Help w Edinburgh B and B choice
 

Am planning a first-time trip to Edinburgh, and have been overwhelmed trying to decide on location. Was hoping to be close to Royal Mile locations, with minimum of walking. Does anyone have comments on any of these b and b?

Castle View Guest House on Castle St
#53 Frederick St
Victorian Town House on Eglington Crescent
Hotel B + B on Rothesay Terrace?

(14 hart st was at the top after reading all the previous threads, but is already booked for the days I need.)

Thanks to everyone for your help!

All of them will require you to walk uphill, the further east you go the shallower the slope to the Royal Mile.

If you want to avoid walking uphill (or using buses) then you need to look south of the Royal Mile avoiding the Grassmarket

>>close to Royal Mile locations, with minimum of walking. <<

You will have to walk quite a lot no matter where you stay. And all walks in Edinburgh tend to be uphill ;)

Castle View is wonderful and in a great location -- but you need to walk up 4 flights of stairs to most of the rooms.

If you want to be near the Royal Mile then you should stay in Old Town - but there are more hotels (rather than B&Bs) in the area.

<<All of them will require you to walk uphill>>

Well, it's Edinburgh. Everything is uphill from where you are regardless of your location.

Castle View is in New Town, good location, nice rooms, lots of stairs. When I was there the hosts were surly but that was a decade ago and they may have mellowed with age if they're still the same.

Appreciate the comments - sounds like it's going to be an 'uphill' struggle to find the perfect home away from home!

If you are at all impaired re: walking, you need to pick a hotel/B&B carefully.

We stayed at 53 Frederick last year and we thought it was great! (It is in New Town, not near the Royal Mile.) However, upon arriving, we realized that it was~a 3 flight walk up to reception, which meant wrestling our suitcases up all the stairs. Luckily we travel as light as possible.

I have never done as much uphill walking or stair-climbing as we did in Edinburgh, but it is one of my most favorite places that we have gone.

If it were me I would book a place on a bus line that transects the Royal Mile: http://lothianbuses.com/assets/files/RM120915.pdf

People always bang on about the hills in Edinburgh as if it was some sort of major physical challenge to climb maybe 100-200 feet. Unless you have real physical health problems (in which case I fully sympathise), it's not a major issue and the exercise will do you good. There are other cities in the world with far steeper hills - San Francisco or Dubrovnik spring to mind.

I'm not as fit as I was in my youth but still had no problems at all climbing up Salisbury Crags to Arthur's Seat last year (850 feet above the city), so a short uphill from, say, Princes St to the Royal Mile is nothing.

>>so a short uphill from, say, Princes St to the Royal Mile is nothing.<<

Speak for yourself Gordon ;)

From the Botanic Gardens up to Princes Street, or Princes street to the Castle, or Arthur's seat . . . all were easy peasy for me - a couple of decades ago. I'm in decent shape (except for the crutches I acquired 2 weeks ago in North Yorkshire) but none of those walks are a dawdle.