Our clients often call us up and ask us for advice on the best accommodation to book in Edinburgh. This is our answer!

So you’re planning a stag or hen party, or you’re just a group of friends visiting Edinburgh? Ether way, your plane or train tickets are booked, you’ve lined up that ever so important (and AMAZING) adventurous activity now is the time to knuckle down and find the accommodation.

Most of our clients are traveling with a large group and are working to a budget, so that they can spend more on the important stuff (beer, food and adventures). To help you along with your accommodation inspiration, here’s our favourite hotels and hostels in Edinburgh. 

Our Edinburgh accommodation top tips:

1. Book Early– Edinburgh is super popular with tourists at all times of year (especially during The Edinburgh Festival and The 6 Nations Rugby). Book early as accommodation costs can skyrocket as you get closer to your date.

1. Location, Location, Location– Think about the kind of place you want to stay. If you want to be right in the action, around the popular spots for stags and hens then somewhere like The Grassmarket or Rose Street will mean you can wander straight out of your accommodation into a bar. There is nothing worse than a 25-minute walk or a £25 taxi ride. Equally, if you fancy being just a bit back from the action then Waterloo Place, York Place and The Royal Mile are still close by with pubs and restaurants within walking distance.

Hotels in Edinburgh

As you would expect the main budget hotel chains have a number of offerings in the city centre. They are all cheap, cheerful, clean and central.

·      The Premier Inn and their newer Hub by Premier Inn offerings (more compact rooms) all get great reviews on Trip Advisor. For a central location, we would recommend: Princes Street, Rose Street, York Place, Royal Mile or Lauriston Place  – anywhere else and you would need too many taxis and these can be hard to come by on busy weekends. 

·      Ibis hotels have 3 central hotels – the cheaper Royal Mile and South Bridge options are close to The Grassmarket (pubs and nightlife) and theSt Andrews Square hotel that is more expensive but close to George Street (fancy food spots).

·      Travel Lodge has 4 central hotels that are cheaper than the Premier Inn and Ibis – Queen Street, Princes Street, Rose Street and another hotel at Haymarket. All would be good options for nightlife access though Haymarket is a bit further away from the action.  

Top Tips

Want to find the cheapest deals on rooms? We would recommend trying Trivago. It searches all the room rates across all the sites and then tells you the cheapest deal for the nights you want… 

Hostels:

Like hotels, there’s so many hostels in Edinburgh it can be hard to choose. Some stalwarts of the Edinburgh scene include:

·      Castle Rock Hostelis in a fantastic location and is a beautiful old building. This hostel was voted the best in Edinburgh and features on some of the best in the world. 

·      Budget Backpackers on The Cowgate is the easiest place to roll into after a night on the Grassmarket. 

·      Royal Mile Backpackers located half way down the royal mile in a great old building. 

·      There’s also Kick Ass Hostel close by that was again voted one of the best in Edinburgh. 

Other Options!!!!

Getting a big apartment or house is a favourite of many of our groups. There are so many options in Edinburgh from whole houses to serviced apartments. This often gives you more freedom and space to hang out. We find many of our groups choose to get take out pizza on one night of their hen or stag parties and this complements your own space perfectly. 

To find an apartment or house we recommend Air BnB, Edlets and Holiday Lettings which all have multiple options for big groups. There is often some weird and wonderful accommodation that will suit your trip perfectly! 

If you have any other questions, get in touch and we can hopefully point you in the right direction.

More information about a trip to Edinburgh

Check Out:

·      A Visit To Edinburgh…: here

·      The best breakfast spots in Edinburgh: here

·      Planning a Hen Party to Edinburgh: here

·      Edinburgh Stag Party Ideas: here

Who are Intrepidus Outdoors?

We are an adventure tourism provider based in Edinburgh, Scotland. We specialise lots of great outdoor activities including hill walking, canyoning, coasteering and canoeing. We deliver these adventures to lots of different groups but mainly stag and hen groups and adults visiting Edinburgh. At Intrepidus we also like to provide interesting and informative blog posts about our experiences of Edinburgh!