AKA The Best Hotel View in Edinburgh
Have you ever had a moment in life where you think, “oh crap, I’ve reached my peak” and you just know that everything else from here on out will probably be mediocre? That was me as I stood on the balcony wrapped in a duvet, stunned by the phenomenal view of Edinburgh Castle directly in front of me, munching on last nights raspberry macaroons. But alas, I am getting ahead of myself.
The Aye Life team also have another digital biz. And quite often our trips are biz-meets-pleasure. And we were headed to the central belt for lots of chat, coffee, business and, well, a little bit of luxury. After a rush hour coffee at Broxden Service Station, we were headed into the Scottish capital. It was dark and Edinburgh’s historic alleys and closes were twinkling in the evening’s streetlights.
Apex Hotel Edinburgh Grassmarket
FYI, a hotel in Edinburgh with city centre parking is not easy to come by. The Apex in the Grassmarket is within walking distance to all of Edinburgh’s best sights and it has parking. Win-win. We were greeted by the lovely Kirsty at reception who checked us in whilst handing us drinks vouchers for the bar. The Apex give you £10 in food and drink vouchers if you book direct and although our stay was comped, we still managed to wangle vouchers. Happy days.
We had been upgraded to a Deluxe room with a castle facing balcony. Before we even got to the room, I knew we’d hit the jackpot. We were joined in the lift by a couple of skyscrapers from the Italian Rugby Federation. But neither of us clicked. Aye 2.0 thought they were foreign tourists. Until we seen the Six Nations on the telly a couple of days later and realised we’d missed one hell of a photo opportunity. Although to be fair, with the size of them, there’s no way they would of fit in a selfie.
Grand Designs
The room blew our expectations completely out of the pond. If the great big bed, the immaculate bathroom, the welcoming macaroons and shards of white chocolate didn’t do it, then the floor to ceiling windows, opening onto the balcony with the sensational view of Edinburgh Castle certainly did. What a time to be alive.
We ordered sushi and cosily stared in admiration at Edinburgh Castle. We followed this up with completely unnecessary sticky toffee pudding and cajun fries from room service. SorryNotSorry.
I’ve never been in a hotel and been so excited for morning in all my days. The nighttime view of the castle wasn’t exactly hard on the eye but the thought of rolling over in bed and watching the sunrise on the historic castle was dreamy. Aye 2.0 was up and out of bed at 6am to go and photograph the city. That really says it all. He is not a morning person. When you spend so much time with one person, you begin to take on their traits. We are usually on the brink of a pre-marriage divorce before 9am.
How do you like your castle in the morning?
I like mine from my bed. And that is exactly what I got. I rolled over and hazily opened my eyes to see the unmistakeable morning glow on the majestic castle. It was everything I thought it would be. And so much more. Aye 2.0 was back from his morning stroll by this point and already raring to go down for breakfast. Which we both needed. We may be grouchy in the morning but a full Scottish breakfast certainly reminds us that we do in fact like each other.
Unfortunately, we never got a chance to enjoy the Apex’s pool and spa, but we definitely plan to return to enjoy all of the amenities. We highly recommend the Apex Hotel Edinburgh Grassmarket for a trip to the Scottish capital. It’s worth it for the view alone. Everything else is just a perfect bonus.
