Travelodge Cameron Toll Review

When looking at hotels for our trip to Scotland this past August, I was shocked by the prices. If we wanted to stay anywhere near Old Town or New Town it was going to cost us $600 CAD plus a night for a budget hotel. I started panicking… how was I going to afford this? So, I started looking a bit further from the city center, prices still didn’t look great. Then someone suggested looking at the Travelodge. I visited their website and came across the Travelodge Cameron Toll. It was a bit further from the city center, but wasn’t too far. It was a budget hotel but had a restaurant, a bar and the ratings for cleanliness were good. We ended up paying about $320 CAD a night… believe me that was a good price for August in Edinburgh, during Fringe Festival.

When we arrived, I noticed that Cameron Toll was a nice but quite neighborhood… mostly residential. Although the hotel is close to Craigmillar Castle and a few parks. It’s also only a short ride to Old Town and the Royal Mile. We were able to catch the bus right in front of the hotel and take a 20-minute ride to the Royal Mile. There is also free parking and lots of spots available if you decide to rent a car while in Edinburgh.

The staff in the hotel were friendly, and when we bused to the Royal Mile, one of the employees walked us outside to show us the bus stop. We were also able to check in early, and the workers were friendly and helpful overall.

The rooms were large but lacked amenities; there wasn’t a safe or a fridge. There were 3 of us and we had a lot of luggage and there was still excess space. We could have probably fit another 2 of us in there. The bed was big and there were also two cots. The room was clean but wasn’t fancy, but what do you expect when the hotel costs half the price of all the other options?

On our first night we were super tired so decided to stay at the hotel and eat. There were some Scottish options, but a lot of foods you’d expect to find in a hotel restaurant. We had pizza and fish & chips… the food was pretty good. We also paid for a breakfast buffet the next day, it cost about £10 which is standard in the UK. The breakfast was a typical hotel breakfast buffet; there were several options and had the standard things you’d expect. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad.

So, the hotel was nothing to rave about, but it was clean and did the job. The hotel was much cheaper than most other options, and even though $320 a night sounds like a lot, during Fringe that is cheap. It will be much cheaper in off season, as will the other hotels, but still, I get the feeling that hotels are generally quite pricey in Edinburgh, so Travelodge Cameron Toll is an affordable and decent option. Again, it was a close bus ride into the city center, has a restaurant and bar, big rooms and friendly staff, so the hotel offers a good bang for buck.