Feature · Edinburgh
Edinburgh, the classic and the new
A city that keeps its medieval ridge and its Georgian streets, and keeps adding to them. By the ULTIMATE Edinburgh Editorial Team.
Updated October 2026
Castle, closes and kirks
The Old Town still follows its ridge, from Edinburgh Castle on its rock down the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. St Giles’ stands at its heart; below it, the Real Mary King’s Close keeps a 17th-century street intact; to the south, Victoria Street curves down to the Grassmarket.
Georgian crescents
Across the gardens, the New Town’s squares and crescents make one of the great planned cityscapes of Europe; with the Old Town it forms a single UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Georgian House on Charlotte Square shows how its houses were lived in, and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street is one of its finest rooms.
Grand hotels, old and new
The Balmoral and the Caledonian still mark the ends of Princes Street; the Witchery keeps its nine suites at the castle gates and Prestonfield its parkland below Arthur’s Seat. Newer houses have joined them: Gleneagles Townhouse on St Andrew Square, the W in its coiled tower above St James Quarter, and Fingal, a former lighthouse tender, moored in Leith.
Leith and the table
In the 2026 MICHELIN Guide, seven Edinburgh restaurants hold One Star, and three of them, The Kitchin, Restaurant Martin Wishart and Heron, are in Leith. Stockbridge’s St Stephen Street has Avery and three more in the guide; Lyla, Timberyard and Condita complete the stars.
The best restaurants in Edinburgh Leith
August and Hogmanay
Every August the International Festival, the Fringe, the Book Festival and the Tattoo turn the city into a stage; at New Year, Hogmanay brings four days of events and the Street Party under the castle.
A dram
Whisky is everywhere: the Scotch Whisky Experience on Castlehill, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Vaults in Leith, the Devil’s Advocate in its close, the malts of the Bow Bar, and Cadenhead’s single casks on the Canongate.
What’s new
The tram now runs down Leith Walk to Newhaven; Westfield St James Quarter has remade the east end of the New Town; Filmhouse reopened on Lothian Road in 2025; and behind St Andrew Square the Dunard Centre, the city’s first new concert hall in about a century, is under construction.
The Highlands by lunchtime
From Waverley, trains run north into Highland Perthshire and on to Inverness, south through the Borders to Scott’s Abbotsford, and over the Forth Bridge to Fife and St Andrews.
The Highlands ULTIMATE Rail Journeys
Questions and answers
When is the best time to visit Edinburgh?
August for the festivals, December for the Christmas markets and Hogmanay, and late spring for long light evenings.
Do I need a car in Edinburgh?
No: the city is best on foot, with the tram and Lothian Buses; trains reach Glasgow, Stirling, Fife, the Borders and the Highlands.
Sources: edinburghcastle.scot, realmarykingsclose.com, whc.unesco.org, nts.org.uk, the hotels’ own sites, guide.michelin.com (2026), eif.co.uk, edfringe.com, edwinterfest.com, edinburghtrams.com, dunardcentre.co.uk (checked 28 October 2026).