d1carter

My wife, teenage son and I are planning a return trip to Scotland in late May, early June of 2007. We are interested in renting an apartment in Edinburgh for part of the trip. Has anyone stayed at "Apartment By Castle" on Johnston Terrace in Edinburgh? Any information would be much appreciated.

sandy_b

Not that one but we stayed in a terrific 2-bedroom, 2-bath apt smack dab in town on Thistle St. Our apt was beautiful, quiet, had a sm. kitchen w/washer-dryer, living rm w/big TV, both bedrooms had TVs . . . the price was very reasonable . . .$240/night (3 night minimum). A bonus was that a lot of eating places recommended by the guidebooks were either on our street or within a 2 block radius.

I found this on the VRBO website and actually rented from Glenn Ford,
Wild Thyme, 3 The Cross, Pencaitland
Ph: 44(0)1875-341490
www.edinburgh-selfcaterine.co.uk.

The address of this property is 37a Thistle St, 2f2.

Glenn was very easy to deal with and answered all my emails promptly and the apt was exactly as advertised/pictured. We were VERY pleasantly surprised and pleased. We'll definitely rent from him again when we return.

Hope this helps,
Sandy (in Denton)

janf1261

My sister turned me on to this website....www.vrbo.com Vacation Rentals By Owner.....go to it and find what you're looking for. They are worldwide.

janisj

sandy_b: I think this is the link you meant www.edinburgh-selfcatering.co.uk/

d1carter: As for Johnston Terrace -- it is directly below the castle and just off the Royal Mile. I know nothing of the apartment, but it would be a terrific location.

d1carter

I am probably going to become a pest to some of you wonderful people here on this site. My family and I have gathered so much info from this site in the past. Thanks for your patience and your valuable information. BTW, the website for the apartment is www.abc-edinburgh.co.uk
I will visit your suggested sites and shop around. Thanks, again.

meks

Have not stayed there but for visitors to Edinburgh, it would be hard to beat the location next to the castle. I think it is about 20metres from the entrance to Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile. Have a look at the reviews on tripadvisor.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Scotland.html

crazy4Hawaii

Thank you! It looks delightful. I've just booked it for my visit to Edinburgh next summer - looks so much more interesting than the Radisson, despite it's excellent location as well...

crazy4Hawaii

Addendum to above - I thought I had memorized the accommodations Edinburgh section of Trip Advisor but this property is listed in "specialty accommodations" as #1! (Thanks for providing the page, meks.) I was finding it difficult to find that blend of comfort AND character AND location at city center that I was craving. This seems to fit the bill. And Moira answered my enquiry e-mail immediately - very responsive and nice.

nbodyhome

Edinburgh is full of self catering places - I wish more cities were like that! We stayed at the EQ-2, which had been so well reviewed. We loved it! They had upgraded us also to a 2 bedroom. We have photos (near the end of our site) on www.neesie.org, around page 10? You can skip all the London/Paris/Normandy and just look at that. They had flat screen TV's, a large kitchen, washer/dryer, continental breakfast in the fridge, Molten Brown products, about a 20 minute walk to the Royal Mile and a 5 or so minute walk to the Scotsmid grocery store (which I found by accident, they sent us to the mini-Tesco!)

crazy4Hawaii

Ha! I skipped nothing! Thanks for sharing the great pictures.

caroline_edinburgh

Janis, I'm not sure I'd agree that Johnston Terrace is a great location. Yes, it's very handy for the Castle & the Royal Mile. But it's rubbish for buses, so going anywhere else would involve an uphill walk either going out or coming back.

Meks, I'm very confused by that Tripadvisor link. It does appear to be about "Apartment by Castle" - but it gives an address of Durham Square which is miles away ?

meks

Caroline
Have just been into town on business and went passed Johnston Terrace. The apartment location as the website - 16 Johnston Terrace on the corner of Castle Wynd North Steps - which as you know lead to the entrance to the Castle Esplanade and Ramsay Gardens.
At a location like that you do not need to worry about buses as the majority of places which visitors want to see during their stay, are generally within walking distance. It also enables families/ friends staying there, to come and go as they please and still be able to meet up again at any time. It may be different travelling to places out of the city centre but realistically this rarely happens unless visitors are staying for long periods. I think that most visitors to Edinburgh come for such short periods that they mainly want to spend their time in the city centre where the vast majority of places of interest are located.
I do not understand your reference to uphill walks especially as Edinburgh is built on the seven hills then almost everywhere one walks in Edinburgh involves various degrees in climbing or descending hills and the nearer the city centre the steeper the hills. If you live outwith the city centre as I do, then you will still encounter hills plus you then have the problem of having to look for and use buses to get to specific places in the city centre and as this wastes time and effort it surely would be more beneficial for visitors to stay in the city centre and not be reliant on transport into town - living in Edinburgh you will know how problematic than can be at certain times of the day.
I must admit that the tripadvisor listing is confusing. The tripadvisor listing for some reason or another, gives the Apartment name but rather than showing the Apartment address, instead shows the owners contact address. (as per the website previously given)
According to the postcode book the postcode for that address is EH1 2PR and if you do a multimap.com search for that address or postcode you will see its location. I think it is an ideal place and location for any visitors wanting to explore Edinburgh city centre.

caroline_edinburgh

Ah, thanks for clearing that up, meks.

I still think that staying there would involve more uphill walking than I'd want to do, though. If you are returning there from either the New Town direction or the Lothian Road direction, it's a bit of a hike (also not one I'd care to do alone and late at night from the Castle Terrace end). I suppose getting a bus to George IV Bridge & walking from there wouldn't be too bad. I'd rather stay in the New Town or on a good bus route.

But then I'm lazy

janisj

caroline_edinburgh: The reason I think it would be a terrific location is it is right at the top of the royal mile. If I lived/worked in Edinburgh it wouldn't be so hot. But for a tourist it is just about perfect, since about 80% of what they want to see is up in the old town. And the hop-on-hop-off bus stops right outside of that bldg.

Besides think about it - anywhere one stays in Edinburgh there is going to be up hill walking (either to old town or back from it)

caroline_edinburgh

You both have a point. I guess I'm just so lazy that I make sure I know the buses well enough so I do as little uphill walking as necessary

I'm racking my brains to think of when I last walked up a hill... oh okay, a week last Saturday I walked from the Grassmarket up Victoria Street (and then caught a bus) !

crazy4Hawaii

If you go to the official website for Apartment by Castle, Edinburgh (which I googled) you can download a detailed 11 page brochure that will leave no question about the property unanswered - plus Moira will answer in detail any question you might pose via e-mail and quickly.

As a tourist, I'll be spending most of my time on the Royal Mile. The way I have it mapped out, I can walk to everything I want to see. And being able to see the castle outside my window screaming, "You're in Edinburgh! You're in Edinburgh!" is just icing on the cake.

crazy4Hawaii

www.clicktowalk.com/Edinburgh will show you exactly where the apartment is. This is a fun website to play with as you can "virtual walk" a lot of places - if you're patient. Moira had me clicking until I could see the windows of the apartment by clicking on the Castle Esplanade and then the Castle Wynd North Steps. I can find her instructions and walk you through it if you like, as I'm probably not making sense (having not actually been to Edinburgh yet).

caroline_edinburgh

Really not trying to be a wet blanket, but I don't think there's more than a day's worth of stuff to do on the Royal Mile.

crazy4Hawaii

I would like to tour Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, and the John Knox house. I'd also like to visit the Museum of Scotland and climb Arthur's Seat. At this point in our trip, I imagine I'll be a little tired and can easily fill the two days I have in Edinburgh with these activities. If not, I'll just walk around or find a nice grassy place to sit. I may even enjoy sitting in that apartment and looking out the window!

My main concerns as a spoiled person are giving up the A/C in late June and the internet connect available at the Radisson...

d1carter

Crazy4:
My family and I visited Edinburgh a few years ago, it is a great city with wonderful sites. It is a city with hop on- hop off tour buses, taxis, buses. We found it very easy to go anywhere you want. We found the ABC on the web and knew we wanted to stay there just to stay on the Royal Mile and near the castle. We are already getting excited about returning to Scotland next spring.