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Bloomberg

When you wake up at the 100 Princes Street hotel, there is no question of what city you are in. The walls are upholstered with handmade tartan, and there are views of Edinburgh Castle and its hilltop perch.
Edinburgh, the Scottish capital that celebrated its 900th birthday in 2024, is now trending, with bookings more than doubling from 2023 to 2024 according to Carolyn Addison, head of product at luxury travel outfit Black Tomato.
She says that in the past few years, it has been increasingly easy to get there, too.
As the tourism industry booms, historic buildings are being repurposed and benefiting from the hospitality gold rush.

Steven Fyfe, director of hotel capital markets at real estate company Savills, says hospitality companies are taking over spaces that, until recently, were used as retail and office space.
“Hoteliers were jumping on these opportunities even pre-Covid, as occupancy and room rates have been trending upwards,” he says.
Likewise, the food and drink offerings are getting more competitive in a city where the dining scene was historically a joke and most cocktail descriptions invariably included the word “whisky”.
“With tourism continuing to boom in Edinburgh, hospitality has been highly competitive and dynamic,” says Joseph Radford, owner of the new destination restaurant Montrose and the one-Michelin-star Timberyard.
“Whether it’s casual or high end, the scene is evolving every month.”

One of the city’s most famous chefs, Stuart Ralston, whose restaurant empire includes Aizle and Tipo, points to the increasing popularity of Scottish ingredients and the talent he sees in kitchens.
“I’ve really noticed the effect of certain chefs who have come back from working abroad and bring diverse skills, flavours, etc, that they’ve learnt. There is also a lot of home-grown talent in the Edinburgh dining scene.”
Alex Palumbo, co-owner of Italian lounge Hey Palu in Old Town, agrees.
“The Edinburgh food and drink scene has become so fantastic because a small, independent bar or restaurant can thrive here, bringing something different to the city,” he says. “It also helps that the quality of the produce is outstanding, from fish to meat to whisky.”
Here are some of the best, most exciting venues in the “new” Edinburgh:

Where to eat: what’s new
Ardfern
Local hero Roberta Hall-McCarron’s newest spot is a cafe in the Leith neighbourhood with a wide-ranging wine list and food to go with it. Crispy hash brown cakes are topped with sautéed mushrooms; thick, pancake-like crumpets are smothered with crab curry.
Prices start at £4 (US$5) for starters and go up to £20 for bigger dishes. The list of by-the-glass wines ranges from Meunier champagne (£10.50) to Joseph Swan Russian River pinot noir (£16).
Lannan
A trip to Darcie Maher’s bakery Lannan, where the speciality is laminated pastries including croissants, takes planning; it is only open Thursday to Sunday, and it is best to get there close to 8am when the doors unlock.
But it has been a sensation since it opened in the summer of 2023. Among Maher’s specialities are a crème brûlée Danish with a browned golden custard centre, and rotating sausage rolls that might highlight pork and peach.
Tipo
Behind an unassuming storefront, a flight of stairs leads you up to the light and airy Italian restaurant where Ralston serves inventive small plates.
The focus is fresh pasta, such as a tender short rib raviolo with kale and shallot (£18). But don’t miss the savoury fried dough zeppole with pecorino cheese.
The cocktail list is a treat, too, with local options like a fermented bramble with white rum for £12.
The best tried-and-true spots
Panda & Sons
Behind a faux bookcase, down a flight of stairs in a red-fronted barber shop, you will find Iain McPherson’s energetic multiroom speakeasy, ranked 30th on the latest World’s 50 Best Bars list.
The boundary-pushing drinks, about £15 each, include the whisky-based Birdcage, served under a bell jar with a cloud of cinnamon-clove smoke waiting to escape (the bartenders say that once one person orders it, the whole room will, too).
This winter the Frozen Delights section includes Baltic Bru, a mix of Buckfast wine, peach ice cream, Campari and the bright orange Scottish fizzy drink Irn Bru.
Pomelo
When he opened his dynamic Chinese restaurant in 2021, chef Jun Au was cooking in a minuscule space; now he has a little more room on a friendly neighbourhood street, south of the city’s tourist-packed Old Town.
The lunchtime options are limited to just a few dishes, including hand-ripped noodles with a choice of pork or vegetables and garlic chilli or peanut sauce, and the gloriously crispy fried chicken sandwich with kimchi and sesame slaw for £12.
At night you can opt for mapo tofu and a platter of lechon pork belly with Sichuan peppercorn liver sauce for £23.
The Palmerston
There is no better place to sit down with a pastry and a coffee than this sunny corner spot in a former Royal Bank of Scotland building; the choices range from pain au chocolat to sugar-crusted kouign-amann pastries to classic croissants.
At dinner the place transitions to restaurant mode, with a Mediterranean-style menu including starters like lemony brandade with a soft-boiled egg.
Entrées include rigatoni with black cabbage and Parmesan, and slow-roasted lamb with barley and green sauce. Prices range from about £20 to £48.
Both the wine list and cocktail programme are strong.
Hey Palu
In the five years since it opened, this sultry, crimson-lit lounge has become one of the city’s prime drinking destinations.
It specialises in Italian drinks (for around £11), with the signature a wonderfully fruity white strawberry Negroni made with a local Edinburgh gin. The drink is so popular that owners Alex and Rachel Palumbo sell bottles of it for the holidays.
Hey Palu has also become known for its amaro selection; there are over 60, including some that are otherwise impossible to find outside Italy.

Where to stay
100 Princes Street
This 30-room hotel has the vibes of a private members’ club, with no obvious signage or large lobby. The walls are decked out in handmade tartan, with moody blue, green and gold accents.
The location is ideal for first-time visitors to Edinburgh, just a short walk from the National Galleries of Scotland. It is also just across from Edinburgh Castle, giving it some of the best views in town.

With no gym or spa, the hotel feels more like an elegant pied-à-terre, but the staff, well-dressed in green tartan, can arrange activities such as historical walking tours with locals or whisky tasting in the hotel’s private dining room.
Rooms cost from £435 per night.
Gleneagles Townhouse

This new hotel and members’ club, which is the chic little sister of legendary golf resort Gleneagles, is a smart renovation of a grand neoclassical pile.
Rooms are decorated with some art deco touches, lots of pastel colours and velvet. Some rooms feature roll-top bathtubs. There is also a rooftop bar with expansive city views, and in the basement is a spa with a cryotherapy chamber and exercise classes.
Rooms cost from £495 per night.

Virgin Edinburgh
There is no better place to stay in the Old Town than this hotel at the top of Victoria Street. It is housed in the former India Buildings, known for their Scots baronial-style architecture.
Red carpet greets guests at the entrance, with a light-up quartz wall that leads to the reception.
Don’t miss the rooftop bar or the stylish rotunda area, where tea is served in the afternoon. The rooms are highly functional, with Virgin’s signature sliding doors separating the sleeping and living areas in every room.
Rooms cost from £300 per night.


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Tourism

A bar area at Gleneagles Townhouse. Photo: Gleneagles Townhouse

Edinburgh in Scotland has new luxury hotels and a transformed restaurant scene to go with its history. Photo: Shutterstock

Buildings at Edinburgh Castle, among the most popular historical tourism sites in the Scottish capital. Photo: Shutterstock

The interior of one-Michelin-star restaurant Timberyard in Edinburgh. Photo: Instagram/timberyard10

Timberyard’s Black fig, fig leaf, oat and vanilla. Photo: Instagram/timberyard10

100 Princes Street hotel is just across from Edinburgh Castle, giving it some of the best views in town. Photo: 100 Princes Street hotel

Walls at 100 Princes Street hotel are decked out in tartan. Photo: 100 Princes Street hotel

A room at Gleneagles Townhouse. Photo: Gleneagles Townhouse

Gleneagles Townhouse is decorated with lots of pastel colours and velvet. Photo: Gleneagles Townhouse

Homeless recruited as tour guides to show Edinburgh’s ‘real’ side to visitors

Invisible Cities guide Sonny Murray leads a tour in Edinburgh. Photo: AFP

Invisible Cities tour guide Sonny Murray was once homeless and in and out of prison. Now he shows visitors Scotland’s capital from a different angle. Photo: AFP

Sonny Murray leads a tour of Canongate Kirk, a 17th century church in Edinburgh where notable people are buried including Scottish economist Adam Smith and 18th century poet Robert Fergusson. Photo: AFP

Murray struggled with addiction and was in and out of prison before joining Invisible Cities. Photo: AFP

Invisible Cities founder Zakia Moulaoui Guery says the initiative, while providing experiences for tourists, is also “to empower people” like Murray “to be visible”. Photo: AFP

Murray leads a tour of Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk church. The ethos behind Invisible Cities is to take visitors beneath the Scottish capital’s picture-postcard surface. Photo: AFP

Murray enjoys a coffee break before one of his walking tours. Photo: AFP

Huge new London tourist attraction based on World War II tunnels hoped to equal London Eye

A journalist stands, as members of the press are shown around underground tunnels used during World War Two as shelters during the Blitz that are now due to be developed into a new tourist attraction called The London Tunnels, in London, Britain, January 29, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A journalist takes part in a press tour of the underground tunnels built during World War II for shelter during The Blitz that will be developed into a new tourist attraction called “The London Tunnels”, in London, on January 29, 2024. Photo: AFP

The 1.6km-long tunnels lie under Holborn in central London. Photo: Reuters

The tunnels are a maze of old generators, pipes and rusty bolts. Photo: AFP

Luxury meets history in US$8,700-a-night stay at a Japanese castle 400 years old

Fukuyama Castle, on a site whose name translates as bat mountain, is a prominent landmark in western Japan. For US$8,700, couples can book a night in its turret, including meals and bathhouse access. Photo: Instagram/nory_riky 

Fukuyama Castle in western Japan recently opened for guests to stay overnight. Photo: Instagram/tsubame_kotsu

Shenzhen travel guide: how to get a visa on arrival, which apps to download and cashless payment in the Chinese city

To get to places in Shenzhen like Dongmen Pedestrian Street (above), Hong Kong residents without the right visa can apply for one on arrival. That’s not all you need to know - we break down the essentials for your trip from Hong Kong. Photo: Shutterstock

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Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

Edinburgh is a rising destination, with new luxury hotels, bars and much improved food offerings. Check out some of these on your next visit


Edinburgh is a rising destination, with new luxury hotels, bars and much improved food offerings. Check out some of these on your next visit.


Travel Destinations

Britain