Best hotels in Edinburgh

Carved into the former Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters on St Andrew Square, the Edinburgh Grand is one of the buzziest places to stay in town. There are 50 rooms in total, ranging from studios to one- and two-bedroom suites and each comes with a proper, fully-equipped kitchen and sitting room, so you can come and go as you please in the thick of the New Town however long you're staying. In the lobby, a dazzling art deco foyer opens up into a grand circular staircase and a clutch of in-house bars and a steakhouse - actually, one of the best in town. The tram to the airport also stops right outside, making connections flawless.

High on North Bridge, where Edinburgh's Old Town tips into the cosmopolitan New, stands The Scotsman. For the best part of a century, the presses of The Scotsman newspaper thundered away in the basement and editors filled the middle floors, but today you're more likely to hear the clinking of champagne glasses than the clacking of keys. Reborn as a hotel in 2001, it's kept the bones of the original building – oak panelling, ornate ceilings, lots of green and white marble and a 190-foot tower – while incorporating 82 rooms, a clutch of bars and a, fascinatingly, a pocket-sized cinema. The location is also dreamy, with the Royal Mile a minute's walk away and the New Town, five.

In Edinburgh's West End, Charlotte Square is the grand finale of Robert Adam's New Town, and The Kimpton occupies seven of its beautiful, honey-sandstone townhouses. A stroll from George Street and the boutiques, cafes and restaurants of the New Town, it's an eminently stylish abode - just like the locals that you're sharing the square with. Inside, the mood is cosmopolitan clubhouse: deep velvets, oxblood leather, layered tartan and some fantastically oddball art. There's also an underground spa with a 12-metre pool, a Levantine restaurant doing proper charcoal-grilled mezze, and a glass-topped courtyard everyone gravitates to.

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.

You'll have seen the clock before you ever see the hotel. That sandstone tower at the east end of Princes Street, set deliberately three minutes fast since 1902 so railway travellers never miss a train, belongs to The Balmoral, Edinburgh's grandest, most iconic hotel by a fair Scottish mile. Inside, just past the kilted doorman, you'll find a 500-strong whisky bar, afternoon tea in the glass domed Palm Court and a serene spa with a distinct touch of the Sicilian. Decor is all moor-greens and heather-purples and the odd splash of tartan and despite the fact that you're right on Princes Street, one of Edinburgh's most popular shopping streets, all is calm once you're safely inside and in the hands of the ever-charming team.

Victoria Street is the candy-coloured curve that half of Edinburgh believes inspired JK Rowling's Diagon Alley - and right at the top, a red door gives way into the 1864 India Buildings. This is Virgin's first hotel outside the US, and the brand has poured its irreverent spirit into a maze of three listed buildings (excavations turned up siege weapons and a slice of the old city wall!). Inside are 222 bedroom "chambers", a circular lounge beneath a staggering Victorian cupola, a flagship restaurant, and a rooftop with the castle in full view.

Once Edinburgh's richest patch of real estate, St Andrew Square was where the city's bankers and insurance men counted their fortunes. Buchan House, built in 1775 as five Georgian homes, spent many years as a grand residence, before becoming a warren of offices, and now, the Malmaison. Today, it's all inky walls, low lighting and theatrical glamour and it's definitely dark, grown-up and faintly decadent rather than bright and breezy. The popular Chez Mal brasserie and bar are built into the old bones downstairs, but if you fancy going further afield, the New Town's finest is on the doorstep.