recorded its best-ever figures for the number of visitors it attracted during winter.
A total of 264,521 people passed through its gates between November 2014 and last month, Historic Scotland said.
The figure was an 11% increase on the previous record.
Several of the organisation’s other attractions also had at least one record-breaking month during the winter period.
These included the Neolithic complex of Skara Brae, Orkney and Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness as well as St Andrews Castle, Linlithgow Palace and Doune Castle.
Stirling Castle saw record-breaking figures last month when it played host to the Great Tapestry of Scotland exhibition as part of its tour of Scotland, with visitor numbers increasing by 63% on the previous year.
In total, 439,229 people visited Historic Scotland’s top ten sites during the winter period.
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “These figures illustrate the year-round appeal of Scotland’s diverse heritage sites which form a central part of our tourism offering, attracting people in their many millions each year.
“Edinburgh Castle has had a fantastic winter, welcoming more visitors than ever before whilst also providing the backdrop to a number of key events over the winter as we celebrated Scotland’s winter festivals from St. Andrew’s Day to Burns Night.”
Historic Scotland welcomed the figures.
Stephen Duncan, director of commercial and tourism, said: “As we look ahead to the upcoming summer season, this year marks another important one for us, with the completion of the Stirling Castle Tapestry project, a 15-year project to recreate the Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestries, whilst our main events programme will begin at Easter and run until Christmas across a number of our sites, helping to bring history to life.”
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