Edinburgh travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Edinburgh, planned over three days
Best time to visit Edinburgh
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is the quiet sweet spot, lengthening days, shortest Castle queues and most reasonable hotel prices.
Summer has long light past 22:00 at midsummer, gardens and Portobello at their best, city still itself.
August is Festival Edinburgh, extraordinary if you came for it and exhausting if you did not, prices multiply.
Autumn is locals' favourite and the value pick, golden light, queues vanished and prices falling.
Winter is dark and cold, offset by Christmas markets and Hogmanay, then the quietest cheapest period in January.
What's on
- Six Nations Rugby at Murrayfield February-March
Home match weekends book the city out early and transform West End transport and prices.
- Burns Night 25 January
The whisky and haggis dinner in the quietest period of the year.
- Edinburgh Science Festival April
Two weeks of hands-on science shows and talks across the city, built for families at Easter.
- Beltane Fire Festival 30 April
Held on Calton Hill at the end of April.
- Edinburgh Marathon Festival late May
Marathon and shorter races that start in the city and finish in Musselburgh; book beds early.
- Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival July
Lands in July before Fringe previews begin.
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe August
The world's largest arts festival, street performance all day and shows until midnight.
- Edinburgh International Festival August
One of six overlapping August festivals.
- Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo August
On the Castle esplanade in August only, with fireworks over the Castle on Tattoo nights.
- Edinburgh Art Festival August
One of the six overlapping August festivals.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Edinburgh
Edinburgh Castle
The city pick on Castle Rock, with the Honours of Scotland, the Stone of Destiny and the One O'Clock Gun.
Arthur's Seat
A 251m extinct volcano in the city with the best free view in Edinburgh, about 90 minutes up and down.
National Museum of Scotland
A huge free museum of Scottish history, nature and design, with Dolly the Sheep and a rooftop Castle view.
The Real Mary King's Close
A preserved 17th century street buried under the Royal Mile, toured in small groups by costumed guides.
Calton Hill
A short climb to monuments and the classic panorama over the Old Town, the Castle and the Forth.
Dean Village
A former milling village on the river, the start of the leafy Water of Leith walk to Stockbridge.
Circus Lane
The city's most photographed mews, found on the Dean Village and Stockbridge walk.
Stockbridge Market
Stockbridge's Sunday market on the Water of Leith walk, among independent cafes and charity shops.
Where to stay in Edinburgh
New Town
first trip, all-round base
Georgian streets north of Princes Street, calm and spacious at night and five minutes from everything.
Old Town
atmosphere and the shortest trips
The Castle, Royal Mile and closes on your doorstep, with steep cobbles, small rooms and weekend noise.
West End / Haymarket
best value central base
Victorian townhouse streets by Haymarket station, quieter and often cheaper, 15 to 20 minutes from the Castle.
Stockbridge
repeat visitors and a local trip
A village inside the city on the Water of Leith, with markets, cafes and pubs locals use.
Leith
food trips and longer stays
The port turned restaurant quarter around the Shore, with the tram to the centre in about 25 minutes.
Bruntsfield / Morningside
families and quiet
Leafy residential cafe streets south of the centre by the Meadows, with good buses in.
Think twice about
- Waverley station / Market Street
Visible street homelessness and drug use problems concentrated on this one block, opposite hotels. Pick the neighbourhood side of the station.
- Grassmarket / Cowgate
Street drinking at the Grassmarket east end and the Cowgate student club strip emptying around 3am. Fine and good value, just not quiet.
- Lothian Road club end
A traffic heavy road of chain bars and late venues rather than a neighbourhood. Stay in the West End streets behind it instead.
- Princes Street itself
Tram and bus noise, chain shops at street level and very little neighbourhood, despite the famous view.
Best restaurants in Edinburgh
Timberyard
A family run former warehouse doing ingredient led Scottish cooking, the splurge food people agree on.
The Kitchin
Tom Kitchin's converted whisky warehouse in Leith, French technique with strictly seasonal Scottish produce.
Heron
A small young Leith room with refined Scottish cooking that feels like a neighbourhood restaurant with a star.
LYLA
A 28 seat seafood tasting menu in a Georgian townhouse, built on line caught fish from the Scottish isles.
The Palmerston
A former bank doing whole animal butchery and its own baking, with one of the city's best value set lunches.
The Scran & Scallie
A Stockbridge gastropub doing pub classics with a fine dining kitchen, the Sunday lunch and family pick.
Dishoom Edinburgh
A Bombay cafe in a beautiful New Town room, the reliable answer for groups, vegetarians and first nights.
Ting Thai
Fast fiery Thai street food on communal tables in the university quarter, at student prices, no bookings.
Best bars in Edinburgh
Panda & Sons
A speakeasy behind a barbershop front on Queen Street, for the cocktail night rather than dinner.
Hey Palu
A small, friendly cocktail bar on Bread Street by the West End, for the night out rather than dinner.
Outdoor things to do in Edinburgh
Gullane Golf Club
Three links courses east of Edinburgh, with No.1 the championship test and No.2 and No.3 kinder and cheaper.
Craigielaw Golf Club
A modern links course with a lodge on Scotland's Golf Coast, an attainable visitor round from Edinburgh.
Longniddry Golf Club
A Harry Colt parkland links mix and the nearest seaside course to Edinburgh.
Muirfield
The bucket list Open course by Gullane, with visitor tee times only on limited days.
Musselburgh Links
A short historic nine holes at the racecourse, playable with hired hickory clubs in under two hours.
The Old Course, St Andrews
The St Andrews day trip highlight, walkable free on a Sunday when closed to play, by the Swilcan Bridge.
Stirling Castle
A castle rivalling Edinburgh's for drama and usually less crowded, in a walkable medieval old town.
The National Wallace Monument
Climb the monument for the view over Stirling Bridge on the Stirling history day trip.
Best hotels in Edinburgh
The Balmoral
The landmark clock tower hotel above Waverley, the city's classic grand stay with whisky bar and spa.
Gleneagles Townhouse
A members club style splurge in a converted bank, with a rooftop bar facing the Castle.
Kimpton Charlotte Square
Georgian townhouses on the New Town's prettiest square, a good couples' base with a garden bar.
100 Princes Street
The New Town's newest small luxury address on Princes Street.
hub by Premier Inn Edinburgh Rose Street
The New Town's honest cheap bed, compact pod style rooms on lively Rose Street.
Motel One Edinburgh-Princes
A design budget chain done well on Princes Street, with small smart rooms and some Castle views.
Virgin Hotels Edinburgh
Modern luxury threaded through historic buildings just off the Royal Mile, on Victoria Street.
Apex Grassmarket
The reliable mid range play with Castle view rooms over the Grassmarket, with weekend noise.
Is Edinburgh expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | £100 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | £220 a person |
| Splurge | £480 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Edinburgh Castle: weeks ahead
- The Scotch Whisky Experience: a few days ahead
- Johnnie Walker Princes Street: a few days ahead
- The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo: months ahead
- Muirfield: months ahead
- Rosslyn Chapel: a few days ahead
- Lost Shore Surf Resort: a few days ahead
- Timberyard: weeks ahead
- Book Edinburgh Castle online days ahead, weeks ahead for August and holidays, first or last slot is calmest.
- In August book accommodation, Tattoo, Mary King's Close, whisky tours and starred restaurants months ahead.
- Timberyard, The Kitchin, Heron, LYLA and The Palmerston book out weeks ahead at weekends.
- Book Hogmanay street party tickets early and confirm hotel access if staying inside the gated arena.
Is Edinburgh safe?
- Drunk crowds around Cowgate, Grassmarket and Lothian Road at closing time are the main centre issue.
- Check Cramond tide times before crossing and take care on Arthur's Seat and wet cobbles.
- Use lit main roads instead of unlit Meadows and Water of Leith paths late at night.
- In August watch for pickpockets in Royal Mile and Fringe crowds, bag zipped and in front.
Edinburgh travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Eating and shopping on the Royal Mile itself, which charges a location premium for worse product.
- The 12 plus hour Loch Ness coach day, mostly motorway for a photo stop.
- Harry Potter merch shops and generic ghost tours, use Mary King's Close for underground Edinburgh.
- Royal Mile tartan shops selling mass produced imports at heritage prices. Look for a mill label or buy in a specialist kiltmaker.
Getting around Edinburgh: public transport and more
- Walk first, the centre is compact but hilly and cobbled, wear shoes with grip.
- Use one card or phone for Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams, with an automatic daily cap.
- Take the tram from the airport to Princes Street, St Andrew Square, Haymarket or Leith.
- Do not drive in the centre, parking is scarce and expensive and excursions are easier by train or bus.
Who Edinburgh suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Edinburgh your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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