Favourite Hotels In Britain & Ireland

We’re just back from a visit to the UK , our third in the last few years and I thought that I’d mention a few of the great uk hotels that we stayed in during our latest trip. There is so much to see and do in the wonderful cities of the British Isles , those guys really understand the meaning of the word history. Add to that the fact that they speak a language similar to our own and that an art gallery or museum can be enjoyed whatever the weather and we have the recipe for a truly memorable trip. We’re confident that you’d enjoy visiting the UK, but would always advise US citizens to check with the Advice to Travelers website before undertaking international travel.

Edinburgh , Scotland

You can be assured of a warm welcome in the historic city of Edinburgh. This friendly east coast city is made up of the Old Town, which includes the Royal Mile and the New Town with the two halves separated by the line of Princes Street. The University of Edinburgh was established in 1582 and its colleges, museums and galleries are spread around the city. There are many exhibits open to the general public, check the web site for opening times. During the Summer Edinburgh welcomes thousands of visitors to its festivals. The Edinburgh International Festival runs for four weeks and showcases music, theatre, opera and dance. Running beside it is the famous “Fringe”, which in 2006 offered over 28,000 performances in 261 venues throughout the historic city of Edinburgh. With over 1,800 different shows to choose from (36% of which were World Premieres) including comedy, theatre, dance, children's shows and music there was something for everybody . There is in addition, the Blues and Jazz Festival, The Literary Festival and The International Film Festival that run throughout the summer here.

Because we were only in Edinburgh for a couple of days we decided to pamper ourselves and stay in one of Scotland’s most revered hotels, The Balmoral on Prince’s Street. This luxurious old hotel is situated right in the middle of many of Edinburgh’s greatest attractions and places such as Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood House, The Royal Mile and the National Gallery of Scotland are all within walking distance. The hotel itself has a Michelin starred restaurant plus another brasserie and a bar plus the famous Palm Court with its glass dome and impressive chandelier, for a never to be forgotten afternoon tea. I’ve also got to mention the hotel spa offering an amazing collection of treatment rooms, a swimming pool, cardiovascular gymnasium, relaxation suite, sauna and steam room. As I said earlier we had decided to pamper ourselves by staying at this amazing hotel and everything that we had hoped for came true.

Birmingham, England

One of the reasons for our latest visit to the UK was to visit the Crufts Dog Show which is held in the NEC Arena in Birmingham. Spread over 4 days, it’s the most famous dog show in the world. In 2006 143,000 visitors admired over 25,000 dogs from 26 countries in the show rings. Another great attraction at the show is the Discover Dogs section where 190 different breeds of dog are there with their owners, giving everyone an opportunity to question the owners and find the dog that will be right for them.

Because we were only going to the dog show, rather than exploring the city of Birmingham we decided to book a hotel near to the NEC, Birmingham. This time we weren’t looking for unashamed luxury, more a place to lay our heads after a hard day walking miles inside the vast NEC complex. We settled on the Express by Holiday Inn which is actually in the grounds of the UK's largest convention centre. The hotel was exactly what you’d expect, clean, bright and completely impersonal. There was nothing to complain about and we’d use it again for any exhibitions or concerts at the NEC.

Dublin, Ireland

No trip to the British Isles is complete without a visit to the emerald isle. We’ve always found the people in Ireland to be amongst the friendliest in the entire world and they sure know how to party. We’ve stayed at a number of hotels in Dublin and to be honest I think that you’d be made amazingly welcome in any of them but simply for its ambience and great service I’d recommend the Burlington Hotel in Upper Leeson Street. It’s only a few minutes walk from the historical attractions of the Georgian section of the city and there are a number of traditional Irish Bars in the vicinity of the hotel.

London, England

London was our final port of call on the latest trip. If you’ve never been there you really do need to comprehend the sheer size of the place. It has grown and grown outwards over the years and it’s important that you decide exactly what you want to see during your visit else you’ll spend all of your time traveling on underground trains and buses and let me tell you, that’s not something to look forward to. Our plan for this final few days of our trip was to get in some retail therapy i.e. shopping. To that end we decided to stay in the Knightsbridge area with its vast array of chic, world famous stores such as Harrods.