Can anybody please advise on a hotel in Edinburgh suitable for a girlie day and night out . The priory is clean and central.

W/o a budget it is pretty difficult to give you any sort of usesful suggestions.

Splash out on the Scotsman; medium at the Apex in the Grassmarket; cheap at the Grassmarket Hotel and any of the hostals for pennies.

I'm also looking for a hotel in Edinburgh. Ever hear of the Edinburgh Metro Hostel? Someone wrote a trip report not that long ago and stayed there. I copied the link to it, but can no longer find the trip report. It looks too good to be true - it's a youth hostel but no age limit, single rooms (that are lockable) for £18 in July. It looks very centrally located. Like I said - maybe too good to be true. But I'm very tempted, so if anyone has any knowledge of it please tell me what you know.

ttt

As I remember, I think I walked by in while in Edinburgh. It was very near the castle in a rowhouse type building.

Here is from another posters' (WillTravel) trip report

"The accommodation used by Edinburgh Metro Hostel is University of Edinburgh student accommodation located in Robertson's Close just off Cowgate. So the location is extremely central to just about anything."

"These are single rooms that are used by students during the school year. The price is 23 pounds per night per room - so 46 pounds for the two of us. The rooms are grouped together in pods of four or five, and each pod shares a kitchen and bathroom. We had four rooms in our pod. The other two rooms were occupied by Spanish guys, but we hardly saw or spoke to them. The bathroom was always clean. It was great to have full use of a kitchen. The rooms themselves were definitely spartan, and they did not have individual sinks. But students live in these rooms for most of the year, so I knew I could survive it. The beds were comfortable enough. One feature that my daughter really liked was that each room had a private phone that you could use for free if you bought a calling card at a local grocery. This way she was able to keep up long, involved conversations with all her friends, without me being able to hear. Plus, of course, she had her own room. Hotel phones typically have outrageous charges, but with our phone cards we could talk for pennies per minute. The LIDL grocery store is a few blocks south, I think on Nicholson Street. The groceries were pretty reasonably priced, and 10 pounds went a long way - I think we got several light meals out of that.

The location is extremely central. We never took the bus in Edinburgh at all, except a shuttle bus to the art galleries near the end of the trip. We could go to and from festival events, stopping in at our accommodation. We had access to laundry facilities. An Internet cafe is 1/2 block away. High Street is 1 block away.

We had to change rooms after the first night (because of the way I had done the booking). Our first set of rooms were in a quiet area, but our second set was above a parking garage. So early in the morning, we would hear scrape, scrape, scrape, as cars made their way in.

Overall, we were very happy for the price and convenience and facilities. We paid 46 pounds per night, but a typical hotel room in this area would easily cost 150 pounds per night during the festival. However, when I suggested we stay in similar accommodation if we go to London again, my daughter said no - she definitely prefers a proper hotel. She would be happy to stay here if we went to Edinburgh again, but it's not her preference for general travel. "

I stayed with my family at the Thistle in Edinburgh--we were on a seven-week junket and the point of that selection was to find something clean, pleasant and affordable and centrally located. It met all of those criteria. It's a chain, but it was really quite fine.

letour

letour

there are 2 Thistle's in Edinburgh? lequel?

Isabel, I hope you get a fair idea from my trip report. Also note the Edinburgh International Hostel has the same sort of room arrangement, and is a couple blocks away. I can't say which is better, because I haven't tried the International. If you can stand a spartan room and sharing a bathroom, it's a great deal. I suppose we were lucky with the neighbors we had in our pod, which no doubt makes a difference.

steviegene and WillTravel - thanks, I knew I had read about it in a trip report but the link I thought I had saved didn't work.

Couple more questions Will - were most of the other guests all "youth" or were there people of all ages? You seemed to say it was pretty quiet - am I reading that right? I have absolutely no problem with spartan, or with sharing a bath as long as it's only with 3 or 4 other people. I just want to feel safe, and not totally out of place - I don't feel very old, but I do have kids in college so obviously I'm not a "youth". I know "youth" hostels are not just for college kids, but I think some cater to a younger crowd than others. If there are people partying all night it probably isn't worth it to me.

Also, I did find a review of it on a hostel site, and while it got good reviews, some said it was hard to find. Do you agree with that? The address puts it right off the Royal Mile, near Waverly Station - is that correct?

I'm about to book it so just want as many facts as I can get.

With the pod-like arrangement, we hardly saw anyone else, so I can't really say how old the other guests were. The Spanish guys were probably in their late 20s.

We did have a bit of a problem finding the place, because I didn't fully understand that Cowgate is a lower-level street that goes under a bridge. I suggest this method, going by memory:
Find the Radisson SAS hotel on the Royal Mile. Take the short street that runs down the hill alongside it, and you will be end up on Cowgate, very near to Robertsons Close.

It would have been a short walk from Waverley Station, where we got off the bus from Glasgow, but it ended up being long, because we did a very circuitous route. It was no big deal, though.

Once you get to Robertsons Close, you have to figure out which building to go check in at, but I think there's a small sign.

Our first set of rooms were very quiet. The second set, being above a parking garage, was noisy on weekdays starting from relatively early in the morning, presumably because university staff were parking. Also, there are some bars in the area, so in certain rooms you will hear noise from those bars. I would guess that the earlier you book, the better your chance of getting a quiet room on request, but maybe contact the staff to see what's possible. Some rooms are in interior locations that should be very quiet.

There will be some luck of the draw - it's possible you could get partiers in the other rooms in your pod, but I didn't see any sign that the hostel attracted a wild crowd at all.

Don't know if this would help but... I booked a last minute b & b at Edinburgh airport. It's Frederick House Hotel, snap bang in Edinburgh.(on Frederick St) Full Scotish b/fast incl.

Email: www.townhousehotels.co.uk
Tel: 0131 - 2261999

just off the main st - Princes St.

Will - Thanks alot. I'm going to book it.The price in July is 18£, so for six nights about $216 versus the next cheapest thing I found (that I would stay in) at 59£ or over $700. I think for $500 I can share a bathroom with 3 other people - even if they are college age. (Actually, come to think of it, I do that at home!)

And thanks a lot for the directions to it. I know what you mean about a circuitous route - I just came back from Sevilla where what should have been a 10 minute walk from the airport bus drop off to our hotel took over an hour becasue we got lost. So having directions (as oppossed to a crappy map) should help a lot. Wish me luck.

When are you coming, Joanna ? The university accommo is of course only available outwith term time.

Sheils's suggestions are all good (so you liked the Scotsman then, Sheila ? )

Or how about an apartment ? I've known girly groups stay at the Knight Residence and like it.

The new Edinburgh Central Hostel is supposed to be nice, with all rooms from single to 8-bedders en suite. It only opened about 6 months ago after extensive refurbishment of the building (which used to be my office !); it's just on the edge of the city centre and on a vg bus route - http://www.syha.org.uk/SYHA/Web/Site...rghCentral.asp

Thistle Edinburgh

Thistle Hotel
107 Leith St
Edinburgh, EH1 3SW

0131 556 0111

Many of the reviews on the google page refer to the central location of this Thistle Hotel, close to regent Street and the parks. Great location.
letour

The Scotsman was fine. In fact we've been back. But we arrive at 9pm and leave at 9am which is most unsociable.

Sheila, glad you liked it but shame you couldn't take full advantage.

The Thistle on Leith Street (part of the Thistle chain) is indeed very central, although charmless; but are you getting mixed up with London, letour ? The only Regent Street here is miles out, in Portobello, and Edinburgh isn't really known for its parks.

I've now googled and found there is another Thistle Hotel, not part of the chain but independent, on Manor Place in the West End - but don't know what it's like.

Hey, Caroline.
My mistake: If you look at the map of the Thistle Hotel on Leith St. (on Google)it seems to intersect Regent Road (not street.)In any event, the key point is that it's central and, though it is quite clean, I would agree, otherwise lacks charm! But the convenience was very helpful, particularly because we were picking up a rental from the Hertz place, which was not too far away on foot. As I mentioned before, the price was quite affordable, and that juncture of the trip was really just about having a place to stop for a night, while mobilizing for our next expedition. I would alternatively consider staying in one of the many B and B's in Edinburgh, in terms of having a richer cultural experience, but the Thistle worked well for our needs.

letour