Having lived between Edinburgh and London for three years, some of the best boozers I found are on streets that go off George Street and Rose Street. A couple of minutes from the tourists traps and you'll find loads of crackin' boozers.

Thankfully Edinburgh is also sophisticated enough to have plenty of wine bars.

For those of a real ale persuasion, I'd recommend Mather's which is somewhere between Leith Walk and Princes Street, not far from Rose Street in fact if my drunken memory serves me right.