Sky-Highlands: Edinburgh’s new cable car

Apex Hotels announced this morning it will be bringing an aerial gondola to Edinburgh when it launches the Apex Grasshopper in Scotland’s capital city, in April 2021.

The vehicle will run directly from hotel group’s Grassmarket property into Edinburgh Castle’s Esplanade, in front of the iconic fortifications, at the top of the Royal Mile.  However, the plans are not set in stone, with a feasibility study currently probing the possibility of operating eight, four-person gondolas, which would travel the 200-metre roundtrip from the hotel’s roof to the castle in less than ten minutes.

Poppy Cox, Apex Grasshopper project manager, said: “Tourists love the fact Apex’s Grassmarket hotel offers amazing views of the Castle. But many are often time poor, with only a few days to spend exploring, so now they’ll be able to walk out of their rooms, hop into a gondola and be in the Castle grounds in minutes.

“We pride ourselves in going the extra mile for our guests and this is the perfect example – no other Scottish hotel will boast a link directly from its rooftop to one of the world’s most iconic tourist attractions.”

The hotel group is working in partnership with ISA Architects on its vision for the ambitious project – today revealing the first images of how the transport link will look.  The practice believes the Apex Grasshopper will be a talking point for the city of Edinburgh worldwide and will complement the tram extension set for the city.

Ian Springford, director of ISA Architects, said: “We’re very excited to reveal the first CGIs of the Apex Grasshopper showing the transformation it will make to the Grassmarket’s skyline. If given the go-ahead, we’re confident we can deliver this project quicker and cheaper than the tram extension and our ambition is to see the project come to fruition by 1 April 2021.”