It was six in the evening in June, and the fog had swallowed half the castle...
A summer evening, when you would expect long daylight and clear skies, and instead the city looked like this. I stopped in the West End and took the photo above, then posted it to my Facebook Page straight away. I told my followers to go out and take photos if they were in the city, before the fog lifted. Usually it doesn’t last long, and I appreciate it every time. This is the Edinburgh people picture before they ever arrive. The fog, the wet stone, the rain and grey skies.
This isn’t the first comment I’ve had from someone “complaining” about sunny weather in Edinburgh… and I understand her completely.
Many people arrive expecting the Edinburgh they’ve seen online. Rainy, foggy photos & reels get the most views and the most comments, so that version of the city travels furthest, and some people take it for the real one. When I post a sunny reel, I get comments telling me it’s AI…
So in this post I’m sharing more of what I actually do here. These are places I’ve been to recently and haven’t posted about yet. I hope you find somewhere new. A beach morning, a swim with a castle view, breakfast and lunch with old friends, a restaurant in a cottage, a bookshop, and a rooftop at sunset.
Here’s where I’ve been.
The forecast promised 25°C, which for us counts as a proper summer day, so we made a plan for the beach.
We went mid-morning, a little after ten, before the crowds arrived. We walked barefoot along the sand and sat in the sun for a while. We even went into the water, cold at first, but you get used to it. You won't go hungry either. The cafés and bars along the front sell almost anything you could want, from ice cream to a full Scottish breakfast.
Note: Portobello is Edinburgh's seaside, about 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, on the Firth of Forth (the wide sea inlet that leads to the North Sea). It has a long promenade, the paved path along the seafront, and a wide sandy beach. It was once its own town and is now part of the city.
Portobello’s water was colder than I was ready for, so the next day I chose the easier option: the spa at the Caledonian.
The Caledonian is the grand old railway hotel at the west end of Princes Street. Its spa has an indoor pool, a jacuzzi, and both a dry sauna and a steam room. You can even see Edinburgh Castle through the window from the pool.
I swam, sat in the jacuzzi, and moved between the sauna and the steam room. I'd wanted a proper swim since the beach, and this was a good one. It's also close to where I live, so it's very convenient for me.
You don't have to stay at the hotel to use the spa. They sell day passes for the pool and facilities, so it's worth checking the current options with them directly. It's a good choice if you'd like a swim or a sauna after a long day exploring, and your own hotel doesn't have a pool.
An old friend was over from London to see her family, and she messaged at short notice: could we meet? We always have a good time together, so I found two hours on Monday morning, before her afternoon train.
I wanted to take her somewhere with a view. My first thought was Eidyn, the new bar and restaurant at the Mount Royal Hotel on Princes Street. I’d been to its launch in May, cocktails and canapés in the bar, and the outlook is hard to beat… straight over Princes Street Gardens, the Scott Monument across the road, the castle beyond.
But when I tried to book online, there was no availability. So I fell back on my safe choice, the place I bring every visiting friend to is the Court.
The Court is the all-day restaurant inside the Caledonian… the same place I went for the swim. It does breakfast and it’s good. I like to start the day with a good amount of protein, so the steak and eggs was mine: a minute steak, two fried eggs, béarnaise in a small pan. I also had the bakery basket, croissants and Danish pastries with jars of jam and butter. She had the waffle with berries and maple syrup, and the Court Benedict on a toasted pinwheel croissant with hollandaise. We took our time, catching up on the latest news in our lives.
Yes, the Court twice in two days… This one was booked long before my London friend appeared.
A birthday lunch for another old friend, just the two of us. He'd spent his actual birthday on a Greek island, which is a good excuse to miss one, so we decided to celebrate it once he was back in Edinburgh instead.
We looked at the menu and both landed on the same starter… cured smoked Scottish salmon, with crème fraîche, dill oil, pickles and lavosh crackers. Then steak frites with peppercorn and brandy cream for both of us too. White for him, red for me, and a clink of glasses in the middle of a Tuesday.
No cake... Instead, a pistachio croissant. It's just another reason I go to this place.. it’s simply delicious!
I love going to restaurants in Edinburgh on my own. Since I started creating content about 3.5 years ago, I'd rather not make friends or family sit and wait while I photograph every plate. I still love going out with them, of course, but this was one of those lunches I booked purely because I was curious.
It's one of the most unusual places to eat in Edinburgh. William Playfair, the architect behind the National Gallery and much of the New Town, designed Royal Terrace Gardens, and in 1836 he also designed this small stone cottage for the head gardener. It looks far more like someone's home than somewhere you'd book a table for lunch.
If the building looks familiar, that's because it was The Gardener's Cottage for years, one of Edinburgh's best-loved restaurants, which closed in 2024. The cottage then sat empty until it reopened in May this year under new ownership and a new name.
I went for lunch and ordered two courses. It started with sourdough and whipped garden herb butter, bright green and full of flavour. Then came smoked trout with crème fraîche and coriander, followed by hogget shoulder (lamb from an older animal, which gives it a richer, deeper flavour) served with silky pomme purée, purple sprouting broccoli and a glossy meat sauce. Overall, I enjoyed it. The food was beautifully cooked, and eating inside such a historic little cottage made it feel like an unique Edinburgh lunch.
Note: The restaurant has communal tables. I shared mine with two other ladies, but we didn't exchange a word… they were enjoying their lunch and their own conversation. So if you're looking for a more intimate setting, it's probably not the best choice. If you're happy to focus on the food, though, it's absolutely fine.
Then I walked around the corner into another Playfair building.
Topping's is on Blenheim Place, in a curved block Playfair designed in 1821, a former bank building. Now it's a bookshop over three floors, with handmade shelves to the ceiling, rolling ladders to reach the top, quiet corners to sit in, and around 85,000 books.
I sat at a window table with mine and could have stayed for hours. Complimentary tea and coffee is offered to browsing book lovers.
They also run events through the year, author readings and book groups, so it’s worth a look at what’s on if you’re in the city.
And when you come out, look across the road. The statue of Sherlock Holmes stands on the redeveloped pedestrian island at Picardy Place, across from where Arthur Conan Doyle was born.
Edinburgh is full of writers' places like this. I wrote about Where to Experience Conan Doyle's Edinburgh Today here.
Another friend came to visit, this time from Manchester. He knows Edinburgh well, but he’d never been up here. When he asked where we should meet, I didn’t think twice. W Lounge. I’d been a few times, though never at sunset, and he loves a rooftop as much as I do.
W Lounge is on the 11th floor of the W hotel in the St James Quarter, the bronze building with the twisted ribbon on top that everyone in this city has an opinion about. From the rooftop deck you get the panoramic views of the city: Calton Hill, the castle, the Balmoral clock tower, the Old Town spires, and the hills behind them all.
A confession: I don't drink, not even socially. I still like to pose with a glass for content, though. Then I saw a cocktail on the menu called Unicorn from Edinburgh. I've been Rhona the Unicorn online for years, so I couldn't ignore that one. My friend suggested we share it, just to taste.
So we did.
Most of the people in this post are friends I've known for years. We don't meet often, but when we do, it feels like no time has passed. Building my online business takes most of my time, so these are the friendships so I cherish the friendships I've built over the years.
I could continue. There are so many places I go all the time, in the city and on day trips out of it. I'll save those for the next post.
If you’d like to keep discovering Edinburgh with me, subscribe below. I write about the places I go, including the ones that never make it to Instagram.
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