The West End Hostel

This gem of a budget hostel is set in a restored Victorian building on Palmerston Place, at the West End of Edinburgh’s New Town. It’s a great choice for stag groups; as well as swish private rooms with en-suite showers; there are four dorm rooms available, complete with mobile phone lockers.

If you’re on a budget, you can make use of the well-equipped communal kitchen and laundry room. And if you want to eat in the Time Bar and Bistro, you get a good discount as a hostel guest. You can enjoy juicy gourmet burgers and hot dogs, as well as pub classic like fish and chips, nachos and haggis neeps and tatties. The bar is open to residents and non-residents until 11pm during the week and 1am at weekends, when you could catch some live music. Live sport is shown on the plasma screens in the bar.

The hostel is set just three minutes walk from Haymarket train station, in an area full of great pubs, and close to the nightlife hub of Lothian Road. You have easy tram and bus access to the city centre, just 1.5 miles to the east, or you can get discount with the hostel’s preferred taxi firms – just ask at reception.