REVIEW : STAY - Hotel Du Vin, Edinburgh
Twinkle twinkle all the way to Hotel Du Vin!
The nights have drawn in and what feels like 830pm is actually only 5pm! Welcome to winter time in Scotland. I do like it though, because us Scots, in order to cheer ourselves up, decorate anything and everything with twinkling lights. I’m not complaining, I’m all for it.
Enter the entrance to Hotel Du Vin, Edinburgh and the sparkly lit alleyway leading up to the courtyard.
REVIEW : HOTEL DU VIN, EDINBURGH
The only way you can dine out at the moment (its November 2020 and we’re amid varying degrees of Covid lockdown tiers) is to become a hotel guest. Hotel Du Vin extended me an invitation for dinner and overnight stay; I happily accepted and packed my bags. Read my review on dinner here.
Hotel Du Vin is stunning from the moment you set foot under the twinkling alleyway that leads to the courtyard and cigar bothy, into reception, the bistro and the whisky snug. It’s opulent, beautiful and charming with a gorgeous marriage of French and Scottish decorative touches.
The staff are superbly well trained on how to deal with Covid restrictions and make you feel so at ease from check in to check out. They adhere to contactless as much as possible including taking the stairs whilst you take the lift to your room. Hand sanitiser stations are dotted about the hotel including the lift and all the staff go above and beyond to make you feel safe.
The rooms are all named after Champagne houses, no room numbers here. I was staying in a Suite, the Belle Epoque which refers to the beautiful era in French history, a time of peace and plenty between wars but it is also refers to a Champagne which many of you will recognise from its bottle decorated in flowers, Perrier Jouet.
You are greeted with a real sense of luxury when you enter; the suite is spacious, cosy and comfortable with gorgeous touches that you’d appreciate in a hotel. Welcoming fruit bowl, Egyptian linen sheets, massive comfortable bed, heavy curtains and dimmer lights.
But this, the bathroom blew me away. The roll top bath sits in a space all on its own with the large rainfall shower, and toilet off to the side.
The bath is deep, long, wide and oh so comfortable. The tap is large so the bath fills up quickly and comes with a bath caddy for the all important glass of fizz to sit on, a wooden side table and lush large white towels. There even a TV should you want to shatter the bliss and watch a programme.
I happily soaked in here for a while and would happily revisit and do it all again.
I slept well. The room is extremely dark once all the lights are switched off, so much so, that I had to get up and switch on the bathroom light (dimmer switch set to low); just so that should I get up in the middle of the night, I could find the floor!
The room was facing into the courtyard so it was exceptionally quiet and the only noise I heard all night was when I did get up and the floor boards let out a creek or two.
Breakfast in the morning was a quick affair and I opted for tea and toast which arrived timeously before having to rush to check out so that I didn’t get a parking fine for parking outside the hotel (you can park on a single yellow line outside the hotel from 630pm to 730am).
Every aspect of my stay was tremendous and it was a real treat amongst this chaos to escape for a night. I highly recommend you treat yourself, even if you live in Edinburgh, to a nights stay at Hotel Du Vin. An over night stay including breakfast starts from around £90. Book on their website here
Hotel Du Vin, 11 Birsto Place, Edinburgh, EH 1 1EZ. Tel : 0131 2851479 www.hotelduvin.com/locations/edinburgh
I was invited by Hotel Du Vin review their accommodation. Overnight stay was complimentary but the views are very much my own.