The lounge at the W Hotel in Edinburgh, where you can enjoy 360 degree views of the city
We review the W Hotel Edinburgh, the Balmoral Edinburgh, Rusacks St Andrews, the Fairmont St Andrews, the Caledonian Edinburgh, and Crossbasket Castle, near Glasgow. They are all highlights of any itinerary in Scotland
W Hotel Edinburgh Review
Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, is a historic city. Traditionally, when you wanted to stay in style, you stayed in a historic hotel.
So how refreshing it was to check in into the W Hotel Edinburgh. Located in New Town, the historic heart of the city, the new build looks like a spaceship has landed – or at least it has been transplanted from a futuristic city like Astana or Shenzhen.
This is no bad thing as the architecture is stunning, sympathetic, and well thought through. The hotel connects internally with the city’s best luxury shopping mall, and externally it is a few steps away from Princes Street, and a few minutes walk from the Royal Mile, the castle and other sites.
‘The new build looks like a spaceship has landed – or at least it has been transplanted from a futuristic city like Astana or Shenzhen’
Whizz up to the rooftop and you can wander around in a full circle, having a never-seen-before view in 360 degrees around the city. To one side, Arthur’s Seat, the rugged mountainside that impinges into the city itself; to the other the castle on its hill. The rest of the city spreads out to the west with the highlands in the far distance and the Firth of Forth (the sea) shortly before. The restaurant and bar on this floor – the W Lounge – is unmatched for beauty and the modern Scottish cuisine is vibrant, searingly focused, confident, and unfussy.
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LUX had one of the suites in the hotel which feature a huge living area and an even bigger terrace balcony on which you could hold a party for 80 people – not that we did, but on those long summer evenings it would be quite a location.
A luxury studio suite at the W Hotel Edinburgh
Inside we loved the dramatic views from the living area, separated by a partition wall from the sleeping area, separated by another partition wall from the huge wet room bathroom, with the same glass wall to the exterior wrapped around all of them. This is a completely new take on Edinburgh.
Being a W, service is slick, international, and efficient. Room service whizzed up and down with a beaming smile and none of the gritted teeth reluctance you occasionally still get in this former Empire city. From the outside, the W is an architectural beacon, albeit a controversial one, given the contrast with its surroundings – although we love the architecture ourselves.
But from the inside, its use of glass and its curves integrates into the city beautifully. Just make sure you have a couple of cocktails in the rooftop speakeasy, hidden away, before heading for dinner.
The view of Balmoral hotel from nearby in Princes St Gardens
The Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh Review
There is no hotel in Britain quite like the Balmoral. On the one hand, its convenience to Edinburgh’s main train station – it is essentially part of the British Empire building complex – makes it feel almost too easy to get to. But this is a grand hotel that has held its glories for more than 100 years, currently under the custodianship of Sir Rocco Forte and his eponymous hotel group, which creates some of the most thoughtfully luxurious hotels in Europe.
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Everything inside is tastefully modernised, without being in-your-face contemporary. We were greeted warmly and formally in the high-ceilinged lobby area and taken up to our suite, which was on the corner with perhaps the most dramatic historic view in Scotland, facing the castle on its hill, lit up almost eerily at night.
The J.K. Rowling Suite at Balmoral
You could just sit at the dining table in the corner sipping tea or single malt and not need any other tour of Edinburgh. The bedroom, meanwhile, was cosy and quiet – many city centre hotels are not – and the bathroom, laced with marble, set up for an evening’s indulgence after a hard day pounding the pavements and looking at the Scotland’s capital.
You stay at the Balmoral because of the name and the history, but it also delivers. It might be unusual to write about breakfast before reviewing a dinner, but the breakfast at the Balmoral does not just pay lip service to the traditional Scottish breakfast (generally considered to be the peak of what may be known internationally as a full English), it takes it to a different level.
Dining at the Balmoral Number One
Our particular favourite was different varieties of salmon, hot smoked, gravadlax, traditional smoked, freshly carved from their respective sides, with a variety of breads, including the obligatory soda bread, sitting hopefully beside them.
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You could choose from many other dishes as well, including another Scottish and British Empire staple, kedgeree, and kippers. People write about the bounties of breakfast in luxury hotels in Asia, but this is a cuisine just as distinctive (for breakfast anyway) and just as bountiful. If we were passing through Edinburgh, we would stop over for breakfast.
The bar at Balmoral features an extensive scotch and whiskey selection
This should not take away from our experience the previous evening, where we had Negronis in the very slick and contemporary bar followed by a dinner at Brasserie Prince – highlights included wild garlic saucisson with celeriac remoulade, Scottish oysters with Champagne gel and crabe aux agrumes.
Rocco Forte built this new hotel group after the much bigger group set up by his father was wrested from his control in the 1990s. Rocco once told LUX he intended to create a distinctive luxurious, and individualistic collection of hotels, each with the character of the place they were situated in. Charles Forte, Rocco’s father, came to Britain from Southern Italy and he set up his first businesses in Scotland: from the pride and sense of place, it feels that the Balmoral is more than simply hotel, it is a proud trophy and sort of homecoming. We raise a glass to that.
Rusacks hotel in St Andrews, known as the home of golf
Rusacks, St Andrews Review
For anyone interested in golf, we are told the most iconic view in the world is that of the Swilcan bridge between the first and 18th fairways at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland, known as the home of golf.
And there is just one hotel from which you can see this clearly and crisply from your room, and we were sitting in it, gazing out over the course, the clubhouse, and the sea beyond.
The Rusacks St Andrews hotel has a unique and utterly desirable location. Overlooking the legendary part (the world’s most celebrated golf course) it is also perfectly positioned for a little stroll into the town – St Andrews is technically a city but you would be forgiven for thinking it was a village, so boutique and ancient it is – and so suits golfers and non-golfers alike.
You enter the Rusacks from the land side, so to speak, greeted by a classical contemporary high ceilinged reception and lobby area.
A king bedroom in Rusack’s classic yet tasteful style
We were then taken up to our room in a new wing of the hotel, seamlessly joined to the old wing. From there the big windows afford views over the golf course, yes, but also over to the beaches of West Sands, made famous by the movie Chariots of Fire, the sea and beyond to the Scottish Highlands. It’s a pretty spectacular place.
The rooms have been perfectly judged with hints of Scottish tradition combined with real contemporary style, so you don’t feel hidebound.
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St Andrews is a place of paradox really: on the one hand, it is a tiny place at the end of the road on the East Coast of Scotland. On the other hand, it is an international centre of culture and learning, attracting top level students from around the world. It was also where Britain’s Prince William met his bride to be Kate Middleton, and its golf courses attract the creme de la creme of those passionate about the sport from around the world. So there are a few very attractive bars and restaurants to frequent, all with real character.
The dining room at Rusacks hotel in St Andrews
But, you would be forgiven for instead repairing every evening upstairs at the hotel rooftop restaurant and bar. In the summer months you can set or stand on a terrace open to the views and the sea. But even in the dark months of winter, this glass enclosed space feels airy and attractive, where you can have top level cocktails in the bar before sliding along to the contemporary Scottish steak and fish restaurant, 18, where we had an utterly superb and very local feeling meal. The standout feature was a locally-sourced Angus sirloin, cooked to perfection at high temperatures and rare inside.
What we also enjoyed about the Rusacks is it relative intimacy. It’s not a massive hotel, but big enough to have its different zones, the rooftop, and extensive downstairs lobby area, and the new wing where our room was located.
It feels personal without feeling too boutique, and the combination of rooms, dining, bar, service, view and location are really quite unmatched. The LUX party staying at the hotel are not golfers and yet we enjoyed it immensely – if you do play, or are simply interested in watching players from your ringside view, there can be no better place.
The sprawling lawns of Fairmont Hotel, St Andrews
Fairmont St Andrews Review
Scotland is one of the world’s top destinations for discerning visitors with good reason: it has spectacular scenery, clean air, huge history and culture, and a wealth of ingredients for great cuisine – as well as whisky and golf.
What is perhaps less known is that it also has an international standard resort hotel of the type you would find in Asia or the Caribbean, in which you can combine all of these elements into a single experience.
The Fairmont St Andrews is not quite in the town of St Andrews, on Scotland’s East Coast, and is all the better for it. It sits on a cliff top around a five minutes drive out of town, just above the East Coast Fife Coastal Path which for good reason attracts people from around the world for its combination of savage beauty and wild flowers and plants.
You access the Fairmont along a driveway through extensive lawns, the other side of which sits its own, internationally celebrated golf course, part of the circuit that devoted golfers around the world come here to visit. The resort itself has the spectacular grandeur you would expect from a North American hotel group: a multifloor lobby atrium around which are arranged shops, restaurants and bars.
A deluxe suite at the Fairmont Hotel in St Andrews
Our suite was accessed at the end of a corridor leading off from this atrium, and looked out over lush lawns, copses of woodland, and the edge of the golf course. Before dinner, we wandered out and quickly found ourselves on a lushly vegetated hillside edge leading down to the coastal path, overlooking the stony beaches and the sea. It is a spectacular, end of the world type of feeling.
Double back inside, though, and you are in the midst of a cocoon of luxury. Our dinner at the lively restaurant, The Squire, in the heart of the atrium, was vibrant and busy. We were surrounded by golf parties delighted to have finished their day and local family groups.
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The next morning, two of our party were given a golf lesson on the edge of the celebrated course by an extremely patient pro who happily tolerated various swings and roundabouts until a few drives were sweetly hit.
To be given a golf lesson at the home of golf is like learning tennis at Wimbledon, and the views and the sea matched the quality of the tuition. The Fairmont is above the sea, so a bracing walk at lunchtime involves touring the grounds with views cropping up in every direction, both inland towards the Scottish Highlands and out down the coastal path and the sea.
The fireside lobby at the Fairmont gives a warm welcome to guests
After lunch we took a walk down the path itself. Keen walkers can continue all the way to the artistic cluster of villages around Crail, home to painters for many decades, and the hotel will organise a car to pick you up and take you back. The luxury is to be able to walk along the coastal path for as long or little as you wish, although it should be noted that this is a proper wild walk and you will need real equipment.
And once you have done all that, it is just a five minute drive in the hotel car to St Andrews where you can visit the castle, the ruins of the historic abbey, the cute streets teeming with international students, an excellent bookshop, superb wine shops and whisky emporia. If you walk back, beware: on the winding coastal path, what was a five minute drive takes more than an hour with plenty of ups and downs and scrambling.
Fairmont is as much of a resort destination as anything we can think of. And a reminder that St Andrews is on the drier East Coast of Scotland rather than the even wilder and wetter West Coast, so you may well be in luck with the weather. And even if not, there is the extensive indoor pool and spa area to check out. Good health.
A street view of Edinburgh’s luxury hotel The Caledonian
The Caledonian, Edinburgh Review
Princes Street is the celebrated and unique road at the heart of Edinburgh, unlike any other street in the world. To one side are the formidable Empire Era buildings at the edge of New Town, the city’s wealthiest historic district. On the other side, the land falls into a long set of gardens lining the street, and then rises up dramatically, in a rocky bluff topped by Edinburgh’s famous castle. Walk the length of Princes Street from east to west, and one building marks the end of the gardens, on a corner overlooking both castle and greenery.
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This is the Caledonian hotel, affectionately known by locals as the Cally, a landmark that has stood since the times when the Scots helped the English build the Empire on which the sun never set.
The lobby of The Caledonian, where ‘its grandeur and scale have been skilfully reset for the modern era’
The Cally has no imperial ambitions now, but its grandeur and scale have been skilfully reset for the modern era: a bubbly and efficient receptionist and concierge got us to our room overlooking the castle, almost face-to-face with it, so we could peer inside and wonder if there were any stray princesses locked up for turning down the advances of a visiting royal from France or Aragon. (We couldn’t see any).
But the real attraction of the Caledonian, apart from its peerless location, is the restaurant bar experience, in a huge conservatory built between the two wings of the hotel, where some excellent early evening Negronis merged into a pre-dinner glass of champagne, and then a dinner of baked crapadaune beetroot followed by roast cod loin with pancetta, white bean, lime and Jerusalem artichoke.
It was enchanting watching daytime turn to evening and evening to night as this place, so evidently the social heart of the area, hosted more locals than tourists – always a positive sign that a hotel is alive and real, rather than just catering for visitors.
The Sir Walter Scott Room at The Caledonian
And a special mention to the concierge who were knowledgeable not just about the tourist attractions of the city, as one would expect them to be, but also how different parts of Edinburgh have emerged from relative poverty to become edgy and artistic zones, guiding us to creative spots in each.
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Real local knowledge, as suits an institution in the heart of the city. The Caledonian feels like a place you could treat as a home in Edinburgh, as much as just visit as a tourist. To achieve that kind of comfort within the context of a five-star hotel with international standards is quite something, and we applaud it.
The bar at Trocadero’s, Crossbasket’s cabaret restaurant and bar
Crossbasket Castle, Glasgow Review
Standing in the lush grounds of Crossbasket Castle, overlooking monkey puzzle trees, cherry trees, Scots pines and a variety of other plantations, you are transported straight back to baronial times. While you feel you are really in the middle of the wilderness, you have to tap yourself on the shoulder to remember that this place is not quite what it seems: it is rather more than that.
For one, it is just outside the edge of Glasgow city limits, 20 minutes from both the airport and the main train station, despite its pastoral setting and the drama of the river gorge that runs directly through the middle of the property. You may walk along the gorge and sniff the wild chives and marvel at the moss and general wilderness, but you haven’t had to endure a massive journey to get here.
And the grand old castle house is just part of the offering; look across the ground and you will see a tasteful and contemporary low rise set of buildings housing the new rooms, restaurants, and a spa opening later this year.
A deluxe double suite at Crossbasket Castle
The surprises don’t finish there. You are greeted by service of the highest international standard – by which we mean not the slightly grumpy demeanour you get in some Scottish baronial hotels, but the service offered by Inverlochy Castle Management International, which owns the celebrated Highland hotel of the same name and manages this property.
They are used to Asian and American billionaires, and your service here is a match for anything you might find in Switzerland or the South of France.
All well and good, but the real surprise happens behind reception, where the hotel’s main restaurant, Trocadero’s, turns out to be not just another nice newly built contemporary restaurant but a proper cabaret restaurant and bar. By proper, we mean you walk in and are wowed by the contemporary take on 20th century Modern and Art Deco design, with perfect lighting and a buzzing bar. You are then wafted down a small set of steps to the main floor where jazz and soul bands perform every day, and dancers who look like they have just been transplanted from the Lido in Paris perform around the tables.
It’s quite something, given the baronial quietude of the grounds you might have been walking around earlier.
A cabaret performer at Trocadero’s
But don’t think that the cabaret vibe provides an excuse for low standards of cuisine: the oysters, fresh in from near Oban three times a week, are both superbly sourced and dressed, and our ribeye steak with local greens was beautiful.
This group is used to operating Michelin starred restaurants in its other locations, and the physically huge menus, an Art Deco style, offer an array of dishes and, more importantly, ingredients to delight you. The desert trolley was a welcome hawk back to jazzier times.
Meanwhile, you can enjoy the theatre of cocktails at the bar, facing the stage, or order from an original and thoughtful wine list, again matching the gastronomic standards for which this group is known. We enjoyed a balanced California Chardonnay, excellent Serbian Merlot and a focused red Burgundy by the glass.
Our suite, meanwhile, in the new part of the hotel, was beautifully finished with the highest quality wood and brass; it had a big terrace with a view out over the woods, and plenty of thoughtful details. When the spa opens later this year this may well be the hottest hotel in Scotland.
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