Edinburgh/East

The east of Edinburgh is a collection of neighbourhoods bounded by Holyrood Park, Leith, the coast, and the separate town of Musselburgh. It's a sprawl of residential and industrial districts, and the only two parts of interest to visitors are Portobello beach resort and the hamlet of Duddingston.

Understand

The area by the outlet of Figgate Burn was rough grazing owned by Holyrood Abbey until mid-18th century. In 1742 a sailor built a cottage which he named after Porto Bello in Panama, where he'd served during its capture. A hamlet collected around the cottage, and grew when clay beds were discovered, with manufacture of bricks, tiles and pottery. By the 19th century the fashion for sea-bathing had started, and Victorian Portobello acquired a promenade and swimming lido. It declined in the 20th century and, because most visitors were day-trippers from the city and nearby mining villages, it never had the concentration of B&Bs and hotels found in other British resorts.

Get in

By bus

Lothian Buses run all city routes. They mostly run along Princes St near the main bus and railway stations, so you need to know which stop for which service. See Edinburgh#Get around for fares.

Bus 26 runs every 15 min from the west city (for Zoo) to Haymarket, Princes Street, Meadowbank, Portobello, Joppa, Musselburgh, Prestonpans, Cockenzie, Port Seton and Seton Sands. X26 is a faster version in rush hour. N26 is hourly through the night.

Bus 19 runs from Granton to Princes Street, Craigentinny, Portobello, Brunstane and Eastfield.

Bus 12 runs from Gyle to Haymarket then loops south of the centre to Newington, Cameron Toll, Craigmillar, Duddingston and Portobello.

Bus 21 runs north of city centre every 20 min from Gyle along Ferry Rd to Leith, Craigentinny, Portobello, Niddrie and the Royal Infirmary.

By road

By car follow A1 the London-Edinburgh dual carriageway, arriving through Newcraighall and Brunstane then diverging into city streets.

Cyclists may not use A1 until it dwindles to single carriageway in Brunstane. Instead use its former route, now A199, through Haddington, Tranent, Musselburgh and Brunstane.

Newcraighall railway station (see below) has a Park & Ride - you only pay 50p to park for 24 hours, plus the train fare to city centre. Bus 30 runs here from Musselburgh and continues to Craigmillar, Newington, city centre, then out west to Baberton.

By train

Trains run along the Borders Railway every 30 min from Edinburgh to Brunstane, Newcraighall, Newtongrange (for the Mining Museum), Galashiels (for buses to Melrose, Jedburgh, Selkirk, Hawick and Carlisle) and Tweedbank (for Abbotsford House). It's primarily a commuter route so it's congested into the city on workday mornings and outbound in the evening.

🌍 Brunstane is half a mile south of Portobello beachfront. It's a simple halt with ticket machines and step-free access to the sole platform.

🌍 Newcraighall is a Park & Ride for the city. It has a ticket office and machines, a waiting room but no toilets or cafe. There is step-free access to the sole platform.

Trains from London, Newcastle and the branch line from North Berwick all hurtle through non-stop, so you have to change in Edinburgh for those.

Get around

The eastern districts are extensive and far enough out that you can use a car to get around, with some hope of finding a parking spot at the other end.

See
  • 🌍 Arthur's Seat is the extinct volcano rising abruptly to the west, described as part of Old Town.
  • 🌍 Duddingston is an attractive little village on the edge of Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Park. First recorded as Treverlen, it was part of a tract of land owned by Kelso monastery. In 1124 the monks feu'd it to Dodin de Berwic, who built the church and renamed the village for himself - it nowadays has attractive 18th century houses including the Sheep Heid Inn (below). The church is restored and still in use: the stubby watchtower was staffed for three weeks after each burial, until the body would no longer be a target for the body-snatchers.
  • Duddingston Loch is a little freshwater lake and wildlife reserve besides the village. A prehistoric crannog was found within it, and a hoard of smashed-up weapons (why?) from circa 1000 BC now in the National Museum of Scotland. It's the setting for Henry Raeburn's painting The Skating Minister, now in the National Gallery of Scotland. This depicts the Rev Robert Walker, minister of Canongate, who grew up in the Netherlands where canals froze hard in winter. He was a member of Edinburgh Skating Club, the world's first figure-skating society. (Duddingston's own minister William Bennett was found drowned in the loch in 1805.) The loch was also home to a curling society which codified the rules of that sport at the start of the 19th century, standardising on round stones, but milder modern winters mean that it seldom freezes hard enough.
  • Dr Neil's Garden, Old Church Lane, Duddingston EH15 3PX. Daily 10AM-5PM. Secluded terraced garden on the shores of the loch, behind the church. The Neils were a GP couple who laid out the garden in the 1960s. The little tower, built 1825, is not to ward off body-snatchers but a storage space for the heavy curling stones. Donation. (updated Nov 2023)
  • Jock Tamson's Gairden is a community-run garden and allotment next to Duddingston church, open M-F 10AM-4PM.
  • 🌍 Portobello is Edinburgh's beach resort on the shore of the Firth of Forth. Sandy beach, ice-cream parlours, fish & chips, amusement arcades, playgrounds, paddling pools, what more do you want from the seaside? Sure, the weather in Porty is more suited to bracing walks than cooling dips, and the gulls will raid any ice cream cone or bag of chips left unguarded for an instant. The grains of coal mingled with the sand are natural pollution: coal deposits outcrop on the sea bed and stormy weather casts fragments ashore.
  • 🌍 Figgate Park is a pleasant green space and pond near the outflow of the Figgate Burn. This starts in the Pentlands as the Braid Burn, and much of its course is parkland.
  • 🌍 Craigmillar Castle: see Edinburgh/South for this ruin on the edge of the area.

Do
  • Noble's is an amusement arcade at 27 Figgate Lane on Portobello Promenade, open Su-Th 10AM-9PM, F Sa 10AM-10PM.
  • Portobello Swim Centre, 57 The Promenade, Portobello EH15 2BS, ☏ +44 131 458 2100. M-F 7AM-9PM, Sa 8AM-4PM, Su 9AM-5PM. Traditional Victorian baths with pool, gym, sauna and Turkish Baths. Visitors often find the place cold and dirty. (updated Nov 2023)
  • 🌍 Meadowbank Stadium is a large multi-purpose facility on A1 London Rd two miles east of city centre. The main tenant is Edinburgh City FC, who play soccer in Scottish League One, the third tier.
  • Innocent Railway is now a cycle path from the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Newington, emerging from a tunnel to head to the main line near Portobello. It was built in 1831 to bring coal into the city, but became a popular passenger route. The name was supposedly because it never had an accident, if you don't count a train driver and two children being horribly done to death and countless minor injuries as passengers stumbled out of coaches. It seems to have been a marketing ploy, stressing the slow-but-sure horse-drawn service in contrast to their competitors' scary steam.
  • Cinema: the Odeon is within Fort Kinnaird.
  • Golf: courses are Portobello (nine holes), Craigentinny and Duddingston. See Musselburgh for their nearby course, and Edinburgh/South for Liberton and upmarket Prestonfield.

Buy
  • 🌍 Fort Kinnaird. A massive out-of-town retail complex (supposedly the biggest of its type in the UK), next to the A1 dual carriageway as it heads out of town to the south-east. Lots of mainstream chain shops. 
  • In Portobello there is a larger Scotmid in Bath Street and various smaller convenience stores along Portobello High Street to buy supplies for a picnic at the beach.

Eat
  • Bonoful, 13-17 Brighton Place, Portobello EH15 1LH, ☏ +44 131 669 8000. W-M 4-11PM. Good reliable place for Indian food. (updated Nov 2023)
  • 🌍 Foresters Guild, 40 Portobello High Street EH15 1DA, ☏ +44 131 669 2750. M-Th noon-11PM, F noon-1AM, Sa 10AM-1AM, Su 10AM-11PM. Good pub fare and cask ales, inside or in one of their beach huts. (updated Nov 2023)
  • Malvarosa, 262 High Street H15 2AT, ☏ +44 131 669 7711. Th-Su 12:30AM-10PM. Good selection of tapas and slick service. (updated Nov 2023)
  • 🌍 The Beach House, 57 Bath Street, Portobello EH15 1HE, ☏ +44 131 657 2636. M-F 8AM-5PM, Sa Su 8AM-6PM. Right by the beach with sea views, good selection of food. (updated Nov 2023)
  • Mouse Hole Deli, 131 Portobello High Street EH15 1AF, ☏ +44 131 657 1789. Tu-Sa 9AM-3PM. Good value deli for takeaway food. (updated Nov 2023)
  • 🌍 Cherry's Cafe, London Road. Daily 8:30AM-5PM. A small cafe serving Turkish food and breakfast. (updated Nov 2023)

Drink
  • Sheep Heid Inn, 43-45 The Causeway, Duddingston EH15 3QA, ☏ +44 131 661 7974. Daily noon-11PM. 18th-century pub, with implausible claims to date from 1360, and perhaps named for the village slaughter-ground. In 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's army camped outside for a month and he held a Council of War here, to good effect as he proceeded to beat Jonny Cope at the Battle of Prestonpans. The skittle alley dates from 1880. The Inn serves good food, with a popular Sunday roast. (updated Nov 2023)
  • Portobello pubs jostle each other along High Street. They include The Galleon, Portobello Tap, The Beaten Docket, Portobello Bar, Porty Vault (below), and Smith and Gertrude wine bar.
  • 🌍 The Regent, 2 Montrose Terrace EH7 5DL, ☏ +44 131 661 8198. Daily 4PM-midnight. LGBT+ and straight-friendly bar with real ale. (updated Nov 2023)
  • Brewery: Vault City make unusual sour beers on Portobello Industrial Estate. They have a taproom at 243 Portobello High St (open W-F 3-10PM, Sa noon-midnight, Su noon-10PM) and another at West Maitland St, Haymarket.

Sleep

Connect
  • The east side of the city has 5G from all UK carriers. Wifi is widely available in public places.
  • Portobello Library, 14 Rosefield Avenue H15 1AU (opposite Portobello Town Hall), ☏ +44 131 529 5558. M-W 10AM-8PM, Th-Sa 10AM-5PM. This has public internet stations. (updated Nov 2023)

Go next
  • Public transport converges on Princes Street in New Town.
  • Leith west is the city's former port, with Royal Yacht Britannia.
  • Musselburgh east is a former fishing village with a horse-racing track.
  • The coast further east is grubby to Longniddry then has sandhills, ruined castles and golf courses out to North Berwick.


Routes through East
New Town ←  W  E  → Musselburgh → Newcastle upon Tyne



Portobello, Edinburgh
Duddingston
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