Edinburgh is divided into areas that generally encompass a park (or green), a high street (i.e. street of local retail shops) and a section of residential buildings. In Edinburgh residences are generally flats, although the more southern parts of the city have traditionally been richer and have a greater number of detached houses.

It should be noted that the Royal Burgh of Leith has Edinburgh postal codes and is sometimes thought of inaccurately as an area of Edinburgh.

The edges of these areas are generally defined by roads, though actual lines on the ground are very difficult to draw: most locals tend to have varying ideas, map makers are in equal disagreement and the post code areas are of no real help at all, being skewed more by number of residents than for utility of naming areas. The names of the areas are mainly chosen for the major road(s) in the area, however in some cases it is believed that the names of the roads are a reflection of the original name or use of the area.

All distances are given in the number of minutes walk from Edinburgh castle since this is a central and obvious place of reference.

Bruntsfield

Bruntsfield is about thirty minutes walk south east of Edinburgh castle and is relatively affluent compared to surrounding areas, with more expensive shops, housing and a propensity to attracting higher quality restaurants. There are a couple of bars, but (unusually for Edinburgh) almost no pubs and no clubs at all. Shops tend to sell the more superfluous things in life (a good example being the Pooh bear shop).

Bruntsfield adjoins Marchmont to the east, Merchiston to the south and west, Tollcross to the north and the Meadows to the northeast.

Cowgate

Cowgate is about 5 minutes south of Edinburgh castle and comprises of the road down which cows were herded for Edinburgh's market days in previous centuries. This area is nestled below the Royal Mile and has a number of housed bridges crossing it (housed bridges being bridges along which housing has been built, obscuring the fact it is a bridge when walking over it) as such it is quite dark. The preceding as well as the fact that it is one of the centres of the pubbing and clubbing scene in Edinburgh tends to mean that living in the area is not very popular and as such tends to be populated by students. The area is rare in that it does not actually include an high street, however there is a proliferation of pubs, clubs and (very) light industry. This area is part of a larger region known as Old Town; which consists of the oldest extant parts of the city.

Cowgate adjoins the Royal Mile to the north, Holyrood to the east, Pleasance to the southeast, South Bridge above it, Forrest Hill to the southwest and Grassmarket to the west. It also contains buildings of the Scottish parliament. It is also known as the Old Town.

Grassmarket

Grassmarket is 5 minutes southwest of Edinburgh castle and comprises what was in centuries past one of Edinburgh main markets. The old market is surround by a large number of pubs, a couple of clubs, a number of local retail shops and a large hotel. This area is also quite highly populated with students, though its openness (due to the large open market area) tends to increase house prices as well as its proximity to the centre of town. It is here that some of the tallest buildings in the city exist, some eight or nine stories high (and due to the age of the housing a storey is 11 or 12 feet high _ just under 4 meters). These heights are not readily apparent due to the depression that the Grassmarket resides in and due to the dominance of Castle Rock above the area.

Grassmarket adjoins Cowgate on the east, the Royal Mile on the north, Princes Street to the northwest, Lothian Road west, Forrest Hill to the southeast, Tollcross to the southwest and a "void" area to the south; this "void" area takes up the area between the Grassmarket and the Meadows, Forrest Hill and Tollcross and consists of a public (i.e. private) primary/secondary school (George Heriot's), the Edinburgh College of Art, the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary site, and a very small number of residential flats. As of 2004, the Royal Infirmary site is being redeveloped into flats and a new hotel. The site masterplan was designed by Norman Foster, and the hotel by Richard Murphy. Of the hospital buildings, only the original David Bryce buildings are being retained.

Cramond

Bordering the Firth of Forth to the north-west is Cramond, one of the surrounding villages that has over the ages become swallowed up to become a suburb of the city of Edinburgh. The oldest settlement of the city, its origins lie in a Roman fort of circa AD142 and as such Roman remains are occasionally discovered in the village, notably the uncovering of the Cramond Lioness in 1997. Developing slowly over the centuries, with the foundation of Cramond Kirk in 1656 and, after a brief period spent as an industrial village in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, by the late 19th Century it become a desirable suburb of the Edinburgh, which it remains to this day. The walk along the waterfront towards Granton has been popular as a Sunday walk for many years and Cramond Island is also popular with locals and tourists alike, though occasionally some are stranded by the incoming tide.

Portobello

Along the coast to the east, beyond Leith, the seaside resort town of Portobello gives facilities and access to a wide sand beach. It, too, has become a suburb of Edinburgh.

Areas of Edinburgh

Abbeyhill, Alnwickhill, Ardmillan, Baberton, Balerno, Balgreen, Barnton, Beechmount, Bingham, Blackford, Blackhall, Bonnington, Braid Hills, Broomhouse, Broughton, Brunstane, Bruntsfield, Burdiehouse, Calders, Calton Hill, Canonmills, Churchhill, Clermiston, Clerwood, Colinton, Comely Bank, Comiston, Corstorphine, Craigentinny, Craigleith, Craiglockhart, Craigmillar, Cramond, Currie, Curriehill, Dalry, Davidsons Mains, Dean Village, Drylaw, Duddingston, East Craigs, East Pilton, Eastfield, Edinburgh Park, Fairmilehead, Ferniehill, Firrhill, Gilmerton, Gogar, Gorgie, Grange, Granton, Greenbank, Greendykes, Gyle, Haymarket, Hermiston, Hillend, Ingliston, Inverleith, Joppa, Juniper Green, Kames, Kingsknowe, Leith, Leith Links, Liberton, Lochend, Longstone, Marchmont, Maybury, Meadowbank, Merchiston, Moredun, Morningside, Mortonhall, Mountcastle, Muirhouse, Murrayfield, New Town, Newbridge, Newcraighall, Newhaven, Newington, Niddrie, Northfield, Old Town, Oxgangs, Parkgrove, Parkhead, Piershill, Pilrig, Pilton, Polwarth, Portobello, Prestonfield, Ratho, Ratho Station, Ravelston, Restalrig, Riccarton, Roseburn, Saughton, Sciennes, Seafield, Sighthill, Silverknowes, Slateford, Stenhouse, Stockbridge, Swanston, The Meadows, Tollcross, Torphin, Trinity, Turnhouse, Warriston, West Pilton, Wester Hailes, and Westfield.