New Town, Edinburgh: neighborhood guide

New Town is Edinburgh's Georgian grid, laid out from 1767 on a plan by James Craig and built over the following decades. It sits north of Princes Street, on ground that was once the Nor Loch, drained to become Princes Street Gardens. With Old Town it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995.

The original three streets — Princes, George and Queen — are now mostly shops, offices and hotels, and Princes Street itself has lost many original buildings. The streets to the north and northwest kept more of their Georgian townhouses, now largely divided into flats, and several squares and crescents still hold private shared gardens that are closed to the public.

Practically, this is Edinburgh's main shopping and commercial district, and its most convenient base: flat walking, frequent buses, two railway stations and the castle skyline straight across the valley.

Stay in New Town if this is your first Edinburgh trip and you want to walk to the station, the gardens and the castle without climbing. It also suits travellers arriving late by train, shoppers, and anyone who values a quiet bedroom over a view of the Royal Mile.

Skip it if you want the medieval closes and pub density of Old Town on your doorstep, or if you are chasing restaurant variety and lower room rates — Leith and Stockbridge and Canonmills do both better. Old Town is a 10–20 minute uphill walk away, so staying in New Town still means you see it; you just do not sleep in it.

Within New Town, the trade-off is street by street. Princes Street, Rose Street and the blocks around Waverley are the loudest and most expensive for what you get. Great King Street, Moray Place and the streets north of Queen Street are calmer and still 15 minutes from the station.

New Town is strong on breakfast, coffee, lunch and mid-range dinners, and weaker than Old Town or Leith on destination restaurants. Rose Street and the streets around St Andrew Square carry most of the pubs and casual places; George Street has the smarter rooms and cocktail bars.

For a cheap, quick meal look to the sandwich shops and bakeries along Rose Street and Hanover Street, and to the food halls and cafés around St Andrew Square. For a proper dinner, book ahead in August, when the festivals fill every table in the city.

If food is the reason you chose your base, compare with Leith, which has the densest restaurant strip in Edinburgh, and with Stockbridge and Canonmills for neighbourhood places near the Water of Leith.

Waverley station sits at the east end of Princes Street, with trains from across Scotland and England; Haymarket, at the west end, is more convenient for the western half of New Town and is where trains from Glasgow stop. Edinburgh Bus Station is about 200 yards north of Waverley and handles inter-city coaches.

Airport buses and trams stop outside Waverley, and the tram continues northwest towards Leith. Local buses run along Princes Street and George Street and fan out across the city, so most trips start with a short walk to one of those corridors.

Do not drive into New Town unless you have arranged parking in advance. Since 1 June 2024 most of the area falls inside Edinburgh's Low Emission Zone, enforced by cameras, with penalties for non-compliant vehicles; cars built after about 2015 are generally compliant, but check the official zone checker before you travel.

On foot, New Town runs about 2 miles east to west, so pick your end. The climb to Old Town via The Mound or North Bridge takes 10–20 minutes, and the descent to Stockbridge is steep on the way back.