Hidden Scotland
Sign in

Edinburgh's best
places to stay.

It’s 03:00 in Edinburgh.
Find your stay
Places to stay in Edinburgh

Where would you like to wake up?

Every one of these is somewhere we would book ourselves: a boutique hotel at the edge of Holyrood Park, a flat in an old West End stable block, and a cart shed, a wash house and a timber cabin on hill farms in the Pentlands, a short drive from the city. Choose one to see it, the nights it is free and how to book.

Clermount CottageCartshedWash HouseOld Town ChambersWoodshedWest End MuseMoment George IV BridgeThe Scott Hotel
Or by kind

What kind of place?

Choose a kind, and see only those in Edinburgh.

All of Scotland
Remote→
Luxury→
Not sure where to start?

Find your stay.

Tell us when and who is coming, and see the places in Edinburgh that are free and fit.

Find your stay →
Or go straight toFree this weekendFor the two of usFor a familyWith a hot tubWith the dog
TonightToday

Woodshed is free tonight.

A silvered-timber cabin for two by Roxburgh McEwan Architects, at the end of a farm track in the Pentland Hills near Penicuik, with a wood-fired hot tub. Sleeps two, in Edinburgh.

Free dates26 – 30 Oct2 – 13 Nov16 Nov – 4 DecFrom 11 DecBook Woodshed
Did you know15 minutes ago

The Scott, a hotel on the edge of Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, began as a merchant's house in the 1750s and spent decades as a student residence.

The house was built in the 1750s for the merchant Alexander Scott. In the 19th century the publisher William Nelson had the architect John Lessels enlarge it, and gave it the baronial look it still has. Gatehouses, stables and coach houses followed. In the 1940s the physician and philanthropist Donald Pollock gave the estate to the University of Edinburgh, and for decades the house was a student residence. Restored in the early 21st century, it is now a hotel, with work by Scottish artists and designers in its rooms. Holyrood Park begins at the door, and the climb to Arthur's Seat with it.

See The Scott Hotel · Edinburgh
Friday to Sunday1 hour agoEdinburghWoodshed6 – 9 NovEdinburghCartshed13 – 15 NovPentland HillsWash House13 – 15 Nov

An autumn weekend in Edinburgh, while the bracken turns.

Each one shows the next weekend it has free. Choose one to see it and book.

See every place to stay
Stay of the day2 hours ago

Clermount Cottage, for two, in Lothian.

A stone cottage for two from 1874 on the Penicuik Estate, half an hour from Edinburgh, with a cedar hot tub among old trees.

See Clermount Cottage
From our collectionsA collection6 hours agoEdinburghMoment George IV BridgePentland HillsWash HouseEdinburghOld Town ChambersEdinburghWoodshedEdinburghCartshedLothianClermount CottageEdinburghWest End MuseEdinburghThe Scott Hotel

Places to Stay in and Around Edinburgh

Some of these are in the middle of the city and some out in the countryside half an hour away. From Old Town flats to converted farm buildings, these are our favourite places to stay in and around it.

See the whole collection
In Issue 13The magazine

Mad as a March Hare

In the rich farmlands and rolling hills of east Scotland there once lived a young woman named Hester, and her husband Angus.

Read it in Issue 13
Sleeps twoOne bedroomStays of two nights or moreA closer look6 hours ago

Inside Wash House.

The Wash House is an 18th-century stone building at Eastside, the Cowan family's hill farm in the Pentland Hills near Penicuik, made by the architects Studio IMA into a small, beautifully crafted hideaway for two. Behind the old walls it's bright and white, with screens of pale ash slats, a black breakfast bar with stools and a wood-burning stove. A big window has an ash seat in front of it.

Free dates2 – 6 Nov11 – 25 NovFrom 27 NovFrom 7 MaySee Wash House
Base yourself7 hours agoEdinburghScottish Parliament BuildingAttractionEdinburghOld Town ChambersUnder a mile awayEdinburghMoment George IV BridgeUnder a mile awayEdinburghThe Scott HotelUnder a mile awayEdinburghWest End Muse1 mile away

Where to stay near Scottish Parliament Building.

The home of the Scottish Parliament at the foot of the Royal Mile, Enric Miralles's prize-winning design, free to visit Monday to Saturday.

See Scottish Parliament Building
Just the two of you9 hours agoLothianClermount CottageSleeps 2EdinburghMoment George IV BridgeSleeps 2EdinburghCartshedSleeps 2EdinburghWoodshedSleeps 2Pentland HillsWash HouseSleeps 2

Places to stay for two.

Each of these sleeps two, so it is just the two of you.

See romantic cottages
Did you know10 hours ago

The Woodshed, a cabin for two in the Pentland Hills, was designed with a nod to the plain timber woodsheds found on farms.

Jenny Cowan and Michael Rummey wanted a cottage for guests on their farmland in the Pentland Hills, southwest of Edinburgh, and they went to the Edinburgh architects Roxburgh McEwan. Cowan says it was inspired by Scandinavian cabins, and the architects gave a nod to the traditional agricultural woodshed too. What PJM Joinery built is small, 544 square feet in all, made of cross-laminated timber under a corrugated steel roof in a quiet shade of grey. A double-height living room rises to a loft bedroom, and the Kebony cladding has weathered to a silver that matches the trees around it.

See Woodshed · Edinburgh
From our collectionsA collection11 hours agoEdinburghWoodshedEdinburghWest End MuseEdinburghCartshedPentland HillsWash HouseEdinburghThe Scott Hotel

The Most Luxurious Places to Stay in Scotland

Sometimes a trip calls for somewhere that gets everything right, from the bed and the bathroom to the view from the window. From country house hotels to architect-designed hideaways, these are the most luxurious places to stay we know.

See the whole collection
In Edinburgh13 hours ago

Fingal, the floating hotel in Leith, has won two World Travel Awards this year, as the leading boutique hotel in Europe and in Scotland.

The ship was built for the Northern Lighthouse Board to serve the west coast, and it now has 23 cabins and a restaurant with two AA Rosettes. It is moored beside the Royal Yacht Britannia, whose trust runs both.

See Fingal · Edinburgh
A closer look14 hours ago

Inside Old Town Chambers.

Old Town Chambers is a hotel of apartments at 329 High Street, on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's Old Town, minutes from St Giles' Cathedral and Edinburgh Castle. Its 82 residences, from studios to three-bedroom apartments, run through three old tenement buildings on a close off the street, and every one has its own living space and kitchen. Inside they're calm and comfortable, with tweed headboards, walls of black-and-white photographs and deep velvet sofas, a quiet place to come back to after a day on the busy streets outside.

See Old Town Chambers