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Adventure on your doorstep... Nestled on the corner of historic Grassmarket Old Town and Victoria St, Edinburgh’s most Instagrammable street, The Grassmarket Hotel is the perfect base to explore our magnificent city. Just 2 minutes walk from the Royal Mile and overlooked by the might Edinburgh Castle, you are stone’s throw from Edinburgh’s world-famous attractions, shopping and nightlife. Infact, from history to Harry Potter, ghostly tours to Greyfriar’s Bobby, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Whatever the time of year, book a stay with us and you’ll have everything you need for a memorable city break. Step outside and who knows where those cobbled streets will take you! We’re located right beside Biddy Mulligan’s, an authentic Irish bolthole open 7 days a week with live music, hearty fayre and plenty of craic.
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The Grassmarket Hotel, while celebrated for its central location and vibrant live music atmosphere, receives a mix of feedback. Guests commend the friendly service and the quality breakfast served at the adjacent pub, yet some find the hotel's value lacking due to overpriced rooms and breakfast options. Cleanliness is generally satisfactory, but concerns arise over inconsistent services and maintenance.
The noise level is a point of contention, with experiences varying from peaceful to disruptive. While some reviewers highlight clean and modern rooms, others are disappointed by comfort and maintenance issues.
Location
Central
Atmosphere
Lively
Rooms
Mixed
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Noise level
Mixed
Service
Friendly
Amenities
Satisfactory
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The Grassmarket Hotel is in an exceptional location and we managed to use this as our base for exploring the whole city without feeling any hassle. We stayed in a snug room and, whilst it was as advertised, we spent most of our time out exploring and the size was quite reasonable for our needs. I would warn that the bathroom door, a frosted glass piece, does little to offer privacy from those in the main area of the room. Having breakfast in the pub was a novel feature to our stay which we weren't expecting.
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Date of stay: October 2023
Rooms
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Duty Manager, Other at Grassmarket Hotel
Responded 4 weeks ago
Thank you for your feedback! We’re so glad to hear that you enjoyed the exceptional location and were able to explore the city with ease. It’s great to know the snug room met your needs while you were out and about. We appreciate your note about the bathroom door and will take it into consideration for future improvements. We’re also happy you had a chance to experience breakfast in the pub – we’re glad it added a unique touch to your stay. Thanks again for your valuable feedback, and we’d love to welcome you back on your next visit!
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I liked the location of the hotel. Room with windows overlooking Victoria Street fantastic for us. Friendly staff and always helpful. Room for three people very spacious. We were on the first floor and took the elevator and then made 3 steps to get to our room. Comfortable beds and pillows. In the bathroom, spacious. there were dispensers with soap bubble bath and shampoo. They don't have a shower cup. So I recommend if you need to bring it from home. Breakfast is served at the pub next door through an internal door of the hotel that connects the pub. Very good breakfast. There are croissants or swirls with cinnamon, toast with butter and jam or Nutella, milk, coffee, tea and juice. There are cornflakes, fresh fruit, yogurt, salmon, cheese etc and then there are the guys in the pub who stop by to ask you if you want the hot breakfast that is made on the spot and is delicious. For hot breakfast just see the menu on the Biddy Mulligans grassmarket pub website. The guys in the pub then are very kind and always available. We also ate at lunch great for everything I recommend them too. Back in Edinburgh I would stay here again and ask for the same room because it is really nice. SIDES TO IMPROVE: I would advise these young guys to pay more attention to the cleanliness of the rooms to make this hotel exceptional. The bathroom in 4 days was not cleaned as the towels were never changed. Beds were never made either. For the beds for us it was not a problem but maybe a greater attention to the cleanliness of the bathroom that in my opinion is very important.
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Date of stay: July 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
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We don't nearly get away often enough to have an authorative opinion on hotels and what constitutes good value for money. We stayed for two nights and have no complaints. Tannoy ceiling speakers, with wall mounted connection for Android and Apple. The USB power sockets deliver power very slowly but at least they are there. The hotel blurb makes a big thing about rainfall shower but that is really just a way of saying its a fixed head and that is most definitely not to everybodys liking. Staff are fantastic. Towels, extra tea/coffee, cold water nothing seem to bother or phase them. Check in and out very easy. The breakfast service is understaffed and food takes a while to get to you and isn't hottest. Beds very comfy. There's a great deal of thought gone into the rooms and the clientele. But if you have mobility issues or poor health be aware that getting to Princes Street and Castle, Royal Mile etc if on foot is arduous trek up 174 stairs in the case of the Castle and a very steep hill if heading to Royal Mile via Grassmarket. It is very centrally located. The discounted car parking a necessity for staycationers like ourselves. We'd happily return to this hotel, its well run, well appointed, centrally located and the staff are brilliant.
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Date of stay: September 2021
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Ask the staff there bound to tell you which room would serve your needs best
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Manager Edinburgh, General Manager at Grassmarket Hotel
Responded 15 Oct 2021
Hi Louise, I appreciate your positive feedback about our hotel. We do take pride in catering to our guests’ needs the best way we can. If you’re travelling to our area again soon, don’t hesitate to book with us. Best regards,
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I give it one star for its location. But the rest is fatal. I have to say that the vacuum cleaner and the mop are very difficult to clean. Please DO NOT book the room with breakfast if you intend to go on excursions with an Edinburgh company, they leave very early and breakfast starts at 8 in the morning, in a pub next to the hotel, they do not offer takeaway breakfast Even though you had hired him, the reasons for my excuses were diverse depending on the person who was at the reception at that moment, whether it was company policy, whether they did not give it for the joy of it, whether they understood my circumstance and who would try to leave at reception some food so we could take it (they never left). So out of 5 days that I had paid for breakfast I was only able to have breakfast on one day and the rest I had to pay for it again. And what's worse, neither they nor Last Minute, with whom I made the reservation, refund the money. According to the latter, the hotel offered me breakfast during pub hours and I refused. I would NEVER return to this hotel.
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Date of stay: April 2024Trip type: Travelled with friends
Room Tip:No reserven
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
We recently stayed for a week in Edinburgh and took the Grassmarket Hotel as accommodation.
The hotel is located on the Grassmarket square, in the heart of the Old Town district. The square itself is wonderful, with a great atmosphere to take in; it's lined with pubs and restaurants so food is never far away.
Grassmarket square puts you within walking distance of some key attractions in Old Town, including: The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, Greyfriars Church, St. Giles' Cathedral, and The National Museum of Scotland.
The hotel staff were all very cheerful, professional and a delight to deal with. The hotel itself was clean, as was our room.
That said, there are some things that the hotel could improve on:
Breakfast is served at the pub next door to the hotel. It's mostly a typical continental style buffet. If you pay £15 per day, you can also have a hot food selection from the pub breakfast menu.
The pub opens at 08:00 and service can be slow; if you are travelling on business, or otherwise have a schedule to keep, this can cause trouble. I was with a group and several members had to leave for a business meeting before their hot food arrived. You may want to seek out other lodgings with a restaurant on site if you are travelling on business.
The pub also hosts live music every night. Our room was at the pub end of the hotel and the sound carried to our room and made sleep difficult. As such, you may want to specify a room at the opposite end of the hotel from the pub when you book a stay here.
If you have mobility issues, you may have troubles at the Grassmarket Hotel. Our room was on the second floor, but the closest the lift got us was the first floor. We still had to go two flights of stairs and go down a couple of corridors that had odd rises and drops of one or two steps each at a couple of points along the way.
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Date of stay: April 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled on business
Room Tip:Breakfast starts at 08:00, so this hotel is not the best option for business travellers or others...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Duty Manager, Other at Grassmarket Hotel
Responded 5 weeks ago
Dear Guest, Thank you for sharing your feedback. We sincerely regret that your experience was affected by the lift access and noise from the pub below. As we are a historic building, we are limited in our ability to install a lift that can serve all rooms. We do our best to communicate this to our guests, and we’re sorry if it wasn’t clear before your stay. Regarding the live music, we always highlight this feature as part of our vibrant location. We understand how it may not be ideal for everyone, and we are truly sorry if it impacted your comfort. We appreciate your comments and will continue to strive for a better experience for all guests. Warmest regards, Duty Manager at the Grassmarket Hotel
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First of all, the location is great. Parking is a bit of a problem, but that’s across all of Edinburgh. Best to find a car park and either walk or Uber to the hotel. When they advertised the property as “quirky”, we weren’t sure what to expect. We found out. First of all, they did not have the room set up as we had requested and they had confirmed: two twin beds vs. one double bed. They “fixed” it, but the new room was still only a double bed, but in a different location so you didn’t have the drag your bags up two flights of stairs (just one!) This is not a luxury location, just 40-some rooms, some in an old part of the building, which is “interesting”.
We get warm easily and although they had Dyson units in the rooms, the air intakes were completely blocked with dust, so not much cool air (or any air for that matter) could be generated. Someone before us punched holes into the air intake filter, apparently to just get some air. I highly recommend that the establishment improvement their maintenance practices.
I am still pleased enough with the hotel. I would not stay there with family again, but would consider it if were just me traveling. A huge positive on the way out was the breakfast at the connect pub: Biddy Mulligans. The continental (10 GBP add on per person) was amazing and well worth it. Smoked salmon and haddock, cold ham, beef, salami, yogurts, toast, coffee, juices, etc. It was a nice way to start our trip.
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Date of stay: March 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Parking at OMNI center was only 22GBP for 24hrs. Later we used NCP Terrace Parking and it cost us...
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Response from Duty Manager, Other at Grassmarket Hotel
Responded 4 weeks ago
Thank you for your detailed feedback! We’re happy to hear you enjoyed our location and the breakfast at Biddy Mulligans—it’s great to know you had a pleasant start to your day with the continental options. We sincerely apologize for the confusion with your room setup and the issue with the air conditioning unit. We understand how important these details are for your comfort, and I will be sure to pass this on to our maintenance team so they can address the situation. We appreciate your understanding, and we’d love to welcome you back in the future, especially if you're traveling solo. Warmest regards, Duty Manager at the Grassmarket Hotel
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Our room was tiny, i had to climb over bed to get into it as one side was pretty much touching wall at window.
Reception area is small which is fine but when checking in there was two members of staff who had obviously just finished there shift sitting drinking beer right beside the check in desk - that doesn't look professional at all (they could easily have stayed in the bar and drank their beer there)
Noise from outside loud and continuous until about 3am. Was then woke up with glass bins outside being emptied at about 8am and then woke again with the cleaner hoovering outside our room at 9am due to walls and doors being so thin I could hear everything so barely any sleep was had!
The lift didn't feel safe, it jerks a little as soon as you get in before you press any buttons.
Bathroom is so small.
The mattresses on the bed (they were two single mattresses instead of a double) were far too hard and uncomfortable.
When checking out the guy at the reception desk didn't even ask how our stay was/if everything had been okay for us, literally took our key cards and said goodbye.
Won't be rushing back to stay here again to be honest, would much rather spend my money somewhere I am going to actually manage to sleep.
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Duty Manager, Other at Grassmarket Hotel
Responded 4 weeks ago
Thank you for sharing your feedback. I’m really sorry to hear that your experience didn’t meet expectations. I understand how frustrating it must have been with the noise disruptions and the room layout. We will take your comments about the reception staff's behaviour into account and address this with the team to ensure a more professional approach in the future. I also apologize for the discomfort caused by the mattresses and the lift. Your comments about the cleanliness and noise will be shared with the appropriate departments to improve our service and ensure that future guests have a better experience. If you ever reconsider staying with us, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly to ensure a more comfortable stay. Kindest regards, Duty Manager at the Grassmarket Hotel
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This hotel is in a great location but there’s a few things that would put me off staying here again. Firstly I was not told about their housekeeping policy that if you want your room cleaned you had to put a door hanger out so on the first day our room did not get cleaned. To be fair to the receptionist she could not of apologised enough and did bring us some fresh towels. Another issue was that I noticed when the room did get cleaned on the second day the bedding was not changed. This perhaps is their policy but I’m used to staying in hotels that change bedding on a daily basis and it wasn’t nice coming back to a room with dirty bedding. The room we stayed in (303) was also extremely small and was a bit of a hassle to get to. If you are staying and having any mobility issues make sure you let them know as our room wasn’t accessible by lift. The room did have a great shower but overall the room was showing some signs of wear and tear, see pictures. The window was really old and I struggled to open it and the bathroom was showing mould. There’s a great CIF anti mould spray that would clean that up great if you see this. The one thing that earns the hotel more points is the staff. As I said previously the receptionist was so apologetic about the housekeeping mix up and all the other staff were so helpful and friendly. A shoutout to the man working night shift that helped me source a phone charger. If you’re just looking for something pretty basic and in a great central old town location then this would be ideal.
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Date of stay: March 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Some rooms noisy from bar downstairs, not great for wheelchairs or prams
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Manager Edinburgh, General Manager at Grassmarket Hotel
Responded 1 Apr 2022
Dear clairebP4879KY, Thank you for taking the time to review us, I am sorry to see housekeeping make a mistake to service your room, i have raised this with the team so this doesnt happen again. We do all hope to see you again Kind regards
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Location: perfect Rooms: not all of them can be reached by elevator, maybe you will have to carry your luggage through a narrow staircase. Breakfast: You can book an additional one, which is very good when finally arriving. Basic one: Lousy coffee, and having to ask for everything. Not enough spoons, cups, sugar.... Housekeeping: Room wasn't tidied up everyday because they were running low in staff. Kettle with tea and coffee in the room Shower: modern, but you can easily slip, have to use a slip-free plastic, slow drain Service: friendly young team, a little stretched to thin, no flexibility for a later check-out than 12 o' clock and no possibility to shower after the marathon (after check-out) although promised
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Date of stay: May 2022
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Ask everything in detail in advance
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Dylan Crosbie, General Manager at Grassmarket Hotel
Responded 1 Jun 2022
Hi X1866Nfrital, We really do appreciate the time you have taking out to write us a review. I have spoken with the housekeeping staff regarding the room not being serviced and have assurance that changes have been made immediately. The hotel is also going to be going through a refurbishment, planning to be complete by the end of the year. This will give us a chance to tackle any problems within bathrooms etc. We hope to see you back here soon and eagerly anticipate your next reservation. Kind Regards, Dylan Crosbie.
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+ Friendly and helpful staff. + Excellent room in terms of interior design. Nice bathroom with spacious walk-in shower. + Air conditioning + Large television with many channels. + No noise nuisance. + Delicious breakfast in the adjacent pub, again with very friendly service.
- The maintenance of the room leaves much to be desired. The floor was not clean when we arrived and was never vacuumed or cleaned during our stay. We also had no room maintenance at all for two days in a row, even though we had correctly placed the 'Please clean the room' sign on the door.
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Date of stay: July 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Duty Manager, Other at Grassmarket Hotel
Responded 5 weeks ago
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We are pleased to hear that you enjoyed our friendly staff, the room's interior design, and the breakfast at the adjacent pub. We strive to provide a comfortable and enjoyable experience for all our guests. We sincerely apologize for the housekeeping issues you encountered during your stay. Maintaining high standards of cleanliness is a priority for us, and we regret that we fell short in this instance. Your comments have been shared with our housekeeping team to ensure that such oversights do not occur in the future. We appreciate your constructive feedback and hope to have the opportunity to welcome you back for a more seamless experience.
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he distance from Edinburgh Airport to the Grassmarket Hotel in the Grassmarket area is approximately 8 miles (13 km) by walking. Walking would take you around 2 to 2.5 hours, depending on your pace, and it would be a scenic but lengthy route.
Yes, the reception at Grassmarket Hotel is open 24 hours, so you can check in any time during the night, even after your late arrival. Let them know if you need any special assistance or arrangements!
There are more places to choose from in the Edinburgh area.
PRICE RANGE
€83 - €309 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
grassmarket hotel edinburgh
LOCATION
United KingdomScotlandEdinburghGrassmarket / Old Town
NUMBER OF ROOMS
42
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect nightly room rates, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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