When we visited Edinburgh for Hogmanay, I could not resist booking a “Christmas Tea” at Edinburgh Castle. It sounded magical. We reserved and paid for the tea in advance, excited for a festive afternoon surrounded by holiday cheer. The experience turned out to be fun and fine—though not quite as Christmasy as I’d hoped or imagined. It ended up being more of a regular tea, just taking place during the Christmas season. In this post, I’ll share all the details of our Edinburgh Castle Christmas Tea and what to expect if you’re planning to go yourself! And side note, I am pretty sure the Edinburgh Castle Tea is very similar to the Christmas Tea year round, so read this before booking any Edinburgh Castle Tea experience.

BOOKING EDINBURGH CASTLE’S CHRISTMAS TEA

Edinburgh Castle offers afternoon tea to visitors year round in its Tea Rooms, which are located well inside the Castle.  However, from December 1st – January 4th, the afternoon tea is Christmas themed (at least on paper, LOL).

The Tea Rooms are located in the heart of Edinburgh Castle, inside Crown Square (the same area the Scottish Crown Jewels are located), and a ticket to Edinburgh Castle is necessary to experience the tea (whether Christmas or otherwise). Bookings can be made online in advance for tea year around. A booking includes a standard Scottish tea, as well as entrance to Edinburgh Castle. While

I am not certain that you must book the tea in advance year round, you absolutely need to purchase Edinburgh Castle tickets in advance. When we visited last year, you could not even access the entrance to the castle without a valid ticket, and tickets were completely sold out well in advance.

GETTING TO EDINBURGH CASTLE’S CHRISTMAS TEA

As mentioned, to reach the Tea Rooms, where the tea takes place, you first need to enter Edinburgh Castle with a valid ticket. Once inside, you must walk up to Crown Square to reach the Tea Rooms. I estimate this to take about 10 – 15 minutes without stopping to see the castle. It is also uphill, albeit no stairs.

We entered the castle an hour before our designated tea time and had enough time to quickly explore the Castle, including the Scottish Crown Jewels, before the tea. I would enter 2 – 2.5 hours in advance of your tea if you want to see everything the castle offers. Once we were done exploring, we checked into the Tea Rooms right on time. We did not explore further after our tea, but you certainly could have.

THE TEA ROOMS AT EDINBURGH CASTLE

When I heard “Christmas Tea” at Edinburgh Castle, I expected a very old, very Christmasy tea experience. It was not quite that, yet still fun. The Tea Rooms – or really, room – is a modern hall filled with dining tables for tea. There was a smallChristmas Tree at one end of the hall, as well as a few bits of decoration around the hall. It is not the most idillic tea setting, much less Christmas setting, and it was quite modern compared to the rest of Edinburgh Castle. Like the decor, we were not super impressed with the space.

THE CHRISTMAS TEA MENU

Once inside, we were seated by our really lovely waitress, who made the experience quite fun. She explained the tea, her favorites, all our options, and how drinks worked. I wish I remembered her name, because she made our experience.

The Christmas Afternoon Tea menu is the same for every and featured a traditional Scottish tea menu, including a selection of sweets, five savory bites, two scones, and tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, and, for us, an alcoholic drink (we opted for this in making our booking). There was plenty of food on the tea menu, certainly enough for lunch. Guests could order additional drinks for an extra fee paid on site.

THE FOOD AT OUR EDINBURGH CASTLE CHRISTMAS TEA

As I mentioned, in traditional style, our tea featured a three-tiered tea tray, complete with a top tier of sweets, a middle tier of scones, and a bottom tier of savory bites. Each person received this tea tray.

I will begin with the savory bites, in order of how I enjoyed them! Our tea tray featured four savory savory finger foods. The first was a sausage roll made with venison and apricot jam. This was pretty tasty. The second was a “pig in a blanket”, or a pork sausage wrapped in bacon. This was probably my favorite food from the tea. Very good! This was followed by a small “Christmas sandwich” made with turkey, sage stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I enjoyed this one a lot, too. The next was a prawn dish, which I ended up skipping as my travel partners all said it tasted way too fishy… The final was a salmon blini, which I also skipped as I hate salmon.

The middle tier of the tea tray featured two scones per person, one plain and one raisin. The scones were paired with jam and clotted cream. The scones were very good.

We ended with the sweets tier, which featured five sweet finger foods. The first was a sticky gingerbread cake topped with berries. The next was a Winter Berry Cheesecake, which was a beautiful shade of purple. A Dark Chocolate and Clementine layered sponge cake was also offered. The cute dessert in the front is a Raspberry Cranachan Cream treat. Finally, a traditional mince pie was also offered, which pies are actually sweet (not savory!).

Honestly, in the end, the food was mediocre. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t like the best thing I ate in Edinburgh. I am sure there are better places to experience “tea” when in Edinburgh.

THE DRINKS AT EDINBURG CASTLE CHRISTMAS TEA

All teas in the Tea Rooms at Edinburgh Castle offer your choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. In the Christmasy spirit, I opted for hot chocolate, which was the best thing on the menu, IMO. It was chocolatey and topped with the most delicious whipped cream.

In addition to the hot chocolate, we purchased an alcoholic drink with our tea. As such, we had our choice of several Festive Cocktails (i.e., holiday themed), a Gin & Tonic, a glass of wine, or a gin flight. In the Scottish spirit, I ordered a Gin and Tonic, which was really well done.

All in, the Edinburgh Castle Christmas Tea was fun, and it was a nice respite after exploring Edinburgh Castle. That being said, it was not very Christmasy, and I’m sure you can find less expensive tea experiences in Edinburgh. I wouldn’t write this off for the future, but I also do not consider it a “must do” in Edinburgh, even at Christmastime.

STEAL OUR TEA

Edinburgh Castle Christmas Tea: We purchased the Afternoon Christmas Tea with Prosecco or Gin a £66 per person. The cost also included entrance to Edinburgh Castle.