January is the month we would avoid in Edinburgh if you have flexible dates. Expect daytime highs around 7°C, nights near 2°C and roughly 16 rainy days across the month. Cold, wet and windy with highs near 7C and daylight gone by 4pm, the raw low point of the year outside the New Year buzz. Sights are quiet and rooms are cheap once the Hogmanay crowd leaves on 2 January, but pack for horizontal rain and short grey days.
Day high
7°C
Night low
2°C
Rainy days
≈ 16
Verdict
Avoid
January is quieter, which makes it the right month to afford the splurge picks.
Landmark stay€€€Landmark clock tower · New Town
The grand railway hotel under the famous clock tower on Princes Street, where the New Town meets the Old. Castle-view rooms and the suite where the last Harry Potter book was finished are the reasons people splurge.
from ~350 EUR/night
Check prices
First visit€€On the Royal Mile · Old Town
A smart rooms-above-a-pub inn in a former bank right on the Royal Mile, so the castle and Holyrood are both a walk away. It can be lively below at weekends; ask for a room at the back.
from ~160 EUR/night
Check prices
Local life€€Dockside design · Leith
A design hotel in a converted seamen's mission on the Leith waterfront, among the docks that now hold some of the city's best restaurants. You trade the Old Town lanes for a quieter, more local base a tram ride out.
from ~130 EUR/night
Check prices
Budget€Hostel below the castle · Grassmarket
A characterful hostel right under the castle rock by the Grassmarket, with private rooms as well as dorms and a lively common room. You cannot sleep more central in the Old Town for the price.
from ~25 EUR/night
Check pricesReal hotel photos · prices are indicative from-rates, not live quotes · booking links support the site at no extra cost
With 16 rainy days and highs of 7°C, build your January days around indoor anchors and treat sunny windows as a bonus.
National Museum of Scotland
TipEntry is free, so it is the perfect rainy-day fallback in a city that rains often; head straight up to the roof terrace for a quiet, little-known castle-and-rooftop view. Do not miss Dolly the cloned sheep and the Grand Gallery, and the cafe in the soaring Victorian hall is a decent shelter when a squall rolls through.
Camera Obscura and World of Illusions
TipThe Victorian rooftop camera obscura projects a live moving image of the streets below and is a genuine period curiosity, wrapped in five floors of illusion rooms that keep kids busy for a couple of hours. Time your visit for one of the roughly half-hourly live camera shows, and use the rooftop terrace for a free-with-ticket castle view; it is a good wet-weather pick right by the castle esplanade.
Grassmarket pubs
TipDrink in the cobbled hollow below the castle rock where the terraces look straight up at the crag, but step off the square itself into the side streets for fairer prices and better beer. Try a Scottish craft ale or a dram of whisky, ask the bar for a small tasting flight to compare, and expect it to stay lively later than most of the Old Town.
Ready to plan the full trip? Start from the 2-day Edinburgh itinerary.
January is the month we would avoid in Edinburgh if you have flexible dates. Expect daytime highs around 7°C, nights near 2°C and roughly 16 rainy days across the month. Cold, wet and windy with highs near 7C and daylight gone by 4pm, the raw low point of the year outside the New Year buzz. Sights are quiet and rooms are cheap once the Hogmanay crowd leaves on 2 January, but pack for horizontal rain and short grey days.
Typical January days in Edinburgh reach about 7°C, dropping to around 2°C at night. Layers work best.
Count on roughly 16 days with rain in January. Plan one indoor block per day and keep museum tickets as your fallback.