How to choose, when everywhere is twenty minutes away
We are a removals firm rather than an estate agent, so this is not a guide to house prices. It is a guide to what each area is actually like to live in and to move into, which is a question we get asked on almost every survey.
Four questions settle it faster than any list of areas:
- Flat or house? This is the big one, and it narrows the map immediately. 56% of Edinburgh residents live in flats, against 28% across Scotland.
- Do you need to park a car? Controlled parking covers much of the centre and has spread well beyond it.
- Garden, or is a park enough? Most central flats have a shared drying green at best.
- Do you want to walk to things, or drive to them? The answer splits the city roughly in half.
Central and characterful
| Area | Suits | What it is like to move into |
|---|---|---|
| The New Town | Anyone wanting Georgian proportions and a central address | Much of it listed, controlled parking throughout, and converted upper floors can have narrow original stairs. Check whether your address falls inside the Low Emission Zone, since the boundary runs along Queen Street |
| Stockbridge | Village feel without leaving the centre. Good for a first flat or downsizing | Tenements plus colony flats, where the upper flat is reached by an external stone stair. Lovely, and an awkward carry in rain. Tight streets near the Water of Leith |
| Marchmont | Students, young professionals, families wanting the Meadows on the doorstep | Pre-1919 tenements, commonly three and four storeys, no lifts, half-landing turns and controlled parking. Heavy turnover in the summer weeks |
| Bruntsfield and Morningside | Families who want a flat but also a high street | Larger tenement flats, some with gardens. Busy main roads make loading harder than the side streets suggest |
Changing and well connected
- Leith. The most varied housing stock in the city: tenements, converted warehouses and modern blocks. Warehouse conversions sometimes have goods lifts, which makes a move dramatically easier when they work. Worth checking the current tram position for your address rather than assuming.
- Newington and the Southside. Close to the university, so a large rental market and a strong summer turnover. Mostly tenements, mostly controlled parking, and much of it inside or near the Low Emission Zone.
- Abbeyhill. Colony flats again, with the same external stone stairs as Stockbridge, and Holyrood Park at the end of the road.
Houses, gardens and parking
- Corstorphine. Interwar semis and terraces, more houses than flats, and usually the easiest access in the city. Driveways exist, which is not something to take for granted here.
- Portobello. Terraces and tenements near the promenade, with a beach and a genuine community feel. Narrow lanes behind the prom and seasonal congestion on warm days.
- Colinton and Currie. Further out, greener, and family-oriented. A car becomes more useful and parking stops being a problem.
- Trinity and Blackhall. Larger villas and family homes with gardens, longer carries from door to van, and furniture that has often been in place for decades.
The pattern across all of these is the same: as you move outward, the carry gets shorter, the parking gets easier and the move gets cheaper. That is not a reason to choose an area, but it is a real cost difference worth knowing about.
What the buildings mean for your things
Before you offer on anything with a stair, measure three things: the width at the half-landing turn, the width of the flat door and internal doorways, and the ceiling height on the stair, which decides whether an item can be tilted through.
Items that regularly do not make it into central flats include three-seat sofas with fixed backs, superking divan bases that do not split, full-height wardrobes assembled in the room, and American-style fridge freezers. What to do when something will not fit is covered in our guide to downsizing and what will not fit.
Two things to check for any address
- Controlled parking. If the street is zoned, a resident permit is needed and visitor parking is limited. Controlled parking has extended well beyond the original central zones, so check the current position for the specific street rather than assuming.
- The Low Emission Zone. Enforced since 1 June 2024 across roughly 1.2 square miles of the centre, 24 hours a day. Diesel vehicles need to meet Euro 6 and petrol Euro 4, or the registered keeper receives a penalty charge. If you drive an older car, this is a bigger factor in choosing an address than almost anything else.
- Council tax band, which also determines your Scottish Water charge, since the two are billed together.
- School catchment, if it applies to you. Catchment gives priority rather than a guarantee, and the council advises checking availability before you move.
Where we would not send you
- A top-floor tenement, if mobility is a consideration. There are no lifts in most pre-1919 stock, and that does not change.
- The central zones, if you need a car daily. Controlled parking plus the Low Emission Zone will fight you every day rather than just on moving day.
- Anywhere central, if you are bringing a four-bedroom house of furniture. Measure first. A great deal of it will not go up.
- Near a major Festival venue, if you value quiet in August. The Fringe alone ran across 301 venues in 2025, most of them in ordinary streets.
- An area chosen on one visit in June. Edinburgh in February is a different city. Visit twice if you can.
Common questions about where to live in Edinburgh
What is the best area to live in Edinburgh?
There is no single answer, because the city is compact enough that commute time barely separates areas. The useful split is flat versus house: the New Town, Marchmont and Stockbridge for central flats with character, Corstorphine, Portobello and Colinton for houses with gardens and parking.
Which areas of Edinburgh are best for families?
Corstorphine, Colinton, Currie, Trinity and Blackhall for houses with gardens and easier parking. Bruntsfield, Morningside and Marchmont work well for families who want a larger flat and a high street rather than a garden. School catchment should be checked directly with the council before committing.
Is Leith a good place to live?
It has the most varied housing stock in the city, from tenements to warehouse conversions to modern blocks, and generally better value than the New Town. It is busier and less uniform street to street, so it is worth walking the specific street rather than judging the area as a whole.
Do I need a car in Edinburgh?
In the central areas, generally not, and it can be an active liability given controlled parking and the Low Emission Zone. Further out, in Corstorphine, Colinton or Currie, a car becomes considerably more useful and parking stops being a problem.
What should I check before choosing an Edinburgh address?
Whether the street is in a controlled parking zone, whether the address is inside the Low Emission Zone, the council tax band, and if there are stairs, the width at the half-landing turn. Those four answers decide most of what daily life and moving day will be like.
Before you commit to an area
Walk the street at two different times of day, check the parking and Low Emission Zone position for that exact address, and if it is a flat, measure the stair before you offer. Everything else is preference, and in a city this size most of the preferences are genuinely well served.
The wider practicalities of arriving here are covered in our guide to moving to Edinburgh, and more guides are collected in our Edinburgh moving guides.
Housing and tenure figures are from the City of Edinburgh Council Census 2022 summary. Low Emission Zone and parking arrangements were checked against council guidance on 3 August 2026. Area descriptions reflect our own experience of moving households across the city rather than property market analysis; check the specific street and address before making a decision.
