Where to Stay in Edinburgh's Old Town: The 18 Best Hotels (2026)

Castlehill and Victoria Street: the Castle end. The top of the Old Town is the postcard end, and it has two hotels worth the money. Virgin Hotels Edinburgh is the big one: a luxury hotel built into the 19th-century India Buildings on the curve of Victoria Street, with a three-tier domed rotunda at its heart, the Commons Club and Eve restaurants, an Oculus Lounge for afternoon tea, and a 24-hour gym. It is about five minutes on foot to the Castle esplanade and eight down to Waverley. For a first visit with a proper hotel around you, staff who expect to be asked things, and a dog in tow (dogs stay free), this is where I'd put my money.

The honest catch is the bill. Off-peak you'll pay from about £190 a night and closer to £255 to £270 on autumn dates, almost always room-only with breakfast about £25 on top, and for a five-star there is no pool and no spa. The rooftop is a private terrace for guests, not a bar. The Virgin 'Chamber' layout, with a sliding partition between the bed and the dressing area, is either a delight or an oddity depending on how you travel. Ask for a suite if the free minibar matters, and book the valet parking (£45 a night) ahead, because there is no car park.

The Witchery by the Castle is nine named suites scattered above and behind a candlelit restaurant at 352 Castlehill, a minute from the esplanade gates and eight minutes down to Waverley. The Vestry sits up a stone turret stair on the second floor; the Inner Sanctum, the Old Rectory, the Library, the Sempill, the Heriot, the Guardroom, the Armoury and the Turret make up the rest, all done in the same dark, candlelit, four-poster register, with roll-top baths and the restaurant's Secret Garden below. Book direct and a bottle of champagne is waiting in the suite when you arrive. The Google score covers the restaurant and the suites together, so read it as a dinner rating as much as a bed rating.

Know what you are buying. The rate is a champagne bed-and-breakfast package, from about £585 a night on a quiet February Tuesday and £800 to £940 on autumn dates, which is more than double anything else on this page. The money goes on atmosphere, not hotel machinery: nobody carries your bags up the turret stair, and if the weather turns there is no gym, pool or lounge to retreat to. Children under ten cannot stay, and groups of more than six cannot book. It is a one-night occasion rather than a base, and priced like one; if the budget only stretches to a single splurge in Scotland, this is a defensible place to spend it.

The Royal Mile proper: St Giles' to the North Bridge. The middle of the High Street puts you between the Castle and the station, with the cathedral and the closes on the doorstep. Old Town Chambers, Autograph Collection is my pick for families and anyone staying more than three nights. It began life as Cheval's serviced apartments and kept the best of that: 82 studios, rooms and suites, with kitchens in the studios and suites, running up to two- and three-bedroom suites, penthouses and a 15th-century townhouse. Now it is a Marriott Autograph hotel with a fitness centre and the Luckenbooths restaurant and bar. It is about six minutes up to the Castle and five down to Waverley, and it holds a 4.7 on Google from more than 700 reviews.

The entrance is down Roxburgh's Court, a close off the High Street, which is atmospheric on the way out and a nuisance with wheeled luggage on the way in. It also keeps some serviced-apartment habits: fewer of the round-the-clock hotel flourishes a grand hotel gives you, and no on-site parking. On a November Tuesday a king room started at about £174 (about £166 with a free Marriott Bonvoy login); February was not on sale yet. Ask for a suite with a kitchen and a view of the close. Marriott's pet policy lists up to two dogs a room, each up to 66lb (about 30kg), for a non-refundable £50 a stay.

Fraser Suites Edinburgh is the other apartment-style option on the Mile, in a Victorian building on St Giles' Street with 75 serviced apartments from studios to one-bedrooms, all with kitchenettes, a 24-hour gym and a pet welcome pack. It is a step from the cathedral, about six minutes to the Castle and five to Waverley, and it suits families and self-caterers who want a fridge and a table without paying Old Town Chambers money. Off-peak a double starts at about £175, rising to about £217 in the autumn.

Two things to know before you book. The lift only goes to the sixth floor, so a seventh-floor apartment (the ones with the Christmas-market views) means a flight of stairs with your bags. And the breakfast is a paid continental spread, so skip it and walk to a cafe. Recent Google reviews are mostly warm about the staff and the location, but a minority report housekeeping and maintenance lapses, which is worth knowing at this price.

The Inn on the Mile is nine bedrooms over a pub at 82 High Street, in what was built as a bank: high ceilings, original cornicing, huge sash windows, and no lift. It is the one to book if the address matters more than the room, because the front door opens onto the middle of the Mile, about ten minutes up to the Castle and five down to Waverley. The rooms add air conditioning, Nespresso machines and GHD straighteners to the period bones.

It is also small in every sense. The Cosy Double is 86 sq ft, the Mile Twin or Double 134 sq ft, and only the Royal Mile Double stretches to 204 sq ft, so pay the difference for that one. The rooms sit over three levels with no lift, and the pub is directly underneath on the busiest street in the city, so bring earplugs or take the top floor. Off-peak the Cosy Double starts at about £162.50 and the Royal Mile Double at about £214.50, booked direct; early check-in is £10 a room.

Radisson Blu Hotel, Edinburgh City Centre is the practical choice on the Mile, and now the family choice too: a 238-room four-star behind a baronial facade at 80 High Street, with an indoor heated pool and the Sleeping Beauty Spa, the Itchycoo Bar & Kitchen, and an on-site car park (2.1 metre height limit). Since the Radisson Collection on George IV Bridge closed, this is the only hotel pool on the Royal Mile itself. It is about ten minutes up to the Castle and five to Waverley, and off-peak a standard room starts at a very fair £122.

The catch is that it is a big, busy hotel, and it behaves like one. The breakfast buffet is good but the room fills after 8am, and a run of recent Google reviews mention thermostats and heating that needed a call to reception. Ask for a room at the back, away from the High Street, and go down early for breakfast.

North Bridge and Market Street: the Waverley edge. The hotels along the north face of the Old Town sit directly above the station, which makes them the best beds for arriving late or leaving on an early train. Market Street hotel is the stylish one, a Design Hotels member built into the slope at 6 Market Street with the Nor' Loft rooftop champagne bar looking across Princes Street Gardens to the Scott Monument. Guests get breakfast up there, and reviewers keep mentioning the champagne on arrival and the free minibar. It is three minutes to Waverley's Market Street entrance and about ten uphill to the Castle. For a couple who want somewhere polished and central without grand-hotel money, this is my pick.

The rooms are small, and not only the ones called Cozy: one Google reviewer booked a middle-tier Vista room and still found it tiny, and the public spaces are compact. Off-peak a Cozy starts at about £162 a night, and on autumn dates it is about £215 for a Cozy, £225 for an Artist's Vista and £255 for a Vista or Roomy. Book the Vista tier for a window worth looking out of. There is no car park, but guests get 20% off the Waverley station car park.

The Scotsman Hotel is the 1905 Baroque headquarters of The Scotsman newspaper at 20 North Bridge, and it wears the history well: the rooms are named Reporter, Director and Feature (365 to 430 sq ft), there is a 48-seat Picturehouse cinema, the Grand Café, the Hide, the Press Bar and a Champagne Bar, and the two-floor penthouse has a private balcony facing the Castle. It is three minutes to Waverley and about eleven to the Castle. For a grand, characterful stay at a mid-range price it is hard to beat: off-peak a double starts at about £156, rising to about £247 in the Christmas-market weeks.

The trade-off is North Bridge itself, a bus and traffic artery with the rooms on the front facing it, so ask for one on the Old Town side. No car park either, though pre-booking Q-Park Omni with the hotel's code takes 45% off, and reception can arrange 20% off the APCOA car park at Waverley.

Motel One Edinburgh-Royal is where the Old Town's value lives when you catch the price right. It is a budget hotel with design ambitions behind a historic facade at 18-21 Market Street, directly below Waverley's Market Street entrance (three minutes to the station, about nine up to the Castle), with air conditioning, an accessible room, and the One Lounge bar. It rates 4.4 on Google from more than 2,500 reviews, which for a budget hotel is telling. The point of it is the sum: a bed you can walk to from the train in three minutes and walk from to everything else.

The rooms are small by design, there is no restaurant or gym, and the price moves more than most here: about £140 a night on a November Tuesday, with the quietest winter nights advertised from about £84 and the festival weeks far above either. February was not on sale yet, so check your own dates.

The Grassmarket: under the Castle rock. The square below the Castle's south face is the Old Town's pub quarter, with the best view of the rock in the city and the noise to go with it. Apex Grassmarket Hotel at 31-35 Grassmarket is the one with facilities: a heated indoor pool, a sauna, a gym, the Metro Bar & Brasserie, family rooms and Castle View rooms (the Deluxe ones with balconies) that look straight up at the walls. The Castle esplanade is about five minutes away on the map, but the route is up the Castle Wynd steps, so it feels further; Waverley is about 13 minutes. Off-peak a double starts at about £139.

The catch is the square. The Grassmarket is where Edinburgh goes out on a Friday and Saturday, and front rooms hear it until the small hours, so ask for a room at the back, on the Castle side. Parking is £20 a day for guests, which is one of the better deals in the Old Town. If you want the pool and the view with kids in tow, this is the Grassmarket hotel I'd choose.

Apex City of Edinburgh Hotel is the sister hotel three doors along at 61 Grassmarket, and on a quiet night it is the bargain of the whole Old Town: off-peak a twin starts at about £76. Guests get free use of the pool, sauna and gym next door at Apex Grassmarket, breakfast is served in-house, and the Castle View King and Twin rooms have the same view up at the rock. Family rooms come with a sofa bed. It is about six minutes to the Castle via the steps and twelve to Waverley.

The trade-offs are the same weekend noise from the square and the fact that it has no restaurant or bar of its own, so dinner and drinks mean a short walk next door or into the square. Parking is £20 a day but first come first served, so arrive early. It rates 4.5 on Google from more than 1,600 reviews, a notch above its sister.

Grassmarket Hotel at 94-96 Grassmarket is the cheerful three-star that shares its name with the square, with Scottish-themed rooms and prices to match: off-peak a Snug Double or a Comfy Twin or Double starts at about £108, a Cosy Single at about £103, and a Comfy Quad for four at about £173. Breakfast is next door in Biddy Mulligan's, the Irish bar the hotel sits beside. It is about five minutes to the Castle via the steps and eleven to Waverley.

Read the room sizes before you book. The Snug Double is 9 sq m, the Comfy Twin or Double 13 sq m, and only the triple and quad get to 20 sq m, so this is a bed and a shower, not a place to spread out. There is a lift but stairs to some rooms, Biddy Mulligan's is open seven days with live music, and buskers work the square outside. For a cheap, central, sociable base it does the job; ask for a room on the far side from the bar.

The Cowgate and South Bridge: the party street and the bus route. The Cowgate runs in the valley under the South Bridge arches, and it is where the Old Town's clubs are. House of Gods Edinburgh at 233 Cowgate is the theatrical boutique: 22 rooms of oak panelling, four-posters, hidden TV mirrors, marble wet rooms and in-room cocktail bars, with the Sacred Garden rooftop bar planted with 3,000 flowers. The extras reviewers rave about (prosecco on arrival, a midnight milk-and-cookies feast delivered by the butler, breakfast in bed with mimosas) are now the paid Treat Me Like I'm Famous package, £119 a stay with a £40 bar tab thrown in, and the Push for Prosecco button on the wall is £50 on top. It is about eight minutes to Waverley and twelve to the Castle, and it is the couples' pick for a birthday or a hen weekend.

The rooms are tiny. The Cabin is 107 sq ft, the Classic 150 sq ft, and only the Suite (290 sq ft, with a roll-top bath) gives you space to open a case; there is no wardrobe in the smaller rooms and reviewers mention taking turns to get ready. Several recent Google reviews say the price did not match the room, and off-peak rooms start at about £250 a night booked direct. Take the Suite, arrive with one bag, and treat it as a night out rather than a base.

Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Royal Mile is the sensible chain in the Cowgate, at number 300, and it does the three things budget travellers actually want: hot breakfast included, air conditioning, and a step-free entrance with a lift to every floor. Dogs are £30 per dog per stay, and guests get 25% off the NCP on Holyrood Road. It is about nine minutes to Waverley and fifteen to the Castle, up through the closes.

Two catches. The Cowgate is the late-night street, so ask for a room away from the front. And the price is not as budget as the brand implies on Edinburgh dates: off-peak a double with breakfast starts at about £148 (about £133 with a free IHG One Rewards account), and on a busy autumn night it tops £210. Compare it with the ibis and Motel One before you book.

ibis Edinburgh Centre South Bridge - Royal Mile is the cheapest bed of these on a quiet night: off-peak a twin starts at about £73, and on autumn dates it runs £137 to £140. It sits at 77 South Bridge, two minutes from the Mile, about eight from Waverley and twelve from the Castle, and it holds a 4.2 on Google from more than 4,000 reviews.

You get an ibis: a clean, small room and a bar, and nothing much else. The catch is South Bridge, which carries buses all day and night, so ask for a rear room. If it is full, the second ibis on Hunter Square is the quieter twin, tucked just off the Mile.

Bristo Place: the museum end. Hotel du Vin Edinburgh sits at 11 Bristo Place, by Greyfriars Kirkyard and the National Museum, and it is my pick for anyone who wants the Old Town without the noise. It is 47 rooms and suites wrapped around a courtyard in a 1743 building that has been a poorhouse, an asylum and a science lab, with Bistro du Vin, a whisky snug and a bar. Reviewers keep mentioning how quiet it is at night for somewhere this central. It is about nine minutes to the Castle and twelve to Waverley, and off-peak a double starts at about £194.

The building's age shows in the access: there is a lift to the fourth floor but stairs remain, so say so when you book if that matters. The dinner-inclusive rates get mixed marks on value (one recent reviewer found almost every menu item carried a supplement), so book room-only and eat where you like. Ask for a courtyard-facing room.

The Canongate and Holyrood: the quiet end. The lower Mile is calmer, cheaper to walk around and further from everything except the Palace and Arthur's Seat. BrewDog DogHouse Edinburgh Hotel at 5 New Street, just off the Canongate, is the one people book for the gimmick and stay for the staff: 20 duplex apartment-style rooms with a beer fridge in the shower, a draught beer tap in the room, a kitchenette, a record player and a guitar, above two bars with more than 30 taps and food from 7am to 10pm. It is completely dog-friendly, with beds and treats. It is about seven minutes to Waverley and seventeen to the Castle, and it holds a 4.8 on Google from nearly 600 reviews.

The £165 from-rate is the Punk Suite; the bigger Brewmaster Suite (£35 more) and Captain's Suite (£55 more) have sofas that fold out for extra guests, when available. It is a pub hotel, so expect a lively ground floor and a beer-first crowd, and read the 4.8 as a score for the experience rather than a promise of a quiet night. Come for a beer weekend with the dog, not for an early one.

Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood at 81 Holyrood Road is the Old Town hotel for drivers. On-site parking is £25 a day, which almost nothing else here can offer, and there is an indoor pool, a fitness centre and the Arti & Alba restaurant and bar. It sits by the Scottish Parliament and Dynamic Earth, a short walk from Holyrood Park. On a November Tuesday a king room started at about £174 (£166 for Marriott Bonvoy members); February was not on sale yet.

The trade-off is distance. It is about 15 minutes to Waverley and 22 to the Castle, the whole length of the Mile and uphill all the way, so this is a base you set out from each morning rather than one you step out of onto the sights. No pets, either. For a car, a pool and a quieter night at a fair price, it earns its place; for a first visit on foot, pick something higher up the hill.