Dan, me and our friends flew to Edinburgh just after Christmas this year for Hogmanay. And what is Hogmanay you may ask and why did we spend it in cold, rainy Edinburgh? Hogmanay is the Scottish word for the last day of the year and its, practically speaking for tourists, a New Years Eve celebration, albeit with a lot of Scottish flair. I had wanted to do this for years, so we finally booked flights for the 2024 – 2025 new year.

DAY 1: AN EARLY WALK AROUND EDINBURGH, A PUB DINNER & DELICIOUS COCKTAILS

We flew out from Newark on a Friday evening and after a 5.5 hour, rough winter flight, we arrived in Edinburgh in the wee hours of the morning. We taxied directly to our hotel which, unfortunately, could not get us into our rooms until right at 3:00 PM (the official checkin time). Due to Edinburgh’s popularity during this time of the year, checking in to a hotel early is probably not really feasible.

Without a hotel room ready, we departed for a walk around Edinburgh. Our hotel, the Novotel Edinburgh Centre, was located only a 5 minute walk from Grassmarket and the heart of Edinburgh’s old town. It was pretty early when we began our walk, and both Grassmarket and Victoria Street, Edinburgh’s most photographed street, were practically empty.  We stopped for coffee, water and the most amazing hot chocolate at a small shop on Victoria Street called Knoops. I had the hot chocolate with a large marshmallow made my the shop’s “marshmallowist”. It was really, really great. I highly recommend an early morning walk to see Edinburgh without the crowds.

We continued walking up to the entrance to Edinburgh Castle before returning to Grassmarket for beverages while waiting for our hotel room. And for those looking for “pubs that make you feel like you’re in Scotland”, Grassmarket is an excellent option. Pubs line the entire square and they were largely empty around noon on a Saturday. We settled into The White Hart Inn for mulled wine, Scottish beer and cider.

Our hotel rooms were indeed ready when we returned to the hotel, so we napped until dinner time. Dinner this evening was at a Scottish pub/restaurant called Conan Doyle. While a bit of a walk from our hotel, Conan Doyle’s food was delicious, as was its Christmas decor. I would definitely return to Conan Doyle.

Despite it being our first night in Edinburgh, we ended our evening with a night cap at on of the World’s 50 Best Bars, Panda & Sons. Panda & Sons is an excellent pub located in an upscale part of Edinburgh. Reservations are suggested, as it books up and we say people turned away without reservations. We loved our cocktails!

DAY 2: BREAKFAST, TEA AT EDINBURGH CASTLE, CHRISTMAS MARKETS AND A SURPRISINGLY LATE NIGHT

Our second day began with breakfast at a cute cafe on Grassmarket called Castlegate Cafe – recommend for a quick meal or coffee. It serves the full menu all day and while small, tables move fast. I ordered a breakfast sandwich and Dan got an absolutely delicious falafel wrap.

After breakfast, we made our way to Edinburgh Castle to tour the grounds. We pre-booked tickets online before we left, which I understand is almost mandatory (I also understand that tickets sell out in advance), and entered right at our designated time. Tickets were sold out for the day we visited and you had to show a ticket to enter the grounds. The castle grounds were SUPER windy (as in we felt like we were going to blow away) but we still managed to see the highlights, including the dog cemetery and the Scottish Crown Jewels. We spent about an hour touring the castle, but probably would have stayed a little longer if it wasn’t so windy!

In addition to touring the castle, we made Christmas Tea reservations inside the castle. This was done at the time we booked our tickets, and I understand you can do this year round. The tea parlor is directly across from the Scottish Crown Jewels. This was a fun experience, complete with lots of food and the best hot chocolate.

We also visited Edinburgh’s Christmas Market this afternoon! Edinburgh has a pretty fun little Christmas Market between its old and new told, very close to its train station. The Christmas Market is open through Hogmanay, and offers a selection of shopping, food and drink and rides. It is also fun just to walk around. Every stall we visited accepted credit card. My highlights were mulled gin and Guinness on draft!

We had intended to watch the Hogmanay Torchlight Procession this evening and snagged a great seat along the parade route at Greyfrair Bobby’s Pub but the Torchlight Procession was unfortunately cancelled at the last minute due to wind – booooo! And on that note, our dinner reservation was also cancelled due to an unrealated water issue with the restaurant, so we were without a dinner reservation (a true nightmare for me, ha). We ended up dining at Deacon Brodie’s Tavern, which is a sister restaurant to Conan Doyle. I had a similar meal to the prior evening.

We ended the evening much later than expected with live music until about 2 AM (gasp!) at Finnegan’s Wake Irish Pub on Victoria Street. It was great fun and the live music was really good. Go here if you are young or for a fun night out.

DAY 3: LUXURY SHOPPING, A FOOD TOUR & A CHRISTMAS DECOR TOUR OF HOLYROODHOUSE PALACE

We woke up early on the third day to shop on Multress Walk, which is the most posh shopping area in Edinburgh. We hit a few stores right when they opened at 10 before rushing back to our hotel to meet for a food tour. Multress Walk had some post-holiday sales, and we definitely did well with our shopping!

The bulk of the day today, post shopping, was spent on a food and history tour through the historic center of Edinburgh. We tried the infamous Cullen Skink and Haggis, traditional desserts and whiskey, among other things. We also learned a lot about Scotland from our native guide, as well as saw a good bit of Edinburgh. A full review of our food tour will be released on Friday! Scottish food and drink turned out to be pretty tasty.

After a break from food (and a wee bit of rain), we walked from our hotel to Holyroodhouse Palace, which is a real British palace that is actually still used by the British Royal Family. Holyroodhouse is open to the public only if you join a guided tour. As we were in town during the holiday season, we booked an evening guided Christmas tour of Holyroodhouse, purportedly to see its Christmas decorations. While I thought this was to view elaborate Christmas decorations, but it was really just the normal tour of the palace with a Christmas tree here and there. The tour did end with a small glass of Champagne and a mince pie in the Palace gift shop (which was a great gift shop). Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed, so I have nothing to show here.

We ended our evening with dinner at Tolbooth Tavern. Tolbooth Tavern is a traditional Scottish pub dating back to 1820. Tolbooth Tavern is located right on the Royal Mile, very close to Holyroodhouse Palace, and is apparently haunted. The menu features traditional Scottish pub dishes and of course, a wide range of drinks. I ordered the fried chicken sandwich, that was quite good. We also tried the famous Scottish soda, Irnbru, again. This is another one of those pubs that makes one feel like you are in Scotland, so I recommend Tolbooth if you are near the Palace.

DAY 4: ST. GILES CATHEDRAL, DISHOOM & HOGMANAY

Our final day in Edinburgh was the grande finale – Hogmanay! We began the day with a visit to Edinburgh’s most famous church, St. Giles Cathedral. Entry is free, and it was decorated for Christmas. I really loved the interior of this church; the stained glass was beautiful and the Scottish flag colors on the ceiling was beautiful. Much more grand that it looks from the outside. I highly suggest popping in for 15 minutes.

After St. Giles, we walked to the new part of Edinburgh for the meal that I was most excited about – lunch at Dishoom! Dishoom is a super popular British chain of Indian restaurants that opened in 2010. There is one location in Edinburgh, and I made a reservation for lunch. We enjoyed a long lunch at Dishoom, sharing several plates between the four of us. This was a great lunch – I totally understand the popularity of Dishoom. A separate post forthcoming on this meal (even though it has been blogged about a million times!).

We had also planned to visit the Christmas Market again this afternoon, but it began pouring just as we left lunch. We pivoted and had a drink at the Jolly Judge Pub in old Edinburgh. This pub was tiny, yet very cute, and the drinks were good. I would suggest it for a traditional Scottish pub, just not when its pouring out! We also slipped in a little shopping en route home.

Tonight was the big Hogmanay celebration, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather (which never really materialized, read about it here). Luckily, we had, in addition to planning to attend the Hogmanay party, we had made dinner reservations at Cannonball restaurant right outside Edinburgh Castle. Before dinner, however, we stopped for festive drinks at Fiddler’s Arms on Grassmarket. We got in relatively easily despite it being Hogmanay.

We walked up to Edinburgh Castle from Grassmarket for our big NYE Dinner. Our dinner at Cannonball was pretty good, and I’ll write about it separately, but we had a few complaints, including that there was no midnight toast and no fireworks. The food was good and there was a lot of it. Drinks were not included in the price, but there were some funs ones on the menu.

Despite the lack of a public Hogmanay party, we visited another pub or two on Grassmarket to close out the evening after dinner. This was my first Guinness of the new year!

We left on January 1st, going via a private driver (in snow!) to Glasgow. All in, we had a great time in Edinburgh for Hogmanay, despite that the public party was cancelled Edinburgh was not nearly as crowded as I expected, and the weather was better than I expected. I now must return to Edinburgh for a proper Hogmanay party!

STEAL OUR TRIP

Novotel City Centre: 80 Lauriston Pl, Edinburgh EH3 9DE, United Kingdom. Pool on site but it has capacity limits that were frequently an issue during our visit. The hot tub, attached to the pool, was also not warm enough.

Knoops: 11-15 Victoria Street, Edinburgh. Open Monday – Saturday 8:00 AM – 9:00 PM, 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM on Sunday. This is a chain and there are other locations in the UK.

The White Hart Inn: 32-34 Grassmarket, Edinburgh. Open daily 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (1:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday). Kitchen open until 9:00 PM.

The Conan Doyle: 71-73 York Pl, Edinburgh. Open daily 12:00 PM – 11:00 PM, until 12:00 AM on Friday and Saturday. Reservations recommended for food.

Panda & Sons: 79 Queen St, Edinburgh. Open daily 4:00 PM – 1:00 AM, Opens at 2:00 PM on Saturday and 3:00 PM on Sunday. Reservations highly recommended.

Castlegate Cafe: 29 Grassmarket. Open daily 7 AM – 7 PM.

Edinburgh Castle: Castlehill, Edinburgh. Open daily 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM. Advance tickets essential.

Greyfriars Bobby: 30-34 Candlemaker Row. Open daily 12:00 – 12:00, kitchen closes earlier than 12:00. Reservations for food recommended.

Deacon Brodies Tavern: 435 Lawnmarket. Open daily 12:00 – 12:00, 1:00 on Saturday and Sunday. Kitchen closes earlier than 12:00. Reservations for food recommended.

Finnegan’s Wake: 9B Victoria Street. Open daily 5:00 – 1:00, earlier on Saturday and Sunday. I would also note that during our visit, it stayed open much later than 1:00.

Multrees Walk: This is the Multrees Walk website.

Secret Food Tours Edinburgh: This is the food tour that we took at 89 pounds per person. We had a discount code for the Drinks Package, which gives you one or two alcohol drinks. Pro tip – any one can get this code – just go to the website and then leave, the code will popup.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse: Open 9:30 – 4:30, closed Tuesday – Wednesday. Recommend buying tickets in advance online.

Tolbooth Tavern: 167 Canongate, Edinburgh. Open daily 12 – 11.

St. Giles Cathedral: 356 Castlehill. Open Monday – Friday 10:00 – 18:00, Saturday 9:00 – 17:00, Sunday 13:00 – 17:00. There is no fee to enter St. Giles, but it suggests a donation of 6 pounds (we did not see anyone actually asking (or paying) for this request.

Dishoom Edinburgh: 3a St Andrew Square, Edinburgh.

Jolly Judge: 7, 493 James’ Ct, Lawnmarket. Open daily 12:00 – 11:00, later on certain days.

Fiddler’s Arms: 9-11 Grassmarket, Edinburgh. Open daily 12:00 – 11:00, 1 on the weekend.

Cannonball Restaurant: 356 Castlehill. Open Monday – Saturday, 11:00 – 22:00, closed Sunday.