Edinburgh from Calton Hill Edinburgh from Calton Hill

WHY EDINBURGH

Our beautiful city is a vibrant destination for conferences and events 

Choose Edinburgh for your event and you know your delegates will leave with incredible memories.  Edinburgh Castle is arguably one of the world's most famous buildings and is backdrop to the city's spectacular New Year and Festival fireworks.  The city's choice of world-class museums and galleries is remarkable, providing wonderful options for your social programme.

Edinburgh is renowned for inspiration and innovation. For centuries it has nurtured some of the greatest minds in philosophy, economics, finance, literature, law, medicine, engineering and architecture. Often referred to as the ‘Festival City’, Edinburgh offers a year-round programme of arts and cultural events.

Edinburgh Airport is just 20 minutes from the city centre and has connections to 130 worldwide destinations. Rail links to the city run all over the UK, with more than 20 daily trains running between Edinburgh and London, taking just over four hours. 

Once in Edinburgh, travelling around our compact, walkable city could not be easier, with buses, trams and taxis in plentiful supply.  The EICC is right in the heart of Edinburgh and a short walk from a great selection of hotels and attractions.

Key Edinburgh facts:

  • For the last ten years the city has retained its ranking as the most popular UK destination, outside London, for hosting UK and International Association Meetings (ICCA)
  • It has been voted the UK’s Top City (Guardian Travel Awards) for 13 consecutive years and the UK’s second favourite city (Condé Nast Travel Awards 2015) welcoming over 4.5 million visitors per year
  • Edinburgh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site encompassing the largest concentration of listed buildings in the UK
  • It hosts the world’s largest annual arts festival, welcoming visitors and performers from around the globe
  • As well as being a world influencer in science, business, education, medicine and the arts, the city has a robust and fast-growing creative sector. Particular strengths include advertising, architecture, software development and publishing
  • Rainfall is well below the Scottish average and has less annually than Rome, Frankfurt and New York!
  • Our capital city is the political and economic heart of Scotland
  • Edinburgh has more Michelin star restaurants than any other city outside London and more restaurants per head than anywhere else in the UK

The EICC is first-class in terms of the IT backbone infrastructure. All of the staff we’ve worked with have been fantastic. The organisation and the support, both in the lead up to and during the conference, have all been top notch.

Rob Whitner, Event Manager, SPIE International Society for Optics & Photonics