1. Castle Rock Hostel

    1. Castle Rock Hostel

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    Edinburgh, EDH

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    Castle Rock Hostel

    4.4 (40 reviews)

    Castle Rock Hostel Photos

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    Manuel E.

    Castle Rock Hostel has to be my most favorite hostel I have ever booked and stayed in! Not only is the building an old medieval structure in itself.. it is right outside of Edinburgh Castle! Wow. There is views upon views at this place. Each room window looks out into a beautiful skyline of Old Town. You can just sit by the window and look out and daydream for hours. Daydream of medieval wars and daily life with knights and peasants and markets and horses and cows and etc. My room was graced with an actual Archers window!!! Woah, like this small slit was used by archers to defend the town! It also provided the room with a pretty cool airy breeze. Check in was quick and simple and everyone is super easy to talk to and very informative. There is no lift, so the stairs will be your daily mode of getting up and down those floors! The general area is beautiful and very homey. You can choose between any of the 3 rooms, that all have different themes. i loved the general kitchen area that has seats and sofas, a large dining table made for a King, and also a nice pool table that travelers can conjugate around. This location is probably on the edge of Old Town, right besides Edinburgh Castle. You are walking distance away from everything that has any historical significance. You will never not be taking pictures. Edinburgh as a city, is probably one of the most beautiful and most Interesting cities I have ever been to. The best part of the day to site see is yeah, when the sun is out, however..... the city does not lose any of it's luster when it's dark. The Dark beautiful shadows on the buildings really turns this city into a different sort of feel. You start thinking of it's dark past of wars and supposedly ghosts and spirits that are around different areas. Castle Rock is definitely a go-to place if you're ever in Edinburgh for a couple of days!

    View from Currency Room
    Taryn S.

    I rate this place 5 stars because it is like staying in Medieval Times and its huge! There are fun metal knight statues and murals all over the place which give this place fun vibes. My room even had a direct view of the private school that inspired J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts. I met some really fun and interesting people staying here. Do the pub crawl and the beer pong tournament they hold in the common room if you stay here! You will meet lots of interesting people. Plenty of outlets for charging! Spotty wifi in the rooms but I made do by going into the common areas. Also, they were having a scary movie marathon in the movie theater when I was there which is a fun way to stay warm and dry if it decides to rain. Security is great here! They make everyone show a security card to the front desk to gain access. I also used their laundry service (clean & fold) which drops off on your bunk for only 4 pounds. I have seen other hostels charge a lot more for this service, so take advantage of this if you find yourself with dirty clothes! I also took advantage of their free luggage storage on the day I checked out before my late flight from Edinburgh airport. The staff is really friendly and accomodating and will answer any questions you may have.

    Jessica D.

    See my pictures for a full review (weird I know), but I made a review on trip advisor as well and it wouldn't let me copy/paste it!

    I took this from the door of the hostel...It's soooo close to the Castle!!
    Josy A.

    This hostel is brilliant! I have to admit, I was less than impressed by the idea of staying in a hostel when I visited Edinburgh...but our funds couldn't cover the pricey Edinburgh hotels, and this was our only option near where our meeting was being held. However, it was a hilarious place to stay and I'm glad we ended up here! The décor is really funny! We had to climb stairs past several suits of armour...and there is a creepy mannequin at the front door that looks a little like Russell Brand! Eep! There are quite a few Scottish flags, and endless corridors and halls to get lost in! Each room is a little different - we were in the 'Scottish drinks' room so each bed was named after some alcoholic beverage...our friends had a room that was covered with framed pictures of beautiful women (wearing less and less clothes as you wander further into the room!) All mad- but funny to explore. If you book early, you don't have to stay in huge dorm rooms...and we had enough of us to fill several of the small 3-4 person rooms. The beds were comfy and the views over Edinburgh were gorgeous (see my piccies...) I had some cereal for breakfast for the grand price of 70p - bargain!! However...the castle Rock loses a star because my shower, although it had fantastic water pressure...was only lukewarm. One of my friends mentioned how amazing the showers were, so maybe he used up all the hot water before I woke up!? The hairdryers didn't work either. *Cold Josy sob*

    Bunks and view of 14 bed room

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    Review Highlights - Castle Rock Hostel

    The hostel is a five minute walk from Edinburgh Castle, I literally cried when I saw it for the first time.

    Mentioned in 8 reviews

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    CoDE Pod Hostels - THE CoURT

    CoDE Pod Hostels - THE CoURT

    3.8(4 reviews)
    0.3 miOld Town, Royal Mile, Newington

    Location: Ridiculously good. I was here for Fringe Festival in August, and I could get to all the…read morevenues in reasonable time. It's less than 20 meters from the Royal Mile, which, if you're new, is great. For me, being my second time, I was already grumpy--all these damn tourists! (And yet, I am one, I know, I know...) Vibes: Great vibes. Staff were kind. Guests generally kept to themselves but seemed nice. Amenities: Numerous. There was both a full bar and a restaurant. Whisky flights available. They seem proud of their breakfast food sourcing. Bread from this bakery; scones from that bakery; etc. I loved the scones (or "sconns", in a Scottish accent, so cute!). Staff were courteous and kind and efficient all around. Downstairs was a suitable coworking space with different configurations of seating/tables, electrical outlets, and even a few phone booths to take calls. The wifi was consistent and reliable down there and everywhere. Only limitation was the lack of a full kitchen. Microwaves only; no oven, no stove that I could see. The actual room were somewhat disappointing for me. The pod concept has its advantages. Better sound-proofing against snoring, for example, and a better sense of privacy. I just didn't like the pods didn't give me more room to store things within easy reach. Like, in a normal hostel, I would be able to store things under the bed, like shoes, and my luggage with clothes. Instead, much of it went inside a locker across the room with a combination lock, or wedged along the inside of the pod, which slimmed down the sleeping surface for me. That said, I did like that they hooks and hang bars inside each pod. Every hostel could use more hooks. Lastly, my specific pod room always smelled slightly of body odor. The cleaning staff did their job well, and I presume it had to do with one or two of the occupants, but it was a tad off-putting. Bathrooms: Well-maintained and in generally good working order.

    I stayed here with a group of friends on a weekend trip to Edinburgh, and we loved this hostel! The…read morelocation was perfect, right on the Royal Mile and within walking distance of everything we wanted to do, and it was only a 10-minute walk to the Edinburgh Waverly train station. The rooms and bathrooms were clean, and the pods were comfortable. Each pod comes with a locker, hanging rack, a shelf, and USB ports. The staff were friendly, and the lobby has books and games available to borrow, as well as a variety of drinks and snacks to purchase. Breakfast is available for £6. If you are looking for a place to stay in the middle of Old Town, look no further!

    Photos
    CoDE Pod Hostels - THE CoURT
    CoDE Pod Hostels - THE CoURT
    CoDE Pod Hostels - THE CoURT

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    Smart City Hostels

    Smart City Hostels

    3.8(9 reviews)
    0.4 miOld Town, Newington

    We stayed here for 5 days/4 nights as part of a college study abroad trip over the winter holiday…read morebreak. We ended up in the semi-private rooms of 4, but we all knew each other so it was fine. The room facilities are quite nice, and I'm pretty sure all the equipment is from Ikea. Very modern cheap-chic stylings. Each bed featured a wall socket and l.e.d. nightlight, as well as a pretty generous sized locker. It was large enough to fit carry-on sized luggage into in the main shelf, and enough room for two pairs of shoes in the second shelf. Standard luggage sized locks fit in the lockers to lock them up. They also sell them at the front desk. Standard padlocks won't fit. Our room featured a toilet and shower. Both were clean and neat with modern appointments. The front desk also sells necessities like plug adapters for your electronics, earplugs, soap/shampoo, laundry soap, bottled water, etc. The free Wi-Fi was pretty spotty and slow in the rooms - we tried in all our fellow students rooms too. I ran a speedtest utility and it showed that the speeds are only a bit faster than old-school traditional telephone 56k dialup internet. 187k downlink / 94k uplink. Good enough for sending and receiving emails, Twitter, and iMessages but not enough for Facebook or any web browsing. They would just timeout because retrieving the data was so slow. You can buy faster wireless internet access for a charge, or use the internet cafe they have for a charge too. Downstairs in the bar, the free Wi-Fi was much, much faster. I measured 2megs down and 1meg up. Almost 5 times faster than the room Wi-Fi. If you're a technology geek like me, do your internet stuff down in the bar. The laundry facilities were quite handy. I ended up washing a load of clothes. They weren't anything special, just 3 washers and 3 dryers and a row of folding chairs. But it was simple, neat, and clean. 2 pounds to wash and 1 pound to dry. A 2-pack of soap (for two loads) cost 1 pound up at the front desk. The bar in the ground level was great (see my other review) and so was the breakfast bar included with the price of our room. Overall, a very great experience. I would definitely stay here over a traditional hotel any day!

    I thought this hostel was pretty good. It's clean, has a modern look, and the rooms are very…read morehabitable. There's free wifi, and plenty of space downstairs to hang out, shoot pool, or cook your own meal. There's a bar too, though I didn't get anything from there. The location is pretty good, it's right in the middle of old town in the heart of the city. Easy walk from Waverly. In my room of 8 there were only 4 of us, and there are also 2 toilets and 2 showers. Nice. Oh, and towels are provided. One gripe: there are lockers in the rooms for each bed, but they don't take standard padlocks... the hole is too small. Come on now, seriously?

    Photos
    Smart City Hostels
    Smart City Hostels
    Smart City Hostels

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    The Grassmarket Hotel - View of the hotel to the left!

    The Grassmarket Hotel

    4.0(32 reviews)
    0.1 miGrassmarket, Old Town
    ££

    This hotel is located in the Grassmarket area of Edinburg. It's just steps away from Old Town and…read morethe Royal Mile. Edinburg Castle is about a 15 minute walk. There is a restaurant in the hotel but there are a LOT of restaurants within walking distance. We had asked for a room with two beds thinking they would be single beds. (Our last experience with hotels in Europe was not a great one. We had a tiny room and a tiny bed,) When we got our room it was bigger than we expected. It had two beds-one was a king and the other a queen. What a nice surprise! There is no air conditioning in most hotels in Europe. With the windows open and a fan I was quite comfortable because the temp was around 60° the three nights we were there. The hubby who likes it much colder said it was bearable. The staff was friendly. The hotel was clean. I don't remember if breakfast is included in the price. There is a buffet breakfast or you can order off the menu. The last morning I ordered the smoked salmon, poached eggs, and sourdough toast off the hot menu. It was delicious. Had to have smoked salmon before I left Scotland...wish I would have ordered it sooner. Yummy. Would have given it 4 stars but with the lack of ac and having to climb several sets of stairs before you get to the elevator I'm giving it 3 stars. In all fairness, on occasion I did use the hotel ramp to get into or leave the hotel but that entailed walking through the rain. It did, however, lead you directly to the elevator.

    This was the perfect hotel for a two night stay in Edinburgh. It's super centrally located and well…read morepriced. We were able to drop off our bags at 7 am and the room was ready by 12:30 pm. One of the major benefits for me is that they let you borrow a straightener from the front desk. My hair was so grateful!! The rooms are tiny but that's to be expected in Europe! The WiFi wasn't fantastic either but we really didn't need it much.

    Photos
    The Grassmarket Hotel
    The Grassmarket Hotel
    The Grassmarket Hotel

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    St Christopher's Edinburgh Hostel

    St Christopher's Edinburgh Hostel

    2.8(12 reviews)
    0.3 miOld Town, Royal Mile

    Disgusting. Put us in the wrong room, casually forgot to give us our free drink and breakfast…read morevoucher. Moved us from the 6 female only to an 18 mixed. Then refused to refund our money or even split the difference in price "the breakfast makes up for it". Musty and the showers don't drain, elevator only holds three people. I beg of you do not stay here

    Never have I ever seen a more disgusting hostel. Old man plugged up the sink to wash his beard,…read morewhat a way to wake up. The beds smelled as if they had not been washed and there was hair everywhere. The showers were horrific. I took one in the middle of the day to avoid a crowd and it was covered in hair, trash, and others belonging. The water pressure for my first shower was that of a dripping faucet. The second was a flood as the drain was backed up with hair! The keys unlock every door and there is no security. I was booked for 2 nights in a 6 bed and was asked to move to a 10 bed the second night as they did not have space. I agreed but wanted my price reduced for the second night and was told my free breakfast would make up for the cost difference. Weird, didn't know that a bowl of ham, hard boiled eggs was compensation. Not to also mention that a gaggle of 30 young men swarmed the breakfast before me and left me with scraps. Genuinely would rather sleep in the park than this place. I would not even be happy if I paid $10 for it.

    Photos
    St Christopher's Edinburgh Hostel
    St Christopher's Edinburgh Hostel - Lockers

    Lockers

    St Christopher's Edinburgh Hostel - This is just so weird to have in a hostel...

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    This is just so weird to have in a hostel...

    Castle Rock Hostel - hostels - Updated September 2026

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