The spellbinding Scottish capital has plenty to see and do, from museums to Michelin-star dinners. And after all that sightseeing, you might want to retire to a historic manor hotel, or boutique beauty with a dazzling spa for a rejuvenating massage or treatment.
Edinburgh is probably the only city in the world where you can summit a looming extinct volcano right in the centre, explore the history of a sprawling castle complex and wander the alleyways of a medieval old town all in a single day. It’s a city made for walking, with Princes Street Gardens stretching alongside the city’s main thoroughfare and the Royal Mile winding its steep way from Holyrood Palace to the Castle.
After days of pounding the pavement between ancient sights, sometimes all you want is a wee bit of time to put your aching feet up and relax. Edinburgh’s best spa hotels use the natural bounty of Scotland’s landscape in their scrubs, facials and body wraps and offer a range of treatments.
Here are the best hotels for a spa break in and around Edinburgh.
The best spa hotels in Edinburgh
At a glance
- Best spa hotel in the city centre: The Sheraton Grand
- Best luxury spa hotel: Gleneagles Townhouse
- Best affordable spa hotel: Apex Hotel Waterloo Place
- Best boutique spa hotel: Norton House Hotel
1. The Sheraton Grand Hotel
There’s a lot to love about the Sheraton Grand. This five-star hotel on Lothian Road boasts 24-hour room service, rooms with views of the Castle and an indulgent daily breakfast. But the highlight is the One Spa, which is the biggest hotel spa in the city. A rooftop hydropool offers hydrotherapy sessions in Scotland’s cool, refreshing air, and the thermal suite is there to help you warm up afterwards with saunas, steam rooms and a dry salt room. Fabulous dining experiences can accompany spa days, such as themed afternoon teas, gin tastings and champagne brunches on Sundays.
Address: 1 Festival Square, Edinburgh EH3 9SR
Highlights: Room service, best views, rooftop pool
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: One mile (22-minute walk)
Read more: The best hotels in Edinburgh for castle views and Old Town getaways
2. Norton House hotel
If you’re jetting into Edinburgh Airport, it doesn’t get more convenient than Norton House Hotel for a spa stay. Despite its proximity to Scotland’s busiest airport, the feeling at Norton House is quiet, calm and beautifully bucolic. Once a Victorian country house, it sits within acres of gardens with dog walks and hikes on the doorstep. The spa is the perfect place to unwind after a day in the countryside, where you can indulge in a massage or embrace a bucket shower by the hydrotherapy pool. The Turkish mud chamber is a particularly unique experience.
Address: Harvest Road, Newbridge EH28 8LX
Highlights: Near the airport, best for walks, hydrotherapy pool
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 11 miles (34-minute drive)
Read more: Best boutique hotels in Edinburgh
3. The Caledonian Hotel
The Caledonian Hotel, now part of the Hilton Curio Collection, has stood proud at the West End of Princes Street for over 100 years. It’s an Edinburgh icon, known affectionately as “The Cally” by locals. Spa days here are a real treat, often gifted at Christmas for a little New Year indulgence. Swim laps in the pool, soak in the hot tub and sweat your troubles away in the saunas and steam rooms. Facials and skin treatments use the natural minerals of Hebridean seaweed to add a distinctly Scottish touch to the experience. Afterwards, pad through the quiet, grand corridors to your sumptuous bedroom or indulge in the tasting menu at Dean Banks’ restaurant in the stunning Pompadour dining room.
Address: Princes Street, Edinburgh EH1 2AB
Highlights: Scottish spa products, best for foodies
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 0.7 miles (16-minute walk)
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4. Dalhousie Castle hotel
Dalhousie stands splendidly in rose stone with turrets, and acre upon acre of manicured and wild gardens. While technically at the very limits of Edinburgh, it’s an easy bus ride or short drive into the city centre. It’s worth being out of town for the full castle experience at Dalhousie, starting with meeting the residents at the owl sanctuary within the grounds, followed by dining in the medieval-style Dungeon Restaurant and sipping a neat whisky by the crackling fire in the library bar. To top it all off, the spa is a destination in itself, offering myriad treatments in its hydrotherapy pool and Laconium Roman steam room.
Address: Bonnyrigg, Edinburgh EH19 3JB
Highlights: Hydrotherapy pool, gardens
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: Nine miles (30-minute drive)
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5. Gleneagles Townhouse hotel
If it’s luxury you seek, look no further than Gleneagles Townhouse. Formerly a bank, the grand Georgian building on St Andrews Square has been sympathetically converted into one of the most luxurious new hotels in Edinburgh. Bedrooms hark back to a bygone era with huge canopied beds and rich mahogany room dividers, while The Spence restaurant embraces Georgian splendour. The spa offers signature treatments, tried and tested for decades at the original Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, using Scottish products like wild sea buckthorn and seaweed to rejuvenate the mind and body.
Address: 39 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh EH2 2AD
Highlights: Luxury, Scottish spa products
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 0.2 miles (five-minute walk)
Read more: How to spend a day in Portobello, Edinburgh’s swinging seaside suburb
6. Marriott Hotel Holyrood
It may be situated on the historic Royal Mile, but this Marriott Hotel is a vision of modernism. It’s a stone’s throw from the resplendent Holyrood Palace, and country walks are on the doorstep with Arthur’s Seat is just across the road. Rooms combine form and function with clean lines and crisp linen, and the restaurant showcases some of the best of Scotland’s natural larder in its menu. In the spa, you’ll find a huge indoor pool, a fully-equipped gym and numerous relaxing treatments like hot stone massages, facials and manicures.
Address: 81 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AU
Highlights: Location, best for foodies, gym
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 0.6 miles (13-minute walk)
Read more: How to spend your summer in Scotland
7. The Balmoral hotel
The Balmoral is the first and last word in Scotland’s luxury hotels and is an Edinburgh institution – the Balmoral clock tower features on nearly every guidebook cover of the Scottish capital. If the century-old walls could talk, they’d probably gossip about the myriad celebrities, world leaders and tycoons who have stayed in the deluxe rooms and dined in the Michelin-starred restaurant. Apart from lavish lounges, doormen to greet you and sumptuous dining space, there’s a spa for some downtime after days of sightseeing. Irene Forte skincare products are used in rejuvenating facials and body wraps, while a huge swimming pool, several saunas, and a steam room let you unwind on your own time.
Address: 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ
Highlights: Luxury, location, best for foodies
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 314ft (two-minute walk)
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8. The Kimpton Charlotte Square hotel
Sandwiched between the shopping Mecca of Princes Street and cocktail-bar-filled George Street, the Kimpton sits on upmarket Charlotte Square. Apart from incredibly stylish rooms, this five-star hotel has some of the best dining options in the city. It’s a tough choice between the ultra-local tasting menu from chef Stuart Ralston at Aizle or sharing plates from the Levante in BABA restaurant. The spa is state-of-the-art too, boasting the UK’s first ‘sound wellness room’ where a soundscape inspired by the Hebrides and Lofoten Island can be felt as well as heard in a series of immersive treatments.
Address: 38 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh EH2 4HQ
Highlights: Best for foodies, state-of-the-art spa
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 0.7 miles (16-minute walk)
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9. Apex Hotel Waterloo Place
Mere footsteps from Waverly train station, the Apex Hotel Waterloo Place is right in the centre of Edinburgh. Calton Hill is just around the corner and Princes Street stretches before you for views of the Castle and shopping galore. There’s an immediate sense of grandeur on arrival at this sprawling Georgian property, thanks to huge arched windows and a grand reception. Indeed, the building was completed in 1819 as the first large-scale, purpose-built hotel in Edinburgh. Despite the building’s history, the rooms are a vision of plush modernism. The Yu Spa has blissful treatment rooms for couples and singles where facials, soothing scrubs and reviving massages are all on offer.
Address: 23-27 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh EH1 3BG
Highlights: Best for couples
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 0.3 miles (three-minute walk)
Read more: The best Scotland road trips to take in your lifetime
10. Radisson Blu Edinburgh hotel
The building may be modern but the Radisson Blu fits right in with its historic surroundings on the Royal Mile with castle-style windows and turrets. While the Royal Mile right outside the door bustles with life during the day, rooms inside are soundproof and decked out in calming greys and white. Continue the sense of serenity with a session at the spa. Playing on the fairytale facade of the hotel, it’s called the Sleeping Beauty Spa. Sessions in the heated indoor pool, sauna and steam rooms, and treatments in quiet, private rooms ensure the deepest sleep of a fairytale princess.
Address: The Royal Mile, 80 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TH
Highlights: Location, heated indoor pool
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 0.2 miles (four-minute walk)
Read more: The perfect getaway for those who want to avoid the heat of the busy Med
11. W Edinburgh hotel
It’s impossible to miss this vast luxury hotel in the heart of Edinburgh. Its twisting copper spire has become an iconic part of Edinburgh’s skyline for the past few years, and views over the city from the outdoor terrace and rooftop lounge are simply sublime. Inside, it’s a warren of lavish lounges and striking bedrooms with round beds and egg-shaped soaking tubs. The spa is just as opulent as the rest of the hotel, where treatment rooms are themed around the four classical elements (earth, water, air, fire) and private spa suites feature hot tubs, saunas and waterfall showers.
Address: 1 Saint James Square, Edinburgh, EH1 3AX
Highlights: Rooftop, luxury
Distance from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station: 0.4 miles (eight-minute walk)
Why trust us
The hotels featured in this list have been carefully selected by The Independent's expert travel writers, each with a deep knowledge of the destinations they cover. Our contributors either live in these locations or visit frequently, ensuring a personal and informed perspective. When picking which hotels to include, they consider their own experience staying in the hotels and evaluate location, facilities, service and all the other details that make for an exceptional stay for all types of traveller.
FAQs
What currency do I need in Edinburgh?
Scotland shares the same currency as the rest of the UK, the British pound (£).
When is the best time to visit Edinburgh?
Compared to other countries, the weather in the UK is not usually a draw, however, on a good day between June and August, you can’t beat a British summer’s day.
The busiest month is usually August, when the arts and culture of the Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival take place, so unless you are travelling to the Scottish capital to specifically watch a comedy show or a theatre performance, it may be best to avoid this month.
Visiting Edinburgh in the colder months should not be underestimated, however, as festive markets, pubs with roaring fires and wandering around its historic castle lend themselves to a cosy atmosphere.
How do spas in Scotland compare to England?
Scotland and the rest of the UK are home to some of the best spas in the world; what makes UK spas different is the links to its local produce, heritage and natural offerings
While Scottish spas often implement and draw influence from their natural surroundings in treatments, such as Hebridean seaweed in facials, spas in England are often famed for their placement in historic spa towns, using natural thermal waters to elevate the tranquil experience.
Some of the best places for a well-rounded spa getaway in England are the Cotswolds, the Lake District and Bath.
Is Edinburgh expensive?
Edinburgh was recently listed as the most expensive city break destination in Western Europe in the latest Post Office Travel Money survey. The main reason for this is the high cost of accommodation, with the average price for two nights in a three-star city centre hotel skimming £399.
For those who want to keep their budget down when visiting Edinburgh, consider travelling outside of peak periods such as school summer holidays and Edinburgh’s festivals in August. The city also has several free attractions, such as the National Museum of Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland.
How to get the best deal on Edinburgh spa hotels
An easy way to save is by booking a mid-week spa break. Prices are often hiked during the weekend, so it pays to be flexible with your dates. You’re also more likely to find deals outside of the summer season, once the Edinburgh Fringe has wrapped up.
Booking.com has hundreds of spa hotels in Edinburgh to choose from, and if you’re a Genius member, you can often access exclusive discounts and benefits to help you save.
If you join the Radisson Rewards loyalty scheme, you can also get up to 15 per cent off stays at Radisson hotels. This includes one of our recommended spa hotels, the Radisson Blu Edinburgh. It doesn’t cost anything to join and comes with discounts on food and drink, plus the chance to earn points to put towards a free night stay.
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