Edinburgh's west end has two grand old railway hotels glaring at each other across Princes Street, and this rose-sandstone giant, now The Caledonian, was built to outdo its rival. Opened in 1903 for the Caledonian Railway (its trains once supplied the steam that heated guests' bathwater), it has since hosted everyone from Nelson Mandela to a Hollywood cowboy who marched his horse up the grand staircase in matching Stetsons. These days, "The Caley" trades a little more elegantly, reworked with a station-clock cocktail bar, a vinyl listening room, and more sleek, castle-view rooms than anywhere else in the city.
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Built in 1903 as the Caledonian Railway's grand terminus hotel, the building still wears its station history well. The lobby lounge, now called The Court, still has the original ticket-hall clock (set five minutes fast so nobody missed a train) alongside dusky-pink velvet booths and a stage for weekend jazz. Climb the marble staircase past stained-glass crests of long-vanished railway destinations to find the Caley Bar, a vinyl-scored cocktail den, or head to The Pompadour for a seven-course extravaganza featuring the best of Scottish produce from both land and sea overlooking the castle.
There are around 235 rooms and suites split into three Scottish-city themes: mossy purple for The Thistle & The Loch, woodland brown for The Wolf & The Oak, and castle-facing gold for The Maiden & The Doe (our favourite). Bathrooms are done in cool Carrara marble, beds are plump and extremely comfortable, and everything feels soothing and restul despite your central location. Even standard rooms get Nespresso machines and blackout curtains for a proper lie-in! The showpiece, however, is the Caledonian Suite: three interconnecting bedrooms decorated in a deep, sultry Glasgow red.
The location of the Caley is fantastic and right in the heart of most of what you want to see. Princes Street Gardens are just across the road and the Castle is a proper uphill walk beyond them, so pace yourself or hail a taxi. The Royal Mile and the National Museum of Scotland are both within twenty minutes on foot and the Johnnie Walker Whiskey Experience is literally across the road (and worth it for the rooftop bar alone). Come August, the Fringe takes over the city but the hotel sits close enough to the chaos without being swallowed by it; and during Hogmanay, the fireworks over the Castle are rather spectacular.
Swimming lengths in the indoor pool with Edinburgh Castle filling the window – not many hotel pools boast a view like that.
Book a Castle View room in The Maiden & The Doe category and ask for a higher floor. The difference between glimpsing the castle ramparts and properly gazing at them is worth the upgrade.
This is a working Edwardian building, not a boutique blank canvas, so room sizes and outlooks vary considerably, and lower, street-facing rooms can pick up traffic noise.
Scotland’s alluring capital city of ancient architecture, charm, culture and cuisine in spades.
