The sorts of places made for moonlight and music, some hotels really are made for romance. So from four poster beds to beautiful views, decadent dinners to country walks, rich histories of love through the ages and picturesque buildings with spiral staircases, these are the hotels to head to with loved ones. Amongst the collection there’s even an island hotel for the ultimate getaway. Here are the Good Hotel Guide’s top 10 romantic hotels.
Editor's Choice 2020 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Lewtrenchard Manor - Autumn Retreat Special Offer
Okehampton
‘The herbaceous borders full of flowers, a granite fountain always playing. . . imagine it on a sunlit evening.’ Victorian genius Sabine Baring-Gould extols his own creation, this glorious Jacobean-style manor replete with ornate plasterwork and antiques.
La Sablonnerie - Suite Upgrade Special Offer
Little Sark
Arrive by horse-drawn carriage at this 16th-century stone farmhouse on a car-free island ablaze with gorse in summer. Sleep in a rustic cottage bedroom. Take a dip in the pools of Venus and Adonis. Dine in a rose-filled garden.
Hazlitt’s
London
You can repose on a bed adorned with gilded cherubs and steep in a vintage roll-top bath at this sumptuous boutique hotel in raffish Soho, adorned with silks and velvets, portraits and porcelains, the last home of 18th-century essayist William Hazlitt.
Langar Hall
Langar
With poetry on the walls and a canopy four-poster, Bohemia room is the honeymooners’ choice at this Georgian mansion in the Vale of Belvoir. Others prefer Cartland room, beloved of the doyenne of romantic fiction, the late Dame Barbara.
Castle Leslie
Glaslough
Rooms come with tales of wartime espionage, whirlwind romance and royal visits, at Samantha Leslie’s ancestral lakeside pile. Book flamboyant Aggie’s room with four-poster, a roll-top bath in a curtained alcove. Have a lie-in: breakfast ends at 11 am.
Glenapp Castle
Ballantrae
A fountain sparkles on the forecourt of this turreted, Scottish baronial-style castle, reached by a wooded drive. Bedrooms have sea or garden views, The Penthouse offers a sauna and roof terrace. Dine as the sun sets over Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre.
Augill Castle
Kirkby Stephen
This Victorian fantasy castle in the Eden valley, with views of fells and dales, enchants all who stay. Most bedrooms have a four-poster, some a real fire. The
Gatehouse suite occupies one of two towers, with private garden.
Gatehouse suite occupies one of two towers, with private garden.
Coes Faen
Barmouth
Rooms come with luxury extras at this astonishing B&B overlooking the
Mawddach estuary. Perhaps a Welsh slate steam room; an outdoor cedar hot tub; a rock terrace with views of Snowdonia. And Tuscan style dinners? La dolce vita!
Mawddach estuary. Perhaps a Welsh slate steam room; an outdoor cedar hot tub; a rock terrace with views of Snowdonia. And Tuscan style dinners? La dolce vita!
No.15 Great Pulteney
Bath
The Hideout Suite at this glamorous boutique hotel has everything for a sybaritic weekend, with statement art and lighting, a sitting room with a real-flame gas fire, a Sonos music system, hot tub and steam-room shower.
The Pig at Bridge Place
Canterbury
The latest in the Pig family occupies a fabulous Jacobean manor and former music venue that hosted the likes of Led Zeppelin. Climb a stairway to the heaven of a four-poster room, or sleep in a hop pickers’ hut, on stilts, by the river.
Editor's Choice 2019 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Hartwell House - £94.50 Per Person Per Night Special Offer
Aylesbury
Louis XVIII paid £500 a year to house his court in exile at this sublime mansion in an Arcadian landscape. For a little less you can spend two nights in a Royal Four- Poster room filled with paintings and antiques.
From £200 per night
Pen-y-Dyffryn - Up to 30% Discount & Complimentary Afternoon Tea Special Offer
Oswestry
Long walks in tranquil countryside, tea by a blazing log fire, a bedroom with a double spa bath or private stone-walled patio… This small hotel close to the Welsh border offers a perfect getaway à deux.
Drakes - 'Romantic Stay and Dine Getaway in Brighton' Special Offer
Brighton
For Jane Austen Brighton was a ‘scene of dissipation and vice’. So much the better for an amorous weekend! Sybarites choose a room with a freestanding bath in the floor-to-ceiling window, at this Regency hotel with sea-facing cocktail bar.
Strattons
Swaffham
Theatrical bedrooms set the scene for seduction at this Palladian-villa. There’s the opulent Red Room, with Jacobean four-poster bed; Opium with free-standing bath; exotic Fantouche and Venetian murals in Seagull and Boudoir.
Castle Leslie
Glaslough
A 1,000-acre estate with lakes and woodland surrounds this Victorian pile. It is filled with paintings, antiques – a grand piano, a della Robbia fireplace. Every bedroom has its own story. Eagle’s Nest has a balcony with lake views.
Glenapp Castle
Ballantrae
Sea-facing rooms at this Victorian fantasy castle in landscaped grounds, gaze across the Firth of Clyde to Ailsa Craig. Some have a half-tester bed. Order a cocktail in teapot in the restored tea rooms in the walled garden.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
A mansion in the New Forest, a stellar clientele, sublime Italian food – could you get more romantic? Apparently, yes. Lime Wood now has ‘the UK’s sexiest bedroom’, a cabin cantilevered over a small lake with a private island and alfresco bath and wood-burning stove.
Portobello Hotel
London
In raffish Notting Hill of rom-com fame, this wacky boutique hotel offers everything for couples, from ‘cosy doubles’ with exotic murals to ‘signature rooms’, one with circular bed, another with a
four-poster from Hampton Court Palace.
four-poster from Hampton Court Palace.
The Painswick
Painswick
For that dream date, here is a Palladian mansion with Italianate loggia and glamorous cocktail bar in a picturesque Cotswolds village. George’s suite has a four-poster, a sitting room with log burner, a stone balcony with blissful views.
Prestonfield
Edinburgh
Lady Anne Dick, former chatelaine of this 16th-century mansion, scandalised polite Edinburgh society with her ‘coarse’ verses and cross-dressing, and there is still something deliciously louche about all
the swags and velvets and sumptuousness here.
the swags and velvets and sumptuousness here.
Editors Choice 2018 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Gliffaes - 'Explore Wales' Summer Special Offer
Crickhowell
‘An amazing mansion set in equally amazing gardens.’ Praise from Guide readers this year, for this former Victorian vicar's house high above the River Usk.
Pen-y-Dyffryn - Up to 30% Discount & Complimentary Afternoon Tea Special Offer
Oswestry
‘Our third visit. Most of the other guests were also returners. It isn’t surprising.’ Readers are drawn back time and again to this stone rectory in ‘immaculate gardens’, overlooking the Welsh hills.
driftwood hotel
Portscatho
You can order a picnic hamper and walk down to a private beach through lovely gardens at Paul and Fiona Robinson’s New England-inspired hotel, or just relax on the deck, gazing across Gerrans Bay.
The Airds Hotel
Port Appin
'A real star, we enjoyed our stay,' enthuse Guide regulars, who visited several hotels on either side of this year's Scottish cruise. 'It was by far our favourite.'
Knockinaam Lodge
Portpatrick
‘A very special place,’ say guests in 2019, of Sian and David Ibbotson’s Victorian hunting lodge overlooking the Irish Sea. ‘The accommodating hosts went out of their way, more than once, to ensure we had a terrific time.'
Gregans Castle Hotel
Ballyvaughan
‘Country house luxury’ abounds in this Georgian mansion, run by owners Simon Haden and Frederieke McMurray as a luxury hotel.
Burgh Island Hotel
Bigbury-on-Sea
Built into a hillside on a tidal island, this sleek, white, concrete hotel has a seagoing aspect. Built in 1929 for a wealthy industrialist, it hosted the likes of Nancy Cunard, Noël Coward and Josephine Baker.
Old Whyly
East Hoathly
‘You are essentially staying in someone’s beautiful farmhouse, with an exquisite garden and delicious breakfast.’ A reader reaffirms her support this year for Sarah Burgoyne’s ‘wonderful’ B&B.
The Painswick
Painswick
In an ‘idyllic’ Cotswolds hillside village, this Palladian merchant’s mansion with Arts and Crafts add-ons is part of the Calcot Collection (see Calcot).
Ardanaiseig
KILCHRENAN
Ardanaiseig closed as a hotel at the end of November 2017. It will be relaunched in 2018 a venue catering for groups, weddings, and corporate functions.
Editors Choice 2017 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Gliffaes - 'Explore Wales' Summer Special Offer
Crickhowell
‘An amazing mansion set in equally amazing gardens.’ Praise from Guide readers this year, for this former Victorian vicar's house high above the River Usk.
Cliveden House - Three for Two Short Break
Taplow
Meghan Markle spent the night before her wedding at this 'magnificent' Italianate mansion in 'glorious' National Trust grounds on a bluff above the Thames.
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath
Here is an exemplary hotel, according to a discerning Guide Reader, ‘elegant and comfortable’, it has ‘an air of confidence’ that sets guests at ease.
Langar Hall
Langar
‘We arrived on a golden Indian summer late afternoon to a warm welcome, culminating in tea on the lawn, looking beyond the ha-ha to a field.’
Burgh Island Hotel
Bigbury-on-Sea
Built into a hillside on a tidal island, this sleek, white, concrete hotel has a seagoing aspect. Built in 1929 for a wealthy industrialist, it hosted the likes of Nancy Cunard, Noël Coward and Josephine Baker.
Ballyvolane House
Fermoy
With a seven-a-side soccer pitch, glamping tents, Bertha’s Revenge Gin distilled in a converted cattle shed, and breakfast served until noon, this is no run-of-the-mill hotel.
The Old Railway Station
Petworth
Some grown men play with train sets. Gudmund Olafsson went further in 2005, when he bought one of Britain’s most beautiful railway stations, renovating the property and the four Edwardian Pullman carriages on its disused line.
Newforge House
Magheralin
It was surely the ‘star quality’ recognised by Guide inspectors that saw John Mathers acknowledged in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for Service to Hospitality and Tourism.
Portobello Hotel
London
It’s not alone in claiming to be ‘London’s first boutique hotel’, but the ‘charming, quirky’ Portobello is assuredly one of its most extraordinary.
Ardanaiseig
KILCHRENAN
Ardanaiseig closed as a hotel at the end of November 2017. It will be relaunched in 2018 a venue catering for groups, weddings, and corporate functions.
Editors Choice 2016 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
La Sablonnerie - Suite Upgrade Special Offer
Little Sark
‘Wonderful as ever,’ writes a reader this year, a regular returnee to Elizabeth Perrée’s 16th-century, whitewashed stone farmhouse in a beautiful part of this car-free island.
driftwood hotel
Portscatho
You can order a picnic hamper and walk down to a private beach through lovely gardens at Paul and Fiona Robinson’s New England-inspired hotel, or just relax on the deck, gazing across Gerrans Bay.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
‘Nothing compares’ with the Cunliffes’ 'really special' country house hotel and its glamorous satellite, Lake House, with spa, half a mile away.
Tor Cottage
Lifton
Maureen Rowlatt is the ‘charming’ hostess at this B&B in a private valley, surrounded by gardens that extend into woodland and fields – an ideal spot for exploring Dartmoor and the Tamar valley.
The Old Rectory
Boscastle
‘A super place. The real deal.’ Praise from Guide insiders for Chris and Sally Searle’s B&B, in the rectory where Thomas Hardy courted Emma Gifford.