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 2021 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Portobello Hotel
London
Follow in the footsteps of celebrity couples who have stayed at this citadel of Notting Hill bohemia. It’s as decadent as ever, with flamboyant canopied beds, exotic fabrics and an honesty bar whenever a toast to everlasting love calls.
Jeake’s House
Rye
Ideal for lovers on a budget, this creaky 17th-century house in a cobbled street has cosy, individually styled rooms with beams, four-posters, toile de Jouy
wallpapers, a rather theatrical bar and an open fire in the parlour.
Gregans Castle Hotel
Ballyvaughan
This manor house in the wild karst landscapes of the Burren, on Ireland’s west coast, has quiet rooms (no TV) overlooking the bay or mountains; some have private gardens. Candles are lit as dusk falls, and the restaurant serves gourmet food.
Langar Hall
Langar
Head off to a place loved by the queen of romance herself, Barbara Cartland. Many rooms feature fully draped four-posters, delicate flower prints and antique furniture. Or you can book the chalet overlooking the croquet lawn.
Prestonfield
Edinburgh
The opulent Owner’s Suite is entered via a turret stairway, and has a four-poster draped in crimson damask and a book- lined bathroom with a chariot bath big enough for two. The candlit restaurant will put you in the mood for a proposal.
Strattons – Swaffham
Swaffham
You won’t have to remortgage to enjoy a romantic weekend at this 19th-century villa filled with art, antiques and eccentricities. The Red Room suite has a Jacobean four- poster, scarlet velvet everywhere, an open fire and courtyard garden.
The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By
Isle of Skye
This crofter’s cottage on a ruggedly beautiful spot by Loch Dunvegan is a highly regarded restaurant-with-rooms, now in the capable hands of luxury hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray. Next door are sea-view rooms with rain showers and gardens.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
Snuggle up in perfect privacy for the weekend in a pretty Pavilion room at this chic New Forest getaway. With a vast bed, open fire, lounge, terrace, fully stocked pantry, and roll-top bath in a bay window, there’ll be no reason to leave.
Barnsley House
Cirencester
A dreamy country garden designed by Rosemary Verey, chic contemporary rooms, including a Secret Garden Suite with hot tub, four-poster and complimentary champagne, all add up to a blissful Cotswolds retreat.
Lympstone Manor
Exmouth
Sumptuously decorated five-star rooms, panoramic views of the Exe estuary, sleek marble bathrooms with roll-top baths, and Michael Caines’s Michelin-starred food can’t fail to inspire an amorous mood at this Relais & Châteaux hotel.
Editor's Choice 2020 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Lewtrenchard Manor
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
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.
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.
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 Estate
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.
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!
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.
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.
Editor's Choice 2019 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Hartwell House
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
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.
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.
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.
Strattons – Swaffham
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 Estate
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.
Drakes
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.
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.
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.
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.
Editors Choice 2018 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Gliffaes
Crickhowell
‘We have always loved the house and gardens and river views,’ say Guide regulars of this ‘very friendly’ hotel in the heart of the Brecon Beacons national park.
Pen-y-Dyffryn
Oswestry
A morning newsletter lends a personal touch at the Hunter family’s dog-friendly hotel in rolling countryside with views to the Welsh hills.
driftwood hotel
Porthscatho
Fiona and Paul Robinson’s New England-inspired hotel, with ‘magnificent views over Gerrans Bay’, ticked all the boxes for a reader this year, from the ‘wonderful people’ to ‘food that is too good to be true’.
The Airds Hotel
Port Appin
A ‘lovely mix of quiet seaside, stunning hillside and island life’ can be found here, by Loch Linnhe, and within easy reach of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Knockinaam Lodge
Portpatrick
‘A stiff walk from Portpatrick along the cliffs’ brings you to Sian and David Ibbotson’s Victorian hunting lodge overlooking the Irish Sea.
Gregans Castle Hotel
Ballyvaughan
This ‘epitome of Irish country house hospitality’ overlooks Galway Bay, in the dramatic Burren landscape, said to have been the inspiration for Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Burgh Island Hotel
Bigbury-on-Sea
This decadent Art Deco grande dame, set on its own tidal island, ‘harks back to a more glamorous age’, and a recent refurbishment has been given the thumbs up by faithful regulars.
Old Whyly
East Hoathly
‘The house is beautiful, the garden is glorious,’ writes a reader this year, after a return visit to Sarah Burgoyne’s Georgian farmhouse, so handy for Glyndebourne.
The Painswick
Painswick
In one of the prettiest villages in the Cotswolds, this Palladian house overlooking the Slad valley in Laurie Lee country is a soothing escape for rattled city-dwellers.
Ardanaiseig
Kilchrenan
Swing round a winding road to this turreted, Jacobean-style baronial mansion – ‘a palatial old joint’ – in a ‘beautiful’ setting on the shores of Loch Awe.
Editors Choice 2017 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Gliffaes
Crickhowell
‘We have always loved the house and gardens and river views,’ say Guide regulars of this ‘very friendly’ hotel in the heart of the Brecon Beacons national park.
Cliveden House
Taplow
As you approach this glorious Italianate Thames-side summer palace designed by Charles Barry and set in 376 acres of National Trust grounds, it ‘feels as if you are on the film set of Pride and Prejudice’, says a Guide insider (see also Chewton Glen, New Milton).
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath
Behind the golden-stone facade of two mansions, at the centre of Bath’s magnificent Georgian crescent, lies a luxurious hotel with an oasis garden.
Portobello Hotel
London
There is still bags of bohemian spirit in this legendary rock and roll hotel converted from two neoclassical mansions, thanks to its eclectic collection of rooms containing many pieces from nearby Portobello market.
Langar Hall
Langar
A linden avenue leads to this apricot-washed Georgian mansion in parkland, beside St Andrew’s
church in a Vale of Belvoir village, with a river running through.
Burgh Island Hotel
Bigbury-on-Sea
This decadent Art Deco grande dame, set on its own tidal island, ‘harks back to a more glamorous age’, and a recent refurbishment has been given the thumbs up by faithful regulars.
Ballyvolane House
Fermoy
A house-party atmosphere prevails at Jenny and Justin Green’s Italianate mansion set amid romantic gardens and parkland.
Newforge House
Magheralin
In mature gardens and 50 acres of pasture on the edge of the village, Louise and John Mathers’s creeper-clad Georgian mansion is an elegant home from home.
Ardanaiseig
Kilchrenan
Swing round a winding road to this turreted, Jacobean-style baronial mansion – ‘a palatial old joint’ – in a ‘beautiful’ setting on the shores of Loch Awe.
The Old Railway Station
Petworth
Built in 1892 to enable the Prince of Wales to travel to Goodwood Racecourse, Petworth’s railway station has been ‘lovingly restored’ into a ‘remarkable’ B&B.
Editors Choice 2016 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
La Sablonnerie
Little Sark
‘Paradise,’ write readers on their ‘umpteenth’ stay at this rose-smothered, whitewashed hotel on a tiny, car-free island.
driftwood hotel
Porthscatho
Fiona and Paul Robinson’s New England-inspired hotel, with ‘magnificent views over Gerrans Bay’, ticked all the boxes for a reader this year, from the ‘wonderful people’ to ‘food that is too good to be true’.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
This luxurious country house hotel (Relais & Châteaux) offers ‘indulgent’ rooms, Michelin-starred dining, spacious grounds, legions of staff, and ‘comfort in all the right places’.
Tor Cottage
Lifton
In its own secluded wooded valley, this B&B is ideal for guests who want to come and go as they please.
The Old Rectory
Boscastle
The old rector was none other than the great-grandfather of Sally Searle, who, with husband Chris, welcomes guests to their loved and lived-in Victorian home.
Related Pages
- Best romantic hotels
Best romantic hotels in Cornwall
Best romantic hotels in Cotswolds- Best romantic hotels in Cumbria
- Best romantic hotels in Devon
Best romantic hotels in Dorset
Best romantic hotels in East Anglia- Best romantic hotels in Ireland
Best romantic hotels in Kent- Best romantic hotels in Lake District
Best romantic hotels in London
Best romantic hotels in Midlands- Best romantic hotels in Norfolk
Best romantic hotels in North East- Best romantic hotels in North West
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Best romantic hotels in Sussex- Best romantic hotels in Wales
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