B'day weekend Edinburgh which hotel?
 

It's my birthday in March and my fiance and I are going to spend the weekend in Edinburgh.

I am trying to decide where to stay and have narrowed my choices to the following:

The Howard in a Junior suite. £799 includes breakfast each day and dinner on the Sunday night

The Balmoral in a deluxe double £765 doesn't include breakfast but does include access to the spa

Tigerlily in a minisuite £735 doesn't include breakfast.

I know the three hotels are very different in look/feel and amenities. All have good reviews on TA, the Balmoral has the pool, the Howard more personal service and Tigerlily more gadgets. I'm in a quandry.

I want a "nice" weekend, a bit of luxury but no pomposity.

Any input/experiences would be greatfully received

Thank you

Jo

Go for the Balmoral. You won't regret it.

I don't know, Sheila - we stayed at the Balmoral once for Phil's birthday & thought it wasn't that fantastic.

As you say, Jo, they are all very different and I think a lot depends on you, your interests & perhaps your age.

The Balmoral as you'll know is a very large, grand traditional hotel - tophatted doorman and everything. Tea or cocktails in the Palm Court are quite nice. The posh restaurant, Number 1, is by no means the best in town. The pool is nice but quite small. The rooms are tweedy and pleasant enough but to my taste a bit dull.

The Howard is a bit of a contradiction - grand but boutique-sized. A butler unpacks your clothes. I haven't seen the bedrooms, only the public rooms which are very traditional. It is not known for its food - in fact the last time I looked, it didn't do dinner. Is it served in your room ?

I haven't been to Tigerlily but it's supposed to be very funky & its bar is one of the young trendies' watering holes.

So I'd say both the Balmoral & the Howard could be considered pompous; but I suspect that for me, Tigerlily might be too young & possibly noisy. But you are probably a lot younger than me.

Have you looked at the Bonham or the Scotsman ? Or IMO most special of all (for a short stay), the Witchery rooms ?

(BTW how many nights are we talking about, for £700-800 ? ? 3 ? It seems outrageous that some of these places quite those sorts of prices without breakfast !!)

P.S. But I have now looked at the Howard's website and the rooms do look lovely. So I'd stay there, but eat elsewhere.

I'm not a big fan of the Balmoral either. How about Prestonfield, or is that too far from the center of the city?

www.prestonfield.com

Well, I'm getting the new experience of the Scotsman on Sunday. I'll give you some first hand info on my return.

Ooh, exciting news Sheila ! Pack your cossie - the pool is supposed to be fab.

They have a pool?!

I'd recommend the Bonham - it's very comfortable, in a quiet but not out of the way location and serves good food with good service.

My husband and I stayed for 1 week (last March) at The Howard and thoroughly enjoyed it. At that time dinner was served in The Atholl room which was superb fine dining. This is also the room where breakfast was served. We loved our stay...the meals,the room (large, also beautiful spacious marble bathroom with 2 sinks) the people, first rate and helpful. They arranged a car and driver for us who took us around to 3 castles and waited whilst we toured.
Ben was there at that time, and was more than helpful on many occasions. The Howard is less than a 15 minute walk to Princes Street and many shops.
Great location, classic boutique hotel and close to everything.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I've now got another contender to add to the mix, One Royal Circus (B&B rather than hotel). It does look very luxurious and the small number of reviews I've found are very good. This would be £450 including breakfast and complimentary bar.

Yet more choice, just what I needed!

If you are changing you ideas and thinking of a B & B then it may not be a bad choice as three Edinburgh B & Bs have been rated/ voted in the top 10 of European establishments.
Have a look at http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/ed...fm?id=88462007
The three mentioned are the Elmview in Glengyle Terrace, Geralds Place in Abercromby Place and Blacket Garden Flat in Blacket Place. All are about a ten - 15 minute walk to the city centre. Elmview and Blacket Garden Flat are to the south of the city centre whilst Geralds Place is on the north side of the City Centre. I am sure that you will get as good if not better service at these establishments and at a fraction of the price of the three hotels you initially mentioned.

But in addition, the Howard has been named among the top 25 world city hotels !

Sheila - yes, a stainless steel pool apparently !

meks, maybe it's just me being unfit, but it would take me more like half an hour to walk from Blackets to the city centre :-)

And personally I wouldn't be impressed with a romantic birthday weekend in a B&B, no matter how nice it is.