Edinburgh is such a magical place to spend a weekend. Walking around is indeed like walking through the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley. The ubiquitous Harry Potter merchandise shops on said streets will remind you.
I had to visit Edinburgh for work for a day, so I planned that for Friday so that Sam and I could make a weekend of it.
Arriving from London for a weekend in Edinburgh
I came by train via Newcastle the day before and a short journey to Edinburgh in the morning. Sam took a five hour train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley arriving early afternoon. While I was out with a colleague of mine, Sam planned to treat himself to lunch (actually two lunches – a smart idea before embarking on a weekend in Edinburgh) and a few drinks in town while he waited for me to wrap up.
We are frequent travellers but the following was a first even for us. Sam went to check in at the hotel first, and the bed was epically broken. The hotel, 45 Queen Street, was fully booked, and so was the rest of the city. The next cheapest hotel was over £300/night. Sam called Ebookers, a subsidiary of the Expedia travel group. We often book with them due to their price match guarantee policy, good cashback, and travel credit earned with each booking. Sadly he did this from the broken bed rather than from a nearby pub, and so he lost his afternoon about town to himself. Close to two hours on the phone later we got bumped up big time, to The Sheraton which was a five star hotel, albeit across town.
Friday night in the best bars in Edinburgh
It was 6pm by the time we both finally met up at The Vincent. It was Friday, October 28th – the Friday of Halloweekend – and I would firmly recommend going to Edinburgh on this Friday. All day throughout Edinburgh I saw people celebrating the festivities of the weekend. A nail technician in a giant pumpkin suit, baristas in spooky makeup, and decorations across independent venues everywhere.
Anyway, The Vincent. Sunken a few steps beneath street level and covered in vines, it looked like the perfect place for a spooky pint. It had pumpkins on the bar, servers in costumes, and Beavertown branded bunting which doubled as a few extra skeleton placements. Sam had a couple of pints of cask and I had a couple of Neck Oils.
We headed to Kay’s Bar next. This was equally a ‘love at first sight’ style of classic boozer. It had old fashioned signage and steamy windows, and inside was even more glorious. Floor to ceiling red paint and carpeting, and even a wall of barrels. It was nearly impossible to get served and even more difficult to find a seat. Even I, with my North American love of keg beer, had to have a pint of Scottish cask here.
We were ready for dinner by this point so started walking back in the direction of our hotel. We went to Teuchters, down a townhouse lined cobbled street, expecting a standard level of Scottish pub grub. The main floor was rammed with drinkers and diners alike, so we ate in the quieter basement section. I had Fish & Chips (classic), and Sam had Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties (even more so). The food blew away our expectations – both dishes were amazing, and just over £25 for the pair. We finished our drinks upstairs. Sam was itching to get into the drams.
Drinking Malt of the Moment in Edinburgh
So we did just that (along with a pint) at Cloisters, a ten minute walk away. To be more specific, we got into the “Malt of the Moment.” This is a rotating special that Scottish bars put on at a reasonable price to move through a bottle quickly. We had a Tamnavulin for £4 and a pint of Thornbridge Lukas Lager for £4.85! It’s been years since I saw a pint of any keg beer in the UK at less than £5. Let alone a good one. I got very excited about prices and quality all weekend, really.
After one round we went to Bennets Bar where we really settled in for the night. We got a couple of seats at the bar and flipped through their four page clipboard menu of malts. The bartender was unbelievably friendly and informative. She really helped shape our experience into something special and talked us through the menu as we had… a few. Instead of having a single malt of the moment, Bennets had five. We drank Guinness on the side. We finished our evening here and walked back to the hotel for bed.
Sightseeing in Edinburgh
The next morning, we somehow both found the motivation to use the expansive gym before going mental at breakfast. Did I mention that we got upgraded to a five star hotel? Our original hotel wasn’t even meant to include breakfast, but The Sheraton had a quality full Scottish breakfast on.
We had plans to walk through the old town and through the markets. But it just so happened that there was a BrewDog bar right in front of the hotel. BrewDog is never at the top of our list, but… when in Rome, etc. We got a half pint each of the Scottish brewers’ beers. We were both embarrassed and delighted to discover that BrewDog bars do a 20% pre-12:30pm discount on beers for shareholders. Sam’s £20 shareholding paying dividends.
Anyway, we walked through the Farmer’s Market which was just at the base of Edinburgh Castle.
Next stop was Grassmarket… Market. Well done, Edinburgh. I nearly bought a tartan scarf for some family members but persuaded myself not to. Had it been, again, August, we would have certainly stopped at Mary’s Milk Bar in the square. But between the cold and the rain, we just weren’t up for ice cream. Even if it was meant to be the best.
We continued on and walked up Victoria Street. This must be one of the most beautiful streets in the city. The buildings were all brightly coloured on a winding steep road.
Beautiful Saturday afternoon bar crawl in Edinburgh
At this point it was really raining so we stopped at The Bow Bar. We were, again, surprised and delighted at how good a bar on a touristic street could be. There were delicious remnants of their Oktoberfest German lager menu. For the entire time we sat here, I was gazing out the window at the lineup of people standing in the rain. Of course they were waiting to go into Museum Context. No, it wasn’t really a museum. Yes, it was a “licenced” Harry Potter merchandise store. I knew I had to drag Sam.
As we were finishing our drinks there was a break in the line. We made made a dash for it. Any Harry Potter adoring millennial (the store was exclusively filled with them) would turn back into their ten-year-old selves looking at the wands, the books, and the Sorting Hat itself. With will of steel, I didn’t buy anything. But I did touch everything.
We did some more (normal) window browsing in the area and soaked up the city’s ridiculously beautiful architecture. It is both modern and old. We stopped at Devil’s Advocate for a couple of Newbarns beers. This brewery is based in the city, founded by people Sam and I know from our days in the beer industry. Sam got on the drams, I stuck to the beers. This bar was across from Edinburgh Waverly, which is a good marker to divide the old and the new sides of the town.
We finished up our tour of the Old Town with an espresso at The Milkman across the street and a walk up Cockburn Street.
On our way back down to new town, we took the stairs, and happened to pass a bar called the Jinglin’ Geordie. We could not, but should have resisted. This was perhaps a tad too far in the direction of old man boozer. Even for my liking. The cask beers were not fresh.
A Christmas themed Halloween weekend in Edinburgh
Now we really went to the new side of town. It’s hard not to gravitate towards the Scott Monument.
We walked down Princes Street and then back up to George Street. Here we spotted a striking building decorated in nutcracker dolls, garland and lights. We popped in to discover that it was a palatial circular venue with forty foot ceilings. It had already been completely made up for Christmas. In October. But who was I to argue – we got a table, a wine, and some truffle fries. The Dome, as we discovered, was a coveted drinks venue in the city. We could see why.
After walking around all day, we were starving. We had an early-ish dinner at The Scran & Scallie, where I had made reservations when I passed the day before. It was premium Scottish restaurant without being swank. It was definitely a restaurant rather than a buzzy bar like Teuchters the night before. The food and service was excellent (though I would still recommend Teuchters which was close to half the price/more fun!).
We had pegged St Bernard’s Bar on our way to dinner as our after dinner spot. An old, quirky and narrow bar with several mismatched lamps and short tables and stools. Then we started making our way back across town with a few pit stops along the way. We had specific plans to go to a cocktail bar (one which I had been to years before and which had stuck with me as one of my favourites in the world). But we got sidetracked by The Bailey. Another sunken bar a la The Vincent with retro signage and a giant u-shaped bar in the middle surrounded by stools.
The best cocktails in Edinburgh
We got to Bramble, which was still a world class cocktail bar years later. Often when there are unique cocktails on a menu, I wind up still opting for a classic like a whiskey sour or a penicillin. Here I gladly opt for their house specialty (though i couldn’t resist a penicillin as my second drink – when in Scotland!). There was a DJ playing but it wasn’t too loud, the lighting was dim without being too dark. It’s a great bar. Go.
We should have gone home after this but instead we stopped somewhere along the 20 minute walk home for one last round at The Ensign Ewart. This was was apparently established in 1640 though it didn’t look that old. Here we had a pint of Guinness along with a (definitely not) measure(d) of scotch to see us home the rest of the walk.
An overall delightful weekend in Edinburgh
The next morning we had a 9am train back to London, but we were sure to wake up early enough to load up on another big breakfast. Sam, in fact, needed two plates for his breakfast. The walk to the station was nice, but the train ride itself went on forever, even though it was only actually 4h40m.
As a Londoner, Edinburgh felt like a great value weekend. Even though we went pretty nuts, we spent £365 across both of us for the whole time. The free breakfast helped with that, too. One could argue that anywhere in the UK – or most of the world – will seem cheap next to London, but this isn’t what I mean. Other major cities in the UK are less expensive, but not as good as London. Sorry, other UK cities, but it’s true. Edinburgh is entirely amazing in its own right. Everything is unique, delicious, and beautiful, and everywhere we went we were surprised and delighted by our experience.
