The best pubs Edinburgh

Hailed by CAMRA for its six changing real ales, Thomson's bar is a very traditional pub in the West End, not far from Haymarket station and the business part of the district. It boasts a very authentic style, with its beautiful engraved oak furniture and many period photos and advertisements. The real ales change regularly, beers of the week are offered, and the drinks menu offers a wide choice, especially in whiskies. Magpies (meat pies) are a very popular speciality here.

Despite its English name, the Cumberland has all the characteristics of a typical Scottish public house in New Town: elegant woodwork, dark green leather seats, mirrors and brewery posters. Its sheltered beer garden is very pleasant but you can also take a seat on the terrace at the front. Seven beers come mainly from small Scottish producers such as Orkney Brewery, Stewart Brewery or St. Andrews Brewery. Other larger names are also served.

The Dirty Dick's is playing the card of a crazy decoration at the end of Rose Street. Paintings, golf clubs, musical instruments, kitchen utensils, whisky boxes, caps, statuettes and many more: the whole forms an overcrowded bric-a-brac, typical of a pub, in a dark but warm atmosphere. Red benches are placed on the large floor slabs to welcome customers who have come to drink one of the three hand-pulled beers. They eat copious and well-prepared pub food. Careful, the establishment is quickly taken over.

This vast Wetherspoon chain storefront is located on George Street and attracts a lot of people for the price of its many real ales, whiskies and gins, unbeatable in Edinburgh. A few paintings, book shelves and colonnades give the place its cachet under a high wrought ceiling, worthy of an opera house, in a huge hall. The pub is much larger and less personal than other local addresses, but it remains a must for discovering Scottish beers at a lower cost.

As his name indicates, the Last Drop is located right next to the site where public executions were used on the Grassmarket. It even seems that servers would have heard ghosts calling their name when they were there alone… However, it is unlikely that this will happen to you because, like its plethora of neighbors, this pub is particularly popular at any time of the day and does not distil at night. Its interior is a witness of the past, with a fresco recalling the history of the places and its old wooden frame.

Young, trendy and urban, this cosy bar on Rose Street is a great place to hang out with the historic addresses in the area, which often attract a slightly older clientele. Live music and events are regularly scheduled: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9.30pm to 12.30am and Sunday from 4pm to 7pm, and quizzes on Thursday from 7pm. The selection of single malts is very complete and interesting, with more than 120 bottles. There are also a few beers that change regularly. In short, the place is very pleasant to settle down for a few moments or for an evening.

Nobles Bar is a beautiful place, where wood reigns supreme. The stained glass windows, characteristic of the Victorian era, add a touch of majesty and the frescoes, paintings and models depict ships. Multicoloured chairs and cushions bring a little touch of madness and the concocted dishes are a success. People come here for a brunch, but also for concerts: multi-folk on Wednesday evenings (from 8.30pm), 1930's Swing and Gypsy Jazz on Sundays (from 7pm).

Imbued with an opulence worthy of the most beautiful Georgian buildings in New Town - it is one of them -, the Tiles stands at the corner of St Andrew Square, to which it opens through its long rounded windows. The square counter in the centre of the room is surrounded by vaulted ceilings and the attendance is heterogeneous, for a beer, a cocktail, or even a meal. The list of spirits - notably gins and whiskies - is vast, as is the international wine list, and the cocktails, simple traditional, revisited or unique creations will delight you.

Bannerman's is very popular with students and internationals who come in large numbers to slump on its large vintage sofas to enjoy draught beers, including three hand-pulled beers. Massive stones and arched arcades provide the Old Town touch,while rock music asserts the youthful side. Billiard fans can play free every day before 6pm (paying afterwards) and live sessions are organized six evenings a week. The building consists of two rooms connected by a corridor with several entrances on the street.

The Milnes Bar welcomes you in a generously traditional atmosphere. The establishment gets lost in small rooms and nooks to adapt to the desires of conviviality or intimacy of all, on 2 floors and offers a wide choice of beers (for the many craft beers, go to the basement), gins, cocktails and a small catering menu quite complete. Sports fans? The pub offers sports broadcasts.

Literary anecdote: Milnes Bar is nicknamed the "Poets' pub". Indeed, in the 1950s and 1960s, it resonated with the fiery debates of two famous national poets: Hugh MacDiarmid and Norman MacCaig. The room downstairs was named The Little Kremlin in memory of those verbal jousting matches.