Best Dog-Friendly Hotels in Edinburgh

Before you go

What happens when you get there

Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat

Open parkland inside the city, free, and the big walk most visitors want. Dogs are welcome and what governs behaviour is the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, which allows access with a dog kept under proper control. In the breeding season, usually April to July, the Code asks for a short lead or close at heel on moorland, grassland, loch shores and the sea shore, and Holyrood Park is exactly that kind of ground. The crags are steep and unfenced in places.

Where dogs cannot go

Edinburgh Castle is assistance dogs only, and so is every Historic Environment Scotland site. The Royal Botanic Garden catches people out because it looks like a park: its own regulations say highly trained assistance animals are welcome and all other pets cannot access the grounds. Inverleith Park, immediately south of the Botanics, is the alternative and it is excellent. Treat the Castle as a two hour split rather than a dog day out.

The Water of Leith walkway

The best walk in the city with a dog. Roughly 20km from Balerno down to Leith through Colinton, Slateford, Roseburn, Dean Village, Stockbridge and Canonmills, largely flat and surfaced, threading behind the New Town so you get the river without traffic. Dogs on leads, and the Conservation Trust asks for shared-path manners because the route doubles as a commuter cycle route. Dean Village to Stockbridge is the prettiest 30 minutes.

Portobello and Cramond

Portobello is about 5km east, a Victorian promenade with proper sand, on the 26 bus. Cramond is about 8km north-west at the mouth of the Almond, with a causeway out to Cramond Island that is only walkable at low tide and has caught out plenty of people and dogs, so read the tide tables before you set off. We found no published seasonal dog ban for either beach, which is unusual for a UK coastal city, so check with the council before you plan around it. East Lothian, 30 to 40 minutes away, does run seasonal restrictions, so Gullane and North Berwick need checking separately in summer.

Trams and buses

Edinburgh Trams carry small animals at the official's discretion, with all dogs on a lead. Lothian Buses use almost identical wording, small animals entirely at the driver's discretion, dogs on a lead, no charge published, animals off the seats, and the driver can remove one that is disruptive. In practice dogs on leads ride free on both, but it is discretion rather than a right, so a packed Airlink at 8am with a large dog is a gamble.

Getting here with a dog

Edinburgh Airport is 13km west of the centre and none of that helps. The UK does not allow pet dogs in the aircraft cabin on commercial flights into or out of the country, so a dog flying here travels as manifest cargo in the hold through an approved pet shipper, or comes overland by Eurotunnel or ferry and then drives north. Assistance dogs are the exception. For most people the real route is car plus Eurotunnel, or the train up from London.

August and the Fringe

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs most of August and the 2027 edition is 6 to 30 August. Streets close in the Old Town, the Royal Mile becomes a standing crowd, flyerers work every corner, performers draw ringed crowds and amplified sound runs late. Hotel rates roughly double and dog-friendly rooms go months ahead. If you can move the trip to May, June or September, do. If you cannot, stay out of the Old Town, in Bruntsfield, Stockbridge or Leith.

Vets

The true 24 hour option is the Hospital for Small Animals at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Easter Bush Campus, Roslin EH25 9RG, with an out of hours emergency number of 0131 650 7883. It is about 11km south and needs a car or a taxi. Closer in, Vets Now Edinburgh runs the overnight and weekend service from inside the PDSA Pet Hospital, 2B Hutchison Crossway EH14 1RR, on 0131 444 0990, from 6pm to 8:30am on weeknights, from noon on Saturdays and all day Sunday.

Best walks

The Water of Leith walkway is the one to build a stay around, 20km of flat surfaced river path from Balerno to Leith, with the Dean Village to Stockbridge half hour the best of it. Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat give you open hill inside the city, steep and unfenced in places and short-lead ground from April to July. Calton Hill is a ten minute climb from Princes Street for the view over the Forth. Bruntsfield Links runs into the Meadows for the biggest flat grass in the centre, with Blackford Hill behind it. Inverleith Park is the answer to the Botanics being closed to dogs. Princes Street Gardens, Charlotte Square and St Andrew Square handle the last walk of the night for the New Town hotels, and Roseburn Park sits five minutes from The Roseate. For sand, Portobello promenade east on the 26 bus, or Cramond north-west at the mouth of the Almond, tides permitting.

When to go

May, June and September. The light is long, the hill is dry enough for a proper Arthur's Seat morning and the city is still itself. Avoid August unless you have no choice, because the Fringe runs most of the month and the Old Town becomes crowds and amplified sound from morning to late night, which is a lot for any dog and too much for a nervous one. Remember that April to July is short-lead season on open grassland under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, which covers Holyrood Park. Winter works better here than people expect, since the Water of Leith, the Links and Portobello promenade are all fine in the cold and the hotels are cheaper, but the closes and steps of the Old Town get slick and Cramond causeway is not a place to be caught out in the dark.