Best Hotels in U.K.: 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards

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By Ramsay Short

Now in its 35th year, our annual Readers’ Choice Awards continues to capture the travel experiences our readers love best, from hotels and airlines to cruises and islands. Plus: Odes to the properties that keep you coming back, meditations on beloved cities, and more.

The numbers prove what we already knew: Enthusiasm for travel has never been higher, as demonstrated by the nearly quarter of a million of you who filled out this year's survey. From the top large U.S. city to the top international airline, this year's list is a testament to the staying power of perennial favorites, through thick and thin. Consider it a primer on where to go next—and how to get there. Here are the best hotels in the United Kingdom (outside of London), as voted by Traveler readers.

View this gallery as a list of the top hotels in the U.K. with scores here ; find all of our Readers' Choice Awards categories here .

All listings featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you book something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

It's the hotel where Meghan Markle stayed the night before her wedding. We could stop there, but Cliveden House is so rich with royal history and so very British there's few other aristocratic country stays that compare. First built in 1666 by the Duke of Buckingham, the Grade I listed manor has been a hotel since 1984 and was at various times frequented by Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, and Lord Astor. Today it's got 47 rooms, each furnished with antiques, handmade beds, heavy drapes, and walls adorned with intricate wallpapers and original artworks. The rest of the interior feels like a palace: the Great Hall with a grandiose fireplace, the lobby with its cathedral-high ceiling, and a stunning Gothic Revival mahogany staircase. There's a modern spa with indoor and outdoor pools, and external hot tubs. The huge gardens of the 376-acre estate in the Chiltern Hills provide romantic walks and stunning views while the restaurants, the Cliveden Dining Room and the Astor Grill, serve knock-out British fine cuisine. It's all within swinging distance of Windsor Castle, too. Perhaps the finest grand heritage hotel in England.

Minutes from Belfast City Centre and yet adjacent to the immaculately maintained wooded landscape of the Stormont Estate, the Stormont Hotel offers both luxury urban chic and country comfort in one. The 105 bedrooms are bright and spacious, modern in décor with King Koil "cloud beds" that are as comfortable as the name suggests, and good-sized bathrooms and views encompassing the Castlereagh Hills, Stormont Parliament Buildings, and the Newtownards Peninsula. Decorated in warm colours, ESPA toiletries, deep tubs the Stormont is all about casual luxury and relaxation. You’ll often find journalists and politicians in residence due to its location but also families here to simply switch off and chill. In typical Belfast style, the staff is extremely helpful and friendly, and room service is 24 hours, an increasingly rare phenomenon these days. Best of all, the Stormont is the perfect base to explore the magnificent gardens, stately homes, beaches, and heritage sites of County Down.

Olga Polizzi's elegant seafront hotel on the edge of the picturesque village of St. Mawes in Cornwall is made up of a cluster of five immaculate white houses. The 30 bedrooms are decorated with Cornish art and furnished with an emphasis on high standards of craftsmanship and eye-catching fabrics: chic striped or muted florals in sea blue and white, and retro armchairs set with contemporary pieces. All offer magnificent views towards St. Antony's Lighthouse. The best room is perhaps the Master Suite, featuring a "crow's nest" terrace with unbroken views and a wood-burning stove in the lounge area. Just below the hotel stands the beach club, and in the restaurant the head chef, Paul Wadham, cooks up a storm with local produce that includes a variety of fresh fish. There's even an option, for those who want to get out on the water, of taking a ride on the Tresanton's 48-foot yacht, Pinuccia, built in 1939 to race for Italy, which is about as romantic as it gets.

Located on one of the swishest blocks in Edingburgh's New Town, this member of the Kimpton brand elevates the best of midcentury style to grand potential—but there's enough 21st-century mixed in for it to be stylish and elegant, rather than a throwback. With the design-driven, luxury boutique feel a mile away from American corporate chains, Instagrammers will be in heaven. However, you might miss if it you walked by it: Signage is scarce, and the hotel is made up of seven interconnected Georgian townhouses. The 199 rooms (including 18 suites) are both stylish and cozy, with hipster accents complementing traditional touches; for example, trendy hand-drawn prints featuring local wildlife hang above beds decked in tartan throws and pillows.

Among the best of the English countryside's flock of New Wave country hotels is Barnsley House, a 1697 stone manor with just 18 rooms, each of which is unique, mixing contemporary furniture and modern art with the occasional antique. Among the many wonderful details: mineral water, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and chocolates in the fridge; oversized showerheads; one of the country's loveliest gardens (laid out in the late 1950s by the renowned Rosemary Verey); and not one but two watering holes—an on-site saloon featuring a bar illuminated from within and the village pub nearby, which pulls in one of the hippest crowds around. Just note that sound travels easily in this old house—so be prepared to keep the sound down to a minimum.

Rusacks was Scotland's most exciting re-opening in 2021 after a dizzyingly ambitious facelift. The new six-floor wing has 44 rooms, a rooftop restaurant and bar—literally ten paces from the 18th fairway at the Old Course. American owners Marine & Lawn went all out on the refurb with acres of expensive oak panelling, intricate cornicing, and plush fireside sofas in the double-height reception—and that's just the entrance. There's Victorian landscapes on the walls, plenty of antlers, Georgian-style dark green bathroom tiles and tartan carpets alongside the odd beaten silver sink, tasselled cushions, and cool jazz on the speakers. There's a gallery lounge area with full-size snooker table, the very exclusive One Under Bar (originally only for guests), but the real star of Rusacks is the view. From about a third of the 70 original rooms—classic period features, huge luxury beds, lots of space—and those in the new wing you can gaze at the hallowed links, West Sands Beach and the majestic North Sea sky for hours. Dine at either the ground-floor Bridge restaurant or the top-floor Restaurant 18—wall-to-wall glass, spilling onto a terrace with even more stunning views of the golf course and beyond—for seasonal fare from Masterchef: The Professionals winner chef Derek Johnstone. Then retreat to blissful sleep and do it all again in the morning.

A five-star resort at the southern end of the glorious Loch Lomond, a stay here is a stay of total immersion. First there's the outdoor activities on offer—from paddle boarding on the loch to mountain biking in the surrounding forest to golf. Next there's the indoor activities in the Cameron Leisure Club—two pools, a gym, sauna, and steam room. Then there's the eating activities—six restaurants to choose from including the indulgent Cameron Grill—it does what it says on the cover—and high end Tamburrini & Wishart. Cameron House is dreamy, in part for its location and breath-taking views and in part for its blend of baronial grandeur and modern luxury. Reopened after a devastating fire in 2021, it's independent lodges popular with families away from the main 17th century mansion and numerous fine rooms within that auld house. Two elegant lounges around the main reception hold deep velvet sofas, and the décor is all original or recreated oak panelling, intricate cornicing, 19th century fireplaces and granite flagstones. There's a fabulous art deco bar, dripping chandeliers, and gold chinoiserie wallpaper by Timorous Beasties. It's like London's Ritz in the Scottish Highlands. Then there are the bedrooms. Trendy grey-style palette, colorful headboards and cushions and thick throws. Generous, reassuringly expensive bathrooms have Carrara marble sinks and cast-iron bathtubs. Massive double beds are warm and inviting. And don't worry if you’re missing the city too much—Glasgow's George Square is just 35 minutes away. Perfect.

Homewood Park describes itself as ‘eclectic, luxurious, and slightly eccentric,’ and that's not a bad call. This quintessentially English Georgian country house near Bath is known for its home-away-from-home exquisite rooms, over 10 acres of award-winning gardens, and its spa and outdoor pool, heated to perfection. The latter is gorgeous, perfect for swimming lengths, and through glass doors at one end leads to an indoor hydrotherapy pool. The spa itself has saunas and steam rooms and plenty of high-end treatments on offer from ‘anti-aging rituals’ to a ‘bootcamp for tummies’. But let's get to the 21 rooms—indulgent, huge double beds, some with hot tubs, all lavishly decorated in individual styles from ultra-modern to lux country with unique statement artworks, Smeg coffee machines and Dyson hairdryers. Add the Olio restaurant serving up fine British classics with a Mediterranean twist and Bob's your uncle, as the English say. A winner!

Kaila Yu

Marianna Cerini

Katherine McLaughlin

Nicole Schnitzler

"Enchanting" might be the best word to describe this 15th century Oxfordshire manor. But then, that's of little surprise considering its owner and founder is legendary chef Raymond Blanc. Since opening in 1984, this exquisite country house in the village of Great Milton has regularly ranked among the U.K.'s best hotels. Inside there are 32 spacious bedrooms and suites, all designed by Blanc, with exceptional attention to detail: Try the Orchid, with textured grass paper, a gold color palette, and a marble bathroom; or the Jade, which was inspired by the paddy fields that entranced Blanc on his many trips to Asia; or the Botticelli, with side-by-side freestanding tubs in a bathroom featuring a flamboyant mural in the style of the Renaissance painter. Outside, enjoy the extensive gardens—as much a mark of the hotel's standards as its food and service. Alongside the wildflower meadow, the kitchen garden is home to more than 90 types of vegetables and 70 herbs, while the orchard is devoted to unusual British fruit species. Which brings us to the restaurant: Blanc's eatery here has held two Michelin stars for more than 35 years, and has had five AA rosettes for the same length of time. Our recommendation: book your visit for the fall. Blanc's fusion of European and Asian influences is at its best when showcasing autumn's harvest; chargrilled garden beetroot with walnut pesto, grouse with bread sauce, blackcurrant meringue with bourbon vanilla. Like we said, enchanting.

St. Mawes is one of Cornwall's prettiest harbor villages, and The Idle Rocks has a grandstand view of the bay from the glistening waterfront. This relaxed but luxurious Relais & Chateaux is simply elegant, and exclusive enough that you’ll need to book well in advance. The hotel has 19 bright and airy bedrooms, most with a sea view, each subtly different and designed with utmost attention to detail—from perfect cotton sheets to fresh flowers in vases and televisions set in mirrors. The walls are lifted by local artwork, and colorful bedspreads and upholstered armchairs bring added charm. Bathrooms have lavender-scented Aromatherapy Associates products, some with standalone tubs. Downstairs, there's a terrace for cocktails and dinner throughout the summer, while a fire crackles in the lounge in colder months. And then there's the food: The Idle Rocks is known for its destination restaurant and head chef Dorian Janmaat (formerly of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons) is one of the reasons why. Seasonality and sustainability are at the heart of his cooking, and all meat, fish and dairy come from Cornwall, his home county. Dine al fresco, then take it all in on lots of beautiful walks, kayaking in the bay, and fishing trips. It's a short stroll to St. Mawes Castle, and the Lost Gardens of Heligan are a short drive away.

Ayrshire doesn't get the headlines or rapturous odes that the Highlands do, but this rugged coastal stretch in southwestern Scotland is filled with under-the-radar gems like Glenapp Castle. The property traces its roots to 1870, when it was built for the industrialist James Hunter, and it's an imposing structure with sandstone battlements, turrets, and towers—made all the more dramatic when approached via the mile-long driveway that cuts through a forest thick with redwoods and firs. Expect stately trappings like formal gardens and croquet lawns, but don't be surprised by the adventurous spirit that suffuses the place: Activities include archery, clay pigeon shooting, salmon fishing, falconry displays, and foraging. Post-lockdown, the property welcomed a sprawling new penthouse, tucked up in the castle's eaves, the perfect vantage point from which to take in views of the Ailsa Craig, the Isle of Arran, and the Mull of Kintyre. The suite is named The Endeavour, after the airplane of a former owner's daughter, aviatrix Elsie Mackay, who attempted to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic a year after Charles Lindbergh and sadly disappeared somewhere along the way.

There's a reassuring seamlessness to Heckfield Place, a renovation of a stout Georgian manor house that is true to its redbrick bones, yet somehow perfectly modern. Its 438 acres of pasture and woodland include an arboretum and an ornamental lake, installed in the 19th century by Viscount Eversley, speaker of the House of Commons. For all that the restoration itself was a trial—Boston-based billionaire Gerald Chan endured more than a decade of painstaking work before its eventual opening in 2018—the end result is proof that Georgian needn't feel stiff or chintzy. Designer Ben Thompson went big on earthy tones and textures, "editing" the grand house (his words) with greenery and leaving forest-green, ochre, or rose-colored walls elegantly unadorned. There's a constant sense of the outside creeping in—sometimes literally, in the case of the biodynamic farm on the estate that supplies two wonderful restaurants overseen by seasonal-eating pioneer Skye Gyngell. Activities include trail running, wild swimming, and rowing on the lake with tuck boxes in tow.

Kaila Yu

Marianna Cerini

Katherine McLaughlin

Nicole Schnitzler

There's so much to love about the Newt hotel and garden it's difficult to know where to start. Made up of Hadspen House, a Georgian mansion of Somerset sandstone with 13 rooms, and former outbuildings providing another 10 rooms, each is quirky and individual and always the height of luxury. Room One in the main house looks over the ancient tree avenue and has a glorious marble-lined shower, while the stables rooms offer quirky beds in the stalls, and serene white shuttered rooms in the loft. There's a spa with an indoor-to-outdoor pool, too, and the surrounding woods, orchards, gardens, and deer park are free for guests to roam around. A lovely bar overlooks the croquet lawn, and tastings are offered in the "cyder" cellar. Then there's the food. The open kitchen offers a tasting menu and à la carte in the Botanical Rooms restaurant, which combines the brightness of a Victorian greenhouse with the elegance of a gentleman's club. Look out for the sugar snaps with smoked roe and mint and the delicious roast aubergine. In the morning gorge on enormous croissants from the Newt baker. You just can't go wrong with a stay at this West Country idyll.

Opened in 1881, Edinburgh's oldest hotel comprises five Georgian townhouses built in the 18th century in the city's somewhat-misleading-sounding New Town. Don't expect the guest rooms to be stuffy or stuck in the past: The understated decor draws subtly on 19th-century Scottish landscape paintings, with a cool palette inspired by highland glens and mountain heathers and leather accents. The Printing Press Bar & Kitchen occupies the former home of Susan Ferrier, Scotland's answer to Jane Austen, and you may need to ask your bowtied server to walk you through some of the very local dishes that make up the menu: cullen skink (smoked haddock soup), whipped Knockraich Farm crowdie (a soft cows’ milk cheese), rumbledethumps (a cabbage and potato side dish). From the hotel, you’re only a four-minute walk from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, where you can marvel at the mugs of some of the great Scots who have passed through these halls over the centuries, both before and during its time as a hotel, such as poet Robert Burns and author Sir Walter Scott.

Did Grace Kelly have a sense of humor? If so, you might think of the gorgeously reinvented University Arms in Cambridge as the Grace Kelly of hotels. It's got that same ravishing combination of fire and ice: the fire courtesy of whimsical interiors by wunderkind Martin Brudnizki; the ice applied with measured classical precision by architect John Simpson. But it's also marvelously witty, warm, and fun. To those who remember the old dour, turreted Victorian pile that loomed over one side of Parker's Piece, the common near the town center where the rules of soccer were formulated, the new place will seem all but unrecognizable. Though the rooms, particularly the larger ones overlooking the green, are terrific—respectful to the past without being beholden to it—it's the public spaces on the ground floor that clinch it. The highlights among these are Tristan Welch's sprawling, light-flooded contemporary-British restaurant Parker's Tavern and the cozy, velvet-upholstered bar where you should absolutely order a whisky-heavy Sixth Man, sprinkled with salted-caramel dust, to be enjoyed in the adjoining library. Cambridge has been arguably the smartest town around since about 1209. A mere 800 years later, it has a hotel to match.

The only hotel in Britain where you can wallow in naturally heated mineral water from Bath's famous underground springs, this magnificent 18th-century Georgian mansion transforms into an equally magnificent modern hotel on the inside. Walking in is like stepping from the past directly into the future. But in the spa, which takes its design inspiration from the Romans who founded Bath, a toga wouldn't look out of place among the columns and mosaics. The Gainsborough is a true luxury hotel, offering numerous spa treatments and a wealth of fine dining options, and beautifully unadorned Georgian interiors allow the towering ceilings and massive windows to speak for themselves. The rooms are decorated in restful blues and browns, boasting big beds and luxury toiletries, but if you really want to splash out—ahem—bag one of the three Bath Spa suites, where tubs have three taps: hot, cold, and natural thermal water.

Kaila Yu

Marianna Cerini

Katherine McLaughlin

Nicole Schnitzler

One of the most exciting country retreats for U.K. food lovers, this locavore kitchen with 30 guest rooms occupies a limestone 17th-century manor house and red-brick dependency buildings 13 miles from Southampton. The property is surrounded by kitchen gardens, open fields, and one of Britain's national treasures, New Forest National Park, which was originally claimed by William the Conqueror as royal deer-hunting grounds and designated as a national park in 2005, some 900 years later. English-country-house shabby-chic complete with worn kilims, artfully mismatched furniture, and, in the front hall, lined-up wellies and a watering can.

The Waldorf Astoria's adoption has been good for the beloved Caley, Edinburgh's most famous railway hotel. The hallmarks of the brand—the Guerlain Spa, Peacock Alley bar and lounge (created here from the station concourse)—add reliable luxury, while its bones (the sandstone exterior, the marble lobby) have been exquisitely restored. Rooms are updated in sleek and smoky blues and grays, and many rooms and suites come with castle views. But you could also draw the blackout curtains on these extra-high windows, settle into the gloriously comfy bed with Egyptian cotton linens, and not hear a soul as you sleep off the jet lag. Wake up and pop down to the Peacock Alley for a dram (or two) or a tea in a lounge that pays homage to the hotel's rail history, before heading out to the castle and the Royal Mile, a short walk away.

The pretty Georgian manor house, all honeyed Bath stone, sits at the end of an avenue of sky-high beech and lime trees, surrounded by gardens like a Jane Austen film set. On the grounds there's a personable cottage for weekending families, a world-class equestrian center, and a serious cooking school. But you don't have to whip up your own supper. Chef Hywel Jones plates up exquisite food in his eponymous restaurant. That in itself is a reason to stay. So are the roaring fires, the paneled libraries, the canopied four-poster beds, and the moody oil paintings. A purposeful drive in recent years to make the place feel less formal has resulted in a cheery bounce in the staff's step, a raising of chatter levels to almost a hum in the evenings, and a relaxed atmosphere where you can wear your robe down to the ESPA spa and back again without feeling like a terrible slob. Eagle-eyed guests will spot the curious Greek elements dotted around—the urns in the bathroom, the Acropolis paintings in the dining room, the Hellenic motif on the plates. This country retreat feels resonant and rooted, delightfully British to the core.

Plenty of pubs in Scotland have names like the Flying Stag. The one in the new Fife Arms hotel in the Highland village of Braemar, however, actually has a taxidermy stag, with added swan's wings, poised not so much in mid-leap as in mid-launch over the bar, like an antlered space shuttle, and the energy here is irresistible. Same goes for the Fife Arms as a whole, down to the shocking-pink cocktail spot, Elsa's, named after Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli (its turns out she adored the Highlands). The 46-room hotel takes a familiar tartan-clad template and—with love and respect, and even a kind of delicacy—blows it to smithereens. Braemar hasn't seen the like since Victoria and Albert built the castle at nearby Balmoral. Its owners, Swiss art dealers Manuela and Iwan Wirth, previously hit the bull's-eye with their gallery-restaurant-hotel in Bruton, Somerset, which has mobilized hundreds of thousands of art lovers since 2009 and transformed the community. The Fife Arms is different, in that it's primarily a hotel, not an exhibition space—though, bedecked as it is in works by Picasso, Freud, Richter, and so forth, you could be forgiven for thinking of it as one. Even the rooms, from designer Russell Sage, which range in size and budget and bear grand names such as the Duke of Fife Suite, are a mastery of textile and layering. His sense of humor, more blatantly on display at London's Zetter Townhouse, shines through—and its impact could well be as dramatic.

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