THE BEST HOTEL IN EDINBURGH

"This hotel is pretty much perfect," concluded my friend Jess yesterday as we reached the end of our three-day trip to Edinburgh to stay in the Hotel Missoni. And she was right, it was pretty much perfect from start to finish. The hotel a fashion girls dream, from the signature striped Missoni outfits the staff wear, to the seasonal catwalk show on play continually at the bar downstairs, everything about this hotel screams style. Five star style at that. 

We flew up to Edinburgh from Gatwick which took 1 hour 20 mins, and landed early Wednesday morning. Greeted at the door by a Missoni kilt wearing gent, our bags were taken up to the room for us and we headed out into the city. A little cliché I know, but we took the city tour bus all around, soaking in the stunning Georgian architecture Edinburgh has to offer. Stopping half way through we found a cute diner type cafe (I seem to be obsessed with diners recently) and had a mountain of fried goodness. We stopped in Jo Malone, Anthropologie, Whistles and Space NK...before heading to Primark. Obviously.

Later that afternoon we received a phone call from the hotel to say our room was ready so we headed back to get ready for dinner. You can see from the pictures below, this hotel is just stunning. Our room had an amazing view overlooking St Giles Cathedral and in the distance you could just about see the sea.

With chocolate truffles, gorgeous vanilla marshmallows, strawberries and raspberries out for us to eat, as well as Missoni slippers and robes to wear, it's fair to say this was definitely not just a city break crash pad. From the soaps, to the bedding, to the coat hangers, Hotel Missoni is luxury personified.  

The Missoni experience actually started way before I even entered the reception. About two weeks prior to booking to received an email with a host of recommendations of restaurants, bars, tourist attractions etc, really helping us to personalise our stay in the capital. This kind of service was then experienced throughout our stay, from cocktail recommendations at the bar, to the turn down service at 5pm every night to get our room ready for a restful nights sleep when we returned from dinner.

Even the breakfast was worth Instagramming about. Italian inspired, there were cured meats, cheeses, breads, fresh fruit, the best coffee I've ever had and a traditional Scottish breakfast thrown in. We settled for pancakes and maple syrup, as well as toast, fruit, croissants and cake. I ignored my Weight Watchers this week as you can see.

We also made full use of the spa while we were there, which includes two treatment rooms and a whole host of specialised treatments. Jess and I both booked a Swedish massage, equally as run down from work and in need of a good back, shoulder and neck rub down. 

We were led to a room, tranquil music playing and fresh fruit galore, and were asked to tick boxes of how we were both feeling. So with stressed, run down and no energy ticked, my consultant Rebecca decided I needed a massage which would give me a boost as opposed to chill me out and send me in an early sleep that night. With my Missoni robe on, I headed into the treatment room and had 30 minutes of pure heaven. 

Every time I get a massage I say I'm going to get one more often but this time I really mean it. Rebecca advised me my right shoulder, the shoulder that carries my bag, hold the mouse, does pretty much everything, is set higher than my left and I have a lot of knots, so with that I've decided to stop putting up with the pain I get there and go see a doctor to see about being referred to a chiropractor. 

Overall, we couldn't have had a better trip. Edinburgh itself is an amazing city and without trying to make this such a picture heavy post, I've put some of  my favourite pictures below. We visited the castle, the Scottish National Gallery and St Gile Cathedral, all of which were amazing and steeped in so much history. Plus, the banana loaf on sale in the cafe of the Scottish National Gallery is to die for. 

If you're planning a city break and need some inspiration, I would highly recommend both Edinburgh as a city and the Hotel Missoni to stay. I'd be more than happy to give you any recommendations of restaurants we visited or cocktail bars if you wanted. And if you only do one thing, it has to be the bus tour so you can really see the whole of the city, which for £13 you can use as much as you want in 24 hours and jump on and off when you like something you see. Anyway, I hope you liked this post and on with the pictures. If you get the end your prize is...reaching the end. 

*I received press rates for our two-night stay at the Hotel Missoni. All views and thoughts are honest and my own.