Welcome back to The Date Edit, our running series of ready-made dates for queer women and the allies who love them, so nobody has to say “I’m easy, you choose” ever again. One city, a route that works, minimal admin.
This week: Edinburgh. Cobbles, hills, a river that isn’t really a river, and a queer scene compact enough to walk end to end in fifteen minutes. Wear the boots. It’s mostly uphill, then all downhill, in the good way.
Vibe: Georgian streets, a river walk and a village-sized gay scene
Area: Stockbridge to Broughton Street, New Town
Best for: First dates who like a view, second dates who like a plan
Budget: ££
Length: Mid-morning until last orders
The Morning Thing
Stockbridge
Start in Stockbridge, the prettiest bit of Edinburgh that isn’t on a postcard. Get a coffee from one of the independents along Raeburn Place, then wander down to the Stockbridge Market if it’s a Sunday – small, food-heavy, good for stealing bites off each other’s plates while pretending you’re not hungry. If it isn’t market day, the colony houses just off Saunders Street are worth the five-minute detour on their own; tiny terraced cottages that look like a film set nobody’s told is real.
Price: £
The Day Thing
The Water of Leith Walkway to Dean Village
From Stockbridge, pick up the Water of Leith Walkway and follow the river down to Dean Village. It’s flat, it’s shaded, and it delivers you – with almost no effort – to one of the most photographed corners of the city: turreted old mill buildings leaning over the water like they’ve had one too many. Cross the Dean Bridge and you’re five minutes from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, which is free and has a lawn out front that’s basically begging you to sit on it afterwards.
Price: Free
The Afternoon Thing
Calton Hill and Broughton Street
Loop back through New Town and up Calton Hill for the view everyone forgets is better than the Castle’s – Arthur’s Seat on one side, the Firth of Forth on the other, and a half-finished Greek monument that Edinburgh has decided to just leave like that. Come down the hill and you’re basically deposited on Broughton Street, the unofficial heart of the city’s queer scene, small enough that locals just call it the Pink Triangle. It’s mostly independent cafés, delis and small shops – good for a slow wander with no particular destination, which is the whole point.
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Price: Free
If It Goes Well
Dinner on Broughton Street
Stay right where you are for dinner – Broughton Street and the surrounding New Town streets are stacked with small, independent places doing everything from wood-fired pizza to proper Scottish seafood, most of them booking up on weekends, none of them requiring you to dress up more than you already have. Pick based on how the afternoon’s gone: something loud and shareable if the conversation’s flowing, something quieter with a corner table if you want to keep hearing each other.
Price: ££
Wrap Up / Bonus
CC Blooms and Planet
Edinburgh’s queer nightlife lives almost entirely on this one stretch of street, which works in your favour – CC Blooms and Planet sit right next door to each other on Greenside Place, so there’s no taxi involved. CC Blooms is the institution, running since 1994: a relaxed bar and diner by early evening, a two-floor dancefloor by late, with drag shows and a legendary Sunday cabaret. Planet next door is the friendlier, scruffier alternative if you’d rather chat over your drink than shout one, with DJs most nights and karaoke thrown in. Check what’s on before you go – a good drag night turns a nightcap into a whole second date.
Price: ££
You may also like: The Date Edit archive for the rest of the series.
Nonchalant x
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