Starwood Preferred Guest - Edinburgh, Scotland

I'm considering spending a night at the Sheraton Edinburgh next week - any recent experiences worth noting? I did a search for both Edinburgh and Scotland on this board and surprisingly found nothing about this Sheraton!

Well, my experience is about a decade old and took place in the last century. So I don't know what you might expect to find now. But seriously, I did find this a very nice property, though it is outside the immediate city centre. (A short walk around the "mountain and castle".) This is a low-rise property, and the rooms were spacious and modern. And I found a nice little bottle of "house blend Scotch" beside my bed after turndown. Don't know if they still do this, I was a Sheraton Club International Gold in those days. What you have to get used to in that part of Edinburgh is the smell of malt in the air. Actually, from a nearby brewery if the dampness in the air is just right. The staff were quite friendly and helpful giving instructions on how to get places.

If you are driving, it should be no problem getting to the hotel. If you are taking the train, you will arrive at Edinburgh central station — located in a big ditch that cuts through the heart of the city — and you should catch a cab to the 8 blocks of so along the city's main street, Princess, and then a short left off to the Sheraton. Not likely to be much more than L5 if that.

You should try and tour the castle, and if Scotch whiskey is of any interest to you, there is a fine interpretation centre by the main gate to the castle. There is only one whiskey distillery near the city, which does offer tours and is easily accessible by city bus: Dalwhinnie, a light lowland style which used to be used just in mixing, but has been released now as a single malt. The main natural history museum is not far from the Sheraton, and the Art Gallery is along Princess Street, the road you'll take to get from the station to the hotel.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you want more specifics about anything. Enjoy your trip.

The Sheraton in Edinburgh is a modern building in the new financial District - although some rooms will have a view of the Castle.

As a local I'm prejudiced but you can't do wrong coming here - Scotland has a lovely Capital city.

try http://www.edinburgh.org/ for tourist advice and have a great trip.

Stephen
Edinburgh, Scotland

Thanks for all the insight. In fact, the hotel website says rennovations have been underway and scheduled to be complete on 3/8. It should be okay when I check-in on 3/5.

For 2 30 year old guys, what would you recommend us to occupy our night in terms of good food and good pubs, although Monday may not be the most happening of nights.

Any other good info you have about the town that we might not find in a packaged tourist book would be great.

There is lots of night life in Edinburgh - the Sheraton is five minutes walk from teh West End of Princes Street or (in another direction) the Grassmarket where there are lots of pubs and restuarants.

The gay scene (if that interests you) is the other end of Princes Street.

Near the Sheraton you'll find the Edinburgh Filmhouse (an art house cinema) and you are accross the road from the Usher Hall (a concert venue) and the Lyceum Theatre and the Traverse Theatre (the later having a great bar).

What sort of suff interests you?

Stephen

Neither I nor my travel mate are gay. <not that there's anything wrong with that!>. In terms of night life, a good pub with a good crowd is our style. We like meeting locals to really get a feel for the place.

In daytime, good things to do as one-day visitors are what we seek. The scotch tour might be interesting and we'll definitely see the castle.

There is a "hop on hop off" tour bus that does all the city centre sites - that may be worth doing to get your bearings. It isn't expensive.

Stephen

[This message has been edited by sjharte (edited 02-27-2001).]

PHL

Edinburgh on a Monday night is not busy. Adjacent to the Sheraton is Festival Square. There is a busy bar here called "All Bar One". It is part of a large chain but is usually busy and it attracts an "after work crowd". Another bar worth a visit is "Indigo Yard". It is 5 minutes walk from the Sheraton. I find that it is busy most days of the week. The conciege at the hotel should know where it is.

Edinburgh is a great city, but like sjharte I'm a local and very biased!

There is a good on-line map service at www.streetmap.co.uk (http://www.streetmap.co.uk)

The link below shows the area around the Sheraton. The Sheraton is on Lothian Road at the junction of the West Approach Road. Indigo Yard is on Randolph Lane which is off the A90 Queensferry St.
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?grid2map?X=324750&Y=673750&zoom=1

Thanks for all the info, people. I stayed there this past Monday night. The Sheraton Grand hotel is right in town. The hotel has just undergone major renovations, so it was very clean and modern. In August, they are opening their huge spa facility that looked to be quite impressive. I could have used a nice massage and hottub bath if it were open.

The hotel sits about a block of Princes street at the western base of the castle.

The concierge and bellmen, in Scotish tradition, wore kilts!

Our check-in was quite easy. I was given a Platinum upgrade to the Elgin Suite, room 335. The guest rooms are on floors 3 through 7, so always request an x35 room if you want a nice upgrade with a view of the castle. The x59 rooms are also suites, but don't have castle views.

It was a two room suite. The living room had a pull-out sofa for my friend, and I stayed in the seperate King bedroom.

About 15 minutes after settling into the room, a bottle of California red wine with two glasses was delivered in a basket. A very nice Platinum amenity, indeed. It sure beats the small box of crackers I've gotten at US properties.

We were given the 4pm checkout with no hassles and found room service to be prompt and very courteous.

Overall, a great property in a great location.

Glad out city served you well.

If otehrs fancy visiting Edinburgh, it is well served by airlines, despite having no transatlantic link.

BA, BD, KL, SN, SR, OS, LH and EI all fly into EDI and the low cost market is represented by Easyjet and GO. We have connections to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, paris, Frankfurt, Brussels, Zurich and Vienna in addition to all the London airports.

That was an advert from teh Edinburgh tourist board (lol).

:-)

Stephen
Edinburgh

I thought Continental used to serve it nonstop on a 757 from their Newark hub. Now I see they go to Manchester and then provide a codeshare connection with British Midland.

I, too, used Manchester as my arrival/departure point for the transatlantic portions. Much more simple than London!

PHL, I believe it is Glasgow that CO has (and I think still does)serve from Newark.

CO still flies to Glasgow as does AA (ex ORD) and AC (ex YYZ).

Nothing for Edinburgh transatlantic wise though.

Stephen

For Transatlantic travellers wanting to get to Edinburgh, Glasgow's plenty close - a better choice than flying into LHR, LGW or MAN and then connecting to another flight, IMHO. But then there's the issue of getting between Glasgow and Edinburgh, I suppose.

1st Edinburgh is capital of Scotland by NAME ONLY and nothing else. 2nd The Sheraton there has just completed a refurbishment of thier rooms so all is like new. The staff was very friendly and I lived it. The castle view rooms are a bit bigger than the non view rooms, but most rooms do have a good view of the city.

Originally posted by Loihi:
1st Edinburgh is capital of Scotland by NAME ONLY and nothing else. 2nd The Sheraton there has just completed a refurbishment of thier rooms so all is like new. The staff was very friendly and I lived it. The castle view rooms are a bit bigger than the non view rooms, but most rooms do have a good view of the city.

Edinburgh is the seat of Parliament and most government ministries are based there. Also, the Scottish Courts are based there and the highest courts only meet in Edinburgh.

Can't see any reason for your comment.

Stephen



[This message has been edited by sjharte (edited 03-11-2001).]

PHL,
What do you mean by 1st Edinburgh is capital of Scotland by NAME ONLY and nothing else

Aside from being an incredibly beautiful city, it IS the capital of Scotland. It also is loaded with great stores ( such as Jenners), great pubs, great galleries, and fantastic people.

Larry

Larrude -
Check the post - it wasn't me who made the comment about Edinburgh being the capital.

PHL - Mea culpa, I am sorry - I guess that I should take reading lessons!

Loihi, what do YOU mean about Edinburgh being the captial of Scotland in NAME only?

I think the comment was aimed at Edinburgh's lack of transatlantic links. We are well served with direct links to Europe: Paris, Dublin, Brussels (SN & BD), Frankfurt, Zurich, Amsterdam, Copenhagen. The lack of transatlantic is crazy. BAA Edinburgh stated recently that they hope to introduce direct transatlantic within a year.

Not to get too off topic before this gets moved to one of the airline boards....but since there's already service to Glasgow (albeit only on a Continental 757), has there been a proven market? It seems odd that the Capital of Scotland doesn't have nonstop service to New York!