Where To Live In Edinburgh As a Student

By Student Cribs | June 16, 2022 | Reading Time: 6 minutes

When you’re new to a city, it’s not easy deciding which is the best area for you to live. With so many different and exciting options, Edinburgh is no exception. There are many students spread all over the city, but Student Cribs is here to help you make your decision.

To help you decide the best place for you to live we have compared the area based on the four main factors that we all care about: Price, Quality of houses, Travel times and Things to do.

Haymarket

Since Haymarket is in West Edinburgh, just outside the very city centre, the housing market is substantially cheaper there, making it easier for students to afford quality accommodation at a reasonable price.

Passing through Haymarket, you can see that it is mainly made of apartments since the area is quite urban. The quality of the inside of the apartments are also slightly above average. You can find pretty good deals in this neighbourhood!

One of Haymarket’s strengths is its location. It is close to the city centre but at the same time it is not as busy (it only takes 10 to 15 minutes to reach the city centre). The newly refurbished Haymarket station enables you to travel to all areas of Edinburgh and beyond.

Located on the West End of Edinburgh, Haymarket may look like a quiet residential place to live, but it has much more to offer than that. The Haymarket neighbourhood has plenty of restaurants and trendy bars. If you love rugby, Murrayfield Stadium (a.k.a The Home of Scottish Rugby) is only a mile away, making it easy to reach by bus or by foot if you like to immerse yourself in the fans atmosphere. Haymarket is also close to the Edinburgh Zoo, which is the only one in the UK where you can see koalas and giant pandas.

Price: ★★★

Quality of houses: ★★★

Travel times: ★★★

Things to do: ★★★★

Average rating: 3.5/5

Newington

The Newington neighbourhood is located at the South of Edinburgh’s old town. The housing market is slightly more expensive for the same standard of houses as Haymarket, so it’s not as easy to find your dream flat there.

Newington is also prominently filled with apartments. The area is known to be populated by a lot of Edinburgh students, which unfortunately often means there is not the highest housing standard. 

The Newington area is well in terms of walking distance. It will take you slightly more than 10 minutes to get to Edinburgh’s Old Town. The University of Edinburgh is also real close from the neighbourhood.

Newington is known to be one of the most popular for Edinburgh’s students. Due to that you’ll be able to feel a little bohemian atmosphere. As you can imagine, it is full of bars and restaurants and nice delis. The bad side of the neighbourhood is that it is so popular that it is always crowded and noisy. Think well about what you’re looking for but if it’s peace and calm, Newington might not be a good fit for you.

Price: ★★

Quality of houses: ★★

Travel times: ★★★

Things to do: ★★★

Average rating: 2.5/5

Bruntsfield

Bruntsfield is located between Haymarket and Newington. The area is way more residential than the two others so the housing prices are slightly higher than the Haymarket and Newington neighbourhoods.

Unlike the two other neighbourhoods, Bruntsfield is filled with both houses and apartments. The standard of housing quality is more or less the same as Haymarket except that since Bruntsfield is a little more residential, the rent prices will be higher.

As the two other neighbourhoods, Bruntsfield is quite close from the city centre, which you’ll be able to reach in less than 15 minutes. There are also many bus stops in the area if you need to make a longer journey.

The Meadows and Bruntsfield Links are two well-known parks of Bruntsfield inhabitants. You can go there to sunbath, have picnic, or even play tennis at Meadows Tennis Courts. You’ll also find some lovely boutiques in the neighbourhood to decorate your home with unique items. Apart from that, as said above, Bruntsfield is mostly residential, so in terms of things to do, you might have to travel elsewhere.

Price: ★★

Quality of houses: ★★★

Travel times: ★★★

Things to do: ★★★

Average rating: 2.75/5

Still looking for a place in Edinburgh? Click here to check out what we have left.