Even in summer, in Edinburgh you’re never far from a downpour. So it’s a good thing we have Mike MacEacheran on hand to help us out with a list of the best ways to spend a rainy day in Auld Reekie! Read on for just a few suggestions on how best to combat the capital’s unpredictable weather.

Rainy Day Edinburgh
By Mike MacEacheran
Published by Quadrille

Introduction

Densely packed with galleries, museums and world-class institutions, but also crowned by a skyline dominated by steampunk spires, steeples and the crags of a 340-million-year-old volcanic plug, Edinburgh is extraordinary whether you’re a first-timer or back for an extra helping. The setting itself is riddle-like, with a subterranean underbelly of webbed alleys and cobblestoned closes that zigzag through the Old Town like a giant game of snakes and ladders. Explore the wider cityscape from the New Town to Morningside to Portobello and beyond and you’ll also find a city of superlative castles (few know Edinburgh actually has three…) and scores of destinations where you can lose yourself amid the rich traditions and stories of a city that has had a disproportionate influence on the worlds of art, architecture, literature, music and more. If anything, this is a city that encourages notions of the fantastic.

All of this comes with a caveat, of course. Edinburgh has many nicknames – Auld Reekie (Scots for Old Smoky) and Athens of the North are two popular ones, for instance – but, perhaps, the most fitting is the Windy City. The capital is positioned between the North Sea coast and Pentland Hills, with the prevailing wind direction coming from the southwest and it brings with it unpredictable rain showers and glowering storm clouds. Which is to say hiding out in museums and art galleries on a rainy day is an art form here.

For food and dining out – the purest expression of any city – avoid the menus of haggis and out-of-the-freezer fish and chips on the Royal Mile and around the Grassmarket in the Old Town, and dig deeper into city life by heading northwest to Stockbridge or northeast to trend-setting Leith, which has both Edinburgh’s most vibrant grassroots scene and more game-changing haute cuisine than anywhere else in Scotland. And the perfect partner to all that? Drink, of course. This is the home of single malt whisky after all – and Scots are equally proud of their hospitality and gin- and beer-making heritage – and nowhere in the country has as many buzzy cocktail bars and lavishly-appointed pubs as Edinburgh. You might go from a Victorian-era backstreet boozer in the Old Town to the slightly-macabre subterranean streets of the Cowgate for a night of cocktails and decadence. Equally satisfying is a tour of the city’s fledgling indie craft brewers.

Whether you’ve spotted this book while sheltering from a rain storm (all too common on the Scottish east coast, if truth be told), or are keen to get ahead with booking must-visit restaurants and museum exhibitions before an upcoming trip, consider this guide an introduction to a capital city that, though compact and easy to navigate, never stops to catch its breath. Either way, I hope these recommendations will reassure you that the Scottish capital is as brilliant a place to be on a rainy day as it is when that giant orange-yellow orb in the sky appears.

Dovecot Studios

Dovecot Studios

This working tapestry studio and landmark design centre has more than 110 years of history and was first based in the western suburb of Corstorphine before moving into this former public swimming pool. That gives it a well-lit, graceful vibe and it’s a thrill to walk around the multi-coloured hangar and see craftspeople and master weavers bring works of art to life before your eyes from the first-floor viewing balcony (check the opening times before you visit). You can browse and linger in the gallery, café and shop, while there are tapestries and rugs to liven up your own house or apartment and – time your visit wisely – and you’ll be able to join a rug tufting or life drawing class, embroidery or bookbinding workshop, or hands-on, fleece-to-fabric experience with one of the looms.

10 Infirmary Street, EH1 1LT dovecotstudios.com
@dovecotstudios

The Writers’ Museum

Whether you’re a bookworm or just getting to grips with the disproportionate influence of Edinburgh writers on the world of literature (J.K. Rowling, Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Muriel Spark to name a few), a visit to this free museum off the Royal Mile is worth a few hours of your time. For context, the city was the first to be named a UNESCO City of Literature and the museum is a tribute to three colossi of the art that have long left critics flailing for superlatives: Scotland’s national bard Robert Burns, Rob Roy and Ivanhoe author Sir Walter Scott, and Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde wordsmith Robert Louis Stevenson. Inside, you’ll see first editions, inkwells, portraits, personal effects, a printing press and Burns’ writing desk. Outside, meanwhile, on Makars’ Court, you’ll find the Edinburgh equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame: a space of inscribed flagstones that celebrate a who’s who of Scottish writers.

Lawnmarket, Lady Stair’s Close, EH1 2PA
edinburghmuseums.org.uk
@museumsgalleriesedinburgh

Golden Hare Books

Golden Hare Books

How many bookshops are cosy enough to have a wood-burning stove fireplace set in-between the packed shelves of paperbacks and novels? Golden Hare Books is such a find and one that makes a perfect place to dry out in the company of a fine book – the specialities here are independent-published titles and carefully-curated fiction and non-fiction tomes from the book-crazed staff; as the saying here goes, ʻall our books are importantʼ. In business since 2012, it remains a thrill to seek out your new favourite while sheltering from the rain – though with more than 2,000 titles from travel to cookery to science-fiction to kids’ picture books, you might be here longer than you think. Also impressive is the calendar of events, which runs the spectrum from author talks and book signings to workshops and book clubs.

68 St Stephen Street, Stockbridge, EH3 5AQ
goldenharebooks.com
@goldenharebooks

Cairngorm Coffee

Cairngorm Coffee

With countertop-to-ceiling windows, a crossroads location perfect for meet-ups and a curated coffee menu, this minimal but beloved neighbourhood café in the West End is invariable packed with good reason. Since the company started in the wild expanses of Cairngorms National Park (an unlikely destination for a roaster, admittedly), Edinburgh has become the coffee brand’s spiritual home – nowadays there are two other locations in the capital. This Melville Place outpost is the original and it’s the quintessential coffee drinker’s establishment: bar stools meet large windows, a sleek server’s counter tenders a cake, brownie or sandwich to go with your latte or espresso, and it’s a retreat from the often wet and grey reality outside; here, the colour scheme is brilliant white and warm pine.

1 Melville Place, EH3 7PR
Other locations: New Town, St James Quarter
cairngorm.coffee
@cairngormcoffeeco

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

A walk to this unmissable art museum with two distinct personalities – Modern One and Modern Two lie directly across the road from each other – stirs an appetite for art, and you’ll be rewarded with works from such top-notch masters as Picasso, Tracey Emin and Andy Warhol. In the permanent collection, native son of Leith Eduardo Paolozzi’s sculpture studio has been recreated, while the tutored eye will recognize works by the likes of Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Roy Lichtenstein amid a collection that hangs heavy with Scottish talent. The rain means you’ll have time to explore the temporary exhibitions at leisure, but you’ll likely have to come back under brighter skies to explore the grounds, both of which are ambushed by dozens of sculptures and installations. What you won’t be able to miss, though, is Charles Jencks’ swirling landform that’s been terraformed into existence on the front lawn.

75 Belford Road, EH4 3DR
nationalgalleries.org
@natgalleriessco

Edinburgh Printmakers

For a glimpse of gentrification at its finest, come to Fountainbridge: it’s almost unrecognizable to how the area was a few years ago and design lovers have taken to the Edinburgh Printmakers with whole-hearted enthusiasm since the art studio moved into the neighbourhood from its former headquarters in the New Town back in 2019. This new lease of life in a beautiful heritage building vacated by a rubber company and brewery has seen the studio go from strength to strength and walk-ins are welcome to explore the eye-popping exhibitions, vegan café and shop. Courses run from lithography to screen-printing, while the multi-level balconied space is a mixture of open-access studios for invited artists and publishing partners and viewing galleries for you to witness world-class printing in action.

Castle Mills, 1 Dundee Street, EH3 9FP
edinburghprintmakers.co.uk
@edinburghprintmakers

Valvona & Crolla

Valvona & Crolla

Who are Valvona & Crolla? For the uninitiated they’re Benedetto Valvona and Alfona Crolla, two immigrant Italian merchants who set about importing salamis, cheeses and wine for the fledging Italian communities that moved to eastern Scotland in the late 1930s. Their legacy is a cave of goodies still supplied by small artisan producers from their homeland and the delicatessen is now the country’s oldest– and one of its most celebrated. From humble roots, the store has become the headquarters of a mini empire – the family behind the deli now run a number of other Italian cafés and bars throughout the city – yet this original still captures the imagination best, with its diverse collection of aged Parmesans, pestos and pasta flours, honeydew honeys, truffle creams and hand-sliced prosciuttos. Besides the treasure-trove delicatessen, there’s a café-restaurant, bakery and venue that’s used throughout the Fringe Festival every August.

19 Elm Row, New Town, EH7 4AA
valvonacrolla.co.uk
@valvonacrolla

The Portobello Bookshop

Seaside Portobello – aka Porty, to locals – is for sunny days, but wet ones bring book lovers to this beautiful tribute to the written word in all its forms. The store was formerly a fishing tackle shop, not that you could tell nowadays, and the main space has the expansiveness of a library, with bumper floor-to-ceiling shelves, but the essence of a chatty community hub. The focal point is the cash register flanked by four Romanesque columns, then behind that are several other brightly-lit galleries for novels, coffee table books and children’s stories. Author events and talks are a major lure for the community – and certainly worth checking out if you’re in the neighbourhood at the right time.

46 Portobello High Street, Portobello, EH15 1DA
theportobellobookshop.com
@portybooks

Rainy Day Edinburgh by Mike MacEacheran is published by Quadrille, priced £12.99.