Edinburgh

If you think Edinburgh is the posh and pristine neighbour to Glasgow’s endlessly happening scene, well, you’re not exactly wrong. While Edinburgh’s nearby nemesis certainly has better clubs, venues and all things music, overall you’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer city to live in than this international hotbed of students. And at the end of the day, what’s better than nice?  Franz Ferdinand?  Not exactly.

Pubs
You have two choices in Edinburgh – Old Town or New Town.  Choosing New Town, well north of the University of Edinburgh, would generally indicate either senior citizenship or a fondness for establishments with gemstone names in their title (see Opal Lounge for further information.)  Old Town is where the students drink like champs in some appropriately studenty pubs.  A prime example is Doctor’s, so called because of its close proximity to the University’s medical school.  Deal with the future cardiologists for an always-reliable choice of good beers and surprisingly sound music.  Before you leave the area, or whenever you stumble back, stop by Favorit.  They are open as late as the pubs, offer drinks and most importantly, giant plates of nachos or French toast or whatever is necessary.  Nearby, across from George Square lies The Pear Tree, which has a busy but chill patronage and enclosed outdoor seating (always practical for Scotland’s renowned fine weather.)  Grassmarket, dangerously close to the Royal Mile and its tourist flocks, has nothing but good pubs as snuggly as a nice Highland wool sweater.  Particularly worth stopping by is The Last Drop.  It’s also worth heading down Cowgate, but keep a look out for the tour guides in capes leading groups through the surrounding haunted underground vaults.  They’ll take the lame route while you check out Bannerman’s.  It’s perfectly crowded and dirty, with an annex for small local gigs. 

Clubs
Cabaret Voltaire hosts some of the best club nights in Edinburgh and on a monthly Thursday Spies in the Wire (get it?) provides for a lovely night on the dance floor.  With a decent helping of celeb-ish DJs – Barry Futureheads anyone? -  the night can only get lovelier.  Add a few bonus points for being in a gnarly underground vault.  Rival music headquarters Liquid Room hosts a weekly Wednesday student night called Indigo.  If you like insanely cheap drinks and those bands gracing the pages of this week’s NME, you’re ready to go.  For fans of watching lots of neon colours dance around in front of you, check out Dogtooth at Henry’s Cellar Bar every other Friday.  An electro explosion with a decent live band, you’ll be magically whisked away to 1986.

Venues
Edinburgh has seen some recent venue closures and the live music scene suffers for it.  The lack of places to see bands means that most artists pass over the city on their tour routes, head straight to Newcastle and Glasgow, and don’t even both.  Although, the places that have survived are stellar – even if Glasgow is just a cheap hour bus ride away.  Cabaret Voltaire off South Bridge lurks underground as a great setting for a few hundred to check out just-budding artists.  Its tiny and packed, as should probably be the case.  Liquid Room on Victoria St. near Grassmarket is the next step up and sees most just-barely-mainstreamers grace its spectacularly high and easy to see stage.  Getting to the bar in back can be a small nightmare though.



Unless you enjoy drinking and socialising in incredibly smooth and shiny lounges, stay away from uber-posh George St. just at the edge of New Town.  And in case logic isn’t your thing, don’t go to the McTourist pubs and restaurants on the Royal Mile – the street leading to the gigantic Castle/biggest tourist attraction this side of Loch Ness.



Cockburn St., the tiny Everest-steep limb off the Royal Mile, is the best place to get everything that little hearts could desire.  There’s Avalanche – a Scottish record shopping institution. Stop for a killer bite at the Baked Potato Shop and then head over to a handful of vintagey boutiques where you’ll never see a tartan, ever. 

Lies will not be told here.  If there is a good band in Scotland, they’re wandering around the streets of Glasgow, getting mistaken for Franz Ferdinand by indie tourists.  Here old classics like Idlewild still reign as kings.  So progress, or angular art rock, is not really Edinburgh’s thing.

In August Edinburgh hosts the largest performing artists festival in the world, which doubles the population of the city for three weeks.

The capital of Scotland, Edinburgh attracts the most visitors in the UK second to London.

Edinburgh was voted The Guardian and Observer ‘Favourite UK City’ for six years running