Where to stay in Edinburgh: the best neighbourhoods (2026)
Edinburgh sits on two levels facing each other: above, the Old Town, a medieval ridge bristling with stepped closes and crowned by its castle; below, the Georgian New Town, laid out with a ruler around colonnaded squares. One Avygeo member finds it more harmonious than London for that reason; another describes a human-sized city best seen on foot.
Then there is a date, and it rules everything: during the August Festival the city runs at 95 % occupancy and rates are multiplied by two to four. Outside that month, a dorm bed goes for 25 to 40 EUR, a chain room 65 to 165, a hotel with character 150 to 300. Three areas: the Old Town, the New Town, and the port of Leith.
I loved spending a few days in the city of Edinburgh. I found the city lively and the people far more welcoming than in London. It is a human-sized city that is great to explore on foot.
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At a glance: our picks by traveller type
Pick the profile that suits you to head straight to the recommended neighbourhood.
The neighbourhood map in Edinburgh
Get your bearings on the neighbourhoods and must-see sights before choosing where to drop your bags. Click a name to jump to its description.
The Old Town, from the castle to Holyrood Along the Royal Mile
to sleep inside the scenery, among cobbles and closes
A single sloping street, the Royal Mile, links the castle to Holyroodhouse palace, and everything else hangs off it: narrow closes dropping away to the north, enclosed courts, stone stairs and seventeenth-century cellars you can visit. The National Museum of Scotland, which two members point out is free and enormous, is a step away, and Arthur's Seat starts at the end of the street. The catch: cobbles, gradient, coach parties by day and groups out late.
Built on top of a green hill (a nice walk, by the way) overlooking the city, the Castle offers a stunning view of Edinburgh and its surroundings.
What to see & do in the area
Where to stay in this area
Cheval Old Town Chambers Luxury
Apart-hotel flats in an enclosed court opening straight onto the Royal Mile, with kitchens and generous space. The address for sleeping in old stone without giving up comfort, and it suits a family well.
Apex Edinburgh City Mid-range
On the Grassmarket, the square at the foot of the castle rock, where you can eat and drink without touching a car. Modern, soundproofed rooms, which matters in a lively quarter.
Castle Rock Hostel Budget
A hostel in an old building just below the castle, with dorms, common rooms and a view many hotels would envy. The cheapest way to sleep in the heart of the Old Town.
Pros
- The castle, the Royal Mile and free museums on foot
- Arthur's Seat at the end of the street
Cons
- Cobbles, stairs and a permanent gradient
- Very busy by day, noisy at night
The New Town, Georgian and commercial North of Princes Street
for quiet, the shops and the free museums
A grid of wide streets and colonnaded squares built at the end of the eighteenth century to relieve the Old Town, and still impressively regular. Here you find the department stores of Princes Street, the National Gallery and its free collections, the gardens below the castle and, to the east, Calton Hill with its monuments. The catch: it is less picturesque than the Old Town, and the shopping streets die once the shops close.
Whether you like art or not, you will find your visit wonderful (and on top of that, like all the "public" museums, it is free;))
What to see & do in the area
Where to stay in this area
The Edinburgh Grand Luxury
The former head office of a Scottish bank on St Andrew Square, turned into high-ceilinged apart-hotel flats. You are five minutes from Waverley station and ten from the Royal Mile, in the finest Georgian quarter.
Nira Caledonia Mid-range
Two Georgian town houses joined together on a quiet street north of the centre, towards Stockbridge. The area is residential and the botanic gardens are fifteen minutes away on foot.
Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel Budget
The Scottish association's hostel, modern and well kept, ten minutes from Princes Street. Dorms and private rooms with a shared kitchen: the best price-to-location ratio out of season.
Pros
- Free national museums and the department stores
- Flat streets, after the Old Town gradients
Cons
- Less picturesque than the Old Town
- A shopping district, quiet once the shops close
Leith, the port and the docks Three kilometres north, on the estuary
to eat well and pay less
Edinburgh's old port, long kept at arm's length, has become the city's best place to eat, around the Shore, a quay lined with restaurants and pubs. This is where the Royal Yacht Britannia is moored, the former royal yacht turned museum, and where rates become reasonable again. The catch: you are three kilometres from the castle, you need the tram or a bus to get back at night, and the quarter is in no way medieval.
Where to stay in this area
Fingal Luxury
A former lighthouse tender turned floating hotel, moored at the quay in Leith. Twenty-three cabins in mahogany and brass: the most singular address in this guide, and it does not move.
Malmaison Edinburgh Mid-range
The old seamen's mission on the Shore, converted into a hotel with character, with a brasserie downstairs. You step out of the hotel into the city's best restaurant street.
Premier Inn Edinburgh Leith Waterfront Budget
A no-surprises chain by the water, with rates that stay bearable even when the centre goes wild. The tram links the area to the centre in about fifteen minutes.
Pros
- The city's best restaurants, on the Shore
- Rates markedly lower than in the centre
Cons
- Three kilometres from the castle, tram or bus required
- Nothing medieval, this is a port district
Our tips for booking the right place
- August is not the same city: During the Festival and the Fringe, from the start to the end of August, Edinburgh hits 95 % occupancy and rates are multiplied by two to four: a dorm bed goes from 20-35 to 45-80 pounds, a mid-range room from 140-280 to 250-500. If you are coming for the Festival, book the previous autumn and accept staying further out. If you are not, avoid August: an Avygeo member who only knows the city in summer thinks it is wonderful, but you will see the same stones in September at half the price.
- The great museums are free, and that is no detail: The National Museum of Scotland and the National Gallery are free, like most Scottish national museums, and three Avygeo members mention it separately, so much does it change a stay: when the weather turns, you go in, come out, go back. One member even advises entering the National Gallery from the gardens side to land straight among the Scottish painters. Keep some money for the castle and the Britannia, which do charge.
- The city is walkable, but it climbs: One Avygeo member sums it up: a human-sized city, well worth exploring on foot. True, with one reservation: the Old Town is built on a rocky ridge and the New Town thirty metres below, which means stairs everywhere. Allow for them on every trip, and note that Arthur's Seat, the hill above the city, takes about an hour from Holyrood: one member calls it a mini-hike in the middle of town, with a panorama worth the effort.
- Booking in August without checking that your dates fall outside the Festival: it is the one time of year when the price can quadruple for the same room, and when decent addresses have been taken for months. Shifting by a single week changes everything.
- Taking a room on the Royal Mile or the Grassmarket without asking for the courtyard side: these are the two streets where people go out, and the pubs close late. The same hotels often have quiet rooms at the back, to be requested explicitly.
- Choosing an address « in Edinburgh » out by the airport or the western retail parks without checking the map: rates are low there because nothing is walkable and you need the tram for everything. Leith, three kilometres out, offers the same saving with restaurants at the hotel door.
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