Edinburgh or Leamington Spa?

Hello everyone!

My husband has been interviewing for jobs in the UK.  He is being brought over in a few weeks by 2 different companies for in person interviews.  If he is offered jobs by both of them, then we will have to decide.... Edinburgh or Leamington Spa. 

I'd love to hear any opinions from folks who live in or know about these cities.  I've done a lot of research online but nothing beats first hand experience!  The Edinburgh job is his first choice but the Leamington one is interesting to him as well.

We have 3 boys who would be ages 13, 11 and 11 this summer, which is when we would make the move, so good schools are on the top of our priorities list.  We would also be bringing our dog which I know will complicate our housing search, esp it seems in Edinburgh.  Although the HR person at the Edinburgh company said that they have a relocation specialist who is good at finding places or working out a way for us to pay a larger deposit for a place that we like.

Any help greatly appreciated... good neighborhoods?  ones to avoid?  etc...

Thanks!!
Holly (currently in Seattle, WA, USA)

Edinburgh! It's super awesome! Great for families, some really great schools, loads of history and culture, music, arts, sports, everything you can think of, great public transport, but a population of only around 600,000. Surrounded by gorgeous countryside, easy access to the rest of Scotland, fab restaurants and bars, basically it just rocks!

Edinburgh! It's super awesome! Great for families, some really great schools, loads of history and culture, music, arts, sports, everything you can think of, great public transport, but a population of only around 600,000. Surrounded by gorgeous countryside, easy access to the rest of Scotland, fab restaurants and bars, basically it just rocks!

What DrSuper said .. Scotland is awesome. Yea okay I am partial to it as I've only ever lived in Scotland.. Aberdeen and then Fife region since 2002.

Edinburgh for sure...(bit biased since I was born in Edinburgh and lived there until just a few years ago).

One of the things I like about Edinburgh is that it manages to nicely separate the good areas from the bad, if you went city centre + 3 miles then you're probably looking at a good enough area...Areas to avoid are normally towards the outskirts.  The good areas will be more expensive of course...but they also have some of the best schools.

In saying that, my brother is moving back this year and had targetted areas to live based on his choice of school for his youngest and found that the catchment area covered a mixture of schools but the best in the area all had a huge waiting list. 

Private schools are always an option of course - George Watsons, Heriots, Rudolf Steiner...and there are more.

Best of luck, Edinburgh is an amazing city.