Hot in the city tonight

In exclusive association with HotelReviewScotland.com

Malmaison Edinburgh.
Leith, Edinburgh.
Tel: +44 (0)131 468 5000.

The Malmaison Edinburgh is in the capable hands of Lizzy Kelk, winner of The Scottish Hotel Manager of the Year Award 2005.

Management matters: over the past year this hotel has returned fully to form and now offers guests some of the best and most popular accommodation in the Scottish capital. (There's another ‘Mal' in Glasgow, too, which is also very stylish.) Style is the keyword – an enjoyable, flirty, bold boutique-hotel approach with a dash of French passion thrown in and mixed up with real practicality. The building itself is a dominant piece of local architecture and part of the maritime heritage of Leith, the city's port – it was built as the Seamen's Mission and although they'd not exactly recognise the chic interior nowadays the tall clock tower is an enduring landmark in this now-vibrant quarter. The Queen's former royal yacht (a ship to you and me), Britannia, is a busy tourist attraction nearby.

On sunny days you can sit outside the front of the hotel and watch the goings-ons; for lunch or in the evening the highly successful Malmaison Brasserie is an enjoyable dining destination. On a recent lunch visit for HotelReviewScotland.com we had a simply superb tuna dish and, there one recent evening, we loved the flicker of the dozens of candles and jovial Parisian atmosphere. Back upstairs, along matt coffee-coloured corridors await the sexy rooms. Tip: ask for a refurbished frontfacing one –...

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• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Best of Scotland
• Issue : 21
• Page : 56
• Words : 1,001