Edinburgh Hotels

featured hotels

Express by Holiday Inn Edinburgh City Centre
Caledonian Hilton
Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor
Express by Holiday Inn Edinburgh-Waterfront
Holiday Inn Edinburgh-North
Holiday Inn Edinburgh
Hilton Edinburgh Airport
Corus Hotel Edinburgh North - Edinburgh/Queensferry

edinburgh weather

Edinburgh, the second largest city in Scotland and its capital since 1437, is situated on the east coast of Scotland's central lowlands on the south shore of the Firth of Forth.

Edinburgh is one of the world's major tourist destinations, attracting roughly 13 million visitors a year, and after London is the second most visited tourist destination in the United Kingdom. It is well known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, the largest performing arts festival in the world, and for the Hogmanay street party. In fact, during the art festivals, the population of the city doubles. Other major factors to Edinburgh's tourist industry are conferences, which are majors contributors to the economy.

The historic centre of Edinburgh is divided into two by the Princes Street Gardens, which until 1816 had been marshland known as Nor' Loch. To the south of teh Gardens, the view is dominated by Edinburgh Castle built on an extinct volcanic crag and the Old Town. To the north is Princes Street and the New Town. To the immediate west of the castle lies the financial district, housing insurance and banking buildings, as well as the huge circular sandstone Edinburgh International Conference Centre building.

The Old Town has preserved its medieval plan and many Reformation-era buildings. One end is closed by the castle and the main artery, otherwise known as the Royal Mile, leading away from it with minor streets leading downhill on either side. Large squares mark the location of markets or surround major public buildings such as St. Giles Cathedral and the Law Courts.

The New Town was an 18th century solution to the problem of an increasingly crowded Old Town. The principal street is George Street, which follows the natural ridge to the north of the Old Town, with the other main streets of Princes Street and Queen Street on either side. Princes Street has since become the main shopping street in Edinburgh, and few Georgian buildings survive on it. Linking these streets were a series of perpendicular streets. At the east and west ends are St. Andrew's Square and Charlotte Square respectively, with Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland, on the north side of Charlotte Square. Today the New Town is considered by many to be the finest example of Georgian architecture and planning in the world.

Places and events of interest in Edinburgh include:

• Assembly Rooms
• Bedlam Theatre
• Church Hill Theatre
• City Art Centre
• Dean Gallery
• Edinburgh Festival (including Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival and Edinburgh Military Tattoo)
• Edinburgh Festival Theatre
• Edinburgh Filmhouse
• Edinburgh Museum of Childhood
• Edinburgh Playhouse
• Fruitmarket Gallery
• King's Theatre
• Museum of Edinburgh
• Museum of Scotland
• National Gallery of Scotland
• National Library of Scotland
• National War Museum of Scotland
• Queen's Hall
• Royal Lyceum Theatre
• Royal Museum
• Royal Scottish Academy
• Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
• Scottish National Portrait Gallery
• The Cameo cinema
• The Hub
• Theatre Workshop
• Traverse Theatre
• Usher Hall
• Writers Museum