Edinburgh

The New Town

The Enlightenment built in stone: a Georgian grid of straight streets, wide pavements and honey-coloured sandstone laid out from 1767 as a deliberate rebuke to the medieval warren across the valley. Princes Street is the retail spine and the least interesting part of it; the pleasure is in the parallel streets behind — George Street's grand frontages, Thistle and Rose Street's lanes, Queen Street's basements full of the best cocktail bars in Scotland.

Who it's for: Anyone who wants to eat and drink well without a hill. Gallery-goers — the Scottish National Gallery and the Portrait Gallery are both free and both here. Cocktail drinkers, seriously: two of the World's 50 Best Bars are within four minutes of each other on Queen Street. Architecture people, who will find this the most complete Georgian townscape in Europe.

Things to know

  • The national galleries are free — the Scottish National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery and Modern One and Two. Only special exhibitions are ticketed. This is the cheapest world-class day in the city.
  • Princes Street is the worst street in the New Town and the one everybody walks down. Walk George Street or Queen Street instead and cut through the lanes.
  • The good bars are in basements and you will walk past them. Bramble is under a dry cleaner's with a small brass plaque; Panda & Sons is behind a fake barber shop front.
  • The Scott Monument sells tickets only at the kiosk on arrival — no online booking — takes card only, and closes for lunch between 12.30pm and 1.45pm.
  • Calton Hill is free, open 24 hours, and a five-minute climb rather than a hike. It is the single best sunset in Edinburgh and considerably easier than Arthur's Seat.
  • Rose Street was Edinburgh's legendary pub crawl and still has the pubs, but the good ones are at the ends — the middle is stag-party territory on a Saturday.
  • The tram runs along Princes Street to the airport and down to Newhaven. Remember to tap on AND tap off at tram platforms; buses are tap-on only.
  • Thistle Street is the single best two hundred metres of eating and drinking in the district — Noto, Fishers, Café Marlayne and the Bon Vivant are all on it.