Hello Fellow Adventurer!!!
Review Time - Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh, Scotland
Length of Stay - 3 days ; Number of Stars - 4/5
Prior to moving into my University of Edinburgh flat accommodations, the university I would be attending for the next several months, my parents and I stayed at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa located at 1 Festival Square, Edinburgh EH3 9SR, right in the heart of Edinburgh!
In terms of location, it's not to say that the hotel is located right on the famous Princess Street shopping district, which its not, but it is only a brisk 5 to 10 minute walk or so from the front lobby to the top of the shopping district where one might enjoy sipping coffee or shopping at House of Frasers for anything their heart desires!
Princess Street is a wonderful place to shop, it has most of your middle to higher end department stores, both Scottish and American known names to pick from. Of course while shopping if one gets hungry, there is a wide variety of little cafes tucked away inside many of the stores or you can get a bite to eat at a full service restaurant located just about anywhere you look!
Aside from Princess Street (the closet shopping district to the hotel), there is also The Royal Mile which is only about a mile, mile and a half so away, and George Street, a great place to find a bite to eat (including the world famous chain restaurant, the Hard Rock Cafe). On the Royal Mile you will be able to find anything from souvenirs and knick knacks to cashmere scarves and earmuffs to keep you warm and this magical place forever in your memories!
While I did very much enjoy the location of the hotel in its proximity to everything in town, it was the view from my hotel room that really sold the location to me. I had a view of the Edinburgh Castle right outside my window which I could sit at and look at from my hotel rooms sitting suite. See Photo on Below...
Now onto my favorite part of the hotel, which I'm sure one could gather from reading the title as well; the Grand Spa! Rather, the official title of the spa is known as One Spa Edinburgh, with one entrance from inside the hotel for guests and one separate entrance from the outside for visiting participants.
As apart of the Sheraton hotel package that my family and I had, included in our stay was access to the infinity edge swimming pool and shimmering rooftop Hydropool with a rejuvenating Thermal Suite and a soothing spa treatment program that is set up to release any stress or tension you might have in your body (such as from traveling)!
Once my family and I arrived, we spent every night at the Hydropool's including the sauna, steam rooms and the curved heated thermal beds which were perfect for falling asleep in, (I even had a guy fall asleep next to me who started to snore, so I promise the spa is worth taking a trip to whether or not you are staying at the hotel).
Now onto the final piece of my stay, the only reason why I give this hotel a rating of 4/5 since everything I have just described was an amazing experience, I unfortunately have to say that the restaurant was not that great. The breakfast selection was just as I had expected, a full continental buffet with cereal, toast, some fresh fruit and milk, along with an up-charge of a hot selection including haggis, blood sausage, scrambled eggs, waffles, potatoes, and fried beans, with the side option of getting a custom omelette made.
Since my family and I are big omelette fans, for breakfast the first and second mornings we got custom omelette's. While I completely understand and respect every cultures different styles of cooking, my parents and I all agreed that our omelettes had SO much salt on them, you couldn't taste any of the ingredients. So as I mentioned we asked on day two for the chef not to use any extra salt and low and behold there was even more than day one.
While I do have a restaurant review section part of my blog where you can read more about the food choices we encountered, I will say one last thing, that on our day three dinner night, I had a salmon filet that had so much salt on it, I almost didn't finish it (but it was super late and I was hungry), but I regret even having to take one bite of it. When we told the waiter about our dinner dishes, he relayed the information to the chef, then the manager came out and told us that the chef said all he did was season the dishes and didn't use much salt, and after that remark I was completely turned off by the staff. My family and I have eaten at quite a lot of Sheraton restaurants and other places around cities during our travels as well so I can honestly say we have never experienced anything quite as salty as these dishes and will not be going back anytime soon for dinner at this place.
To wrap up my entire stay, I thoroughly enjoyed the hotels location, proximity to multiple famous locations such as Princess Street and the Gardens, as well as the Hydropool Thermal Spa which was an added bonus and definitely needed as well as a hotel room with an amazing view that I couldn't seem to stop taking pictures of!
In the end, while I wouldn't recommend eating anything at the hotel that's not a salad, cereal/porridge, coffee, toast, shortbread cookies or fruit, I would say that if you like your basic selection of foods for breakfast and can either stomach a large amount of salt or can afford to go and eat elsewhere in the city for dinner and lunch then I would recommend staying here as the hotel has so much to offer right in the heart of beautiful Edinburgh!
By: Meghan Chayka
Rating - 4/5 starts
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