Indulge your Artistic Sensibilities at the Edinburgh Art Festival

We’re getting excited about this year’s Edinburgh Arts Festival, which takes place throughout August.  It is the perfect opportunity to visit Edinburgh and to indulge your artistic sensibilities! Established in 2004, the Art Festival was conceived in order to pay homage to the visual arts and showcase new and upcoming Scottish artists as well as established ones.

A new festival emerges

So, how did the Art Festival emerge as a distinct cultural event? Essentially it continued the established pattern of the building of relationships between Arts councils, galleries and universities that took place during the larger Edinburgh International Festival taking place at the same time.  From 2005 to 2007 a festival guide was produced, which also included collaborative projects and commissions. This gave way to promotions and a marketing platform whereby artists could showcase their own artistic work. Visitors will find that the Art Festival has grown so comprehensively that there are now over thirty venues and forty-five exhibitions available to see at the Festival.

Image Courtesy of Edinburgh Art Festival

Highlights of this year’s Festival

When you visit Edinburgh during the Festival you will have the opportunity to see the fine exhibitions that they will be holding. This year, there are an estimated 45 exhibitions ranging from the modern and contemporary back to the historical art periods. The Ming: The Golden Empire is an exhibition covering the opulence of the imperial Ming court and illustrates the unique Chinese style.  There is also an exhibition called Alt-W, which gives a voice to new work Chris Helson and Sarah Jackets, among others. Aside from those, you will also experience the American Impressionists exhibitions, the Leon Morrocco exhibition and the Katie Paterson: Ideas exhibition.

What is your favourite style of visual art?  Let us know your opinion on the exhibits from this year’s festival

Book your early bird room offer

At the Dunstane we like to offer our accommodation and our boutique rooms to visitors attending the festival, but you must book early. Have a look at our website and check for our early bird offers and find out how to book your room for the entire festival to make sure you don’t miss out! We can guarantee that you will have the time of your life when you visit us here!

Stay in Edinburgh for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games!

The Commonwealth Games is a sporting competition held among the 70+ nations of the Commonwealth of the former British Empire. The Olympic style event was first conceived in the late 1800’s and took place for the very first time in 1911. Whilst the commonwealth games used to be static, held at Crystal Palace, it has since been taken from city to city around the Commonwealth itself, much like the Olympic Games. This year the Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Why stay in Edinburgh?

Given that Glasgow is about 45 miles away from Edinburgh, you might think that it is pretty impractical for someone to stay in Edinburgh during the Commonwealth Games, instead of right there in Glasgow. However, thinking about it, it actually makes good sense to be staying outside of the city that will be very busy and full of tourists. When you get back to the quiet of our boutique hotel, here at the Dunstane in Edinburgh, you will enjoy the peace and quiet and pure tranquillity away from that hustle and bustle.

Games Travel

Edinburgh offers so much in the way of entertainment, gastronomy, sightseeing and historical delights that you can spend most of your time wandering around the city and forget to go to the games altogether! Although, most people only tend to buy tickets for specific events, so therefore if you get a hotel room in Edinburgh you can enjoy being away from the centre of the action until it is time for you to go and join it. Travel is very easy and fast between the city of Edinburgh and Glasgow, taking approximately one hour on the train.  Alternatively, you can hire a care—or bring your own if you drove here in the first place! Whichever way you choose to get to the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it is sure to be a wonderful sporting event, as always. 

The Royal Highland Show

Edinburgh; the city of history and romance, of excitement and year-round entertainment.  If you are considering coming for a weekend break, Edinburgh has a range of festivals and events to suit every taste.  Throughout the year Edinburgh is a source of romance, entertainment and joy and visiting us at any time of year is a treat that no one will ever look back on with anything other than wonderful memories.

Image Credit: Creative Commons

A touch of Royalty

With summer well and truly arrived the City is filled with anticipation and excitement about the upcoming start of the Royal Highland Show, this year taking part on the long weekend of 19^th- 22^nd June. The Royal Highland Show—as it is known now—began in 1822 and was, in those days, a nomadic show which travelled between various cities in each year. Only in 1959 did it finally become static in Edinburgh, putting down roots as the Royal Highland Show, after it was bestowed the title in 1948 by King George VI.  Some of the main attractions of the Royal Highland Show are the Livestock shows, where people exhibit their cattle, sheep, ponies, horses, goats and many other breeds, hoping to win prizes.  There is also the Rural and Agricultural part of the show where visitors can view the huge variety of machines used in the farming world. There are equine supplies, sporting goods for outdoor sports, apparel and so much more. The weekend—Thursday through Sunday—is a plethora of exhibitions, food, music, children’s events, entertainment and so much more to entice all visitors.

An Event for all Seasons

If you intend to visit for the entire Royal Highland Show you will probably want to book a weekend break in Edinburgh, starting from the Wednesday night, through to the Sunday night or Monday morning.  One of the best places to stay is the Dunstane Hotel; right at the centre of all the action! Our boutique hotel is stylish, classy and offers spring breaks from as little as £75 per night. Even if you are not staying just for the Royal Highland Show, but want to extend your stay for shopping, golfing or rugby breaks, you can arrange your stay there. How about a romantic weekend in Edinburgh to celebrate a milestone anniversary? You can spend the night in a period four-poster with room service and breakfast in bed. Give us a call today and book your room for a weekend to remember.

One Direction Come to Edinburgh

Picture courtesy of Eva Rinaldi

If you haven’t heard of teen heart throbs One Direction you have probably been hiding your head under a stone for the past four years. The third placed X-Factor contestants from the 2010 series of the show have in the ensuing years become a global phenomenon. Hits such as ‘Kiss You’ and ‘Live While We’re Young’ have become bona fide bathroom mirror classics for teenage girls the world over; as well as being a guilty pleasure for even the stuffiest of the ‘parental generation’.

The Fab Five Come to Murrayfield

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

On June 3^rd Niall, Zayn, Harry, Liam and Louis are going to be rocking out Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, as part of their worldwide ‘Where We Are’ tour 2014.  Tickets to see the ‘Fab Five’ go on sale on May 25^th and are expected to go like hot cakes. To beat the crowds, fans are advised to have their fingers on the dial as soon as the sales lines open at 10am next Sunday. As the only Scottish gig in their current tour, demand is going to be huge, drawing in fans from all over the UK. Let us know if you were one of the lucky ones who got tickets!

A hotel for the discerning 1D fan

If you are coming in to see One Direction from outside Edinburgh, we’d like to invite you to treat yourself to a night at our four star boutique hotel on the edge of town. The Dunstane is one of the most unique small hotels in Edinburgh, occupying two historic Victorian properties. Located within easy distance of both Murrayfield Stadium and the city centre attractions, we ideally placed for an overnight stay. What is more, after the hectic atmosphere of the concert there is no better place to unwind and enjoy a good night’s recuperation in one of our 38 unique and stylish bedrooms.  Come and enjoy an excellent dinner at our Skerries Restaurant where diners can choose from a wide range of fresh seafood dishes from Orkney and Shetland. Or simply burn off some of the adrenalin over a cocktail at the Stane Bar.

For the discerning One Direction fan, or for their parent, there can be no better conclusion to a great night than in our contemporary and welcoming surroundings. Double, Single and Family rooms are still available for 3^rd June but are booking up fast so head over to The Dunstane website to book your room today or give us a call on 0131 337 6169.

The Dunstane girls go to the Scottish Hotel Awards!

The Dunstane Does The Scottish Hotel Awards!




The Dunstane team were out in force on Sunday night at the 2014 Scottish Hotel Awards which took place at The Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa. This was our first year at the awards and what a great start we had! Shirley Mowat, Director, Samantha Wright, Sales & Revenue Manager and Laura Taylor, Head Housekeeper went along to join in the celebrations - not at all expecting any awards in our first year attending!

What a great evening put on by the Sheraton with good food, champagne flowing and great entertainment - including the vocal talent of Scotland's own Jai McDowall, Britain's Got Talent winner 2011.

Partnered up with another hotel from up north we sat patiently to congratulate others on their awards and wait to see who had won hotel of the year. Little did we expect to be congratulating our very own team!





Skerries Restaurant and Head Chef Martin Collins picked up a Gold Medal and a Highly commended award and Samantha Wright, Sales & Revenue Manager was a awarded a Gold Medal for Business Management. Jamie Trousdale, our newest member of Management, was also awarded a Rising Star award.






Well done to all involved! Looking forward to more of the same next year!!

The Dunstane - New Website

The Dunstane - New Website

The Dunstane - New Website

We at The Dunstane are excited to announce that we’re launching our new website today! With our excellent customer service and array of attractions all important features of the hotel, we have re-honed our website to ensure these values, our ethos and style are all reflected. As such, we’ve worked to best include the sheer luxury and exclusivity which The Dunstane offers, showing this to the customer through some beautiful images and fantastic website content.

When navigating the new website, customers will be able to discover a range of excellent features allowing them to explore all that The Dunstane offers. New sections of the website will allow you to easily look at our array of boutique Rooms which cater to all manner of tastes, as well as our excellent Dining where you’ll be able to explore the Skerries Restaurant, Restaurant Offers and Stane Bar. Additionally, with the Venue Hire section you can now see how The Dunstane can cater for a range of events and celebrations, as well as the Hotel Offers section which gives you a number of ideas for how to enjoy an exciting escape to Edinburgh.

There’s also now a fantastic Explore Edinburgh section where you can discover some of the best attractions to enjoy, as well as a Festive section which will ensure you’re treated to an excellent Christmas and New Year in Edinburgh.

Certainly, this new layout aims to ensure that customers are able to easily navigate across all areas of the hotel, letting you discover us in a new and exciting way as the hotel’s beauty is brought to light. We’ve spent a lot of time working to focus the website into reflecting The Dunstane’s unique setting and are now excited for you to immerse yourselves in the new features on offer!

With that being said, don’t hesitate to explore our fantastic new website and indulge yourself at one of the most luxury hotels in Edinburgh. The Dunstane will ensure you enjoy a stay in truly unforgettable style! 

The Dunstane - our new wine list launches next week!

At The Dunstane and in Skerries we have always been passionate about our wines, selecting only the finest and most diverse from around the globe. With the help of Wine Importers, a local company who fully support small independent businesses, the owners and managers of Dunstane personally taste and select each wine based on its individuality and quality.

The bi-annual event at Gleneagles Hotel where Wine Importers showcase their latest acquisitions and long standing favourites is the starting point in our search for the perfect wine list. The Directors, Derek and Shirley, along with Managers Samantha and Jamie went along to Gleneagles to begin the process of designing the new list in March this year.


Our new list has some surprising new entries - one to mention is the Stobi Vineyard in Macedonia which bowled us over at the tasting and now has two spots on the list! Other old favourites are back and still going strong - our friends Torres from Catalonia still have pride of place with their rose and they wonderful Muscat white - Vina Esmerelda.



To help our staff better explain our offering to your when you visit Skerries our Wine Importers friend - Neil Renton stopped by to train the staff on the new wines and refresh our memories of some of our favourites - although we cannot forget stories like the story of The Aberdeen Wine Company who make Capercaillie - one of our top sellers and highest quality Shiraz'. We all had a blast at the tasting and learned loads! Cant wait to pass it all on!!

Book your table now at www.thedunstane.co.uk or give us a call on 01313376169