Dog-Friendly Hotels in Edinburgh (2026)

Central with a dog: the Old Town, the New Town and the West End. These nine put you within a short walk of the Castle or the stations and still let the dog sleep in the room. Virgin Hotels Edinburgh is my pick for a first trip with a dog. It's the luxury hotel built into the India Buildings on the curve of Victoria Street, about five minutes to the Castle esplanade and eight down to Waverley, and its dog policy is as generous as any in the centre: up to two dogs a room, free, with no size or breed limit as long as they fit in the lift, a tartan dog bed and bowls waiting, and dogs welcome at dinner in Eve and the Commons Club. The Meadows are a 12-minute walk for the morning run. Our Old Town hotels guide has the neighbours.

The dog costs nothing; you do. Rooms start at about £190 off-peak and £255 to £270 on autumn dates, room only, with breakfast about £25 on top. Victoria Street is steep, cobbled and busy with tour groups from mid-morning, so the early walk is the calm one. There's no car park, only £45-a-night valet, so this works best if you arrive by train.

BrewDog DogHouse Edinburgh Hotel is the one with the dog in the name, and it means it. The 20 duplex rooms at 5 New Street, just off the Canongate, are all dog-friendly bar one kept pet-free for allergies, no dog fee is published, and each dog gets a free pooch pack. Tell the hotel before you arrive. Waverley is about seven minutes' walk, Calton Hill eight, and Holyrood Park eight, down past the Palace. Rooms start at £165 on the hotel's own site. See our Old Town hotels guide for the lower Mile.

It's a beer hotel above two busy bars, so the building is lively into the night, and the rooms are split over two levels with stairs inside, which matters with an older dog. The Castle is a 17-minute climb. BrewDog plc is in administration, with joint administrators running the company; the hotel was still taking direct bookings on 25 September 2026, but pick a rate you can cancel. Book it for a weekend with the dog and a few pints, not for an early night.

Old Town Chambers, Autograph Collection is my pick for a family with a dog, or anyone staying long enough to want a kitchen. Its 82 studios and suites sit in the middle of the Royal Mile at 329 High Street, six minutes up to the Castle and five down to Waverley, and the studios and suites have kitchens, so the dog's dinner doesn't need a restaurant. The policy is up to two dogs a room, each up to 66lb (about 30kg), for £50 a stay. Calton Hill is 11 minutes' walk and the Meadows 14. More in our Old Town hotels guide.

The £50 is per stay, which makes it cheap for a week and dear for a night. The way in is down Roxburgh's Court, a cobbled close off the High Street, and there's no parking. The Luckenbooths restaurant doesn't publish whether dogs can come in, so ask before you plan dinner there. A king room started at about £174 on a November Tuesday.

Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Royal Mile is the budget option in the Old Town that takes dogs without fuss: £30 per dog per stay, up to two, with no weight limit, and hot breakfast included for you. It's at 300 Cowgate, nine minutes to Waverley and 12 to the edge of Holyrood Park by the Palace. There's a lift to every floor and guests get 25% off the NCP on Holyrood Road. Rooms start at about £148 with breakfast, or £133 for IHG One Rewards members. Our Old Town hotels guide has the rest.

Pet rooms are limited, and the hotel says pre-booking is essential, so contact it before you book. The Cowgate is the Old Town's late-night street, which a nervous dog will hear, so ask for a room away from the front. It's a chain hotel chosen for the price and the fee, not the character.

Kimpton Charlotte Square is the New Town choice for a bigger dog. The hotel takes dogs up to 35kg, lists no pet fee, and its reception can arrange a dog walker or sitter if you want an evening off. Seven Georgian townhouses on the north side of Charlotte Square hold 199 rooms, a pool and the BABA restaurant and bar, and the Water of Leith walkway at Dean Village is eight minutes' walk, a riverside path under the trees a few streets from Princes Street. More in our New Town hotels guide.

No fee listed isn't the same as no fee, so confirm it when you book, along with whether the dog can come into BABA. The Essential rooms start at 13 square metres, which is tight for two people and a dog bed, so book a Premium. It's 17 minutes to Waverley, and an Essential was £241 non-refundable for a November Tuesday.

Eden Locke is the apartment option on George Street, and the cheapest way to have a dog and a kitchen in the New Town. One dog up to 30kg stays for a one-off £40 cleaning fee, which makes it good value over three or four nights; you add it as the 'Dog Companion Charge' when you book and sign a pet waiver on arrival. An Open Plan Suite, about 28 square metres with a kitchen, was £158 non-refundable for a November Tuesday, with the levy on top. Dean Village is nine minutes' walk. See our New Town hotels guide.

Locke asks you not to leave the dog alone in the apartment, so plan meals around the kitchen or Mayvn, the café downstairs. It's one dog only, and Locke suggests a studio or one-bedroom for bigger dogs. Housekeeping is weekly, not daily, and Waverley is 16 minutes away.

The Resident Edinburgh is on Drumsheugh Gardens, two minutes' walk from the Water of Leith at Dean Village, the shortest walk to the river of any West End hotel here. Dogs pay £30 each a night, you email reception to add the dog and return a signed dog policy form before you arrive, and the dog can come into the lounge and library on a lead. Every room has a mini-kitchen. A Standard Double was about £238 on a late-October Tuesday, levy included. It's 13 minutes to Haymarket and 22 to the Castle. More in our West End and Haymarket hotels guide.

Two rules shape the stay: dogs can never be left alone in the room, and housekeeping only comes in with you there. There's no restaurant or bar, so you eat out, and on a long stay the nightly fee adds up to more than a one-off charge elsewhere. The Standard Double is 17 to 18 square metres.

Moxy Edinburgh Fountainbridge is the West End budget pick for a dog, with the Union Canal towpath a minute from the door, flat and traffic-free for as far as you like. Dogs are £15 a night, up to two a room, each up to 35kg, and Marriott asks you to contact the hotel before you arrive. A Queen Sleeper was from about £169 prepaid on a late-October Tuesday, taxes included. It's ten minutes to Haymarket and 20 to the Castle esplanade, and Bruntsfield Links is 15 minutes' walk. See our West End and Haymarket hotels guide.

The rooms are 17 square metres, cramped for two people and a dog with bags, and there's no parking anywhere on site. You're booking it for the price and the canal, not the room.

MEININGER Hotel Edinburgh Haymarket is the cheapest central room that takes a dog, and the one I'd book for a family or group on a budget. Dogs stay in the private rooms only, not the dorms, for €15 a pet a night (MEININGER prices it in euros across the group), and more than one dog is allowed. A private twin was about £145 non-refundable for a late-October Tuesday, levy included. It's six minutes from Haymarket station, and the Water of Leith at Dean Village is 18 minutes' walk. Our West End and Haymarket hotels guide has the neighbours.

The dog has to stay with you the whole time: MEININGER says pets can't be left alone in the room, and the breakfast room is off limits. Rooms are cleaned only on request and there's no parking. The Castle is a 32-minute walk, so this is a base for the trains, not the Old Town.

Near big green space: Holyrood Park, Bruntsfield Links and a private estate. If the walk matters more than the Royal Mile, stay here. The Scott is my pick for a dog that needs a proper run. It's the University's hotel on the Pollock Halls estate, six minutes' walk from Queen's Drive in Holyrood Park, with Arthur's Seat above it, and it has free parking. Dogs are £30 each for stays of up to seven nights, in ground-floor dog rooms. A Cosy Double was £175.50 room only for a November Tuesday, levy included. Waverley is 30 minutes on foot. More in our Bruntsfield, Morningside and Southside hotels guide.

There are only so many ground-floor rooms, so book the dog room early. Dogs can't be left alone in the room, and the hotel has no lift. Bonnar's serves dinner Tuesday to Saturday only, with last orders at 8:30pm. It's a long walk into town, though the 30 and 33 buses stop at the Commonwealth Pool by the gate.

JA The Bruntsfield faces Bruntsfield Links, six minutes' walk from the door, and the Meadows join on beyond them, 15 minutes away, so the first walk of the day is all grass. Dogs are a flat £25 a stay, paid on arrival, so the fee doesn't grow with a longer stay. There's a lift, ground-floor rooms and a 26-space car park at £12.50 a night. A Standard Double was £140.40 prepaid for a November Tuesday, levy included. See our Bruntsfield, Morningside and Southside hotels guide.

The hotel doesn't publish whether dogs can come into The Neighbourhood, its bar and restaurant, so ask. It's a big chain-run hotel, comfortable rather than characterful, and it's 30 minutes' walk to Waverley, though buses stop outside. Ask for a room facing the Links.

Prestonfield House is the splurge, and a grand hotel that treats dogs as guests. It's a 1687 mansion in 20 acres below Arthur's Seat, and dogs stay free in every bedroom and suite and can sit with you in the drawing rooms; only Rhubarb restaurant is off limits. Ask for a dog bed when you book. Queen's Drive in Holyrood Park is about 21 minutes' walk, and the hotel's own grounds are the first walk of the day. The cheapest room was £314.50 for a November Tuesday, levy included. More in our hotels near Edinburgh guide.

Highland cattle and peacocks live in the grounds, so keep the dog on a lead outside. Dinner in Rhubarb means leaving the dog upstairs, and the hotel doesn't publish a rule on that, so ask. It hosts a lot of weddings, and buses don't stop at the gate: the Old Town is a five-minute taxi.

Pubs with rooms. The dog gets a bar to lie under and you get dinner without leaving the building. Many of the city's guesthouses say no pets, so these are the small places that do. The Torfin in Corstorphine has four rooms above a well-liked bar and grill, and every one takes dogs for a £15 cleaning charge; the pub calls itself dog-friendly. Corstorphine Hill is about 22 minutes' walk, and the zoo 12. On the booking sites a Deluxe Double was £153 for a late-October Tuesday; book direct by phone or email. See our hotels near Edinburgh Zoo guide.

It's a pub, and the rooms are above a bar that runs to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. There's no cooked breakfast, only rolls from the bar after 10am, and no twin rooms or cots. Princes Street is about 21 minutes by bus. For a couple and a dog who want a good dinner downstairs, it's the one.

The Bridge Inn at Ratho is a canal-side pub with four rooms, and the Union Canal towpath is a minute from the door, so the walk is the whole point. Two of the rooms, Burke and Baird, take dogs at £25 per dog per stay, and every room is £130 a night with a full Scottish breakfast. It's out west, ten minutes' drive from the airport, which makes it a good last night before a flight with the dog in the car. More in our hotels near Edinburgh Airport guide.

Two dog rooms out of four go quickly, so book early and name the room. The rooms are above the bar, which is open until 11pm, or midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. You'll want a car or a taxi: there's no shuttle, and central Edinburgh is a long way east.

The Hawes Inn sits under the Forth Bridge at South Queensferry, a minute from Hawes Pier and the shore, with a free car park and Dalmeny station ten minutes' walk for the train into town. Small and medium dogs stay for £15 a night in a selection of dog-friendly rooms, but only if you book direct with Innkeeper's Collection and add the dog when you reserve; the booking sites don't take dogs here. A standard Double was from about £101.70 for a November Tuesday. Our South Queensferry hotels guide has the rest.

It's a chain-run pub with rooms, and it reads like one. Book a 'With A View' room: the standard Double faces away from the water. Check-in closes at 10pm, so warn them if you're arriving late after a long drive with the dog.

By the sea and the edge of town: Leith and Portobello. Flatter walking, sea air and car parks. Malmaison Edinburgh is my pick in Leith, in the old Sailors' Home right on the Shore where the Water of Leith meets the harbour, with a free car park and a proper welcome for dogs: a bed, mat, bowls and treats in the room. It's £25 a night for one dog or £40 for two, small to medium, paid at check-in. Leith Links is 15 minutes' walk. A standard double was about £169 prepaid for a November Tuesday on the hotel's own site. More in our Leith hotels guide.

Dogs can't go in the dining room, though the hotel will try to seat you somewhere else with the dog, and they can't be left alone in the room. Rooms vary in size and age, so ask for a refurbished one, and there's a single lift. The tram stop is six minutes away, 23 minutes to Waverley.

Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Leith Waterfront is the cheaper Leith option, with the Ocean Terminal tram stop across the road. It charges £30 per dog per stay, up to two dogs, with no weight limit, and breakfast is included. A standard double was about £118 before VAT and the levy for a November Tuesday, roughly £150 all in. The Shore is 15 minutes' walk and Leith Links 24. See our Leith hotels guide.

Pre-booking the dog is essential, so contact the hotel first. It's a large budget hotel on a main road, so every walk starts along the traffic, and the breakfast room fills up at peak times. Parking is £11 a day.

Kings Manor Hotel is the dog-friendly hotel for Portobello beach, and the cheapest room here with a pool, a lift and a car park. The Promenade at Morton Street is 11 minutes' walk, there's grass at the front and back of the hotel for the last walk of the night, and the hotel's own dog walking guide adds Figgate Park and Portobello Park. Dog rooms must be pre-booked, a charge applies, and dogs are welcome in Bar Zest but not the bistro or the restaurant. A Cosy Double was £115 room only for a November Tuesday. More in our Portobello hotels guide.

The hotel asks you not to leave the dog in the room while you're out, and to keep it on a lead indoors. On the beach there's no summer dog ban, but from April to July the council asks for dogs to be kept close or on a short lead at the seashore. The building is dated, the car park is £8 for 24 hours, and it hosts weddings, so ask for a room away from the function suite on a Saturday.