InterContinental Edinburgh The George

Five Georgian Townhouses, One New Town Address

George Street was built to impress. Laid out in the 1760s as part of James Craig's New Town plan, its broad sandstone terraces were designed for Edinburgh's mercantile and professional class — the people who wanted distance from the closes and tenements of the Old Town. The street's former banks and financial institutions have largely reinvented themselves as restaurants and bars, but the Georgian bones remain intact, and at numbers 19 to 21, those bones are on full display. InterContinental Edinburgh The George occupies a run of five 18th-century townhouses that have been merged and, following a multimillion-dollar refurbishment, restored to a standard that matches the architectural ambition of the originals. Corinthian columns, ornate moulded ceilings, and a blown-glass chandelier in the King's Hall set the register immediately: this is a building that was built to signal status, and it has not forgotten how.

The connection to Sir Walter Scott — widely regarded as Scotland's defining literary figure , gives the property a cultural anchor that most hotels in this price tier can only approximate through art installations and library shelves. Scott's association with these townhouses predates the hotel by over a century, placing the building in a lineage that runs through Scottish literary and civic history rather than through hospitality brand chronology. Among Edinburgh's historic hotel addresses, that kind of provenance is relatively rare. Properties like The Balmoral, a Rocco Forte Hotel carry their own institutional weight at the east end of Princes Street, but the New Town townhouse format , multiple residential buildings stitched together , creates a different spatial character: domestic in scale, grand in detail.

What the Josper Grill Tells You About Scottish Beef

Scotland's beef supply chain is one of the most geographically specific in the British Isles. Aberdeen Angus cattle raised on Highland and Lowland pastures have long commanded premium positioning in the UK market, and the 28-day dry-ageing process applied to the cuts served at The Printing Press restaurant is the standard by which serious beef programmes in the country are measured. Ageing at that duration concentrates flavour and tenderises muscle fibre through enzymatic activity , it requires controlled humidity, consistent temperature, and space, which is why it remains a marker of culinary commitment rather than a casual feature.

The Josper grill , a closed charcoal oven of Spanish origin that combines the intensity of a grill with the convection of an oven , has become the preferred instrument for premium beef cookery in British hotel restaurants over the past decade. Its adoption signals where a kitchen places its priorities: the equipment is expensive, requires skill to operate at consistent temperatures, and produces a crust-to-interior contrast that open grilling rarely achieves. That The Printing Press pairs those cuts with classical accompaniments , béarnaise, peppercorn, bone marrow gravy , reflects a preference for restraint in sauce work, letting the provenance of the beef carry the plate rather than obscuring it. For Edinburgh dining, where the sourcing argument for Scottish beef is essentially unanswerable, this is a coherent editorial position for a hotel restaurant. See our full Edinburgh restaurants guide for further context on where prime Scottish produce appears across the city's dining scene.

Printing Press Bar and the Whisky Question

Edinburgh's cocktail bar culture has matured considerably in the past decade, moving from the standard whisky-and-mixer positioning toward programmes that treat Scotch as a base spirit in the same technical register as bourbon or rye. The Printing Press Bar operates within that shift, with mixologists available for consultation and a format that encourages guests to consider whisky-led drinks as the logical default given the location. The bar's name references Edinburgh's publishing history , the city was a centre of European Enlightenment printing, and Scott's connection to Constable and other major publishers of the period makes the homage contextually precise rather than decorative.

The bar draws a nightly crowd, particularly on weekends, which is worth factoring into arrival planning. The standing advice to arrive early and secure a reservation for dinner at the adjacent restaurant is sound: both venues operate at capacity during peak evenings, and the physical connection between bar and restaurant means foot traffic from George Street's wider hospitality corridor flows through both spaces. Edinburgh's bar scene is extensively mapped in our full Edinburgh bars guide.

240 Rooms Across Merged Townhouses

The 240 accommodations distribute across what were once separate residential properties, which produces variation in room character that purpose-built hotels rarely offer. High ceilings and bay windows appear in a proportion of rooms as remnants of their townhouse origins, and the refurbishment has standardised bathroom quality across categories , rainfall showers, Agraria toiletries (produced in San Francisco), and bathrobes are present even in standard configurations. That baseline matters at this tier: a hotel of this architectural weight can absorb inconsistent room quality poorly, and the refurbishment appears to have addressed the gap between public space grandeur and private room standard.

View question at The George is not trivial. George Street rooms look out over one of Edinburgh's most active social corridors, where former banking halls now operate as busy bars and restaurants. The animation is appealing in daylight and early evening, less so for light sleepers from late evening onward, when the street's hospitality venues reach full volume. North-facing rooms on upper floors offer a quieter aspect and, on clear days, a sightline extending to the River Forth estuary and the hills of Fife beyond. That is a meaningfully different visual experience and a legitimate reason to specify room preference at booking.

Edinburgh has several hotel categories worth distinguishing. Properties like Prestonfield House Edinburgh offer a country house atmosphere within the city boundary, while Gleneagles Townhouse brings the Perthshire brand's identity into a New Town address. Nira Caledonia and 100 Princes Street represent the smaller, design-led end of the Edinburgh hotel spectrum, with limited keys and more curated atmospheres. The George occupies a different tier by scale and brand infrastructure, with IHG's InterContinental positioning placing it in the upper bracket of the city's full-service hotel market alongside The Caledonian Edinburgh, Curio Collection by Hilton. For further context across all categories, our full Edinburgh hotels guide maps the field comprehensively.

The King's Hall and Event Positioning

The King's Hall functions as a distinct proposition within the hotel. Its Corinthian columns, moulded ceiling work, and blown-glass chandelier place it in a small set of Edinburgh event rooms where the architecture itself is the primary asset. The room is frequently used for weddings and formal celebrations, which reflects both the space's visual scale and the difficulty of finding comparable Georgian interiors available for private hire in the city centre. For comparison, similarly scaled historic event spaces in British cities , Claridge's in London or Gleneagles in Auchterarder , tend to command significant lead times and minimum spend requirements. The King's Hall operates in that same upper tier of Scottish event venues.

Planning Your Stay

August is the most logistically complex month to visit Edinburgh. The festival season , which encompasses the Edinburgh International Festival, the Fringe, and several parallel programmes , effectively doubles the city's population for three weeks, compressing hotel availability and inflating room rates across all categories. Booking well ahead for any August stay at The George is not precautionary advice; it is structural necessity. The same applies, to a lesser degree, around Hogmanay in late December and early January, when the city's capacity for overnight visitors is again tested against demand.

For stays outside peak periods, the hotel's George Street location places it within easy reach of the city's principal cultural institutions: the Scottish National Portrait Gallery is a short walk to the east, and the Castle is accessible on foot via the Mound. The gym, refurbished as part of the wider renovation programme, is available for guests who prefer not to use the city as their exercise circuit , a reasonable preference given Edinburgh's weather patterns for much of the year.

Guests interested in exploring Edinburgh's wider cultural and experiential offer will find the full Edinburgh experiences guide and Edinburgh wineries guide useful complements. Those considering comparable historic hotel properties elsewhere in the UK might look at Lime Wood in Lyndhurst, The Newt in Bruton, or Estelle Manor in North Leigh for properties that similarly place architectural heritage at the centre of the guest experience. Among international comparisons, the converted-building format appears at Aman Venice and, in a different register, at Aman New York. Elsewhere in Edinburgh, Fingal Hotel and Cheval Old Town Chambers offer further alternatives for different guest priorities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which room category should I book at InterContinental Edinburgh The George?

North-facing rooms on upper floors offer the most settled sleep environment and the leading views, extending on clear days toward the River Forth estuary. Street-facing rooms on lower levels experience noise from George Street's active bar and restaurant corridor, particularly on weekend evenings. The refurbishment standardised bathroom quality across all categories , rainfall showers and Agraria toiletries are present throughout , so the primary variable in category selection is aspect and floor level rather than fixture quality.

Why do people go to InterContinental Edinburgh The George?

The building itself is the primary draw: five merged 18th-century townhouses with documented connections to Sir Walter Scott, a King's Hall with Corinthian columns and a blown-glass chandelier, and a New Town address on George Street. The multimillion-dollar refurbishment has restored the property to a condition that justifies its architectural ambitions. The Printing Press restaurant, with 28-day-aged Scottish beef on a Josper grill, and the adjacent cocktail bar provide on-site dining reasons that hold up independently of the accommodation.

Do I need a reservation for InterContinental Edinburgh The George?

For The Printing Press restaurant and bar, a reservation is advisable, particularly on weekend evenings when both venues reach capacity. For hotel rooms during Edinburgh's August festival season or around Hogmanay, booking well in advance is necessary , city-wide demand compresses availability sharply during both periods. Contacting the hotel directly through their George Street address or IHG's booking infrastructure is the reliable route; same-day availability during peak periods is unlikely.

Who tends to like InterContinental Edinburgh The George most?

If you place architectural provenance and a central New Town address above boutique-hotel intimacy, The George is well-matched to your priorities. The 240-room scale and IHG infrastructure suit travellers who want consistent service standards and on-site dining without coordinating across separate venues. Guests focused on Edinburgh's cultural institutions , the Portrait Gallery, the festivals, Hogmanay , benefit directly from the George Street location. Those preferring smaller, more idiosyncratic properties might find Nira Caledonia or Prestonfield House a closer fit.

What makes The Printing Press restaurant worth choosing over other Edinburgh hotel restaurants?

The combination of 28-day dry-aged Scottish beef and a Josper grill positions The Printing Press in a small subset of Edinburgh hotel restaurants with a dedicated, sourcing-led beef programme. The classical sauce accompaniments , béarnaise, peppercorn, bone marrow gravy , indicate a kitchen that treats the quality of the primary ingredient as the central argument rather than a supporting one. For guests whose dining priority is prime Scottish beef cooked with technical precision, the restaurant represents one of the more coherent expressions of that tradition in the New Town.