Who are the clever souls who decided to take their dog on a city break despite only taking her into their own city twice? James and I, that's who! Despite that, Betty was really good and I found Edinburgh to be a really dog-friendly city. We visited for three days/two nights and although one day was an Amber Weather Warning for wind and rain we made the most of it and had a good time!
Before I go into the dog-friendly aspects I'll add a little disclaimer that Betty was crate trained as a puppy to help her switch off (she is a working breed) so we got it out of storage and took it with us so she knew she has a safe space to sleep, and we could let her nap in the room and go out without her for an hour and know she was safe.
The Hotel
We stayed in Motel One Edinburgh-Prices which is an extra £15 per night to take your dog and you can only take one per room. we only have one so this was fine for us. The hotel was basic (it's three-star) but clean and tidy and the staff were really friendly and always made a fuss of Betty when we saw them in the corridors.
I'd definitely stay here again, the location was amazing - it's opposite the train station and under a five-minute walk to shops, restaurants and the car park.
Dog-Friendly Restaurants
Holyrood9A
The first night we visited Holyrood9A which was a burger restaurant and craft beer and dog friendly. the staff brought Betty over a bowl of water and a plate of treats which she devoured before they'd even put it on the floor. The food was nice and there were plenty of craft beers and gins to choose from. I really enjoyed it and would go back even without the dog.
Noom
We visited this place on a whim and hoped they allowed pets when we got there (it was opposite our hotel) and they did! The breakfast here was amazing - I had Autumn Waffles and who doesn't wants ice cream for breakfast? James had a breakfast bap so they had plenty of savoury options as well.
Room Rumours Coffee
This place is dog friendly but we had left Betty to have a nap after she ran (actually ran) all the way to the top of Arthurs's seat and back down again. She was doing laps of me and James so she was definitely ready for sleep. We loved it in here and got lunch and a cinnamon bun and doughnut as a lunch dessert. I will say it's only small and there was another dog in it when we arrived so if your pup is still learning how to behave in public maybe have a backup just in case as we wouldn't have been able to take Betty in without her causing a scene!
We also visited Makiramen which is don't think is dog friendly but thought I'd mention it here as it was really good! We noticed a queue one night and decided it must be good so went the following night - definitely reccomend!
Dog-Friendly Activities
There are so many beautiful places to see in Edingburgh you could fill a weekend just eating and wandering around (which we did). Because of the weather warning, we didn't get to see everything we wanted to but we did make it to the top of Arthurs Seat which was an easy-ish hike - it wasn't steep and there were young children doing it as well. Betty loves to run so this was great for her (we kept her on the lead but there were off-lead dogs).
We also took her into the St James Shopping centre which had water bowls out for dogs and of course John Lewis to buy very expensive dog shampoo because nobody wants to share a small hotel room with a wet muddy dog.
I only visited one bookshop, partly because of the weather (a wet dog in a book shop is not ideal!) and partly because I didn't want to spend my whole break shopping but we took Betty to Toppings and Company and she was loving it. She didn't quite know what to do with herself but the staff made a fuss of her and she was very happy giving out cuddles!
(we also visited The Nation Museum of Scotland whilst it was raining and it was really good - definitely worth a visit but not dog friendly).
Overall, if you're looking for a dog friendly weekend away or you live close enough for a day trip I can't recommend Edinburgh enough!