The Witchery by the Castle

The Hotel

The Witchery was founded in 1979 by Edinburgh restaurateur James Thomson OBE in a 16th-century building on Castlehill at the very top of the Royal Mile, twenty paces from Edinburgh Castle's esplanade. The name refers to the area's grim history: between 1479 and 1722 over 300 women were burned at the stake on Castlehill on accusations of witchcraft, and Thomson took the macabre history as the design starting point. The original Witchery restaurant — the candlelit, oak-panelled, leather-bound dining room that has appeared in countless travel features — opened in the same year and remains one of Britain's most photographed and most consistently booked restaurants.

The hotel followed the restaurant. Thomson took adjacent rooms in the same Castlehill building and the linked structure across the close, and converted them progressively into the suite-only accommodation that defines the property today. There are currently nine theatrical suites, each named individually and each individually styled — among them the Old Rectory, the Library, the Vestry, the Sempill, the Inner Sanctum, the Heriot, the Armoury, the Guardroom, and the Turret. Thomson sourced the antiques personally over four decades; the Library has a working antique organ, the Old Rectory a 17th-century four-poster, the Vestry an antique clawfoot bath positioned to look out toward the Castle. Every room has a sitting room, a four-poster or canopied bed, and the deep velvet, gilt-mirror, candle-everywhere aesthetic that has become the property's signature.

The Witchery Restaurant — the original 1979 dining room — operates daily for lunch and dinner, with an extensive Scottish-and-French menu and one of Britain's most decorated wine cellars (over 1,000 bins). The Secret Garden — Thomson's later addition, a glass-roofed restaurant built on the foundations of an old Castlehill schoolhouse — is the brighter, fresher alternative for daytime dining. Both restaurants are open to non-residents, and reservations book six months ahead for premium Edinburgh dates (Festival, Hogmanay, anniversaries). All overnight residents are offered a complimentary champagne breakfast served in-suite.

The Witchery's distinctive proposition is a function of its scale, its location, and its design. There is no other small luxury hotel in Britain in such a position — directly beside Edinburgh Castle, at the top of the Royal Mile, with the Old Town's medieval closes immediately to either side. The size (nine suites only) means the hotel rarely has more than 18 guests in residence at any time; the design means that almost every guest is photographing every surface within the first hour. Sir Mick Jagger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Pierce Brosnan, and a long list of celebrity clientele have stayed; the property has a near-permanent place in Mr & Mrs Smith's hotel rankings. For Edinburgh travellers seeking the most theatrical, most distinctive small-hotel stay in Britain, the Witchery is the answer.

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