Let’s face it, they don’t make hotels like Prestonfield anymore. Or very rarely. It’s romantic; it’s opulent and it’s shamelessly seductive. It has welcomed presidents, princes and stars of stage and screen – everyone from the Dalai Lama to Elton John and Sean Connery.

The mansion, in a quiet location just five minutes’ walk from Edinburgh’s Old Town, gives no hint of what lies inside. Minimalism be damned. There are swags and columns, brocades and velvets, rich colours and intimate corners. Bedrooms are better described as boudoirs, where velvet, silk and antiques mix with high-tech playthings, and surfaces are scattered with flowers, fruit and candles. Suites are even more lavish: a Gothic
day bed, a velvet-hung four-poster, silk toile wallpaper, a silver chariot bath.

The two oval-shaped dining rooms become a candlelit Gothic fantasy at night, and the food and the hotel’s impressive wine cellar live up to the ambience. Staff are relaxed and friendly, and will track you down in whatever intimate sitting room (there are at least four) you are curled up in. And, once you manage to uncurl, the city awaits.

Competition closes on 4 December 2025.

For more information, visit prestonfield.com