Best Shopping Neighborhoods in Edinburgh

Edinburgh shopping splits satisfyingly between the grand stone elegance of the New Town and the independent character of the neighborhood high streets, with the Festival season adding its own layer of pop-up bookshops, poster markets, and craft stalls.

Victoria Street in the Old Town is the most visually striking shopping street -- its curved, colorful facades house independent shops selling everything from Scottish cashmere to rare whiskies. Armstrong's Vintage on the Grassmarket is Edinburgh's best-known secondhand clothing shop. The Grassmarket itself has independent bookshops and Edinburgh-designed gift stores.

The New Town's George Street and Multrees Walk have luxury and high-end retail, but the more interesting shopping is on Thistle Street and the lanes connecting it to Queen Street, where small boutiques, galleries, and design shops cluster. Jenners, the historic department store on Princes Street, has been redeveloped -- check what has opened in its place.

Stockbridge is the best neighborhood for independent shopping. Raeburn Place and St. Stephen Street have vintage shops, art galleries, children's bookshops, and homeware stores. The Stockbridge Market on Sundays is small but perfectly curated, with local food producers, artisan crafts, and street food.

For Scottish products, look beyond the tourist-targeted tartan shops. The Scottish Design Exchange in Ocean Terminal and Dovecot Studios near the Grassmarket sell work by contemporary Scottish makers -- textiles, ceramics, jewelry, and prints. Valvona and Crolla on Elm Row in Leith is Scotland's oldest Italian delicatessen and a food shopping experience in its own right, with shelves of imported Italian products alongside Scottish artisan foods.

Whisky shopping deserves its own approach. Cadenhead's on the Canongate is the oldest independent bottler in Scotland and sells single cask whiskies you will not find elsewhere. Royal Mile Whiskies has a deep selection and knowledgeable staff who can guide purchases.

The Edinburgh Festival season in August fills the city with temporary bookshops, art markets, and the International Book Festival in Charlotte Square Gardens, which is one of the world's great literary shopping events.