The Guildford Arms, Edinburgh

Friendly staff and clientele, very open to foreigners. I was surprised to see a beer from my home state of Texas on tap, even if it was only by name. I would recommend this place to anyone visiting since its less than a mile from the train station.

Tucked just behind Burger King, off Princes Street the revolving main door entrance leads into a high ornate ceiling bar with curved seating around the perimeter of the main bar area. There is an upper level seating area accessed by a staircase beyond the bar. This has long been a favourite of ours when in Edinburgh and the range of Scottish ales seems to be getting better. Now back in CAMRAs 2011 good beer guides but odd that it had been dropped for a few years as has always been good on our visits.

The Guildford is located in a back street just off Princess Street, and is one of Edinburgh's hidden gems. The building is an odd shape yet architecturally very interesting - I wonder whethe it was a grand house at some point in the past. That aside, it's real treasure is its beer. There were 10 handpumps on this week, many with Scottish beers on. I simply couldn't get through them all, and sort of lost track of what I'd had, but avrything was excellent. What I do remember is perfectly kept pints of Harviestoun B&T, Fyne Ales Avalanche, Dark Island and Caledonian. This remains the best real ale pub in the New Town area for both quality and choice and is an essential part of any City crawl.

Invariably very busy but it feels less touristy than the Cafe Royal. Always worth a visit for the diverse and excellent range of ales. Located at the East end of Princes St in the town centre, and an ideal place to start or end a pub crawl. Like many Edinburgh pubs it has a wonderfully decorative ceiling. The food is very good and there is a gallery restaurant open in the evenings.