I'l be traveling to Edinburgh in about 10 days with my adult daughter and staying for about a week. We're looking to stay in or near the old city and we're looking at a variety of different accommodtions...ie. self-catering flats, B&B or even a hotel.
I'd appreciate any info you have either on a specific place or a site to find places. I'm sure someone will ask me how much money I'm interested in spending - I guess around $100/night or there abouts. Is that possible and still have it be a nice place??????

The University of Edinburgh has an active accommodation agency and at http://217.30.114.69/clients/Edinbur...l/bbsearch.asp you can ask for bed and breakfast for your days. If it offers you Salisbury Green Hotel and Conference Centre in Pollock Halls then that is where I stay, two miles south of the city centre with a bus route (or I hire a bicycle), a large campus of halls of residence and the hotel, pleasant, quiet, green, and beside an extinct volcano.

At http://www.edinburgh.org/ the Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board has pages on Find a Place to Stay, with many b and b houses, so many, iundeeed, that you may want to e mail them to ask for three names of houses near Bruntsfield Links (half a mile south east of the old city, or on the Royal Mile (though that area has mostly 4 star hotels, which of course cost more)

Ben Haines, London
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Even though the festivals will (just) have finished, it will still be quite busy in early September & you have left it very late to book. Also, is $100 for both of you ? If so, that is quite low - the budget chain hotels & B&Bs generally start at about £70 (c.$130) for a twin room. I don't want to seem unhelpful but I can't offer any better advice than Ben : try the unviversity and/or the tourist board to see what they've got.

Having said that, I've just checked a couple of the chain hotels' websites & there seems to be some availability - see the www.travellodge.com site (Edinburgh central hotel has rooms from £65 pn) and www.premiertravelinn.com (rooms from £52 pn but only at hotels on outskirts or out of town).

Both Caroline and Ben have given you good advice. $100 (I assume you do mean US$) is only £52, and £26 per person is a pretty tall order in central Edinburgh at any time let alone at the end of the frantic festival/Tattoo season. As Caroline says most of the events will be finished, but things are still busy through early Sept.

This agency does have flats as low as £65 but most are a good deal more. www.apartmentsinedinburgh.com/ (don't get too excited when you see the "from £22.50 per person" bit. That is for winter bookings)

So contact the university and the apartments, and if unsucc,essful - I'd consider either raising your budget or staying out of town and taking day trips into Edinburgh by train.

While I have not been to Scotland YET - we are planning a trip in October. I did a lot of research on accomodations in/around Edinburgh. $100 a night does not seem very realistic, especially for a "nice place".
However, I found the site aboutscotland.com very helpful. It provides a clickable map, which shows where the accomadations are in relation to the city center. They have a listing of B&Bs and rentals. If you are staying for an entire week, a rental might be your best bet.
http://www.aboutscotland.com

Thank you for your replies.

After looking around at various sites myself, I too feel that I was totally unrealistic with my budget.

I know that this is all very last minute, but I made a last minute decision to join my daughter when I could arrange frequent flyer miles. My daughter will be studying at the Univesity of Edinburgh and moving into her flat on Saturday, the 9th. I'll be staying until the 12th. I would like to be staying in the same area of the city as she will be - the flats near the University.

I have found 3 self-catering flats...
Wonder if anyone has stayed there or knows the streets:
18 Niddry Street South
Edmonstone Close, West Bow
Blair Street 2
Thanks for your advice on this or anyothers you may have.

If you haven't already booked a place, I reccomend checking out www.smoothound.co.uk - they have tons of listings, many with links to photos of the property and online booking. You can sort by price or location. When you see a place that looks suitable, look it up at www.tripadvisor.com for reviews from other guests to help you decide. I've stayed at Hotel Ibis which is right in the city center, should be within your budget, not fancy but a nice place and great location.

I'm staying one block away from Niddry right this moment, in the University of Edinburgh student housing just off Cowgate. (Of course, that reverts to student use by next week.) Niddry Street would be a very convenient location.

For those who have stayed in both hotels, B&B's and flats - what has been your experience.

Last time we were in Edinburgh we stayed in a wonderful B&B - but, the location is not as good for this trip and so I'm looking for something different.

I'm waiting to hear a couple of other responses to my emails about other flats and I'm still looking into hotels and B&B's, but I'm pretty sure that the flat on Niddry, while a bit over our budget, will be best in terms of location and sleeping arrangements.

One problem is that the apartment doesn't have internet service. I'm going to ask the owner if he knows of internet service cafes, but wondering if anyone knows if it is easy to find internet access. I'll want the internet to communicate with my husband and for looking up information, addresses, etc for things we'll be doing. Would appreciate any information.

There are several. Ive used easyEverything in Rose Street most times (it is just a block off Princes street in the very center of the city)

But this site lists several others - so depending on where you are you won't have a problem.

http://www.world66.com/europe/united...rgh/cybercafes

Thank you. I can see that if we do stay at Niddry there is a cafe pretty close by. I'm even thinking that the university may have internet in the library that my daughter could use.

We used the Internet cafe on Blackfriars right off Cowgate. That would be very close.

Thanks. Helps to have the info before we go!

We just got back from Edinburgh this month and stayed at the Fountain Court Apartments at Morrison Street. It is a self-catering apartment that has everything you need from cooking wares to paper towels. It is very convenient, just off Lothian Road, about 10 min walk to the Castle. We paid 115 pounds/night for 3 people. There is a free internet connection at the apartment's basement. They even provide bread, butter, jam, coffee &/or tea for your 1st day. Just go to www.fountaincourtapartments.com/. Good luck.