CHRIS WALKER discovers there’s much more to Edinburgh than historic buildings.

Of all the irritating buzzwords to have poisoned popular parlance in recent years ‘staycation’ has to rank as one of the worst.

Not just because the word spread like syphilis through the country’s media but also because it presumes that by holidaying in Britain you are saving cash and settling for less.

Anyone who believes that has still not had the pleasure of visiting quite possibly Britain’s grandest and most romantic city, Edinburgh.

While identi-kit England’s cloned city centres have set domestic tourism back decades, the Scottish capital, with its 4,500 listed buildings, has inherited the throne for being the island’s greatest city for taking a stroll and enjoying some of our Empire’s most imposing structures.

And while the city’s Gothic glory may make you feel like you’ve walked on to the set of a Tim Burton movie, don’t let the architectural loftiness make you believe this city is not cool.

For if you look beneath some of the historic Victorian facades you’ll find world-class restaurants, pubs and cocktail bars offering proof that auld Reekie can hitch up her skirt and party with the best of them.

However, before I was able to hit the town I booked myself into the Sheraton Grand Hotel spa for some much needed R&R.

The spa’s raison d’etre is the two-hour back, face and scalp massage which is so mind-numbingly blissful you’ll feel like Mark Renton as he sinks into the carpet in Trainspotting.

Those seeking decadent dining are not shabbily served either as one of Edinburgh’s elegant Georgian town houses is also the alter-ego of Britain’s best new restaurant, 21212. Kitted out at a cost of £4.5m, owners Katie O’Brien and Michelin starred Paul Kitching have created a genuine oral and visual feast.

Offbeat opulence is the watchword here as the 38-seater restaurant boasts funky Perspex chandeliers while waiters don hardware shop-style smocks to take any air of stuffiness out of the venue.

In turns out the restaurant is the perfect aperitif for tackling the city’s bars which continue in a similarly cockeyed fashion.

Whether sipping cocktails in the Men in Black-style furniture inside Amicus Apple or necking shots at the beautiful art deco bar inside the Balmoral Hotel, you won’t be short of interesting and unusual things to see and do.

The pinnacle is the Dome bar, a pillar in the George Street drinking scene, which dwarfs Freud’s in Jericho with its even huger iconic Ionic columns.

Fortuitously, I also attended an informative cocktail masterclass at the Living Room which allowed me to live out those Tom Cruise Cocktail fantasies. Mmm.

Thankfully my accommodation for the trip – the Knight Residence – was only a short stumble from the bar in Lauriston Street.

Providing you with everything from a cooker and washing machine to a DVD player and stereo system, its reception also allows you to borrow brollies if you need to brave the rain.

Edinburgh is a wonderful place to spend a weekend or longer and well and truly proves you can holiday in Britain and still enjoy the time of your life.

* l For more information and to plan your break in Scotland, visit visitscotland.com/whiteinvite l The Knight Residence: Email info@theknightresidence.co.uk or visit theknightresidence.co.uk l Restaurant 21212: Visit 21212restaurant.co.uk or call 0131 523 1030.