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 2023 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Tudor Farmhouse - 'E-bike Safari' Special Offer
Clearwell
The Wye Valley and the ancient Forest of Dean provide a charmed setting for this boutique hotel in a converted farmhouse, a barn and a cider house. The best rooms have a roll-top bath and monsoon shower. Dawn-chorus walks, night-sky safaris and glimpses of wild boar and roe deer add to the enchantment.
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons
Great Milton
Borders of lavender line the path to Raymond Blanc’s 15th-century manor house. Every bedroom is special. The sexy Opium suite has wood panelling, an original Ming stone carving and a private garden with water feature. You can stroll through the gardens with ponds and water features before a dinner you’ll never forget.
Prestonfield
Edinburgh
With theatrical interiors and gardens overlooked by Arthur’s Seat, this luxury hotel invites pure indulgence. One suite has its own private turret staircase, dedicated porter and concierge. Dine in the atmospheric restaurant, or à deux in the private room, summoning your waiter with the ring of a bell.
Judges
Yarm
Lawns sweep down to a little river from this Victorian country house in landscaped, wooded grounds on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors. If you go for a Friday or Saturday ‘date night’, a set-price dinner includes a champagne cocktail. Some rooms have a four-poster bed and spa bath.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, around this New Forest country house with a seductive spa. Bolt-holes for lovers include forest hideaway suites, secluded pavilions, and a lake cabin with triple-aspect windows, balconies on three sides and an outdoor freestanding tub. Add Italian-inspired cooking, and that’s amore.
Belle Tout Lighthouse
Eastbourne
You feel as if you’re at the edge of the world in this cliff-top eyrie amid the rolling South Downs, with the English Channel below, and views to the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs. Share a picnic supper in the cosy lounge, then ascend to the lantern to marvel at the star-spangled sky.
The Coach & Horses
A pumpkin motif at this village gastropub is a nod to Cinderella, promising a fairy-tale stay. The very special Rose bedroom has an open fire, a chandelier, an in-room copper bath and a waterfall shower. Take a stroll in the Ribble valley before dining by candlelight. Have a ball!
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath
A cream tea with fizz in the one-acre gardens or the Dower House restaurant sets the mood at this elegant hotel at the centre of a glorious sweep of honeyed stone Georgian townhouses. Master suites have fine artworks and antiques; England’s most romantic city awaits.
Boskerris Hotel
St Ives
It’s the seaside with style at this adults-only 1930s hotel, with its dreamy coastal palette, away from the buzz of downtown St Ives. Take a cream tea on the terrace, gazing across St Ives Bay to Godrevy lighthouse. A ‘Celebration’ room has a sunken bath for two, and you can order breakfast in bed.
The Cookie Jar
Alnwick
Get thee to a nunnery! Debbie Cook has created a heavenly boutique hotel in a former convent on the doorstep of mighty Alnwick Castle, close to the unspoilt Northumberland coast. Book the Chapel Suite, with a copper bath under a stained-glass window, and dine alfresco on the terrace by the firepit.
Editor's Choice 2022 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Thornbury Castle - Midweek Gourmet Celebration Special Offer
Thornbury
Even if you don’t bag the top suite with its ten-foot blue and gold bed at the top of the turret you can’t help feeling the romance of this Tudor castle, complete with arrow slits, crenellated walls, and four-posters.
Cary Arms & Spa - Three Nights for the Price of Two Special Offer
Babbacombe
New England chic meets seaside inn at the Cary Arms, where you can stay in a stylish beach hut with sea views from the glass doors and the porthole on the mezzanine. Feast on seafood in the restaurant, then sip sloe gin in the rooms.
The Dial House - 'Free Bottle of Fizz' September Special Offer
Norwich
Choose between rooms resembling a Venetian palazzo, the mysterious east or a Parisian garret with slipper bath at the foot of the bed (oh là là). They all have record players, and a revolving bookcase reveals a secret dining room.
Hazlitt’s
London
It’s lavishly luxurious in this Soho retreat, with four-posters and silk curtains, baroque mirrors and antiques. There’s even a suite where the bed is adorned with gilded cherubs and another with a private garden beneath a sliding roof.
Star Castle
St Mary's
With an idyllic location on the Isles of Scilly, this Elizabethan castle within star-shaped fortress walls is pretty special. Castle rooms have beams and half-testers, and you can take tea on the ramparts or sip gin in the Dungeon bar.
Fischer’s at Baslow Hall
Baslow
There are just 11 bedrooms at this Edwardian manor with period furnishings, fine food and beautiful grounds. It’s a short stroll to Chatsworth House, aka Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice, should you wish to channel your inner Jane Austen.
The Coach House at Middleton Lodge
Richmond
Some of the rooms in cottages, former stables and outbuildings here come with outdoor hot tubs but all are rustic chic boltholes, perfect for snuggling up in after exploring the 200-acre estate with its appealing double-height restaurant.
Monachyle Mhor
Lochearnhead
If your idea of romance is less four-posters and velvet, more modern design in a remote setting, this is the place for you. Stylish rooms include a pod in the trees, a cool cabin and a wagon, and there are wild walks from the door.
From £97.50 per night
Penally Abbey
Tenby
Floor-to-ceiling cusped windows frame views over Carmarthen Bay at this ‘Strawberry Hill Gothic’ house with rooms in soft pastels and an incredibly stylish restaurant. Expect toile de Jouy wallpaper, parquet floors and a ruined chapel in the gardens.
The Old Railway Station
Petworth
What could be more romantic than returning to the golden age of steam travel and staying in a Pullman carriage with mahogany fittings and colonial-style furniture? Sip champagne under a parasol on the platform for a first-class break.
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.
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.
Strattons
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
No.15 by GuestHouse
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.
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.
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 - Complimentary Fourth 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 - 20% Discount and Complimentary Cream 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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
Knockinaam Lodge - Burns Night Special Offer
Portpatrick
Where the road ends and the Irish Sea begins, this former Victorian hunting lodge with a private cove is secluded, unapologetically traditional and rich in comforts and good food.
Pen-y-Dyffryn - 20% Discount and Complimentary Cream Tea Special Offer
Oswestry
'As close to the Welsh border as you can get' this 'charming, family-run hotel' in a Georgian rectory has ‘tremendous views from the beautiful garden’.
Driftwood Hotel
Porthscatho
‘A very nice hotel with its own private beach, secluded and quiet,’ writes a reader of this cliff-top hotel in gardens overlooking Gerrans Bay.
Gregans Castle Hotel
Ballyvaughan
It may not be a castle but this rambling 18th-century manor house, wrapped in gardens and with views over the otherworldly karst landscape of the Burren, has its own romantic charm.
Old Whyly
East Hoathly
‘A curling gravel drive lined with mature trees and wild flowers’ leads to this ‘exceptionally beautiful Georgian manor house’ B&B.
Burgh Island Hotel
Bigbury-on-Sea
Pack your Schiaparelli gowns, beach pants and playsuits, and board the 'sea tractor' for a trip back to the 1930s at this Art Deco hotel on a tidal island where the beau monde came to play.
Editors Choice 2017 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
Cliveden House - Three Nights for the Price of Two Special Offer
Taplow
History, opulence and a tantalising whiff of scandal enrich a stay at this palatial Italianate mansion in National Trust gardens and parkland.
Portobello Hotel
London
Beyond the Doric portico of a white stucco neo-classical mansion, this boutique hotel captures the eclectic charms of glamorous and bohemian Notting Hill.
Langar Hall
Langar
Everything is peachy at this apricot-hued Georgian country house in the Vale of Belvoir, at the end of a long avenue of lime trees, transformed from a family home into a delightful, idiosyncratic and much-loved hotel.
Ballyvolane House
Fermoy
With breakfast served until noon, afternoon tea by the drawing room fire, shooting, fishing and communal dining, a house-party atmosphere prevails at this Georgian country house.
Newforge House
Magheralin
There is a happy sense of continuity at this classic Georgian country house, where sixth-generation owners Louise and John Mathers have been welcoming guests since 2005.
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath
At the centre of a glorious Georgian crescent, two adjoining mansions are home to an elegant yet family-friendly hotel with oasis garden and beautiful spa.
Burgh Island Hotel
Bigbury-on-Sea
Pack your Schiaparelli gowns, beach pants and playsuits, and board the 'sea tractor' for a trip back to the 1930s at this Art Deco hotel on a tidal island where the beau monde came to play.
The Old Railway Station
Petworth
Readers report transports of delight this year after staying at this B&B, occupying surely Britain’s prettiest disused station, a former stop on the Mid-Sussex line in the South Downs national park.
Editors Choice 2016 Romantic Hotels
Editor’s Choice Romantic Hotels
La Sablonnerie - Suite Upgrade Special Offer
Little Sark
A horse-drawn carriage conveys you over a dramatic, narrow isthmus 80 metres above the sea to this 17th-century farmhouse on a tiny island with no airstrip, no tarmac road, and no cars.
Driftwood Hotel
Porthscatho
‘A very nice hotel with its own private beach, secluded and quiet,’ writes a reader of this cliff-top hotel in gardens overlooking Gerrans Bay.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
With its indulgent bedrooms, Michelin-starred dining, attentive staff and guaranteed privacy, many look to Gilpin as the ultimate in Lakeland luxury.
The Old Rectory
Boscastle
‘In some of the most beautiful inland scenery in Cornwall,’ Chris and Sally Searle’s B&B is ‘a time capsule of Victorian virtues, rich in associations with Thomas Hardy’.