Magnificent Hotels In Britain & Ireland
This article was sent in by Barbara James of Austin Texas.
We’re just back from a visit to the UK, our second trip to that area in the last few years and I thought that I’d mention a few of the amazing uk hotels where we’ve stayed during our latest trip. The cities of the British Isles offer so much to the visitor, each of them offers tradition and history going back thousands of years. Add to that the fact that they speak a language not unlike our own and that an art gallery or museum can be visited in case of inclement weather and you have found a ingredients of a truly memorable trip. We’re confident that you’d enjoy a visit to the British Isles, but would always advise US citizens to check with the U.S. Department of State Advice to Travelers website before undertaking travel outside the country.
Edinburgh, Scotland
You can be assured of a friendly welcome in the wonderful 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 Princes Street forming the division between the two sections. Edinburgh University was established in 1582 and its colleges, galleries and museums are spread throughout the entire city. There are a number of exhibits open to the visitor, check their web site for opening and closing times.
During the Summer Edinburgh opens its doors to thousands of visitors to its festivals. The Edinburgh International Festival runs for 4 weeks and features theatre, music, dance and opera. Running at the same time is the world renowned “Fringe”, which typically offers over 25,000 performances in over 250 different venues all over the city. With that many widely varying shows from which to choose (in 2006 36% of them were World Premieres) including comedy, theatre, dance, children’s shows and music there is something for everyone. There is in addition, the Blues and Jazz Festival, The Literary Festival and The International Film Festival that take place throughout the summer season.
Because we only had two days in the city we were determined to be a trifle extravagant and stay in one of Scotland’s most revered hotels, The Scotsman Hotel in Edinburgh. This amazing old hotel can be found right in the middle of many of Edinburgh’s greatest buildings and places such as Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood House, The Royal Mile and the National Gallery of Scotland are all within walking distance. As I mentioned earlier we had decided to pamper ourselves with a stay at this amazing hotel and everything that we could have expected became reality.
Birmingham, England
One of the reasons for our recent visit to the UK was a planned visit to the Crufts Dog Show which takes place at the National Exhibition Center Arena in Birmingham. Taking place over four days, it’s the most famous dog show in the world. Last Year 143,000 visitors admired a total of over 25,000 dogs from 26 countries in the show rings. Another great attraction at the show is the section labelled “Discover Dogs” where examples from 190 different breeds of dog are there with their owners, giving everybody the chance to question the owners and find the dog that will be right for them. Since we were only visiting the dog show, rather than venturing into the city centre we took the decision to book a hotel near to the NEC, Birmingham. On this occasion we were not searching for unashamed luxury, more a place to lay our heads after an exhausting day walking around that vast complex admiring dogs of all shapes and sizes. We settled on The NEC Crowne Plaza Hotel which is actually in the grounds of the UK’s largest convention center. The hotel was exactly what you’d expect, bright, clean and totally impersonal. There was nothing to complain about and we’d happily stay there again when visiting exhibitions or concerts at the NEC.
London, England
Our final destination on this holiday was London. If you’ve never been to London you really do need to appreciate the immense size of the city. It has spread outwards in recent years and it’s important that you decide precisely what you intend to see during your visit else you’ll spend all of your time sitting on underground trains and buses and let me tell you, that’s not something to look forward to. Our plan for the last few days of our trip was to get in some retail therapy i.e. shopping. With this in mind we decided to stay in London’s Knightsbridge district with its vast array of chic, world famous stores such as Harrods. We booked into the Sheraton Park Tower in ultra-stylish Knightsbridge. The Sheraton Park Tower is one of London’s most famous hotels, famed for its “One-O-One” restaurant, London’s best fish restaurant. The Sheraton Park Tower boasts tremendous views over the London skyline with many rooms overlooking Hyde Park Local attractions besides the the shopping include Hyde Park and many of the city’s world renowned landmarks and museums.
