Edinburgh is a city with a metro-area population of just under 1 million people, but with plenty of history and beautiful architecture and plenty going on. It is frequently ranked among the best places to live in the UK. It is also Scotland’s tech hub, evidenced in the fact that half the data scientists in the country are located here despite it being only 20pc of the population.
A city for exploring
The city is the perfect size for walking around (although we do have plenty of buses, trams and cycle routes too). The centre is split by the railway between the southern Old Town and the northern New Town (still mostly 1800s). Both of these are UNESCO World Heritage sites with fine examples of Georgian and Scots Baronial architecture. The old town is a city on several levels and even after many years you can still find hidden pubs or venues you didn’t know about!
There’s several large parks including 7 hills to explore with Arthur’s Seat the largest, a wild slice of the Highlands right in the centre of the city. Edinburgh’s also on the coast, with the port of Leith now the creative hub of the city with several arts collectives, craft breweries and Michelin star restaurants. There’s even a small typical British seaside at Portobello beach and some beautiful wild sandy beaches on the edges of the city.
Being a capital city, you’ll find there are many of the things you get in London, albeit on a smaller scale. We have a Parliament, a national Museum, a national Art Gallery, a botanical garden and so on. For many other things that London has several of there will often be one in Edinburgh - I’m thinking things like indoor minigolf places, cat cafes and Nigerian restaurants.
Making friends
There’s a club or society for nearly all interests in the city. Edinburgh is home to no less than 4 universities and also an affordable place for families so there’s plenty of events catering to all. There’s a huge variety of meetups on everything from Foraging to Machine Learning Ops, Swing Dancing to Gong Therapy.
Edinburgh is also an incredibly international city, especially in the tech and academic sectors. This also means most of the culinary offerings of the world can be found here. It’s also one of the most politically liberal cities in the UK, according to Electoral Calculus.
Tech event calendar: https://lu.ma/edinburgh
Cost of living
Property in Edinburgh is about half the cost of in London, meaning you’ll comfortably be able to afford to live within walking distance of the whole of the centre of the city with a decent 1-bed flat costing under £1k per month.
The neighbourhoods of Bruntsfield, Stockbridge and Leith are particularly popular with young professionals in tech with a large number of coffee shops, independent retailers and purveyors of specialist foods (great places to be vegan or gluten free). Eating out is also slightly cheaper than London (and service charges are generally 10pc not 12.5pc).
Just Some of the Gems of Edinburgh