Editorial
Edinburgh does not need to be discovered. Its reputation as a whisky city is so established that most visitors arrive with a list already in hand, and the list is usually wrong. The best bars in Edinburgh right now are not the tourist-facing whisky shops on the Royal Mile. They are the craft beer pubs of Leith that opened five years ago and are still finding their feet, the cocktail rooms of Stockbridge where the bartenders trained in London and came home, and the late-night whisky bars on the Cowgate that know exactly what they are doing. We covered all of it on our most recent trip.
The Old Town is the obvious place to start and, if you choose correctly, it repays the effort. The tourist bars thin out quickly once you leave the Royal Mile and head down into the Cowgate, where the best whisky bars in the city operate below street level and below the radar of most visitors.
Leith and the Stockbridge neighbourhood hold the majority of Edinburgh's most interesting craft beer and hidden gem bars. The walk from the Old Town takes 25 minutes on foot. Both neighbourhoods are worth the journey and make a natural second or third stop on any Edinburgh bar evening. Our dedicated Edinburgh craft beer bar guide covers the full Leith tap room circuit, including Stewart Brewing, Pilot Beer, and the Hanging Bat on Lothian Road. For those seeking elevated views of the city, our rooftop bars guide documents Edinburgh's dramatic venues with castle and city views. If you're planning a romantic evening, the Edinburgh date night bars guide covers the city's most intimate rooms, while the hidden gems guide reveals Edinburgh's best-kept secrets — unmarked doors, basement bars, and locals-only haunts that most visitors never find.
Edinburgh's bar scene is at its best when it leans into what the city does distinctively: Scottish whisky, Scottish craft beer, and a pub tradition that treats the regular as the central figure rather than the occasional visitor. The best approach is 2 nights, with one dedicated to the New Town cocktail and whisky bars and one to Leith and the Grassmarket. Book the Bon Vivant and Panda and Sons in advance. Everything else can be walked into.
Sofia visits Edinburgh twice a year and considers it the most underrated drinking city in the British Isles. She has strong opinions about where to drink in Leith and considers Panda and Sons the best hidden bar entrance in Europe.
Five editor-curated guides, each ten bars, each tuned to a specific moment. The Edinburgh bars our editors send first dates to, and the ones we send proposals to, and everything between.
Last reviewed December 14, 2025 by the barsforKings editorial team