Scotland Edinburgh
Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Leith Waterfront By IHG
Independent pet-friendly review by Four Legged Guests · updated June 2026 · paw rating built from 4 verified guest reviews mentioning pets
Bring your dog if
- You're happy with a standard hotel-room stay where the property explicitly welcomes dogs
- You're basing yourself in Edinburgh / the Scotland and want a pet-friendly anchor for day trips
- Pet-mentioning reviewers spoke positively about the dog-friendly setup
Worth knowing
- Paw rating is based on 4 reviews - limited sample, treat as directional
- Pet fee: £30 per pet - research-verified; confirm at booking
- Shared corridors and common areas mean nervous or vocal dogs may find it harder to settle
How this review was built Evidence, sources, refresh cadence
- Evidence: 4 pet-mention guest reviews sourced from Agoda - guests who explicitly mentioned travelling with a dog. Each review is screened for pet-relevance, then judged for sentiment to compute the paw rating.
- Not a personal visit. We don't stay at every hotel we cover - we summarise patterns from real guest reviews, paraphrased and never quoted verbatim. Full standard on our editorial policy page.
- Wider context: The property has 6,677 Agoda guest reviews overall, averaging 8.3/10 - the paw rating reflects only the pet-mentioning subset.
- Last refreshed: June 2026. Policies and pricing drift; we re-check on a rolling basis. Confirm specifics with the property at the moment you book.
- How the paw rating works: Full detail on the methodology page, including the three verification gates and known limitations.
Pet policy at a glance
- Pet fee: £30 per pet, per stay (not per night)
- Any size dog welcome; cats accepted on request
- Multiple pets per room permitted
- Welcome pack on arrival; ground-floor rooms available on request
- Service animals allowed on request
- Pets cannot be left unattended
- Pre-booking essential - call the hotel direct or book the dedicated pet package
Pet-friendly summary
Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Leith Waterfront is one of the easier mid-range Edinburgh hotels to book with a dog. Pet travellers are welcomed for £30 per pet per stay (not per night, which matters on a long weekend), and the hotel makes a small but meaningful effort beyond the policy: dogs receive a welcome pack on arrival and ground-floor rooms are available on request for guests with pets.
What pet owners mention most often is the warmth from the team at the front desk. Staff are described as genuinely friendly to dogs - not just tolerant - with multiple guests singling out the breakfast service and reception team as a highlight of the stay. Travelling with two dogs is doable here, and the policy applies the same flat fee per pet rather than escalating with party size.
The waterfront location is well-suited to dog walks. The hotel sits on Ocean Drive next to Ocean Terminal and the Royal Yacht Britannia, with easy access to the Water of Leith path and the Leith shore promenade. Princes Street and the New Town are about 2.5 miles away, so the city centre is reachable by tram or bus with a dog in tow, while the surrounding Leith neighbourhood is quieter and has dog-friendly pubs and cafes along the waterfront.
It's worth noting the practical caveats. Pets are not allowed to be left unattended in rooms, which limits dinners out without a dog-sitter or in-room arrangement. Pre-booking the pet room is essential rather than a formality - the hotel reserves a subset of rooms for guests with dogs, so booking early is what makes the difference between getting the ground-floor room you want and being turned down at the desk. The hotel is also a 3-star Holiday Inn Express, so the room finish is functional rather than luxurious; what you're paying for here is the dog-friendliness and the location, not the polish.
For pet owners visiting Edinburgh for a city break, festival weekend, or a Royal Yacht Britannia day out, this is a solid mid-range pick that earns a 4.5/5 paw rating from us.
Highlights from pet-mentioning reviews
What reviewers travelling with dogs consistently noted about staying here.
- Welcome pack for arriving dogs
- Ground-floor rooms on request
- Flat per-stay fee for any size dog
- Multiple dogs accepted in one room
- Friendly staff toward pet travellers
- Waterfront walks on the doorstep
About this hotel
Holiday Inn Express Edinburgh - Leith Waterfront is a 3-star hotel on Ocean Drive in Leith, next to Ocean Terminal and the Royal Yacht Britannia. Trams and buses connect Princes Street in under 20 minutes. The hotel is well-suited to dog owners visiting central Edinburgh who prefer a quieter waterfront base over the busy Old Town.
Hotel facts
Photos
Location
Britannia Way, Ocean Drive, Edinburgh, EH6 6LA
