My review of Sheraton Edinburgh Hotel & Spa

Edinburgh is my favourite city in the UK and I recently planned another trip up North, this time staying at the Sheraton Hotel & Spa having little in mind what to expect.

I don’t particularly like the hotel’s location – despite being near the Edinburgh Castle, it’s a bit of a trek to go to the city centre or Waverley station. From the airport I just took the express bus which is convenient.

The hotel has two entrances – to check in it’s easier to use the entrance by W Approach Road but otherwise the one off Lothian Road is much better for accessing Edinburgh.

I wasn’t aware it’s the COP26 week, and Edinburgh hotels are quite busy at the moment. Thankfully they still upgraded my four-night stay to a suite, which is super generous – it’s not very often I get a suite upgrade with Marriott without asking.

My room 559 is right next to the spa!

Big living room:

And bedroom:

Bathroom:

In general I’m quite happy about the suite, and the only complaint I have is about the lighting. As you can still it doesn’t feature many or big windows, and the lamps are pretty dim too. It’s not very pleasant to spend a long time in a dark hotel room.

The club lounge is located on the ground floor. I believe it’s a relocation and has just re-opened recently.

The new club lounge is huge, in fact I believe it’s the largest lounge I’ve been to in Europe. And unlike my room it’s very bright, with natural light pouring down from the ceiling windows.

Snacks and soft drinks are self-service throughout the day.

Evening happy hour is 5:30-7:30. There are some canapes bizzarely served in an afternoon tea set, and you can order alcohol from the lounge staff.

You can choose to have breakfast in the lounge or in the restaurant. Personally I prefer the former as it’s quieter, but in the restaurant there are some items (like omelettes) you can order which isn’t available in the lounge.

The hotel is most famous for their swimming pool and spa, and god it’s not a lie! The swimming pool is very beautiful with a sauna room on the side:

They are free to all hotel guests. There’s a separate section called Hydropool, and you must pay £10 per person per hour to use it unless you are staying in a room featuring spa access – it’s not included in standard club rooms or suites.

However, it’s definitely worth the money. The Hydropool is a thermal spa with interconnected indoor and outdoor pools. If you want to stay warm you can just enjoy some back massages inside, which isn’t too different from what you get in many other hotels.

Or you can cross the gateway to reach the outdoor area, and I have never seen anything similar in the UK before. I think winter is a nice time to visit the Hydropool, as the contrast between the cold air and hot water is pretty fun. It would be even better if it’s snowing.

And it only gets more amazing in the evening, with alternating colours lighting up your mood 🙂

If you stay at this hotel, make sure you visit the Hydropool and do not save that £10! I think the Sheraton has just become my favourite hotel in Edinburgh, and I’ll make sure to spend more time in the Hydropool when I come back!

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