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10 Best Tattoo Shops in Edinburgh (2023)

Edinburgh is one of the great arts capitals of the world. Home to some of history’s greatest writers; it’s a gothic, atmospheric place bursting at the seams with art and imagination. With Edinburgh being one of our favourite cities in the world, we had to celebrate the breadth of its tattoo art here. These are the best tattoo shops in Edinburgh.

tattoo shops in edinburgh

The Very Best Tattoo Shops in Edinburgh

You’ll find plenty of variety here when it comes to style. Neo traditional and old school artists stand shoulder-to-shoulder with fine line and horror-inspired artists. These people know their stuff, take pride in it, and provide some of the best tattoos in Scotland.

The Keep Edinburgh

The Keep is one of the most strikingly impressive tattoo shops in Edinburgh, and is currently home to one of our favourite UK tattoo artists: Dani Green. The tattoos that people leave The Keep with are big, bold, and original. These are some of the best tattoo artists in Scotland, all found under one roof.

What’s extra special about The Keep is that it’s also an art studio, which means they design original paintings that you can buy your own prints of, as well as shirts and other merch! The pedigree of the artists at this Edinburgh tattoo shop is like nothing else. There is so much imagination, colour, and attitude bursting from the canvases here (both human and otherwise).

This is far from your old school, cookie cutter tattoo studio. The Keep is a place of vibrancy, modernity, and outside-the-box approaches to art and design. If you’re in Edinburgh and looking for a quality original tattoo or a stunning art print, pop into The Keep and prepare to have your mind blown.

Insider Tattoo Studio

It’s hard to imagine more consistency in a single place than what’s found at Insider Tattoo Studio. A handful of varied and exquisite tattoo artists under one roof. The variety of art on display here is matched only by the consistent quality of these artists, making Insider one of the finest tattoo shops in Edinburgh by a country mile.

One of our favourite UK tattoo artists, Jack Peppiete, tattoos here, and he is joined by artists of all different flavours and styles. What that means for you as a customer is that, no matter your taste, you’ll find a tattoo artist at Insider to fit your flavour.

From bold ornamental designs to cute pop art; from old school American to traditional Japanese, almost every kind of tattoo art is done with expert professionalism and bold imagination by the artists at Insider. This isn’t only one of the best tattoo shops in Edinburgh, but it all of Scotland and the UK as a whole.

Read More: The Best Tattoo Artists in Dublin

Watermelon Tattoo

This is a female-owned, female-led tattoo studio in Edinburgh, and it blows away so much of the competition. The delightfully named Watermelon Tattoo is a true force of vision and imagination in the Scottish tattoo scene, delivering a range of tones and styles that is almost unmatched.

Small, cute, and colourful pieces are delivered with care and precision, while big and bold and bright pieces are done with pomp and style. There’s so much excitement to the art at Watermelon Tattoo. These artists clearly love the form and love what they do. There’s heart to this art.

It’s cool to see an even balance between thickly detailed black and grey tattoos and lusciously vibrant bursts of colour that are both equally eye-catching. Whatever your preferred style, you can find and get it here at Watermelon, one of the coolest tattoo shops in Edinburgh.

Ink Dependent Tattoo

Ink Dependent is more than just a very clever and punny name (though that name does deserve some attention). It’s also simply one of the best tattoo shops in Edinburgh. This tattoo studio excels at delivering outstanding black and grey tattoos. While they do tackle colour occasionally, it’s in their darker designs where they really, ironically, shine.

Black and grey is often used for two different styles of tattooing: hyper-realistic portrait designs of people and animals, and grimdark, gothic, moody horror pieces. You’ll find both of these styles at Ink Dependent Tattoo. If you’ve always wanted a realistic depiction of a person or a tiger, you need to check out the work at Ink Dependent.

Likewise, if you’re in the mood for a horror-inspired tattoo with a gritty edge to it, Ink Dependent is the Edinburgh tattoo studio to visit! There’s a lot of variety within this specific niche and style of tattooing, which demonstrates the strength and pedigree of tattoo art found here at Ink Dependent Tattoo.

Studio XIII

Studio XIII is another Edinburgh tattoo studio that offers a wonderful variety of styles and techniques, all of which have been honed to the height of the craft. From pop culture-inspired neo traditional art to black and grey portraits and something a little more abstract, it’s all here and all excellent.

Whether a tattoo shop has a very specific style and niche that it’s known for, or it hosts a wide range of talented artists, both are satisfying in their own way. For Studio XIII, their approach is the latter, which means the breadth of skill on display here is really fantastic.

This is one of the best tattoo shops in Edinburgh for people looking for a wide range of approaches to tattoo styles. They also do excellent piercings!

Read More: The Best Tattoo Shops in Glasgow

Old Town Tattoo

Old Town Tattoo is exactly our kind of tattoo studio. The artists here reign supreme when it comes to old school and neo traditional tattoos. New takes on classic style; you love to see it! The art that these guys put out is big, bold, bright, and colourful. It harkens back to the golden age of tattooing while doing so much fresh and exciting work.

The beauty of old school tattooing is found in the abstract. Designs that turn the everyday into something surreal but stylish. And Old Town Tattoo excels at exactly that approach to its art. We are huge fans of this particular style of tattooing, so we can’t get enough of Old Town Tattoo. Easily one of our favourite tattoo shops in Edinburgh. If you’re more into softer tattoos with fine lines and less colour, they deliver on that front as well!

Relatively Painless Tattoo

Aside from having one of the best names for a tattoo shop we’ve ever seen, Relatively Painless also has a very distinct style all its own. If you’re a fan of bold, dark tattoos, horror-themed art, and an abstract approach to artistic expression, you need to visit Relatively Painless; one of the best tattoo shops in Edinburgh.

This is where outside-the-box thinking, an impressively deep imagination, and some sharpened talent converge to make the best dark tattoos in Scotland. Some of the work that Relatively Painless Tattoo produces leans into the realistic; a lot of it is more stylised and creatively expressive. All of it is gorgeous.

We all have our favourite styles and themes when it comes to tattoo art, and if you like dark pieces with a hint of horror, please visit Relatively Painless Tattoo.

Bold and Gold Studios

This right here is proper old school tattooing, brought to the 21st Century with pomp and style. These guys know their stuff and they absolutely excel at it. There is such a brilliant timelessness to old school and traditional tattooing, whether it be Western or Japanese, and you’ll find both handled here with skill and finesse.

As the name suggests, Bold and Gold Studios is more than one place: a tattoo studio and a piercing studio. Here we’re talking about the tattoos, obviously, but their piercers are excellent as well. There’s such a playfulness to old school tattooing that proves so addictive, and no style of tattooing ages with more grace, whether it be in colour or black and grey.

If you love your roses, skulls, pirate ships, tigers, dragons, and geisha — or if you want something wholly original in an old school style — you have to pay a visit to one of the best tattoo shops in Edinburgh.

Okey Dokey Tattoo

Oh yes, now this is what we’re talking about! The sheer amount of style and detail and imagination poured into the art by these fabulous artists should be celebrated. At Okey Dokey Tattoo, each artist brings something wholly original to the table. They’ve each carved out a style; a niche; a unique perspective on what tattooing can do. And it’s all under one roof!

Big, bold, neo traditional pieces. Intimate, detailed fine lines. Cute and colourful pieces. Abstract pieces in black and grey. There’s so much variety and style and mastery here. We honestly can’t say enough good things about the work that’s done at Okey Dokey Tattoo. One of the most impressive tattoo shops in Edinburgh by a long, long way.

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