In an effort to do away with the massive Whatsapp messages I send to everyone visiting Edinburgh, I’ve put together this list of all my favourite spots that I’ve frequented over the years. I’ve also made this handy Google Map with all the places marked on it, to make it nice and easy – sure I’ve spoiled ya! I’ve divided this into food, drinks and touristy things to do…so without further ado, let’s get into it.
Food
El Cartel
One of the best Mexican restaurants I’ve ever been to. They have 4 frozen margarita machines!! It’s super small and doesn’t take bookings, so you go in and they take a photo of you and send you across to their sister pub Bon Vivant (which is also super lovely!) to wait until your table is ready. The guacamole is great, so are the beef tongue tacos if they have them on.
Bodega
Before I went to Bodega, I didn’t think it would be possible to find a Mexican restaurant as good as El Cartel. I was wrong. The food is really similar, and I can never decide which one is better, but Bodega is BYOB. So it always works out as a much cheaper night! There’s a great booze shop, Oddbins, a couple of doors down so you can pick up your bottle of wine before heading in.
Illegal Jacks
Best burritos in Edinburgh! Oh and Burritos & Shakes on north bridge are the absolute worst burritos in the world, so make sure you avoid them.
Bread Meats Bread
INSANE burgers. So good. Not Bunsen style, more like Jo Burger/GBK where they’re bigger and you pick what type of flavour you want. Get the Poutine fries as a side….it’s a Canadian thing with chips, gravy and cheese curds and it’s amazing!
Byron Burger
Really good burgers and great shakes. The style is quite American and it can be kind of expensive.
BRGR
Great value burgers. Midweek every burger on the menu is £4 and at the weekend they’re £5, so you can’t go wrong! They’re really good too – the price doesn’t make them bad quality.
Ting Thai Caravan
Across from Edinburgh Uni and always heaving with students. Started as a pop-up but was so good it had to stay. Thai food with a street stall vibe. So good.
Chaophraya
Upmarket Thai place on the 5th floor of a building looking out at the castle. It can be quite expensive (if you go for the full on banquet like we did) or you can make it reasonable enough. If you do one thing, get the Pear Gin Fizz from here. It has a place in cocktail heaven.
Civerinos
Italian Street food restaurant just off the Royal Mile – so it’s a great alternative to the tacky tourist pubs in the area. You can get pizza by the slice here and they have a nutella calzone which is amazing.
Wings
As you might expect, this place is a chicken wings restaurant. You can choose from around 40 different types of sauces to have on your wings and they have spice levels 1-5. I’m not a big fan of chicken wings, but you can get ‘nugs’ instead where you can swap out the wings for chicken nuggets but still get any of the sauces.
Gardener’s Cottage
This is a fancy one. It’s an old gardener’s cottage in the middle of a small park that’s been turned into a restaurant. It’s really rustic, there’s jars of pickled vegetables everywhere and it’s mainly lit by candles. They do a seven course tasting menu which costs £50 per person. It’s a great place to celebrate an occasion with a special meal.
Scran & Scallie
I’ve actually got a full post on our visit to Scran & Scallie – I went for my birthday. It does fantastic pub food and Stockbridge is a really lovely area, so it’s well worth a visit.
Pickles
Pickles is always rated highly on Edinburgh’s Tripadvisor list, and it deserves it’s high rating. They do meat and cheese boards with great wine, in a casual atmosphere. They get full really easily though, so getting in here requires a lot of luck.
Italian on Mound
Best baguette of your life. Order a Sweet 9 and add Chorizo. So good.
The Boozy Cow
They do things like fried chicken covered in peanut butter and popcorn, burgers, big milkshakes etc. Food porn kinda stuff.
Lovecrumbs
Sweet little hipster place just up from the Grassmarket that does great cake. They have a sweet little window area that you can sit in, adorbs for insta.
Cuckoo’s Bakery
Gorgeous cupcakes – they do taste as good as they look!
Urban Angel
Fab brunch. The eggs beni are a winner.
Drinks
The Devil’s Advocate
If you’re up along the Royal Mile and fancy a fancy drink in somewhere that’s not a shitty tourist tavern then this place is your man!
Brass Monkey
Really cool wee place. If you want, you can go here at 3pm to their back room and they’ll be playing a film (for free!). It’s always the old classics like Jurassic Park, Cool Runnings etc. If you’re first there you get to pick the movie! The drinks are really reasonable and they do a student discount.
The Hanging Bat
This place is all about the craft beer, it’s a pretty cool spot.
Brewdog
This is a bar run by the Brewdog brewery so they have all their beers and some guest beers too. They have board games so you can hang out here all day.
The Salt Horse
Another really nice craft beer pub!
The Three Sisters
Not the nicest pub, but it has a big outdoor screen so it has a good atmosphere on 6 Nations Days and the likes.
52 North
Has like 150 gins, pretty upmarket place.
Hoot the Redeemer
A “hidden” bar just off Princes Street. It’s got a retro/prohibition era vibe with great cocktails and alcoholic ice creams.
Panda & Sons
It’s owned by the same people as Hoot the Redeemer so it’s really similar!
OX184
Nice bar in the Cowgate with cocktails and craft beer. They also serve food until 3am which comes in handy!
Nightclubs
Studenty/cheaper options – Liquid Rooms, Cab Vol and Hive
Fun salsa club – El Barrio
Higher end clubs – Lola Lo’s and Opal Lounge
Touristy Stuff
Edinburgh Castle
Not going to lie, I’ve never been inside. It costs £14 and never seemed worth going in! The view from up there is nice though….
Camera Obscura
So much fun!! It’s all about illusions and they have a camera obscura on the top of the building so they show you the city through it.
Scott Monument
Ugly as hell. But a nice view when you’re up there! It has a bunch of steps and you get a certificate when you climb it.
Arthurs Seat
Climb it to clear the cobwebs and get a great view of the city.
Calton Hill
Another one to get some exercise and enjoy the views.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Walk here via Dean Village and make a day of it.
Princes St Gardens
Very pretty – nice on the rare warm days!
The Edinburgh Dungeon
This is a bit of fun! It wouldn’t be top of my list, but it can be a good way to spend the afternoon.
Locked in Edinburgh
This is so good. It takes an hour. You get locked in a room and have to figure out a series of clues to unlock things and get yourselves out. Unreal craic! This is the one I’ve done: https://www.facebook.com/lockedinedinburgh/?pnref=story. There’s a good few companies that do escape rooms in Edinburgh, so if you get addicted there are plenty to try.
Festivals
Edinburgh is a big festival city, so it’s well worth having a look to see if anything will be on while you’re there. You can check out the full calendar here – obviously I highly recommend going in August so you can enjoy the Fringe!
I think that should do it! If I’ve missed anything good let me know and I’ll add it!
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