Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The Scott

Price per night from$272.47

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP202.50), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

The Scott Photos

Style

The lairdly life

Setting

Edge of Arthur’s Seat

Explore

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Set in an 18th-century baronial mansion, The Scott is in Edinburgh’s leafy Southside, minutes from Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat. Its splendid period features — decorative ceilings, carved architraves, wrought iron staircases and marble fireplaces — are married with contemporary furnishings and bold art from Glasgow gallery Art Pistol. The feather in the hotel’s turreted cap is restaurant Bonnar’s, where refined Italian dishes are served in a rococo dining room with a frescoed ceiling. 

Smith Extra

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A welcome cocktail each in the Gallery Bar

Facilities

Photos The Scott facilities

Need to know

Rooms

37.

Check–Out

Noon, and check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates at The Scott are room only, but breakfast is available at  Bonnar’s for £20 each. There’s a Continental buffet and a selection of à la carte dishes, including a full Scottish breakfast, eggs Florentine and buttermilk French toast.

Also

All of the public areas at The Scott are accessible, as are two Classic Double rooms, adapted for wheelchair access with a modified bathroom.

At the hotel

Gardens, shared living areas, free access to two local gyms, paid laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: 40-inch TV, Roberts radio, tea- and coffee-making kit, free bottled water, bathrobes, slippers and local bath products. 

Our favourite rooms

All rooms have contemporary interiors, formed around a classically Scottish palette of deep blues, teals and greys. Pops of colour arrive in the form of cinnamon headboards and bold artwork supplied by Art Pistol, a Glasgow gallery working with emerging and established Scottish artists. Classic Doubles are well-suited to short stays; go for a Deluxe or Signature Room if you plan to do more loafing. There’s also the standalone Gatehouse, a one-bedroom residence that sleeps up to three with a living room and fully equipped kitchen.

Packing tips

Bring along a penchant for whisky, an appreciation for baronial architecture and fitting footwear to take you up to Arthur’s Seat.

Also

You'll have free access to two gyms. Oxygen Fitness, three minutes on foot from the hotel, has Technogym cardio equipment and free weights. A 15-minute walk away, the Pleasance Gym is more comprehensively kitted out.

Pet‐friendly

With advance notice, up to two dogs can stay in any room at The Scott. A flat fee of £30 a pup for first seven nights gets you a dog bed, blanket, two bowls, two waste bags, a ball and chew sticks. See more pet-friendly hotels in Edinburgh.

Children

All ages are welcome, but not especially catered for. The Scott doesn’t supply extra beds, but The Gatehouse has a sofa-bed. A free baby cot can be provided for a child under two on request.

Sustainability efforts

Aligned with The University of Edinburgh’s sustainability goals, The Scott has invested in long-term peatland restoration and a forest expansion programme; and supports local community initiatives through volunteering and donations-in-kind. At the hotel itself, bath products are refillable and sensors lighten energy consumption.

Food and Drink

Photos The Scott food and drink

Top Table

At breakfast, go for a table by the windows; at dinner, request one in the corner, where the underlit Kentia palms add a little theatre to proceedings.

Dress Code

Casual, but the rococo interiors call for a little French flair — look to Parisian brands like Mes Demoiselles, Jacquemus and Lemaire.

Hotel restaurant

Bonnar’s claims the most extravagant of The Scott’s spaces, a rococo dining room with an original frescoed ceiling designed by Thomas Bonnar. Ruched curtains, decorative woodwork and a white-marble fireplace add to the decadent character. Rome-born head chef Pier Berretta honed his craft at Copenhagen’s Noma before settling behind the stove here, where the menu leans Italian in style but looks to Scotland for its produce. Expect dishes like Orkney scallops with caramelised buttermilk and brandy, and cod with cocoa beans and smoked celeriac butter. You can also dine at Abacus, the Scottish-Mediterranean restaurant in sister hotel The Scholar, which is right next door. 

Hotel bar

The Gallery Bar looks like the cigar lounge of a Scottish baron’s country home, with its herringbone-parquet floor, wooden architraves, period fireplace and green-leather lounge chairs. You couldn’t ask for a more atmospheric spot to nurse a broody French red, Scottish gin or single malt whisky. There’s an enticing menu of snacks to pair with your sips, including smoked cheese puffs, house-cured capocollo, and rosti with mussels. 

Last orders

At Bonner’s, breakfast is 7am–10am, Monday to Friday; 7.30am–10.30am on Saturday and Sunday. Dinner is 5.30pm–8.30pm daily. The Gallery Bar serves from noon until 1am.

Room service

Dishes from Bonnar’s can be ordered to your room between noon and 8.30pm.

Location

Photos The Scott location
Address
The Scott
Pollock Estate 18 Holyrood Park Road
Edinburgh
EH16 5AY
United Kingdom

The Scott is on Edinburgh University's Pollock Estate, slightly south of the Old Town. The city centre can be reached in 15 minutes, and you’re a short stroll from Holyrood Park, home to Arthur’s Seat.

Planes

Edinburgh’s international airport is a 30-minute drive from The Scott. The hotel can arrange taxis or a chauffeur-driven car; the latter starts at £123 each way.

Trains

Scenic rail routes from London and Inverness call at Edinburgh Waverley. When you’re leaving the station, take the Market Street exit; from there, it’s a 10-minute cab ride to the hotel.

Automobiles

You won’t need a car in Edinburgh: the city centre is best seen on foot and there’s an award-winning bus network and plenty of cabs to get you around. If you choose to drive, parking at the hotel is free, subject to availability. EV charging points are available for an extra charge.

Worth getting out of bed for

The Scott puts you within a 10-minute walk of the Holyrood Distillery, producing Edinburgh’s only single malt whisky. Established in 2019, it’s a fresh face by the industry’s standards — something the distillery has used to its advantage, taking a bold stance towards experimentation; join one of the daily tours or skip straight to the tasting. Seeing as it’s so close, don’t miss the chance to scale Arthur’s Seat, the extinct volcano looming over Holyrood Palace. The hike takes 45 minutes each way, passing St Margaret’s Loch and the six-century-old ruins of St Anthony’s Chapel. To get off the tourist trail, catch the tram to Leith, Edinburgh’s bustling port district. Its maritime days are in the past now, but its dockside buildings have found new callings as artisanal bakeries, wine bars and new-wave restaurants. 

Local restaurants

There are two lauded restaurants within strolling distance of The Scott. Michelin-starred Condita is a tiny little place with just six candlelit tables. Chef Tyler King serves a surprise tasting menu underpinned by top-flight Scottish produce, including Highland game and fish from the Hebrides. Argile is even smaller, with chef Jack Montgomery operating from a compact kitchen surrounded by a counter with eight covers. He’s equally fastidious with his ingredients but gives the menu a more defined French lean. For something easier on your wallet, try Italian small-plates spot Tipo, in the New Town, serving excellent homemade pasta like strozzapreti with Calabrian sausage. 

Local bars

For refined tipples in art deco surroundings, post up in the wood-panelled bar of The Register Club, the one-time headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Down in Leith, ship-shape pub Nauticus is extolled for its apéritifs as much as its pints, served at a bar topped with gold-tipped fish scales. 

Reviews

Photos The Scott reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this baronial pad near Arthur’s Seat and unpacked their whisky from Holyrood Distillery, a full account of their city break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside The Scott in Edinburgh… 

It might be owned by the University of Edinburgh, but The Scott’s lodgings are something a student could only dream of. After all, how many lectures are followed by dinner beneath a hand-painted rococo ceiling, or sipping single malts in a wood-panelled gallery? 

Built in 1750 and remodelled by celebrated Scottish designer Thomas Bonnar, this storied mansion is a prime example of Scottish baronial style, with a four-storey tower, crow-stepped gables and circular turrets. A glut of period features on the ground floor give way to fresh-faced rooms above, where greens, blues and greys are offset by velvet upholstery in cinnamon and cherry-red. A manicured garden beckons on fair days but a dreich one is no matter: the Italian-inspired cuisine can stand in for sunshine and you’ll find warmth in the whiskies at the Gallery Bar. 

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Price per night from $272.47

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