Tollcross is at the top of Lothian Road and is at a confluence of traffic heading into the city from the South (Bruntsfield and Morningside) into the city centre.
The roads are busy and the area has a mixture of functional retail outlets, modern offices, and smaller, affordable restaurants and bars.
The name Tollcross is presumed to have come from a local toll at a crossroads coming into the city. However, although a drovers road went through the area, the location of the toll is a subject of debate.
A distinctive ironwork pillar clock, dating from 1901, marks the junction at Tollcross.
Much of the housing in Tollcross is of a Victorian residential tenement character, with more modern developments like the Quartermile project, with its residential, retail, and hotel buildings on the old 20-acre Royal Infirmary site.
One of Edinburgh's main public parks, The Meadows, is a little further North.
There are a variety of theatres and cinemas in the area in Lothian Road and Fountainbridge.