I will be in Edinburgh in the end of August with my family. Finding a hotel during the festival is very difficult. Anyone heard of Kew House and Apartments? They seem to have availibility.

It seems that Kew House won't take reservations for only 2 nights. Does anyone have recommendations on hotels in Edinburgh during festival? Perhaps a little outside of town??

How will you be travelling and how long will you be staying?

And what is your price level?
We stayed in New Town at the Frederick House Hotel towards the end of the festival and had no trouble getting that reservation much closer to our trip than this. It would run about 120 euro a night.

The site http://www.edinburghfirst.com/newima...rst%20maps.pdf covers Pollock Halls, a group of university halls of residence that are open in August for visitors at about forty euros per adult per night, with good breakfast. Busses run to and from town (In fact, I hired a bicycle, to which Edinburgh is well suited). They usually take bookings until June. After that it is a question of how full they are. Naturally, there are many children and young people, and some guests cater for themselves.

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many places in Edinburgh, especially apartments, have a 3 night minimum (even longer at some popular properties) in August.

But I think you should be able to find you can get into some of the larger, hotels. A lot depends on your budget.

I am so impressed- you are planning very far in advance, HOwever, the very end of August means that you will miss the renowned Rembiko Project from the Harvard-Westlake School. Perhaps you have heard of them? They recieved very famorable reviews at the festival when the last performed in 2003.

This is a B&B that we stayed at last September.

http://www.aboutscotland.com/edin/arisaig.html

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Helen and Archie are wonderful hosts, their home is spotless, and the breakfast was delicious. You can catch the bus service into central Edinburgh just a short walk up the road and the return bus lets you off right across the street from their place. Also, it's very accessible to Edinburgh Airport.

This B&B has only two bedrooms, so if you have a large party travelling with you, you may need to look elsewhere.

Safe journeys.

I stayed in a B and B called Amaragua House (I think the website is something like amaragua.co.uk). Prices are very reasonable. It is maybe a mile from the center but about 1 minute away from a bus stop.

This B and B gets top honors on tripadvisor.

May I suggest the Honover Hotel on Rose street?

It is a modest place, centrally located and immaculately clean. The lobby is a bit larger than a closet and the hotel does not look like much from the outside, but perhaps this is why we were able to book a room with no trouble toward the end of the festival.

T.V., small refrigerator, boxed continental breakfast, internet cafe across the walkway and numerous shops, restaurants, etc. within two blocks.

B.V.

If you can't find a hotel that works for you, the B&B suggestions are good ones. We stayed at a really neat one in Edinburgh for two nights, and I believe we got the name from a Rick Steves book. The neat thing about B&Bs is that they all kind of network with one another and even if one doesn't have a room, they can give you the name of another one. We traveled all through England and up to Edinburgh without any reservations, relying on the B&B system. While it's a totally different experience than a hotel, we really enjoyed the diversity.

The Castle View guest house has an incredible location in the heart of New Town. The rooms were clean (if a tad cozy) and the breakfast was excellent. The owners could not have been kinder or more helpful. There is a bit of a walk-up...like 5 floors.

Castle View the mr_g mentions is terrific - my favorite in Edinburgh. But it requires a 3 days minimum at Festival time (in fact it may be even longer now - they had a 3 day min. 18 months ago).

All the above suggestions might be useful - but you are going to run into the minimum stay problem at most good properties.

any way to extend your stay to three days? Finding a place will be a LOT easier if you can.

sometimes my fingers go faster than my brain. That should read "Castle View that mr_go mentions . . . . "

That's okay, Janis. I've been called plenty worse!

(Missing the Castle View potato scones right now, BTW)

Thanks for all of your input. I think that we have found a place...the Acorn Guest House on Pilrig street. They have a "family room" that all 5 of us will fit in, with a bathroom. Has anyone heard of it?

Pilrig Street isn't the nicest part of town but it is fairly close to the centre. Get the number 11 bus there & back & it will be OK, but I wouldn't enjoy walking about round there in the dark on my own. The guest house itself is probably OK - it will be one of a row of large-ish once fairly grand houses which have now been marooned in the middle of a not-so-nice area & are mainly B&Bs.

We're trying The Scotsman on North Bridge for four nights, but it may seema bit pricey to some, I suppose - 250/night GBP. Nice place, I'm told. Breakfast included (I would hope, LOL).

The Scotsman is very nice indeed & incredibly central. As you say it is generally pricey, but if the £250 is for 5 of you I think that's very good - I think it would normally be around £200 for 2, even outwith the festivals.