1820 Rooftop Bar
Johnnie Walker Princes Street, 145 Princes Street
Tempting cocktails and food lure you in, but it’s the view from the rooftop terrace that drops jaws. With church rooflines in the foreground, Edinburgh Castle rising above and the Old Town skyline trailing into the distance, it’s breathtaking.

Herringbone Abbeyhill 
3 Royal Terrace Gardens
This mini-chain has established itself as a reliable favourite for all-day dining. On this corner spot, a former WC-turned-office space has been transformed into a stylish destination, opening out onto a substantial raised deck where a timber sign declares kids, dogs and friends are all welcome.

Milk At Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop 
21 Hawthornvale
Terrific seasonally inspired breakfast and lunch options are par for the course here. Outside, there’s heaps of seating looking out on the sculpture workshop’s courtyard and across a flower meadow to the bike track. Perfect for kids, pups or anyone topping up on the vitamin D.

Timberyard 
10 Lady Lawson Street
The scale of this former 19th-century props and costume store has real presence, and their take on Scotland’s larder has been showered with accolades, including a Michelin star. A handsome, leafy courtyard is both sheltered and south-facing, major plus points in breezy old Edinburgh.

Williams & Johnson Coffee Co 
1 Customs Wharf
Grab a top-notch coffee and filled sourdough focaccia by the cobbled quayside, and take in the beautifully restored Ocean Mist ship and jumble of historic port buildings across the water, as a brood of ducklings putter gently by.