Hotels in Edinburgh
Edinburgh offers all kinds of accommodation, from the super posh and fabulously pricey five-star hotels to youth hostels. It's a city that anticipates bundles of tourists and travelers, whether seasonal backpackers, school groups, and families - or professional types in the Scottish capital on commercial and governmental matters.
During the Edinburgh Festival - from late July to early September - the hotels, guesthouses, hostels, and B&Bs fill up. If you're planning a visit at that time, be sure to reserve your room as far in advance as possible. Otherwise you may end up in a town or village as many as 40km (55 miles) from the city center. And don't be surprised if the standard room rates in Edinburgh are higher - in isolated cases twice as high - during August, particularly at smaller hotels.
The tourist board's Edinburgh Information Centre is near Waverley Station, atop the Princes Mall shopping center, 3 Princes St. (tel. 0845/225-5121 or 0131/473-3800, or 44-150/683-2121 from overseas; www.edinburgh.org or www.visitscotland.com; Bus: 3, 8, 22, 25, or 31). The local information center, in conjunction with the Scottish tourist board, compiles a lengthy list of small hotels, guesthouses, and private homes providing a bed and breakfast for as little as £30 per person. A booking fee is charged for reservations made using the Booking Hotline, and a 10% deposit is expected. It's open year-round; typically the hours are Monday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm and Sunday from 10am to 7pm, though it's open later during the Festival and closes earlier in the winter months.
The Scottish Tourist Board is also a source of star ratings, which traditionally have been based largely on a tick-list of amenities, such as TVs, telephones, kettles, ironing boards, and so forth. Thus, the stars can be limited for smaller operations that may not offer all the modern conveniences but are still perfectly good places to stay.
The Internet can be a trove of discounted rates if you have the time and inclination to surf the net. In some cases, the bargains are only available through web-based booking services. Some of these special prices and promotions are noted below. Often, there are onerous cancelation terms. Also check the Edinburgh Principal Hotel Association website, www.stayinedinburgh.net. Finally, booking for multiple nights in one hotel is another way to reduce your bill.
If you have an early flight out and need a hotel convenient to the airport, consider the 244-unit Edinburgh Marriott, 111 Glasgow Rd. (tel. 0131/334-9191), off the A8 on Edinburgh's western outskirts. It offers doubles from about £85 to £150, including breakfast. Facilities include an indoor pool, gym, sauna, and restaurant.
The overnight room prices quoted below are standard rates and carry no special cancelation fees. Last-minute and Internet bookings may get you cheaper tariffs (but may also carry penalties for cancelation). Also, note that in compliance with Scottish law, all premises are nonsmoking (though some will have designated outdoor smoking areas).
Basic Chain Hotels & Hostels
If you're the type of traveler who thinks of hotels as just places to lay your head at night, it's worth checking out the deals available with some of the town's no-frills chains. In the heart of Old Town, try the Ibis, 6 Hunter Sq., Edinburgh EH1 1QW (tel. 0131/240-7000; www.ibishotel.com), where rooms generally are below £100. In the West End, the Premier Inn, 1 Morrison Link, Edinburgh EH3 8DN (tel. 0870/238-3319; www.premiertravelinn.co.uk), is modern and functional with rooms at around £85, although its Leith branch is cheaper still at £65.
A few hostels have private rooms, too. Your best bets include the Edinburgh Central, a five-star hostel, which is part of the Scottish Youth Hostel Association. Single rooms with en-suite facilities start at £34 and twins are £51 and upwards, depending on the season. It is located at 9 Haddington Place, Edinburgh EH7 4AL (tel. 0845/293-7373; www.edinburghcentral.org). Another option is Budget Backpackers at 37-39 Cowgate, Edinburgh EH1 1JR (tel.0131/226-6351; www.budgetbackpackers.com). Twin rooms are around £25 per person but don't leave your booking until the last minute.
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21 Results
- B&B
94DR
There are six and three quarter rooms in boutique bed-and-breakfast 94DR —that's 94 Dalkeith Road. The Wee Dram is perfect for children if families check into Tamdhu (bunk beds, books, games, DVDs, Xbox, and a connecting door). The other six luxurious rooms, in this Victorian…$$Southside
- Hotel
B+B Edinburgh
There's a lot to recommend this cross between a bed-and-breakfast and boutique hotel (essentially they've ditched the restaurant and focused on the rooms, no hardship in Scotland's culinary capital). The grand Grade II listed 19th-century building designed for newspaper owner John…$New Town - Hotel
DoubleTree by Hilton
When the grand old St Cuthbert's Co-operative building, with its eye-catching dome, was converted into budget design hotel The Point in 1995, it shook up the slightly staid hotel scene. In March 2014, after a £4.2 million renovation, the hotel was re-launched as a Hilton Doubletree,…$Old Town - Houseboat
Fingal
Commissioned by the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1963, the twin-screw motorship Fingal worked around the north and west coasts of Scotland for 36 years, ferrying lighthouse keepers and supplies as well as undertaking repairs to navigational aids. After being retired from service at…$$$Leith - Hotel
G&V Royal Mile Hotel
RIP Hotel Missoni. The Italian fashion house swept into town in 2009, rolling out its signature stripes and bold zigzags. Stubble-jawed doormen in bespoke kilts and Prosecco on tap turned this modish modern building into the most glamorous spot in town. However, Missoni bowed out in…$$$Old Town - Hotel
Hotel du Vin
This boutique chain revolving around, and reveling in, wine seems as inspired an idea today as it was when the first property opened in Winchester in 1994. With rooms named after wines and champagnes, an encyclopedic wine list, monthly Saturday wine- tasting sessions, and a giant…$$Old Town - Hotel
Malmaison
There's no doubt that the addition of a Malmaison in 1994 to the down-at-heel-docklands in Leith gave the gentrification of the area a boost. The grand 19th-century building in the Scottish baronial style opened in 1885 as a Seaman's mission, housing up to 56 sailors—with room for 50…$$Leith - Hotel
Motel One Edinburgh-Royal
Just a sporran's throw from Waverley Station and the Royal Mile, the German budget design hotel chain spun into town on a tartan Arne Jacobsen chair at the end of 2012, catapulting a second hotel onto Princes Street in 2014. Along with location, price, design, and service are key…$Old Town - Hotel
Nira Caledonia
An elegant Georgian façade can hide a multitude of sins—or styles. From the outside, the Nira Caledonia looks like a traditionally understated townhouse on a broad cobbled boulevard. However, inside the dark arts are at work. This 28-room boutique hotel eschews traditional tartan in…$$New Town - Hotel
Prestonfield
James Thomson's leanings towards the theatrical were given free reign in his second hotel and mini country estate on the outskirts of the city. He rescued this 17th-century baroque pad in 2003 and turned it into a lavishly opulent five–star boutique hotel with 18 rooms and five…$$$Newington - Hotel
Radisson Blu
Location, location, location: If you want to be right in the thick of it, you can't beat this hotel on the Royal Mile, roughly halfway between the Castle and Holyrood Palace. A new build (well, 1990), its 16th-century-style sandstone turrets blend in with Old Town architecture. The…$$Old Town - Hotel
Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa
Its big, its modern, it’s a Sheraton. It also had a multimillion-pound re-design in 2012, and stocks 54 gins (and organizes gin tastings) in One Square, the sleek new bar and restaurant. The facelift went a long way to dispelling the preconceptions that can plague a large chain. Of…$$West End - Hotel
The Balmoral
For sheer class, this grande dame still has the edge. Yes there are other luxury hotels in the Scottish capital but they haven't got the Olga Polizzi pizzazz. Taste, style and luxury seep out of the walls. As soon as the doorman ushers you from frenetic Princes Street into the…$$$New Town - Hotel
The Caledonian
Affectionately nicknamed the Caley by locals, this grand Victorian sandstone railway hotel (past guests include Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor and Bing Crosby) was, to put it bluntly, more than a little tired before the multi-million pound refurbishment in 2012. Re-branded a…$$$West End - Hotel
The Glasshouse
Curiouser and curiouser: the entrance to this boutique hotel is through the façade of a grand 19th-century stone church attached to a modern cinema complex on the edge of the New Town. Inside it's a slightly disjointed affair, a warren of dimly lit corridors, the walls peppered with…$$New Town - Hotel
The Grassmarket Hotel
If you think hotel websites can be a little dull, check out The Grassmarket's. The distance to the city's major attractions, for instance, is noted in footsteps. That sense of fun is echoed in the hotel itself, which skipped onto the accommodation scene in 2012. Designer Jim Hamilton…$Old Town - Hotel
The Howard
If you've been nursing a secret Downton fantasy this discreet Georgian townhouse could be the answer. Butler service comes as standard. Your butler will unpack your suitcase, whisk away any crumpled clothing for pressing, sew on a button, polish your shoes, book your theater…$$New Town - Hotel
The Inn on the Mile
Whether you fancy a cuppa or a cocktail (or cockt-ale: Drinks are topped off with a splash of beer), a complimentary drink on arrival, and chocolate-covered strawberries in your room, are just two of the thoughtful touches designed to take your mind off the fact that there's no lift…$Old Town - Hotel
The Witchery
This flamboyant and fabulously gothic bolthole is all your historical fantasies rolled into one. If it doesn't make your pulse race, quite frankly you haven't got one. James Thomson opened this restaurant with rooms in 1979 in a clutch of 16th-century buildings tucked away beneath…$$$Old Town - Hotel
Tigerlily
The only hint to the glitter balls and glitz, the mirrored mosaic wall, shocking pink bar stools, and smoky gray velvet sofas hidden within this Grade A-listed Georgian townhouse on George Street, the New Town's beating party heart, are the fake flowers cascading around the doorway.…$$New Town - Hotel
Tune Hotel
With or without window? Not a question I ever thought I'd have to answer when booking a hotel. But then there was a time when the idea of paying extra to take your suitcase on holiday seemed ludicrous. The Ryanair of the hotel industry, Tune Hotel Haymarket opened in January 2013. On…$West End
