Morten Andersen has a soft spot for a bar that backs the local spirit, and Juniper does it without ceremony. It sits at the top of Hotel Indigo on Princes Street, points its windows at the Castle, and builds its list around Scottish gin. The view is free with the drink.
Juniper occupies the top of Hotel Indigo at 20 Princes Street, EH2 2AN, on the eastern stretch of the New Town's grandest road, a four-minute walk from Waverley Station. Windows span the entire frontage, opening an unbroken line across Princes Street Gardens to Edinburgh Castle on its rock (Juniper official site). A library corner of deep wingback chairs sits behind the bar for anyone who wants the view at one remove.
The drinks are gin-first, as the name promises. The bar carries an extensive range of gins and Scottish malts and works them into a menu it calls the Cocktail Storybook, a mix of revived classics and house builds (Juniper official site). The standout is the Strawberries and Steam, a theatrical sharing cocktail built for two and served with a flourish. Order that for an occasion, or work through the gin list if the plan is a slower session.
The everythingedinburgh city guide files Juniper among the best elevated rooms for a drink with a castle view, which is the right shelf for it (Everything Edinburgh). It is less exposed than a true open terrace, which is a virtue rather than a fault in this climate: the glass keeps the Castle in view on the many nights a deck would be shut.
The room is narrow and warm, a long bar set against the window wall with the library corner behind, lit low for the evening. Beyond the Strawberries and Steam, the gin focus is the thing to lean on: ask the bar to build a drink around a Scottish gin you like, or work the Cocktail Storybook for its revived classics. The bar bites are designed to sit alongside a round rather than stand in for dinner.
The crowd is hotel guests early and a New Town after-work set later, with couples taking the window seats for the Castle line. Tripadvisor reviewers single out the staff and the outlook, with the recurring note that the room fills on weekend evenings, so a window perch rewards arriving before eight (Tripadvisor).
Who it is for is the couple after a Castle-facing drink without booking a hotel, and the gin drinker who wants range. It is right for a date, a quiet pre-dinner round or a slow evening in the wingbacks. It is wrong for a large standing crowd or anyone after late-night volume, since the licence runs to 23:30. For the rest of the city's high rooms, our guide to the best rooftop bars in Edinburgh sets out the field.
The room rewards dusk. Take a window seat as the light drops and the Castle floodlights come on, the moment the whole frontage was built to frame. Weekend evenings are busiest, so arrive early for a window perch rather than the library.
Best time to go is sunset on a clear evening, window side, gin in hand, when the gardens fall into shadow and the Castle lights take over the view. A weekday runs quieter than a Friday if the plan is a slow gin flight rather than a pre-night-out round. For the wider plan, start with our Edinburgh bar guide, and for another high room see Nor' Loft a few streets east at the Market Street Hotel.
Sources: Juniper official site; Everything Edinburgh; Tripadvisor (Juniper Bar).
