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Port district of Edinburgh, Scotland
Photo: Hugh Llewelyn from Keynsham, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Leith is the historic port of Edinburgh the capital of Scotland, north of city centre on the shore of the Firth of Forth. It's now only a minor port and has lost much of its industry, to be replaced by retail, bistros and cobbled wharves. In 2021 its population was 24,620, with about the same again in nearby districts such as Newhaven also described on this page.
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This ship was commissioned in 1954 and was the royal transport and residence on overseas tours until 1997. She has a length of 412 ft / 126 m and oil-fired twin turbines; she was also designed to act as a hospital ship in wartime but was never so used. Symbolically her last duty was to bring home the Governor of Hong Kong after the crown colony was handed over to China, and the last scrap of British Empire was ceded to the rising superpower. She was not replaced, in spite of a rearguard action by the flag-waving political right wing. Princess Diana took her honeymoon cruise aboard with Charles and must have experienced utter heart-sink: the average double-glazing millionaire has a better yacht than this. The royal apartments exhibit all the flair and comfort of the parlour of the deputy headmistress of a genteel boarding school. (See the Fingal Hotel, owned by the Britannia Trust and moored nearby, for what design pizzazz and a big budget can achieve.) Almost 270 crew were needed to sail this vessel, which is more military-meets-cruise-ship than a luxury yacht.
Stately neo-classical building of 1818 which is now a maritime museum, but only open for special events. It's built over its predecessor of 1560, which in turn was built over a medieval monastic site. The organisation dates back to 1380, when Leith mariners gained the right to levy duty on goods landed at the port; the funds supported sick or aged mariners or their families. They went on to fund lighthouses and to develop training for mariners, which became Leith Nautical College. They invested in real estate and the neighbourhood of Trinity was originally theirs. Other medieval ports copied these arrangements, such as Trinity House in London Deptford from 1514 which became the governing body for English lighthouses, but the Leith version was senior and distinct. A separate body for Scottish lighthouses was established in 1786, now called the Northern Lighthouse Board.
The "Hibs" play soccer in the Premiership, Scotland's top tier. The all-seater stadium, capacity 24,000, is at the south edge of Leith. Hibs have played at Easter Road since 1893; in 2000 the pronounced slope of the ground was levelled out. Their traditional city rivals are Hearts. Buses 1 and 35 run down Easter Road but there are more frequent buses down Leith Walk just west or along London Road (A1) just south.
Large multiplex chain cinema showing mainstream films. There's another Vue on Greenside Place at the top of Leith Walk.
Pleasant small bistro for breakfast or lunch. They have another branch in Morningside.
Quality seafood restaurant in an old watchtower.
This smart slick place on the waterfront does excellent seafood.
Waterside tavern founded in 1434 serving good modern cuisine.
Friendly small trattoria by the harbour.
Friendly relaxed cafe bistro.
A waterfront bistro.
Bistro with quality Scots cuisine.
Splendid little licensed cafe.
Great reviews for this small Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant. BYOB from Sainsbury's opposite.
Leith's first Michelin Star, serving very good food especially the tasting menu, but several found it short of the "outstanding" implied by the Star.
Established in 2006, Tom Kitchen's Michelin-starred restaurant edges Martin Wishart for consistent high quality.
Another outstanding restaurant, try the tasting menu.
This opened in 2026 and quickly drew great reviews for its modern Scottish cuisine.
Friendly pub with food in a former cruise liner waiting room. Lots of outside tables by the water so a great choice for a sunny afternoon. They have another branch in the West End.
Elegantly decorated cafe bar with good food.
Nautical-themed pub with dark panelling, they have beer but are mainly a whisky and cocktail bar. No food.
Fine real ales with a view over the Firth of Forth. Food available.
This converted biscuit factory is a vertical distillery - water is pumped just once up the nine-storey building and gravity does the rest, more efficient than multiple intermediate pumping. There's a rooftop bar, and they market Spanish port and sherry but this is just a side-line until their whisky matures. Sherry barrels imported at Leith were traditionally re-used to mature whisky, imparting a rich complex flavour. It's intended to mature whisky here for 7 years, well beyond the legal minimum 3, so it will be a pricy premium brand when it goes on sale in 2030. Meanwhile the hustle is to sign people up as "analysts", who pay over £500 to receive test samples of immature whisky that wouldn't earn a place on the shelves of Lidl.
They make gin, named for James Lind the Scottish surgeon who advocated the use of limes to treat and prevent scurvy at sea. In 1747 he conducted the world's first controlled clinical trial, comparing six different remedies for scurvy while aboard HMS Salisbury patrolling the western Channel.
Friendly neighborhood pub with bar food.
Excellent dog-friendly pub with knowledgeable staff.
Connoisseur whisky-drinkers' private club, with other branches on Queen St and in Glasgow, trying to convey old-money opulence and exclusivity without snootiness and froideur. If you've genuinely got a nose for the good stuff and are in Scotland for an extended period then it's worth buying the annual membership. Otherwise it's just a marketing ploy to wannabes.
Friendly B&B in a Victorian villa with 14 rooms en-suite. Evening meals available. Free secure car parking.
Modern and comfortable. Friendly service and good location.
Pleasant waterfront hotel by the historic harbour, some rooms tired.
Modern, stylish serviced apartments near Leith harbour outlet. Each has two bedrooms (sleeps 4) and everything you need but the beds are hard.
Everything you'd expect from this value-for-money chain by Newhaven harbour.
Now permanently moored in Alexandra Dock, MV Fingal was the support vessel for the northern lighthouses. She was built in 1963 and stationed in Oban then Stromness. She retired in 2000 and languished awhile in Falmouth, Cornwall then was converted into a luxury hotel, opened in 2019. With 23 cabins, Fingal gets rave reviews for decor, comfort, service and cuisine. No dogs. Owned by the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, guests get free tickets for Britannia, which suffers by comparison.
A smaller mid-price version of Fingal, so perhaps it should be called "Ossian Mist". Built in 1919 as a minesweeper but not so used as the war had ended, it was the pleasure yacht of a series of playboys, albeit the Second World War saw it recalled to anti-mine duties. It was brought to Leith in the 1980s as a floating restaurant but fell derelict. In 2018 it was refurbished as a 17 cabin hotel, earning good reviews.
The biggest local supermarket, with pharmacy, opticians, travel money and filling station.
A huge undercover shopping centre with the usual High Street chain shops and a Vue cinema plus bars and food outlets. It was built on former shipyards and intended as a terminal for cruise passengers, but by 2001 when it opened cruisers had grown to humongous size too big for the harbour approaches and wharves. Britannia was then permanently moored alongside, so even smaller vessels can no longer dock here.
Chinese supermarket with food items from across south-east Asia, plus crockery and cooking utensils. Great for those hard-to-find ingredients but even items stocked by mainstream supermarkets are often better value here.
By tram
The tram runs from Edinburgh Airport via city west end, Princes Street, St Andrew Square (for main railway and bus stations) then down Leith Walk (stopping at Macdonald Road, Balfour Street and Foot…
By bus
From the airport, take Bus 17 (formerly Skylink 200). This runs from airport stop B via Corstorphine down to Newhaven seafront and Leith Ocean Terminal - it doesn't pass anywhere near city centre.
By road
Approaching from England, take A1 to its terminus at Portobello then A199 along the coast.
The historic core is compact, so walk. The sprawling districts east and west are served by bus. Bus 16 is the way to go west along the coast: from Leith Walk it goes to Newhaven, Granton and Silverknowes.
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