Finding somewhere to stay in Edinburgh
If you are coming to visit Edinburgh and you haven't arranged somewhere to stay ahead of time then don't expect me to do the donkey work for you! There are plenty of hotels, guest houses, hostels and bed and breakfast places here but I"m not in the business of finding one to suit you. The people who are, work in the Tourist Information Bureau, which is situated in Princes Street right above the Waverley Station, and when I say above, I mean above. The Bureau is built on the roof of the station, which isn't as silly as it might sound, since the station is below the street level in the valley below the Castle. I have found a website which may help you, Edinburgh Accomodation Guide, check it out.
The first thing to watch out for is your timing,
if you're planning to visit Edinburgh for the Festival then you had
better book ahead, the farther ahead the better! As I said above
there are plenty of places to stay here, but at Festival time there
are plenty of people coming to visit and things get a bit crowded,
it's not impossible to find somewhere, but it might take a while and
you'd be lucky to find something exactly as you wanted. This warning also applies to the weekends of Home International Rugby matches, although to a smaller extent, as the visiting supporters, especially the Welsh and Irish contingents, tend to book their favourite hotels well in advance (often two years in advance).
If you've got plenty of cash to spare (or a healthy expense account), there are quite a few large (and expensive) hotels eager to relieve you of your excess cash. You won't have any trouble finding out their details so I won't make enemies by recommending any in particular. The medium priced and mostly chain hotels are also readily accessed in any of the usual guides so that leaves the small hotels, guest houses and hostels.
If you are organised you will probably phone the Tourist Information Board (031-557-1700) before coming to Edinburgh, but if you're the type to just arrive and trust to luck then the main areas to try are:-
- City centre. Royal Terrace, just to the East of Princes Street above London Road, several small hotels well situated, also the Hillside, Brunswick and Windsor Street area just the other side of London Road. On the other end of Princes street, the Haymarket area and behind in Lansdowne, Grosvenor, Glencairn and Eglinton Crescents.
- South. Minto Street and Mayfield Gardens, plenty of small hotels/ guest houses on a main bus route to the city centre.
- West. All along the road in from Glasgow and the airport, particularly in the Corstorphine area and Murrayfield (handy for the International rugby stadium). I didn't intend to single out any particular hotels but the Craigelachie Hotel in Murrayfield Avenue put a link to this site on their Website and it is in a very nice spot, handy for the City Centre, so if you are interested check them out.
- North. McDonald Road and particularly Pilrig Street, lots of guest houses.
- East. Along the Portobello Road and especially in Portobello itself, which used to be a seperate village on a beach on the Firth of Forth, when Edinburgh was smaller and any sort of travel was an adventure, but has now been absorbed into the city.
For those of you who are travelling on a bit more of a shoestring there are several hostels handy for the city centre. There are Youth Hostels at Bruntsfield and Eglinton Crescents, and backpackers hostels at Blackfriars Street, Cockburn Street and Johnstone Terrace, off the High Street and another in West Register Street, off Princes Street. There are also caravan/camping sites at Silverknowes and Little France, although these are a fair bit out from the centre of town.
