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Edinburgh's best
places to stay.

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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.

WoodshedClermount CottageThe Scott HotelOld Town ChambersCartshedWash HouseMoment George IV BridgeWest End Muse
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Or go straight toFree this weekendFor the two of usFor a familyWith a hot tubWith the dog
Plan aheadToday

Cartshed is booked most weekends.

These are the next weekends it is free, so book ahead. Sleeps two, in Edinburgh.

Free dates13 – 15 Nov20 – 22 Nov27 – 29 NovBook Cartshed
Base yourself44 minutes agoEdinburghGreyfriars KirkAttractionEdinburghMoment George IV BridgeUnder a mile awayEdinburghWest End MuseUnder a mile awayEdinburghThe Scott Hotel1 mile away

Where to stay near Greyfriars Kirk.

The first church built in Edinburgh after the Reformation, opened on Christmas Day 1620, where the National Covenant was signed in 1638.

See Greyfriars Kirk
Monday to Thursday1 hour agoEdinburghWoodshed26 – 29 OctPentland HillsWash House2 – 5 NovEdinburghCartshed9 – 12 Nov

Go midweek, when everyone else is at work.

Three nights, Monday to Thursday. Each one shows the first it has free.

See every place to stay
Just the two of you3 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 know4 hours ago

The award-winning Cartshed, on the Cowan family's hill farm at Eastside in the Pentland Hills, was made over with cobbles saved from a street in Edinburgh's Old Town.

Eastside, in the Pentland Hills, has been farmed by the Cowan family for five generations, and its stone steading dates from the 18th century. In 2022 the architects Studio IMA made part of it into two small studios for guests. They kept to what was close at hand: screens of charred local larch outside, screens of local ash inside, and cobble setts reclaimed from an Old Town street. The next year the work won the Regeneration and Strategy award at the Edinburgh Architectural Association Awards. Inside, the Cartshed is a calm, minimal space for two, and its large picture windows make the hills outside the main source of colour.

See Cartshed · Edinburgh
In Issue 13The magazine

Tall Tale

Wildlife film-maker Gordon Buchanan grew up on Mull and has spent 35 years filming in the world's wildest places. But it took two mountainless years in the Amazon before he really saw Buachaille Etive Mòr.

Read it in Issue 13
From our collectionsA collection5 hours agoEdinburghThe Scott HotelEdinburghCartshedEdinburghWest End MusePentland HillsWash HouseEdinburghWoodshedLothianClermount CottageEdinburghMoment George IV Bridge

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 Edinburgh7 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
Sleeps twoOne bedroomStays of two nights or moreA closer look8 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
Nearby8 hours agoEdinburghDolly the SheepA short walkEdinburghThe Lewis Chess PiecesA short walkEdinburghThe Arthur's Seat CoffinsA short walk

Places to visit while staying at Old Town Chambers.

Apartments from studios to three bedrooms in old tenements on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, with an all-day restaurant, Luckenbooths, at the front door. Each of these is a short walk from the door.

See Old Town Chambers
Did you know9 hours ago

West End Muse, a flat in a 19th-century stable block in Edinburgh's West End, is named after the owner's own paintings on its walls.

The flat is on the first floor of a mews house in Edinburgh's West End, in a stable block built in the 19th century and since turned into homes. When the owners renovated it, working with architects and interior designers, they kept its original features, so an old brick wall still stands behind the red velvet sofa and the log burner. Then they hung the rooms with the owner's own artwork, and those paintings gave the place its name. It sleeps four, in two bedrooms with two bathrooms, and Princes Street and the castle are a short walk from the door.

See West End Muse · Edinburgh
From the JournalThe journal11 hours ago

Where to Stay in Edinburgh

The Old Town for the castle and the closes, Stockbridge for a village in the city, Leith for the restaurants: which part of Edinburgh to stay in, and the places we like in each.

Read the story
Did you know13 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