12 Best Hotels in Edinburgh for Castle Views, Rooftop Tipples, and Cozy Vibes

The Hoxton’s first Scottish opening landed in Haymarket in 2025 and quickly became the area’s hospitality crown jewel. Inside, it’s a considered blend of heritage and irreverence: curved cornicing meets raspberry headboards, brass accents, and flamingo two-coat hooks. The 200 or so rooms span everything from snug bunk rooms to sprawling family-sized quarters with original sash windows, all with a layered, lived-in feel that nods to the city’s own contrasts. Downstairs, Patatino restaurant channels a sun-drenched trattoria via striped awnings, a working fountain, and a menu of fresh pasta and wood-fired pizza that makes use of local produce. There’s also a cozy five-seater cinema, light-filled event spaces, and a lobby bar that shifts from coffee spot to cocktail hour with ease. As ever with Hoxton hotels, the vibe is relaxed but well-executed, and the location, steps from Haymarket Station and a short stroll to the city center, makes it as practical as it is polished.

This plush property offers the seclusion of a members club with the personal service that Red Carnation hotels are known for. There’s no doorman, so a black “100” flag is the main giveaway. Inside, it’s a place of low-lit and low-key velveteen elegance, with five floors of 30 discreet rooms, many taking reddish or greenish color schemes from walls covered in one of the hotel’s bespoke tartans. At The Wallace, a leather-walled lounge and bar area on the second floor, there are vintage globes and oil paintings of steamers on storm-lashed seas. Over a Penicillin whisky cocktail, guests can take in unobstructed golden views of the lowering sun hitting Edinburgh Castle—a rare treat, even for locals.

Beyond the building, the hotel offers an impressive list of experiences—from fishing on the River Tweed with a packed lunch to private visits to the atelier of designer Araminta Campbell, with the chance to commission bespoke fabrics. There’s room for golf bags downstairs, so for many, this may well be the city stop before heading for Muirfield or St. Andrews, or perhaps the fly-fishing beats to the north. —Toby Skinner

This is a Penguin Classic of a hotel—part Arthur Conan Doyle, part Muriel Spark, and set-designed with real attention to detail: with prints, maps, and memorabilia in the blue drawing rooms riffing on the golden age of travel. Polished banisters lead upstairs to the bedrooms—go for one in the original townhouses for the fireplaces and high ceilings. All are designed in a well-upholstered Edwardian style, embellished with succulents, letterpress-style illustrations, and record players—and if you’re lucky, a copy of Ziggy Stardust.

The subterranean spa continues the foliage theme seen in the hotel’s central sky-lit “garden” restaurant, with a living wall that's home to lavender, ferns, and eucalyptus. With a strong focus on results, facial treatments begin with a full assessment of your skincare hopes and hang-ups and culminate with a very deep cheek (and arm and leg) massage. Post-treatment, make a beeline for a session in the UK's first sound wellness room. —S.K. and R.J.

There has been a hotel on the site where InterContinental Edinburgh The George now sits since 1881. Its prime heritage suites—as well as its popular Burr & Co café—are spread across five adjoining townhouses on George Street, diagonally opposite the Assembly Rooms. But the hotel is bigger than it looks from the outside. Thanks to two modern extensions that are almost invisible from the street, it comprises more than 200 rooms. Some of the loveliest views, in fact, are those from the upper floors of the modern buildings, which overlook a patchwork of Georgian rooftops and gardens, and, beyond them, the Firth of Forth.

A subdued palette has been employed throughout—neutral oatmeals and grays perked up here and there with liturgical greens, blues, and purples. Original architectural features have been preserved, and the interior design mixes contemporary and period elements—think Victorian-style leather armchairs and velveteen sofas alongside pendant lamps and geometric side tables. The George may not be quite as imposing as the Balmoral, and nothing as wildly quirky as The Witchery, but it occupies a superb location in the heart of the New Town and does what it does with modesty and grace. —S.K.

Virgin Hotels Edinburgh is a fabulous addition to Edinburgh’s UNESCO-listed Old Town—itself a place of great drama, with its mysterious lanes, moody shadows, looming stony façades, and suddenly expanding vistas. The hotel occupies a prime spot on curvy, hilly Victoria Street. Though much of the 19th-century charm of the original India Buildings, as they were known, has been preserved—the three-tiered domed rotunda is especially lovely—the overall feeling inside is one of carefully choreographed postmodern mischief. The 222 rooms are thoughtfully configured, pale and creamy in tone with vivid red accents (in case you forget for a nanosecond that you’re in a Virgin-branded property). Each of the eight Grand Chamber suites has something delightful and/or unexpected about it—a mezzanine decorated in the style of a Bedouin tent, for example. In a city blessed with more than its share of excellent eateries, the Commons Club Restaurant and Bar more than hold their own—they’re outstanding. Though the hotel is by no means short on the kind of whimsical, self-referential touches for which Sir Richard Branson is famous, this is offset by an appealing sense of fun mixed with seriousness of purpose. —S.K.

The Witchery would be Count Dracula's choice of hotel were he to visit Edinburgh, and you may feel apprehensive about encountering him as you climb the stone turret staircase into the Inner Sanctum on your way to bed. One of the hotel's nine suites, the Sanctum is swathed in crimson, claret, and port, and styled like a scene from a vampire movie staged within a Gothic castle. Downstairs, feast on classics like lobster thermidor in the restaurant, then wallow in a claw-footed, roll-top bath before climbing into a huge four-poster bed made from an old church pulpit. Children are not welcome at the Witchery, although they would probably very much enjoy the experience. —S.K. and R.J.

The huge oak doors to The Edinburgh Grand reopened in 2025 as Scotland's first Marriott Luxury Collection hotel. Step inside, and you'll come across a mass of checkered marble flooring, wood paneling, and the soaring ceilings so familiar to Edinburgh. But this isn't your average grand hotel, because inside are 50 family-friendly apartments in all shapes and sizes—the huge penthouse suite with wraparound views of Edinburgh sleeps six, and all apartments come with sofa beds for extras. In the bathrooms, there are roll-top baths and framed RBS checks from the 1950s hanging above the toilets. And in the vaults, there is a Hawksmoor steak restaurant—the city's first; and in the west wing, there is a Champagne bar that dishes up lobster rolls. With a great spot on St. Andrew Square, The Grand is a self-catering option, but with all the best bits that a hotel has to offer. —S.K. and R.J.