Morten Andersen reckons the closest a public room gets to Edinburgh Castle without paying admission is the fifth floor of the Apex Grassmarket. Heights puts a bar and a wall of glass directly under the rock. The Castle does not so much sit in the view as fill the window.
Heights tops the Apex Grassmarket Hotel at 31-35 Grassmarket, EH1 2HS, in the Old Town hollow below the Castle, a twelve-minute walk up from Waverley Station. The room sits on the fifth floor and is angled straight at the fortress, a sightline the hotel rightly treats as its main asset (Apex Hotels official site).
DesignMyNight describes Heights as the top-floor room with arguably the best Castle view in the whole city, set above the hotel's ground-floor Metro brasserie (DesignMyNight). It works as both a dining space and an event room, with floor-to-ceiling glass that keeps the Castle present whatever the weather is doing outside. Film Edinburgh lists the fifth-floor restaurant as a location precisely for that outlook (Film Edinburgh).
The programme is the thing to read before you go. Heights runs cocktail masterclasses, afternoon teas and a calendar of seated dinners, including Hogmanay and Burns Night specials, rather than turning over as a casual walk-in bar (Apex Hotels official site). The cocktails and modern Scottish plates are pitched at the occasion, not the quick pint. Book onto a masterclass or an afternoon tea to be sure of the room, since it is often given over to private events.
The space is a long glass-fronted room rather than an open deck, which suits an Edinburgh winter and keeps the Castle in frame whatever the weather is doing. The cocktail list and modern Scottish plates are pitched at the seated drinker rather than the standing crowd, and the afternoon tea is the easiest daytime way in. Book onto a masterclass if the plan is to learn as much as drink, since the format hands you the room and the view for the session.
The crowd is led by whatever event is on, from afternoon-tea tables to Burns Night diners in black tie. Tripadvisor reviewers of the Apex Grassmarket consistently rate the fifth-floor outlook as the standout, treating Heights as an occasion booking rather than a drop-in bar (Tripadvisor). Plan around the calendar and the room repays it.
Who it is for is the visitor who wants the Castle close enough to read the stonework, the group marking an occasion, and anyone after a cocktail class with a view. It is right for afternoon tea, a celebration dinner or a Burns Night seat. It is wrong for a spontaneous drink, since access depends on the event calendar. For more reliable walk-in terraces, our guide to the best rooftop bars in Edinburgh points the way.
The room rewards a plan rather than a wander. Check the events listing well ahead, book the slot that fits, and take the seat that faces the rock. The Castle floodlights at dusk turn the window into the best table in the Grassmarket, but only if you have secured a place rather than chanced the lift on the night.
Best time to go is a booked evening session, Castle side, as the floodlights come up and the rock turns gold above the Grassmarket. Check the calendar first, since the room is often closed for a private dinner. For the wider plan, start with our Edinburgh bar guide, and for a Grassmarket terrace you can simply walk into, see Cold Town House across the square.
Sources: Apex Hotels official site; DesignMyNight; Film Edinburgh.
