The Balmoral

From the minute you approach the front of this hotel, you know you are in for a pampered experience. What a gem. Great location, and over-the-top service.

Afternoon tea at the Palm Court is a great Experience. There is a great ambience adided by a Harpist in the gallery. It is not cheap but it is wonderful. Food is out of this world, very dainty but very filling. " Doggy bags" and are provided on request. There is a big selection of teas and a free sample tin is of their own blend is given to you on departure.

On a week long tour with Tauck ( a luxury tour company), this was BY FAR the best hotel we stayed at. The rooms were clean and squared away. Staff - across the board - restaurant. bar, room cleaning, afternoon tea, concierge, “bell boys”, just outstanding. My wife tripped at a castle. I went for some ice. The attendant offered (almost insisted) that he call for a medical attendant (apparently they always have a qualified person on staff). They called the hotel doctor, assessed the injuries, and put us in a taxi to the emergency room/ hospital. Next day, just about every staff person asked how we were doing. Food was mostly excellent. Several dinners. Only one I was disappointed in was the pork chop - should have sent it back.

I've reviewed this hotel before in 2013 and 2019. It is consistent with previous visits. I had a castle view suite and a connecting room. We enjoyed the suite and the hotel for 2 nights. Breakfast and dinner in the brasserie are excellent; my wife asked for the recipe for their banana cake which was probably the best pastry we had all week on our visit to Scotland. The gym hits all the right areas, although it still closes at 10 and I would like 24/7 access in a good hotel. The pool is well heated and large, and the steam room / sauna are very good. What I didn't like is that even in a suite there is no walk-in shower and it is a challenge to climb in and out of these bath tubs. The hotel says there are some rooms with walk-in showers. The room goes dark if the key is taken out of the wall socket and I cut my chest against the furniture in the connecting room walking in at night from the suite after being out. Location is great just near the shopping areas and right at the crossing into the old town and next door to the train station. Other hotels one could look at are the Hilton or Scotsman just across the bridge, or the Intercontinental on George Street (parallel to Prince Street) where there are decent restaurants and a Pret nearby. The new Virgin hotel is in the old city and from their website it seemed it would be in a busy area with small rooms. One pain point here: When I checked in, nobody would give me an ETA for our rooms and we had to wait about 2 hours for them. I wouldn't have cared except that the hotel called me prior to arrival asking when I would arrive and if there was anything they could do for me. Felt like an empty promise and I felt they could have done more to get me into my room quicker. Usually a good hotel will give you an ETA for your room if you ask. On the plus side, they improved their accounting system and the hotel bills are now easy to navigate. This is a good hotel for the fringe festival; all the venues are within 15-20 minutes walk of the hotel; some within 10. If I were returning, I would probably take something less than a suite if it had a walk-in shower and I wouldn't be too particular about the view. The castle is far away and it is glary in the afternoon and evening.

The Balmoral is a beautiful hotel with an excellent staff. We stayed a total of 3 nights. One night before we toured the Scottish Highlands and 2 on our return 2 days later. We had a wonderful upgrade for our last 2 nights, thank you Shubham for taking such good care of us. Thanks also to Carli in The Prince for making our meals such fun. We can’t say enough good things about the staff. We would totally recommend The Balmoral.