To ask you what you love about Edinburgh

[Moanaohnana]

DP is being relocated to Edinburgh for work and I am currently a somewhat reluctant follower. I don't know Edinburgh at all and the only time I went I was very cold and there was a strong smell I think from a brewery.

I really want to be positive and on board with this move so please tell me all the great things about Edinburgh so that I can get excited about it and start looking forward to it. I'm desperate to fall in love with it. Literally anything please - what's great about living there?

Best thing about Edinburgh - the M8 to Glasgow

I wonder how many more people can crack this joke before the thread dies?

South Queensferry is great, but there's not a lot of rental property around. You will be able to buy for your budget but the house won't be pretty - we're talking 70s estates, but they are perfectly good houses with a lot of families. It just won't feel very rural though.

If you do look to rent, avoid the Hopetoun estate - they often have cottages up for rent but they do a very weird sealed bid thing for rental which is completely incomprehensible and (imo) just a way of keeping the riff-raff off the land.

You'd probably be able to get an ex-council in Dalmeny village for that budget, but again rental properties are rare.

not pretty, but a lot of house

ok this is way over... but soooo lovely - check that view! Can't get more costal than that. Though parking is a mare on that street.

Hope you enjoy your move OP.

There is plenty to do and also lots of places to meet new people.

I've never understood the fascination with Glasgow, in comparison to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a much nicer city!

Look at the ESPC for property - the biggest selection generally. I would also consider Leith Links, Portobello and Musselburgh - cheaper than the West or centre of the city, less noise from the airport, lovely places to live and actually not bad to commute at all. espc.com/

There is tons of green space in Edinburgh so having an outdoor lifestyle is no problem at all.

We lived in the more Barnton side Clermiston and I wouldn't recommend it. Just sprawling suburbia with no centre and nothing to do round about.

Portobello is lovely, seaside living only 40mins from the city centre and very well connected for transport.

I agree completely about Portobello, best part of the best city in the world. I just went onto the ESPC website and couldn't see anything suitable in the Porty area in your price range, OP, but it's a quiet time for house shopping so more will be coming onto the market in the New Year.

If I could tear myself away from Portobello which is never going to happen I'd be seriously tempted by LonnyVonny's house with the view of the Forth Rail Bridge. Imagine waking up to that every day!

The trouble is, Portobello and S Qeensferry are expensive, as are all the desirable areas. I have been looking to move back for some time, but can't find what i'm looking for, somewhere with a rural feel but not too far out. I have lived in Cramond, and loved it there, but it is becoming very built up and is losing its villagey feel. The planes are noisy but you actually get to the point where you don't notice it. Barnton is good too, but expensive. Likewise Blackhall, Joppa , Portobello etc. Anything in those areas which don't have obvious defects go for silly money.Edinburgh has always been like this.

Would you say prices in Edinburgh have gone up a lot in the last couple of years or so or only in some areas. I suppose it's like everywhere else when the dearer areas become unaffordable people move to the next best areas and then they shoot up as has happened in London.

I don't think they've gone up any more than usual but prices have always climbed steeply in the more popular areas - you never lose money on property in Edinburgh if you buy wisely. It's always been really expensive unfortunately.

Firstly, I am massively envious! Edinburgh is a fabulous city. I love the fact that it’s compact, so you can walk everywhere. There are loads of great pubs and restaurants. The architecture is beautiful. You can be at the seaside/countryside/up a mountain in a short space of time. In fact, if there’s one city that has it all going for it then Edinburgh is the place. The only thing that would probably get on my nerves slightly it would be the tourists (like me 😂)

Compact airport with great bus links into the City centre
Cafe culture (even if hat and scarf needed)
Music venues/pubs on Cowgate
Quirky shops in Grassmarket
No longer any pong from the brewery
Easy to walk around
One of my favourite places in the world

Places to look for decently sized houses that aren't too far away from the city: Fairmilehead, Straiton, Bonnyrigg, Newbigging, Musselburgh, Tranent and Port Seaton. (The last three are East Lothian, so not the right side of the city for you, but they have good bus links and easy access to the city bypass.)

Oops, I mean Newtowngrange, not Newbigging!

BitofFun
Nice as Biggar is, it’s a hell of a commute!

outdoor lifestyle is no problem at all.

Well, except for the weather 😂

Sigh. Yes, you're right. About an hour? I always used to love it passing through from England though. Such a pretty town.

Good chippy in Biggar.

Got to get your priorities right. What's the point of living in a posh part of town with excellent schools if you can't get decent chips?

Quite. Every time I drive past the sign declaring the "Burgh Of Biggar", I say to myself "It's a bugger of a big burgh, is Biggar". I make myself chortle every time.

Biggar - a bugger of a commute! Most places in the borders are (although there is now a train on one bit but wouldn't help your DH).

If I needed to be in the north west of the city I would look at davidsons mains, cramond, south queensferry. Avoid daily commuting on the bypass if you can!

The Fringe is great.

Unusual bars. Good live music.

You can get a flight to the black forest in Germany for £10

Not too far to get to beautiful Scottish countryside either.

Downside is being so far from many places in England, if you have friends and family there.

Biggar!!! I may or may not be there at this very minute.

Downside is being so far from many places in England, if you have friends and family there
Many of us view the distance as an upside, Bertie.
Don’t believe the easy commute from the borders stuff. I can take an hour to drive home from one part of the city to another, never mind from another town.

Lived in Edinburgh and it’s a great city. Sauce with your chips, Hibs
Stunning architecture, really atmospheric,I never tire of looking at Edinburgh
Good parks eg meadows, botanics
Great skies,that really take your breath away when you look across bridges,mound,new town
Brill selection of bars and restaurants all prices,and range of foods
Quirky wee pubs eg Jingling Geordie,Wally Dug
Despite what the locals say the house prices are ok,esp if you’re coming from down south
Good choice of housing stock eg period and new
Schools are overall good,apply to local authority Edinburgh council.its arranged by catchment area

Not immediately free uni for the kids,there’s a residency criteria