Accommodation is one of the most important things that you should check out before your trip to Edinburgh. Depending on what you are interested in to see, how likely you want to use public services and of course where you like to go to get something for dinner, be it a supermarket or simply going out, matters to decide where you want to stay overnight.
Short, easy, right in the middle.
Drumroll. Here it is, my all time favourite Hostel that you have to visit while being in Edinburgh.
CASTLE ROCK HOSTEL My place to stay when I am about to visit Edinburgh for another adventure. The staff is always nice, funny and has an open ear for questions. Often I got more information than I actually hoped for and was very surprised about it.
You can book day or week tours to different parts of the country, ghost tours, history tours, get tickets for events and good tips and tricks of what to do and where to go in general. No matter what question you have, they mostly are able to answer it.
The Hostel is in the middle of the city, just next to Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile. You can go everywhere by foot and don't need to worry about public services at all.
Depending on the season the prices for staying overnight vary. But in general it is always affordable. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate is always for free and for lactose intolerant or vegans there are soya and oat milk options next to regular cow milk.
Every single room has a different name. Be it movies, whisky brands, famous characters out of books and more can be seen as a sign next to the door.
The entire theme of the Castle Rock Hostel is middle age. Therefore, you should not wonder why there is a knight standing in one of the corners, the entrance looks like a castle, the main hall and lounge like a comfy castle like living room, everywhere are paintings, flags and all in all warm and cosy vibes.
ADDRESS Castle Rock Hostel,
15 Johnston Terrace,
Edinburgh, EH1 2PW
WHERE TO BOOK In general there are some very helpful and trustworthy webpages where you can book a bed or more, and you can stay there up to two weeks.
Usually you pay a small fee while booking online and the rest when you arrive at the Hostel. Even though they often want to know the time of arrival, but it is always okay when you are a bit early or late. They understand that it is difficult to get to know the area, specially when you haven't been in Edinburgh yet.
OFFICAL WEBSITE - great page, and they show some of their sister Hostels as well
HOSTELWORLD - normally my no.1 page to book a Hostel
TRIPADVISOR - good as well, only used it a few times and never had problems
BOOKINGcom - same as TRIPADVISOR
HOW TO BOOK
It does not matter where you actually book, you only should have your credit or debit credit card next to you. Some pages accept PayPal or other ways to pay, but to have a credit card should be essential for a world explorer.
As a sample I choose the Castle Rock Website to show you a booking step by step.. Normally every of those pages have a very similar way of how to book a bed.
STEP 01
First of all you have to take a closer look to the Check-in and Check-out dates. You want to make sure that you pick the correct days for the arrival and departure.
After that you choose a room. Depending on Solo Traveller, female, male, whether you are in a bigger or smaller group, you have to check the availability.
From my side I often booked only one bed and never had problems to get one for a single night or more.
STEP 02
In my sample the check-in would be the first of September and check-out the seventh of September. Other than that I picked 12 Bed Mixed Dormitory, because I don't have a problem with any gender.
For six nights I would pay £80 which is kind of €82. That's actually not bad to pay £13 a night. In the morning you can pay £1.50 for an average breakfast which includes, bread rolls, toast, jam, Nutella, peanut butter, fresh fruits, cereals and different kinds of juice.
STEP 03
Proceed with BOOK NOW.
The following page is about filling out your details and you can continue with the booking. Next to that you are able to read all the house rules, property and cancellation policies and get a more detailed look of the location.
YAY! FREE WIFI INCLUDED!
EVENTS The Castle Rock Hostel has usually a weekly event that is always changing a bit, depending on the season and who is available of the staff to help out. I have been at a pub crawl with some friends, other explorers who were staying at the Hostel and a member of the staff who just loved it to entertain. Sadly he is back in Australia, miss that gem. Others helped me to find some good restaurant and bars, specially when you like to try new food, or have some problems like being lactose intolerant, problems with sugar or gluten, you are vegetarian or vegan, it can get very stressful to walk around the streets, to find something that pleases you.
During summer there are plenty of the street food festivals. Be it the Edinburgh Streetfood Festival just down the street at Georges Square Gardens, The Old Town Streetfood Festival at The Three Sisters, 139 Cowgate, Streetfood Fridays at Fountainbridge, Waverly Market @ Platform 2 and many more are waiting for you. Don't worry in case you missed some of them! A few are every Friday, like the Streetfood Fridays where you can get heavenly food, no matter which season.
MORE HOSTELS NEARBY Just to make sure that you stay for sure in the city centre of Edinburgh, even though you haven't been able to stay at the Castle Rock Hostel, I wanted to give you some more ideas of where you may like to go.
One of the sister Hostels and still very close to Edinburgh Castle and even closer to the Carlton Hill that I wrote about in 10 Things to do in Edinburgh.
In the heart of Edinburgh and next to the High Street Hostel. You cannot miss it.
And good for you, the Tourist Information is just a stone throw away.
GOOD REFERENCE
With all of these three Hostels I have been in direct contact, and they are all very friendly, helpful, clean and get in touch with you very fast in case of an emergency.
I hope you enjoyed reading the article and that it has been helpful. Don't forget to share this post on Pinterest or visit me on any other Social Media pages.
Give me a shout, in case you need some more advice and leave a comment below to let me know! I am always happy to help out. :)
Thank you so much and see you in the future,
Sina
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