Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - York and Edinburgh hotels

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York and Edinburgh hotels

I am planning a trip to the UK and am looking for info. on places to stay in York and Edinburgh. Would prefer B & Bs. Any suggestions? thanks

Diane, I haven't been to any of these, but the following are all recommended for Edinburgh by two or more guidbooks (my wife and I are heading to Edinburgh in early Oct., so did a lot of research). - 27 Heriot Row http://www.scotland-deluxe.co.uk/1.html) http://www.aboutscotland.co.uk/edin/heriot/row.html - Sibbet House http://www.sibbet-house.co.uk/ http://www.scotland-deluxe.co.uk/27.html - Drummond Place http://www.aboutscotland.co.uk/edin/drum.html http://www.which.net/nonsub/thismont...valwhg/712.htm http://www.smallandeleganthotels.com...h/drummond.htm Good luck! Mike -

We stayed in each city this summer. We used following services: http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk http://www.infotel.co.uk/query.htm

I, too, am planning a Scotland trip, and am interested in the info posted. Greg, did you use the booking service at Smoothhound and Infotel, or just look through their offerings? I am curious if anyone has used the services, and if everything was booked as it should have been. Thanks, Erika

WE STAYED THIS SUMMER AT STUART HOUSE B & B. VERY NICE AND IN A GREAT LOCATION, WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF THE ROYAL MILE AND LOTS OF GREAT RESTAURANTS. HIGHLY RECOMMEND, IT IS LISTED IN FODORS.

I have used SMOOTHHOUND for York and dialed direct to the hotel listed under INFOTEL for Edinburgh. Here are salient point on how SMOOTHHOUND worked from our point of view. The guest houst/B&B/Hotels (almost indistinguishable from each other even after we stayed, by the way) either have fax (so so) or internet (better) connections to each place. We entered info into SMOOTHHOUND web page which in turn faxed (via UK to UK fax at their expense) or internet mail to the accomodations. That was the end of SMOOTHHOUND involvement, from there on, we communicated directly to each place (that's why internet mailable places are better, you will have to foot the fax bills unless you have internet international fax access.) Something not so obvious (presuming U.S. readers) - U.K. reservation means more commitments than the U.S. 1/2 of places I reserved required non refundable deposits. About half of the B&B near we stayed at some sorts of vacancies in early July, but - from my research, they only had rooms for two, so for a group of 4, we had to commit non refundable deposits. My friend went to Edinburgh in May (shoulder season?) without reservation for group of 5 and took 14 calls before finding a place that can accomodate all. - Only about 1/2 of the fax only accomdation replied. It cost them few pounds to do this, I believe. - The internet mailable places replied 95%+. - The subsequent email followups were troublesome. Only 1/3 of the places bother to elaborate more on their accomodations (where located, etc.) - Hotels (in U.S. sense) in each city were booked up many months in advance for summer, so we choose B&B (and its variants including "B&B look alike Hotels" .) I think it had to do with tour groups. - The "rating systems" is very confusing. You can find one attempt at http://www.theaa.co.uk/hotels/ItemHelp.html/ - Booking at each place were solid perhaps because we dealt directly with each place. We got confirmation from just one place. We were bit nervous about this since in U.S. we had reservation problems even with written confirmations. Perhaps the promises were taken more seriously there? - Some of the placed listed were actually members of the Best Western Hotel network (never mentioned anywhere) so we could have made reservations using the U.S. 800 number without paying the long distance bills... sigh...

Greg is right - the hotels in England don't like to FAX anymore than absolutely necessary because their phones are expensive. France is the same. With the UK, in the end, I just ended up calling - Rating systems: there is actually an accurate and outstanding rating system for all UK lodging. Each region of the UK has a tourist office and they will send you their booklet, which has exhaustive listings of all acommodations, usually a little picture, and all the ratings. For the countryside, I found it to be much more useful than guidebooks, and we used it for Salisbury (Wiltshire) and for Stratford Upon Avon. The trick is to figure out where the regional tourist offices are. I got mine through friends, but there is at least one big British tourist website, so that might help. For Stratford Upon Avon area, the office is inStratford. Also, Salisbury area is headquartered in Salisbury. I would think that Yorkshire and the Dales would be in York. Can't help you with any specific B&B's in York, because we stayed in a very American style hotel. It was well located and comfortable, and met my parents needs - so it worked. The Yorkshire tourism office publication should help you alot. I presume there is one for Edinburgh as well.

Diane, don't come to Edinburgh during august if you can avoid it.I know it's the international festival and fringe festival and what have you but the prices soar during this time.I am a resident of the city and am fequently dissapointed at what happens during festival time.All restaurants and bars and many shops increase their prices( often double the off-season prices)for the tourists.It's a rip-off mainly.Saying that, Edinburgh is fantastic but could be cleaner.B&B's are plentiful again as long as it's not during august.You have to book years in advance for a good room in Edinburgh during august.If you require any help with anything email me , ok?

I am a native of York now living in the USA. Bed and breakfasts give the best value but there are some nice hotels in the city.Youngs Hotel on Petergate is one and the Abbey Park Hotel is supposed to be good. There are several nice bed and breakfasts in ther Clifton area of York, noteably the Bloomsbury Hotel. Clifton is about 2 miles from the city center, but its a pleasant, quite historical walk.

Well, I can't dispute someone who lives there, but I was only able to spend 1 1/2 days in Edinburgh 31 Jul and 1 Aug (98) and I loved Edinburgh. It was jus the beginning of the festival so maybe that's why it wasn't bad. Plan a return visit of that beautiful country. We stayed at a nice B&B - 17 Abercrombie Place - $129 pounds per night (there were 3 of us and that's hard to do since most B&Bs don't accommodate 3 in a room)

Sue, I would love Edinburgh as well , I have no doubt, If I didnt live there. It's like all places, they look great if you see the right bits but when you have been there for a while you get to see the seedy underside of the place. Do not let this put anyone off though, Edinburgh is a city full of history and it may be a case of me not being able to see the wood for the trees as it were. Come to Edinburgh, I insist, take my car !

In York, a very enthusiastic recommendation for Middlethorpe Hall about a mile from town center and surrounded by lovely gardens and grounds. A country-house hotel with about 25 rooms and a terrific restaurant. In York, itself I adored walking atop the old Roman wall encircling the old town.

In York, we stayed at the Jorvik Hotel. It was wonderfully located, through the Museum Garden ( park) and then a short walk to the city and the Cathedral. This hotel was reasonable and very satisfactory accommodations two years ago. ph. 653511

Try the UK Tourism Guide at http://www.dedicate.co.uk/@uk or Fine Indvidual Hotels at http://www.fine-individual-hotels.co.uk Paul