Places to Stay With a Restaurant in Edinburgh

What's actually on offer

There are 21 places to stay with a restaurant on site published for Edinburgh, and the mix is heavily weighted towards hotels — 19 of the 21. The other two are a camping site and a caravanning site, so if you want to be under canvas or in a van and still have somewhere to eat without driving, your choice is narrow but it does exist.

Beyond the restaurant itself, the facilities that come up most often are:

• WiFi — 12
• Bar — 11
• Pet Friendly — 10
• Parking — 10
• Disabled Access — 9
• Near a Train Station — 5
• Swimming Pool — 4

Read those numbers carefully before you book. A bar appears at 11 of the 21, so roughly half have nowhere for a drink once the restaurant service finishes. Parking is listed at 10, which matters a great deal in a city where you can't assume a space comes with the room.

City, coast or countryside?

Sixteen of the 21 sit in Edinburgh itself, so the default trip here is a city one: you eat where you sleep, then walk out into the streets. Kinghorn, Livingston, Biggar, Burntisland and Peebles have one each, which gives you a handful of genuinely different options if the city isn't what you're after.

For a coastal feel, Burntisland Sands Hotel in Burntisland and Pettycur Bay Holiday Park in Kinghorn are the two to look at — Pettycur Bay being one of the non-hotel entries, with a swimming pool, gym and evening entertainment alongside the restaurant, which is the classic set-up for a holiday park stay where you'd rather not be in the car every evening.

For countryside and small-town quiet, The Elphinstone Hotel in Biggar (bar, restaurant and WiFi) and Green Tree Hotel in Peebles are the obvious candidates. Both put you well away from the city noise while still giving you a kitchen on site, which counts for a lot in places where you may not want a late drive to find dinner.

Who each type suits

Couples tend to do well with the places that pair a restaurant with something extra: Prestonfield House combines its restaurant with parking and a pet-friendly policy, Fingal lists a bar, restaurant and disabled access, and The Bay Hotel adds a spa to the bar and restaurant. Kings Manor Hotel is the one that brings together a swimming pool, spa and restaurant.

Families should start with the four properties listing a swimming pool, because a wet afternoon in Scotland is a real possibility. Pettycur Bay Holiday Park and Kings Manor Hotel both appear in that group. Where takeaway food is listed, as it is at Travelodge, that's worth noting for children who won't last through a sit-down meal.

Dog owners are reasonably well served — 10 of the 21 are pet friendly, including Braid Hills Hotel, Prestonfield House and Travelodge Rose Street. Always confirm directly whether dogs are allowed in the restaurant itself or only in the rooms, as the two are often different policies.

Car-free travellers should look at the five listed as near a train station. Murrayfield Hotel, Bruntsfield Hotel and Angels Share Hotel, which lists evening entertainment as well as a bar and restaurant, are all Edinburgh-based options worth comparing on location.

What to do once you're there

The region leans strongly towards castles and heritage. Rosslyn Castle, Melville Castle, Fa'side Castle, Carlowrie Castle, Borthwick Castle Hotel, Calder House and Merchiston Tower all sit within reach, and Malleny Garden gives you a gentler half-day if you've had your fill of stonework. Some Edinburgh hotels build on this — Bruntsfield Hotel lists guided tours among its facilities, which saves you organising a day yourself.

For museums you'll generally be travelling further out. The Scottish Seabird Centre, Wardlaw Museum, St Andrews Museum, St Andrews Castle Visitor Centre and St Andrews Preservation Trust Museum are all in the St Andrews area; Stirling Old Town Jail and Callendar House are over towards Stirling; and Douglas Heritage Museum sits in Dumfries and Galloway. Treat those as full day trips rather than afternoon add-ons, and check you can get a restaurant table on your return.

When to book

With only 21 properties in this set and 16 of them clustered in one city, availability tightens quickly whenever Edinburgh is busy — festival periods, Hogmanay, rugby weekends and school holidays all bite. Book the single-property towns earliest of all: there's exactly one option each in Kinghorn, Livingston, Biggar, Burntisland and Peebles, so if that one is full, there is no second choice with a restaurant on site.

Book the room and the restaurant table separately, and do the table at the same time as the room where you can — many kitchens take non-residents too. Ring ahead to confirm parking if you're driving, since only 10 list it. If you need disabled access, check which parts of the building it covers: nine properties list it, but a restaurant on a different floor from the rooms is common in older buildings.