Edinburgh Hotels
 

Can anyone comment on the Caledonian versus Nira Caledonian and Channings, or the Bonham in terms of quality of rooms and location (for visiting the castle, palace, Arthur's seat, Old Town, etc.)? Thanks!

Have a look at the tripadvisor website - plenty of reviews of all the hotels. Just note the Caledonian has recently been refurbished and hence the older reviews are less relevant

Of the ones you mention the Caledonian is the most central - and many of it's rooms have a castle view (though it's also the main road side of the hotel

The Nira Caledonian is in the New Town so virtually everything you would want to see is going to be uphill

Channings is a long way out of the centre and will require a bus ride

Bonhams is slightly out of the way but it's only an additional half mile walk compared to the Celedonian.

But there's no shortage - except in August - of good quality hotel rooms (eg Balmoral, Scotsman, Missoni...)

If you are in that sort of price range, I personally wouldn't limit myself to just those. But of the ones you mention, the Caledonian would probably be the one I'd consider. I'd look at the Scotsman myself for the location alone.

Thank you for replying - I have not heard of the Scotsman and will check there - very helpful to know about Channings requiring a bus - we would rather walk or rent bikes for close proximity, but we definitely want to avoid a noisy hotel room with a lot of bustle about.

Any others we should check out that would fit with what we are looking for besides the Scotsman? Originally, we were looking for more of a boutique hotel feel - would be great to find something in this size range with rooms and beds like the Caledonian's!

>>walk or rent bikes for close proximity,<<

Rent bikes . . . In <i>Edinburgh</i>? Not a good idea I'm afraid.

Renting a bike in Edinburgh is a truly terrible idea. It is a very dense city with heavy traffic at the best of times, and these are not the best of times. There is a huge tram construction project in the New Town that backs up traffic for miles. The city is also as hilly as San Francisco, so you would need to be in fantastic physical condition. In fact, you will have to be in at least reasonable condition on foot.

I think Janisj's recommendation of the Scotsman is a good one for its location, though I haven't been in it. The Balmoral (historically the North British, then the New Balmoral so they would not have to chisel the N's off the monograms) is in your price range (expensive) and as central as can be since it is attached to Waverly Station.

It's good you replied - I had read in several places about what a great idea it is to ride bikes around Edinburgh to see the main sites - some people on one site even recommended staying in the neighbourhood of the Nira Caledonia and taking bikes around - this was influencing our hotel choices as we didn't want to do any driving or worry about buses.

Balmoral was full last I checked but I will look again in case someone has cancelled.

Can anyone compare the quality of the rooms at any of these? Scotsman, Caledonian, Nira Caledonian? Perhaps Channings (not sure about distance though with busing).

Okay - we will avoid bikes - thank you for saving us on this item.

Stay in the city center/re not at Channings. Seriously, most of the main attractions are within fairly close proximity and walkable if you stay near the Castle, the Palace, or in New Town (compare: Scotland's capital, population 500K or so; England's capital, population 7.7M). And it's a fine city to walk around . . . especially if you have comfortable footwear.

And whoever gave that bike idea is daft - how do you think places for castles were chosen? Height = defensible. Two major sites are Arthur's Seat and Calton Hill (seriously, go visit this - excellent stuff), both of which are . . . hills. Edinburgh has ton(ne)s of hills. They go in one direction only: up.

Speaking of hills -- in ways Edinburgh is as hilly as San Francisco. And the traffic is worse on narrower roads. NOT a bike friendly place at all.

I really am curious where you >> read in several places about what a great idea it is to ride bikes around Edinburgh <<

Good question Janis - I think I saw it on a travel site talking about Edinburgh but I cannot recall which as I have read information from so many sources.

Looking at the recommendations online I went back and tried again. Scotsman looked good but no availability, Howard looked wonderful (wish we'd seen it before) but nothing. We have availability at Caledonian and Nira as noted, but I think I found rooms at Prestonfield as well but I have no idea what that hotel is like - definitely not especially central, but quiet and scenic looking. Not sure what it is like - anyone know?

If we had a choice we would take the Howard - very nice - if you guys go again and you want to splurge it looks like a super place to stay.

A different sort of question - has anyone seen Nira, Prestonfield or Caledonian up close? Which looks the most impressive - and nicest? it's hard to tell from press materials, e.g. on the company's website (sometimes these are not an accurate reflection of things) and the Trip Advisor photos we have seen are tough to "read" as they are so often shot with low res. phones.

You are madly overthinking this. You are not planning to live there the rest of your life.

The Caledonian is a ewly renovated Ritz Carlton property. How bad could it be inside?

How bad could it be outside? Well, it is at the intersection of Queensferry, Hope Street, Princes Street and Lothian Road. If this is not the busiest intersection in Edinburgh, it must be close.

The Nira Caledonia may have the most beautiful rooms since Versailles, and it is in a lovely place, but it is a half mile walk, all uphill, from George Street, the heart of the New Town and another slightly longer walk, much steeper, from the Royal Mile and the center of the Old Town, roughly St Giles. Then you still have to walk uphill to the Castle, though downhill to Holyrood and more or less on the level to Grayfriars.

The Prestonfield looks gorgeous but it is a long walk from the Royal Mile (1.7 miles, google says) along what I know to be very busy roads. The bus trip would be faster, but you would have to change three times.

If you had to choose right now, the Caledonian, if you can afford it, would be the best choice from the information available. But before I booked, I would look, as janisj suggested, at The Scotsman. It is the former office of the Scotsman newspaper, converted to a hotel when they moved to a really hideous new building near the Scottish Parliament. The hotel hangs on the Cliffside between the Old and New Towns, as she says, a very convenient location.

>>We have availability at Caledonian (<B>YES</B> Book ASAP) and Nira (no), . . . Prestonfield (<B><u>NO</u></B>) as well<<

I'm curious that you are finding no availability at all these posh hotels - when is the trip - August perhaps??

You bet ; ) August it is...

So Prestonfield - too far (it is out) - feedback here was great as seeing it located not too far from Arthur's seat on a map made me think it was closer to other sites than it is.

Scotsman - tried, but fully booked.

Remarkably though, there is availability out there.

Thank you for the comments on the Caledonian - just concerned about getting a good night's sleep there but perhaps it'll be OK - would be great to be able to walk over to the castle.

This is the big finish to a first-time trip (and perhaps last) so the best looking contender would win out for us, whether its more central, or there is some walking involved. The trip means a lot to us as we don't travel much - so yes, you bet we are overthinking ; )

The Caledonian is sort of right across the street from the Castle, but you can't get there from there, at least you can't get there directly. As someone noted above, castles are on top of high places. This castle is on top of another volcanic plug like Arthur's Seat.

Look at the places you are talking about on Google maps. From the Caledonian, you can walk through the Princes Street Gardens to The Mound, then upupup Mound Place to Ramsay Place upupup past Ramsay Gardens to Castlehill. Or you can go around the other way to Johnston Terrace at its junction with the Lawnmarket and then up Castle Hill. All upupup, even when you get to the Esplanade and go into the Castle. I once rented a flat in Ramsay Gardens, and going out was fine, going home a slog from _everywhere_. Think San Francisco but less of it.

If you can afford to stay at these hotels, you can, of course, afford to take taxis to these places and distance is then generally irrelevant. From our most recent flat in Canongate, it was roughly a tenner to or from Leith waterfront at dinner hours, more of course during the business day.

>>would be great to be able to walk over to the castle.<<

If you are billy goats :)

I guess you didn't understand when we said hills. :)

Wow - it is billy goat territory. The maps I see here are not terrain maps but I should take a look at these rather than the typical street maps - I didn't notice this.

Our goal was to walk around - do our sightseeing between Holyrood and the Castle, visiting various sites. We thought the Caledonian or Nira would enable us to do this without too much trouble but it looks like we were wrong. Does anyone know (aside from the Scotsman which is booked) which of the higher end hotels might enable us to fulfill our day or two of walking around the city and sightseeing? We could get a taxi to the odd site if needed, but for the most part, walking would be great - would be super to be out-of-doors (even in the rain) in the great city. Would Channings do the trick or are there other options?

So a bit of over thinking again but if we weren't doing this, we'd end up with bikes, staying some where away from the sites, slogging up/down hills in frustration.

The Caledonian is absolutely fine. Take a taxi up to the castle -- then <i>everything</i> is down hill. The entire Royal Mile, then back over from Holyrood around Regent Rd to Princes Street (Princes street is flat level all the way from Waverly station to the hotel)

Then another day head down through the New Town - all down hill. Then you can either hike back up hill or take a bus or taxi up to Princes Street/the Hotel. Or if you want more time up in Old Town Take a taxi up and explore more.

You guys sure know your stuff - we were going to end the day at the castle, but I like the idea of starting there and working downhill to see the rest, especially with kids involved.

We appreciate the help as some reviews online are suspect from what we understand - we have seen a few specials about companies and individuals hired to promote hotels (and "demote" competitors) so your travel advice is a great help. Just trying to get the best experience and most memorable place to stay as I don't think we will be able to return.

Oh, definitely start at the top (Castle end) of the Royal Mile and work your way down. That way it is an easy downhill stroll.