The 20 best pubs in Edinburgh

This village pub by Duddingston Loch used to be ‘a firm favourite among past monarchs and poets’ according to its website. Now it’s a firm favourite among climbers of Arthur’s Seat in need of refreshment, students keen on Scotland’s oldest skittle alley and Sunday roast-hunters.

With more than 400 bottled beers and 12 rotating drafts, the Salt Horse drinks list would take a lifetime to get through (or one concentrated, particularly mad year). The bar crew are knowledgeable, the burgers and fries decent, and the clientele’s mainly locals. You can get wine if you ask nicely, but really, it’s all about the brews. 

One room, dried hops hanging from the ceiling beams, eight ales on tap from all over the British Isles, one working fireplace and the Water of Leith flowing by outside. And crisps. If you’re looking for hipsterism, schooners, pulled pork on brioche or tasting paddles you’re very much in the wrong place. The Malt & Hops sits in the historic centre of Leith, still a working port, where quality has been a watchword in terms of food and drink since the area’s 1980s renaissance. 

Nestled round the back of popular Edinburgh arts venue Summerhall, The Royal Dick takes up residence in what was once the Small Animal Hospital of the Dick Vet School. So while you’re sitting waiting for your pint, you can marvel at some unique bits of artwork and veterinary artefacts which decorate the interior of the pub. The bar has a diverse selection on offer, including Barney’s Beer and Pickerings Gin, both of which are brewed and distilled in the Summerhall complex.

The sister pub of cocktail bars Hoot the Redeemer and Panda and Sons, Nauticus puts a maritime spin on the traditional Scottish boozer. The Scots theme runs through their drinks list, with Edinburgh’s best local brews and spirits featuring heavily. Paying homage to the area’s trading heritage, Nauticus pulls Leith’s past into the thrilling, boozy present.

A proper local, The Blue Blazer is highly regarded among Edinburgh natives for its no-nonsense demeanour and its wide range of whiskies, rums and real ales. It’s small, but that only increases the likelihood of meeting your new best friend as they squeeze up on the wooden bench next to you.

Lothian Road’s The Hanging Bat stands unpretentiously amid a peculiar mix of tanning shops, bookies and bargain warehouses. It doesn’t look like much, but inside you’ll find a cavernous pub where sampling is encouraged and beer knowledge traded. The biggest glass is 2/3 of a pint and cocktail menus are forgone in favour of a traditional pub line-up.

Highly popular pub beloved by students, theatre-goers and locals who know where to find a good pint. Mingle in the bar area and enjoy the well-curated selection of drinks, or head to the backroom and partake of one of the regular cult film screenings on one of the massive emperor-sized 'beds'. Note that there are three Brass Monkey venues in the city to check out (Drummond Street, Leith Walk and the Shore).

Hector’s has been helping well-heeled shoppers put their feet up and dishing out hair of the dog to locals for more than 25 years. Although it’s open every day, for many people, it’s filed in the part of their brain under ‘places to flop about on a Sunday’ – they mix a good bloody mary, have a tall stack of board games, and the roast’s good too.

The choice of cask ale in this traditional pub at the foot of Broughton Street is impressive, with brews from all over the British Isles: from Highland Brewing on Orkney to Dark Star in West Sussex. This is the kind of place where if you ask bar staff to remove the sparkler from the tap before they pour your pint, they know what you’re talking about. Basic bar meals available; popular for football and rugby.

Once a shop, Sandy Bell’s has been a pub since at least the 1920s and has played a key role in the Scottish folk music revival. Musicians regularly rock up to play together just for fun, so you may catch accordions, fiddles, guitars and more while you’re sitting down to enjoy a pint. Whether you’re up for a jig or not, the nightly music sessions are well worth sticking around for.

From the hanging baskets and beer garden outside to the warren of rooms inside with their simple, traditional décor, you can tell this is a highly civilised pub. But given the neighbourhood is one of Edinburgh’s swankiest and forms part of a World Heritage Site it’s no more than you’d expect. The beer is good, the wine list decent and the food menu offers everything from sandwiches and burgers to pan-fried hake fillet and caesar salad, with roast beef on Sundays.

Cosy little old-school basement pub tucked down a side street a stone's throw from Edinburgh Castle. It's proximity to the tourist-friendly Royal Mile means it fills up quickly, but despite the notes of foreign denomination thumbtacked to the (rather low) rafters, it still managaes to maintain an atmosphere that's friendly to regulars. On a cold evening, a pint or malt whisky by the roaring log fire is highly recommended. 

The Bow is among Edinburgh’s finest whisky destinations, offering more than 300 ranging from familiar names to real rarities. And it does a fine line in cask ales and craft keg too. It dates to the 1980s and has the look of a traditional Scottish pub: one room simply furnished with wooden fixtures and fittings, and old bar memorabilia on the walls. 

Bennets’s more eye-catching Victorian features – curved dark wood shelves and large mirrored panels – have been tastefully merged with modern touches like rounded red leather banquettes and Ordnance Survey maps of Edinburgh and Scotland under glass-topped round tables. It’s earned a reputation for its selection of craft beers and real ales, and also stocks a wide range of single malt whiskies.

It may be small, but Dagda charms with its old-fashioned interior, stained glass and giant wooden barrels in the centre of the room. This Southside haunt is popular with locals and (fortunately) doesn’t overflow with students, despite being right by the university. There’s a great selection of rotating guest ales, plenty of whiskies and craft beer on tap, and the atmosphere here is friendly and relaxing every day of the week.

Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson was a 19th-century Glaswegian architect now celebrated for sustainable building methods and his Greco-Egyptian aesthetic. The interior at Thomson’s in Morrison Street is a modern homage to the man and his style. With warm oak panelling, a beautifully detailed oak gantry, black and white checkered floor, old-school pub chairs and bar memorabilia it certainly looks the part – very Victorian – although the venue itself opened in 2000.

An ornate drinking palace dating to 1863, the Café Royal Circle Bar is among the city’s most beautiful places to stop for a beer. The venue has been very well maintained, so its stained glass, decorated ceiling and cornicing all look good as new. There are usually a few cask ales available, plus a reasonable whisky selection.

Taking over the premises of popular but slightly dusty 1960s boozer Jenny Ha’s, The Kilderkin changed hands in 2011 and now draws a crowd of rum lovers, pizza fans and pub quiz regulars, who sit alongside the remaining hardcore punters propping up the bar from the old days.

For more than 20 years Cloisters has been a haven of quality beer and decent pub grub, perched on the short stretch between Tollcross and the rolling green space of the Meadows. The beer choice is legendary – nine cask taps and ten keg – with eight of those rotating constantly. You could find anything here from a local IPA to a trenchant Orkney Porter – and others from much further afield. Whenever you go, there’ll be something new to try.