A Family-Run Hotel Where the Car Stays Free
There are not many Edinburgh hotels where you can pull off the road, park for nothing and still be in the city centre twenty minutes later. The Northumberland is one of them: a traditional, family-run hotel on Craigmillar Park in Newington, where your car sits in the hotel's own free car park and the Lothian bus into town leaves from the front gate. Pick it for parking, quiet nights and honest value on a leafy southern approach to the Old Town. Skip it if you want a lift, a cooked breakfast or a cocktail bar downstairs, because this is a simple, room-only stay and proud of it.
The building sets the tone the moment you walk up the path: a handsome Victorian townhouse in golden sandstone, with tall windows, twin arched doorways and a front garden that catches the afternoon sun. Inside, high ceilings and a curving staircase carry the period character up to 25 individually styled bedrooms, and a few of the doubles open onto a balcony or the quiet rooftop garden terrace, where the city's rooftops stretch out beyond the potted plants.
It all adds up to a straightforward promise: character, calm and free parking two miles from the castle. For value-focused couples, families and anyone touring Scotland by car, that is exactly the right trade.
Quiet Newington, Quick Into the Centre
Newington is the Edinburgh most visitors never think to look for: a conservation area of stone villas and garden walls on the city's south side, with a genuine local rhythm of cafes, curry houses and delis along the main road. You get residential calm at night, and one of the best-connected corridors in the city by day. Buses toward the centre stop right outside the hotel every few minutes, and the ride to the shops around Princes Street takes about a quarter of an hour.
Green space is the other luxury here. Holyrood Park and the slopes of Arthur's Seat begin about a mile and a half away, Craigmillar Castle's quiet medieval ruin is a similar distance in the other direction, and Cameron Toll's supermarket, pharmacy and coffee shops sit just a few minutes' walk from your room. During August's festival season, this side of the city keeps its head while the centre heaves, which is exactly when a calm base with parking earns its keep.
Terrace Mornings and Practical Touches
Mornings here start on your own terms. Every room has a tea and coffee tray and a kettle, and if the weather plays along you can carry your cup up to the rooftop terrace and take ten minutes among the planters before the day starts. There is no breakfast service, and honestly the arrangement works: Cameron Toll's cafes and a full supermarket are a six-minute walk away, and the room-only rate keeps the price of the stay down.
The practical side is quietly well handled. Daily housekeeping keeps rooms fresh, luggage can be left before check-in or after check-out, and the family who run the hotel are used to late arrivals as long as you let them know your time in advance. The private function suite downstairs hosts weddings and parties on some weekends, which brings a burst of life to the ground floor; ask for an upper or rear room if you are an early sleeper on a Saturday night.
Why Book the Northumberland Hotel?
This is the practical Edinburgh choice: keep the car for day trips, ride the bus into town, and come back to a quiet street at night.
Free on-site parking
Private parking at the hotel is free with no reservation needed, something very few Edinburgh hotels this close to the centre can offer.
Bus stop at the gate
Frequent Lothian buses stop directly outside and reach the city centre in around 15 to 20 minutes, so you sightsee without touching the car.
Quiet, leafy Newington
A residential conservation-area street with a garden, a rooftop terrace and Holyrood Park's green space close by, so nights stay calm.
Honest, family-run value
A traditional 25-room hotel run by its own family, with comfortable beds and rates that leave room in the budget for the city itself.
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Interesting Points About Northumberland Hotel
- The hotel no longer serves breakfast: it is room-only with tea and coffee trays in every room, even though several third-party listings still advertise a cooked breakfast, a restaurant and even a pool that do not exist
- All rooms except one are en-suite, four double rooms have a balcony, and some rooms open toward a quiet rooftop garden terrace with views across the city
- The private function suite hosts receptions, weddings and weekend parties, so Friday and Saturday evenings can be livelier downstairs than the quiet residential setting suggests
- Lothian's Skylink 300 airport service was rerouted to call at Cameron Toll specifically to link air travellers with the hotels and guest houses of Edinburgh's Southside
Rooms & Accommodation at Northumberland Hotel
Double Room
Sleeps 2 · Ground floor · Balcony
Choose this one when outdoor space beats an en-suite: the ground-floor double opens toward a balcony with terrace access, and your private-use bathroom sits just outside the room door rather than inside it. Couples who plan to be out sightseeing all day tend to think the trade is well worth the hotel's best indoor-outdoor spot.
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Single Room
Sleeps 1 · Garden view · En-suite
Solo travellers get the quiet side of the house here: a garden-facing room with its own shower room, a desk and a kettle, up the stairs away from the road. The right call for festival-goers and work trips that just need a good night's sleep.
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Family Room (3 Adults)
Sleeps 3 · Garden view · En-suite
The one to ask about if stairs are a problem: a ground-floor family room is available on request, and the ceiling cornicing in these rooms is the building at its Victorian best. Three adults or a family with an older child fit comfortably without paying for a second room.
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Twin Room
Sleeps 2 · Garden view · En-suite
Friends touring Scotland together usually land here. You each get your own bed, the window faces the quieter garden side of the building rather than the road, and the en-suite shower room means nobody queues in a dressing gown before the day's sightseeing. With the free car park downstairs it makes an easy overnight stop on a longer Scottish loop.
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Luxury Quadruple Room
Sleeps 4 · Garden view · En-suite
The whole-crew option: up to four guests share the largest of the garden-side rooms with their own bathroom. It keeps a festival group or a family of four to a single room bill, and everyone leaves the car in the free car park downstairs.
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Double Room with Private External Bathroom
Sleeps 2 · Private external bathroom
Best for couples who value elbow room over an internal en-suite: this is one of the more spacious doubles, with a sofa to spread out on and period cornicing overhead, while the bathroom is private to you but sits a step outside the room door. A fair trade when floor space matters more than a fully self-contained layout.
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Single Room with Shower
Sleeps 1 · Ground floor · Balcony
The right call for a solo guest who wants no stairs at all: this ground-floor single has its own en-suite shower, plus a balcony to stand on with the morning coffee before the bus into town. Regulars who visit Edinburgh often ask for this room by name, so book ahead if ground-floor ease matters to your stay.
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Small Double Room
Sleeps 2 · Garden view · En-suite
The lowest-cost way for a couple to stay here, best suited to one-bag city-breakers happy to keep things cosy. You get the same garden outlook, en-suite bathroom and tea tray as the bigger doubles in a tighter footprint, which keeps more of the budget free for the city itself.
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Parking & Transport
- Free private on-site parking (no reservation needed)
- Parking garage and accessible parking
- Bus stop directly outside on Craigmillar Park
- Airport reachable via the Skylink 300 from Cameron Toll
In the Rooms
- Free Wi-Fi in every room
- Flat-screen TV
- Tea/coffee maker and electric kettle
- Heating and linen included
- Air purifiers in many rooms
- Socket near the bed
Around the Hotel
- Rooftop garden terrace with city views
- Front garden
- Daily housekeeping
- Luggage storage before check-in and after check-out
- Function/meeting suite (additional charge)
- Not available: Lift
- Not available: Restaurant or bar
- Not available: Breakfast service
Policies & Safety
- Non-smoking throughout (designated outdoor smoking area)
- Minimum check-in age 21
- Children over 5 welcome
- CCTV and smoke alarms throughout
- Cash listed as the accepted payment method (confirm card options when booking)
- Not available: Pets
Location: Craigmillar Park, Newington
The hotel stands at 31-33 Craigmillar Park, on the tree-lined A701 corridor through Newington in south Edinburgh. This is a residential, largely Victorian quarter with the University of Edinburgh's King's Buildings campus nearby, and it works as a base precisely because it is not in the thick of the Old Town: you sleep on a quiet street, then let the bus do the commuting. Services into the centre stop directly outside and take roughly 15 to 20 minutes, and a taxi to Waverley Station runs about 10 minutes.
Everyday needs are covered by Cameron Toll Shopping Centre, about 450 yards away: there is a large Sainsbury's for supplies, a pharmacy, and Costa Coffee (camerontoll.co.uk) for breakfast, a 6-minute walk from the hotel door. For a proper meal, the curry houses and cafes of Newington Road and South Clerk Street line the bus route into town.
Sightseeing radiates out in every direction. Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh's resident extinct volcano, begin about 1.4 miles north. Craigmillar Castle, the quieter medieval ruin where Mary, Queen of Scots once took refuge, is 1.5 miles east. The National Museum of Scotland, the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle are all within a short bus ride, and Portobello's sandy beach is 3.6 miles away for a blowy seaside afternoon. Edinburgh Airport is about 10 miles west, with the Skylink 300 bus linking it to Cameron Toll for a car-free arrival.
- Cameron Toll Shopping Centre: 6-minute walk. Supermarket, pharmacy and coffee for the room-only mornings.
- Holyrood Park & Arthur's Seat: 1.4 miles. The extinct volcano with the best free view in Edinburgh.
- Craigmillar Castle: 1.5 miles. Remarkably complete medieval ruin linked to Mary, Queen of Scots.
- The Meadows: 1.7 miles. Tree-lined park famous for spring cherry blossom.
- National Museum of Scotland: 1.8 miles. Scotland's flagship free museum, the best wet-weather option.
- Edinburgh Waverley Station: 1.9 miles. Main rail hub, about 10 minutes by taxi.
- Edinburgh Castle & Royal Mile: 2.4 miles. The city's headline fortress and historic spine.
- Portobello Beach: 3.6 miles. Victorian seaside promenade and sandy beach.
Getting to Key Locations
Photo: dun_deagh, CC BY-SA 2.0
Craigmillar Castle
10 min drive
About 1.5 miles away, a 30-minute walk or a ten-minute drive, Craigmillar Castle is the Edinburgh castle most visitors never see: a remarkably complete medieval ruin where Mary, Queen of Scots retreated in 1566. You can climb the tower house and wander the walled gardens with a fraction of the Old Town's crowds.
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Arthur's Seat & Holyrood Park
25 min walk
About 1.4 miles from the front door, a 25-minute walk or a five-minute drive, Arthur's Seat is the extinct volcano at the heart of Holyrood Park and the classic Edinburgh sunrise climb. Go early on a clear morning and you get the whole city, the Firth of Forth and the Pentlands from one summit, then roll back down to the hotel for a shower before the day starts.
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Edinburgh Castle & the Royal Mile
25 min bus
About 2.4 miles away, 25 minutes by bus from the stop outside, Edinburgh Castle crowns the Old Town on its volcanic crag. Walk the Royal Mile downhill from the esplanade to Holyroodhouse and you cover most of the city's headline sights in a single, mostly gravity-assisted afternoon.
View on MapHow to Get to the Northumberland Hotel
- From Edinburgh Waverley Station: Exit onto Waverley Bridge and walk up to the North Bridge/South Bridge corridor, about 5 minutes on foot.
- Board a southbound Lothian bus: From South Bridge or Nicolson Street, take any southbound service toward Newington and Liberton, such as the 3, 7, 8, 29, 31, 37 or 47. Contactless cards are accepted on board.
- Alight at the Suffolk Road stop: Ride roughly 13 to 20 minutes and get off at Suffolk Road on Craigmillar Park. The hotel is directly beside the stop.
- Arriving by car or from the airport: Drivers follow Nicolson Street and Newington Road south until it becomes Craigmillar Park; free parking is on site. From Edinburgh Airport, the Skylink 300 bus runs to Cameron Toll, a 6-minute walk from the hotel, or a taxi takes 25 to 30 minutes.
Three Days in Edinburgh
Edinburgh rewards slow mornings and long walks: castle ramparts and closes in the Old Town, Georgian crescents and independent bakeries in Stockbridge, and a skyline best earned from Calton Hill or Arthur's Seat. From Newington you are on the right side of the city for Holyrood Park, the Meadows and the university quarter, with the festival venues of the Southside on your bus route into town.
Watch: Three Days in Edinburgh
A local's-eye long weekend in Edinburgh, from Stockbridge bakeries and Dean Village to Calton Hill, Victoria Street and a whisky tasting, ending with the Caledonian Sleeper south.
Is the Northumberland Hotel worth it?
Yes, if you want free parking, a quiet leafy base and a frequent bus to the centre for noticeably less than an Old Town hotel: drivers, families and value-focused couples get exactly that. Skip it if you need a lift, a cooked breakfast or polished full-service hotel treatment, because this is a simple, traditional, room-only stay.
What Guests Say About the Northumberland Hotel
Scores and review counts are aggregated from verified guest bookings on major travel platforms.
Pleasant
Reviews here are genuinely mixed, and the pattern is consistent: the location, the free parking and the comfortable beds win steady praise, while road-facing noise, the early 10:00 checkout and the simple room-only setup draw the criticism. Guests who arrive expecting a traditional, simple base with a bus at the door tend to leave satisfied; those expecting full hotel service are the ones disappointed.
Liked being right beside a bus stop with good coverage into the centre, and found the rooms comfortable with nothing in particular to fault.
Found the receptionist genuinely helpful and the room clean, tidy and quiet, with everything needed for a night. The only snag was noise from a large gathering in the function room on arrival, which did not carry up to the room.
Happy with how easy it was to reach the city centre, with nothing to complain about.
Praised how clean it was and the generous parking. Felt it could use a small bar to sit with a drink, and noted there is not much within walking distance since you are a bus ride from the centre.
Appreciated the affordable rate, the characterful old high-ceilinged building and the bus stop out front for a short stay, but flagged that road-facing rooms get traffic noise overnight and the 10am checkout felt early.
Rated the spot for its bus links straight into town from right outside, found the bed comfy and liked the little kettle, though the compact street-facing room was noisy on a busy road.
Rated the bus stop across the road, the parking and the quiet. The twin room was clean and comfortable, but the single room was very cramped and both had weak shower pressure.
Good to Know Before You Book
No breakfast, by design
Rooms come with a tea and coffee tray, and the room-only rate keeps costs down. For breakfast, Cameron Toll is a 6-minute walk with a Costa, a Greggs and a large Sainsbury's.
No lift, but ground-floor rooms exist
Upper floors are reached by stairs in this listed Victorian building. A ground-floor family room and ground-floor doubles are available on request, and accessible parking is on site.
Light sleeper? Go rear-facing
Craigmillar Park is a busy road and the building keeps its original single glazing, so ask for a rear or garden-facing room. The garden side is genuinely quiet.
Arrival, payment and cancellation
Let the hotel know your arrival time in advance: check-in runs 15:00 to 22:00, later arrivals need approval, and reception is not staffed around the clock. The minimum check-in age is 21, cash is the listed payment method, and cancellation terms vary by room and rate, with the exact policy shown before you confirm.
Photos of Northumberland Hotel
Frequently Asked Questions
Parking at the hotel is private, free and does not need reserving, with spaces normally available on site. The hotel has not published a height limit for its parking, so if you are bringing a high vehicle or a van, contact the hotel before arrival to confirm clearance.
The hotel is room-only: there is no restaurant and breakfast is not served, though every room has free tea and coffee. Some older third-party listings still advertise breakfast or a restaurant, but the hotel itself confirms neither is offered. Cameron Toll, a 6-minute walk away, covers breakfast with a Costa, a Greggs and a Sainsbury's.
Arrivals are welcomed between 15:00 and 22:00, and rooms are vacated by 10:00 the next morning. Anyone landing outside those hours, including after midnight, needs advance approval from the hotel, so always share your arrival time when you book. Early or late options can be requested but are never guaranteed.
The easiest way is the bus: frequent Lothian services stop directly outside the hotel and reach the South Bridge area in roughly 15 to 20 minutes. A taxi to Waverley Station takes about 10 minutes, and driving to the Princes Street shops takes under 10 minutes outside rush hour.
There is no lift, and upper-floor rooms are reached by stairs. Guests who want to avoid stairs can request a ground-floor room: the hotel has a ground-floor family room plus ground-floor double and single rooms, and accessible parking is available on site.
Pets are not allowed at the Northumberland Hotel, and the owners confirm dogs cannot be accommodated. Guests travelling with a dog will need to look at pet-friendly alternatives elsewhere in Edinburgh.
A private function suite is available and hosts receptions, weddings and private parties, mostly at weekends, with meeting and banquet facilities offered at an additional charge. If you are staying on a Friday or Saturday and prefer a quiet evening, ask for an upper or rear room when you book.
Wi-Fi is free and available in every room as well as the public areas. Guests generally find the connection reliable for streaming and everyday use, and there is a socket beside the bed for charging.
Luggage storage is available, and the hotel confirms guests can leave large bags after checking out. That makes the early 10:00 check-out easier to work around if your train or flight leaves later in the day.
Four of the double rooms have a balcony, and some rooms open toward the quiet rooftop garden terrace with views over the city. If a balcony matters to your stay, mention it when booking as those rooms are limited.
Other Great Stays in Edinburgh
Allison House 17
A few doors up the same street at 17 Craigmillar Park. Pick it over the Northumberland for a smaller, guest-house feel; pick the Northumberland when the bigger car park and function-suite space matter.
Bellevue Guest House
A Georgian guest house on Minto Street, a few stops nearer the Old Town. The right call when shaving minutes off the ride into town beats the Northumberland's parking-and-terrace setup.
Ellwyn House
Out east near Portobello's seafront. Choose it for a beach-and-promenade stay; stay with the Northumberland for the quicker bus link into the city centre.
Ready to Book the Northumberland Hotel?
Park free, ride the bus from the front gate and keep your Edinburgh budget for Edinburgh. Check availability for your dates.
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