"cocktail" within 5 miles of Edinburgh

Serving afternoon tea for over a century at Edinburgh’s iconic Balmoral Hotel, the Palm Court shows no sign of flagging. The shimmering Venetian chandelier and glass dome hover above neoclassical features and provide the stage for cake stands piled with…

To say this is the finest cocktail bar in Edinburgh is a bold statement, but it’s definitely among the favourites. The simple layout is the definition of underground class: basement location, vault-like nooks with bed and bunk seating, simple…

A late-night lounge and cocktail bar situated beneath high-octane new restaurant Steak, with the newly upgraded Twelve Picardy Place hotel and bar next door and outdoor enclave the Secret Garden out back.

As Hawke and Hunter, this was one of Edinburgh's A-list after-hours drinking spots. It's now rebranded as Twelve Picardy Place, and in truth not much else has changed. In December 2012 the boutique hotel, bar and lounge reopened with ten contemporary…

There are no tacky cocktail umbrellas or blingy details in this understated, warm, generally excellent cocktail bar. Just very well mixed drinks, and the odd fancy toastie if you’re hungry. It’s a more streamlined update on its previous guise as The…

One way to sum up the contrast between this Stockbridge version of the Bon Vivant and its Thistle Street sibling is that there are no weekend DJs but instead there is brunch. Such are the priorities beside the Water of Leith. Otherwise it follows a…

Despite new owners and a bit of a revamp in 2009 it remains business as usual with Bar Kohl continuing to serve over 50 flavours of vodka, as it has done since first opening in 1993. Exposed brick walls, chalk boards and standard wooden pub tables no…

Dragonfly is stylishly relaxed with a kick of kitsch providing character – a description that applies to the drinks, decor and general feel of the place. Kung fu stencilled walls and purple prints are enjoyably diverting rather than distractingly…

Decidedly far from the beaten track unless you happen to live or work locally or are moving on from a nearby Michelin-starred restaurant, the spacious Bond No.9 – housed within an old whisky bond – is hard to find fault with and easy to celebrate.

A bar belonging to a fashion house will almost by definition be intimidatingly stylish: there cannot be many bars where the cocktail menu varies according to the colours and themes of the current fashion season. Nonetheless, the staff appear to be…

Replacing the Hudson Hotel, this is Le Monde owner Billy Lowe’s latest project. The layout remains similar, although the interior is slicker - think industrial boudoir - with portraits of famous Scots such as Sean Connery, Ewan McGregor and erm, Tiffany…

Kyloe (meaning ‘cattle’) is looking to fill a niche in the Edinburgh restaurant scene, and that niche is meat, meat, meat. Cows are everywhere – the statue outside, the paintings on the wall, the cowhide furniture and the board that displays all the raw…