Best UK hotels 2024

Our 2024 hotel round-up features the very best-rated properties our undercover inspectors reviewed in the past 12 months. 

We stay at hundreds of UK hotels to bring you honest and impartial reviews you can trust: both good and bad. All of the hotels featured here were rated either 4 or 4.5 out of 5 by our inspectors. And good doesn't necessarily mean expensive; prices for our best-rated hotels start at £165 per night.

We completed stays at these hotels in 2023. Prices are for a Saturday night (peak price) and correct at the time of publication. We've listed hotels in order of cheapest first.  

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Harbourmaster Hotel, Aberaeron

Score: 4.5

Check rates at Harbourmaster Hotel with Booking.com

Peak price: £165

Back in 1811, when Aberaeron’s pretty port was completed, it was the harbour master’s job to keep a watchful eye over Cardigan Bay. His Regency-era house still stands on the harbour wall, decked in an imposing midnight blue, and today’s residents spend just as much time gazing out to sea – although they’re more likely to have a local gin cocktail in hand. The hotel feels homely and stylish in equal measure – with complimentary cake on arrival, a little harbour-view cwtch (alcove) for intimate dining and a light-filled café/bar that spills out onto the waterfront. 

Rooms: Because of its prime position, nearly all the rooms have sea or harbour views. Our room, Martha Jane, was spacious, with a roll-top bath and west-facing terrace, which was perfect for watching the sun sink slowly into the Irish Sea. Inside you’ll find coastal-chic decor with beach hut panelling, nautical cage lights and even a porthole or two. 

Food and drink: Inventive nibbles such as Welsh rarebit fritters and pickled walnut (£6) set the stage for some sensational seafood mains. We tried the special: a crisp-skinned baked hake in a mouth-watering coral butter, which was first class but reasonably priced at £16.50. Breakfast was just as imaginative, with signature homemade beans and perfectly poached eggs cooked to order.

Our verdict: A relaxed seaside stay where the food is every bit as impressive as the views.

Reviewed: July 2023

At the Chapel, Somerset

Score: 4

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Peak price: £175

Built as a chapel in the 17th century, this Grade II-listed restaurant with rooms has also been a congregational church, a silk house and a recording studio in its former lives. Sharing the space with a bakery, wine store and clubroom on Bruton’s historic high street, At the Chapel is a popular hangout for locals, too. If time allows, visit Hauser & Wirth Somerset (free), a contemporary art gallery and garden nearby.

Rooms: Simple and stylish with light wooden furniture and black-painted floorboards, our dog-friendly Chapel Room (room #7) had a huge marble en suite with walk-in shower and freestanding bath. A poster of Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger adorns the cool white walls. It felt incredibly tranquil, but light sleepers take note: nearby St Mary’s Church bells chime every 15 minutes.

Food & drink: Freshly baked croissants are delivered to your bedroom door in the morning (jam is in the fridge), but you can also enjoy a full English (£15) or shakshuka (£12) in the former chapel restaurant. In the evenings, it serves sourdough pizza (from £8) and pricier mains, too. Pews have been replaced by long, solid wood tables and green leather tub chairs, and a bar now stands in the altar spot. Double-height arched windows, however, remain untouched, letting in ecclesiastical beams of natural light.

Our verdict: Divine accommodation and a heavenly dining room

Reviewed: September 2023

Boys Hall, Kent

Score: 4.5

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Peak price: £180

The ordinary location (deep in the Ashford suburbs, tucked behind a Wickes and a car dealership) only makes this Jacobean manor house – clad in wisteria from bed rock to gable – all the more spectacular. Charles I may have stayed here when hoofing it from the Roundheads, but this is Boys Hall’s first turn as a hotel – its historic old bones of beams and fireplaces lavishly restored. With just 10 rooms set around the original carved oak staircase, it feels intimate, and we’re ushered inside for tea and cake.

Rooms: While our spacious double has a four-poster bed and the sort of hefty timbered wardrobe that could house Narnia, contemporary fixtures and decorative tiles make it brighter and happier than most historic stays. Everything feels luxurious; from the sweeping floral drapes you need two hands to close, to a tea and coffee station with a choice of milks. There was a complimentary slice of cake on arrival too. 

Food & drink: The restaurant is the main event. You’ll find fabulous fine dining (the Michelin Guide is sure to catch on soon) under huge timber joists in the brightly lit conservatory or on the terrace overlooking the landscaped gardens. Service is warm, prices are fair and there’s lots of local flavour, from Romney Marsh lamb to Kentish wines.

Our verdict: There’s little to recommend the location, but this luxury stay is almost faultless.

Reviewed: September 2023

Eleven Didsbury Park, Manchester

Score: 4

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Peak price: £180

The leafy suburb of Didsbury is famously well-heeled, and this Victorian townhouse hotel certainly holds its own. Communal rooms are almost womb-like, filled with tactile rich-toned fabrics and curiosities – from toucan bookends to Moroccan lanterns. The pretty walled garden, with century-old yew trees and a heated patio, feels a world away from the frenetic city centre of nearby Manchester.

Rooms: Snug is often a euphemism for shoebox, but not here. The smallest Snug still has wriggle room and a walk-in monsoon shower. We were upgraded to the cavernous Comfy, with a claw-foot roll-top bath in a geometric-tiled alcove. Attention to detail is everywhere, from the coffee pod menu for the in-room machine to the brimming bookcase (we only wish we were staying long enough to read all the books).

Food & drink: Small plates (such as the Thai butternut squash soup with roti) and mains are available, alongside a well-stocked bar. Take breakfast in the garden lounge, or on wicker chairs in the exposed brick conservatory. Or hang your order on the back of your door for room service. We couldn’t fault our fresh fruit salad and eggs benedict, but the full buffet (£16 when we stayed) is a little on the steep side for what it is.

Our verdict: Luxurious without being stuffy, this lovingly furnished bolthole feels joyously indulgent.

Reviewed: May 2023.

Cley Windmill, Norfolk

Score: 4

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Peak price: £240

With its whitewashed wooden sails rising from the reedbed, Cley Windmill is a picture of pastoral perfection. Boats gently put-put past on the River Glaven, intermittently disappearing from view as they meander through the marshes and out to sea. You can watch it all from the wooden balcony that clings to the mill’s brick and flint tower. Or simply sink into a leather chair in the tiny lounge after a hard day of birdwatching or picnicking on the nearby shingle beach.

Rooms: While most rooms are at ground level, three occupy the tower, getting gradually narrower and more exhilarating as you ascend the wooden staircase. The top-floor Wheel Room is only for the most adventurous (and those who can still scale a ladder to perform their late-night ablutions). We tried the Stone Room directly below with its high ceiling, glaring gargoyles and oak beams that once supported the giant millstones. The shower room was a squeeze, but access to our own section of balcony more than compensated.

Food and drink: Fruit salad, yoghurt and mini pastries, followed by cooked-to-order options are served in the base of the tower. Order the night before for fish from the village smokehouse. Our kedgeree, with hunks of flaky haddock, was delicately spiced and deliciously creamy.

Our verdict: An intimate stay in a north Norfolk icon with unrivalled views.

Reviewed: September 2023

The Old Railway Station, West Sussex

Score: 4

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Peak price: £241

Rail travel wasn’t always such a slog. The Mid Sussex Railway, which operated until the 1950s, was a rural single-track line that never got overcrowded. Now Petworth’s old station building, set within the South Downs National Park, has been turned into an atmospheric B&B. We felt like giddy extras in a Wes Anderson film from the moment we checked in at the old ticket office. 

Rooms: More-spacious rooms are available in the main building, but we couldn’t resist the chance to sleep in a converted Edwardian Pullman carriage. Our mahogany shuttered windows overlooked the old railway track – now a lush garden filled with birdsong. Original inlay and a brass luggage rack detract from a few rough edges (the hot tap was scalding, while the loo roll holder came loose in our hands). Note that no children under 10 are allowed to stay the night. 

Food and drink: Breakfast can be taken on the platform or in the airy, wood-panelled waiting room chock-a-block with railway memorabilia – from framed photos of the station in its heyday to a model of the last steam engine to pass through. Choose between a well-cooked full English or a continental selection of fresh fruit, yoghurt and cheese. Wines, locally brewed beers and a three-tiered afternoon tea (with 24 hours’ advance notice) are also available.

Our verdict: A unique, once-in-a-lifetime stay so authentic that you will swear you hear the whistle of a locomotive. Fabulous fun. 

Reviewed: September 2023

Hotel Endsleigh, Devon

Score: 4.5

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Peak price: £290

This Dartmoor hotel was once the enviable rural retreat of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, who, in 1814, enlisted the help of landscape designer Humphry Repton to transform its grounds. Now part of The Polizzi Collection, both the Grade I-listed house and surrounding gardens are resplendent. Pick up a map and explore the 108 acres – you’ll discover follies, grottos, waterfalls and an arboretum, as well as a yew arch and fragrant rose walk with views down to the River Tamar.

Rooms: All 19 rooms have been elegantly designed by Olga Polizzi and many retain period features – we loved the fire buckets and hose reels on the landing upstairs. Our Classic Double (room 16), with its botanical paintings and roll-top bath (not all rooms have separate showers), overlooked the stables and clock tower. For the best garden views, choose one of the Repton rooms. Original hand-painted wallpaper is still on show in the Bedford rooms. A two-night stay is often required.

Food & drink: Venison, duck breast, and turbot with seaweed beurre blanc were among the mains on our three-course dinner menu (£67.50), although many visit simply to enjoy a garden stroll followed by afternoon cream tea (£35).

Our verdict: Everything about Hotel Endsleigh is enchanting, including the attentive staff. A first-class escape.

Reviewed: May 2023.

How we review hotels

Unlike all other national UK travel magazines and newspaper travel sections, Which? Travel never accepts freebies. We pay wherever we stay.

All our hotel inspections take place anonymously. We book a standard double room online, just as you would, and we sample the hotel’s facilities, just as you would. We never let on that we are from Which?

That means no special treatment, no reviewer upgrades and no opportunity for the hotel to influence our verdict.

And no matter how badly the hotel fares, we always publish the review, warts and all.

Our ratings

We use an overall star rating for the hotel based on what we think you should expect for the type of accommodation (B&B, luxury hotel etc) and price.

All our ratings strictly adhere to the following criteria:

• 0 stars – A dreadful hotel. We would not recommend staying here.
• 1 star – A sub-standard hotel we think is well below average in its category.
• 2 stars – An adequate hotel we think has room for improvement.
• 3 stars – A solid hotel that meets our expectations.
• 4 stars – An excellent hotel we think is above average in its category.
• 5 stars – An exceptional hotel we think is among the best of its type.