Hotels near The Scotch Whisky Experience

The Scotch Whisky Experience occupies the old Castlehill School at 354 Castlehill, right beside the castle esplanade, and it is the most efficient introduction to Scotch in the city. Tours cover a production walkthrough, a guided tasting across the Highland, Lowland, Speyside and Islay regions, and the Diageo Claive Vidiz Collection of roughly 3,400 bottles, the largest collection of Scotch whisky on public display anywhere in the world.

October is when whisky stops being a souvenir and becomes the point of the afternoon. Amber Restaurant on the ground floor pours by the glass without a tour booking. For something less structured, the Old Town's traditional bars hold several hundred bottles between them: the Bow Bar on West Bow, Whiski Rooms near the Scottish National Gallery, and Bennets Bar in Tollcross. No booking needed on a weekday.

Pro Tip: Choose the Islay dram in the regional tasting if you want the one that tastes like Scottish weather. Book the earliest tour of the day and you can walk 200 metres to Edinburgh Castle straight afterwards on the same morning.