If I could award more than five stars - I would! From the moment of our arrival, when we were greeted like old friends by the exceptionally friendly and helpful front desk clerk, Charlie, to our reluctant departure three days later we had a wonderful stay at The Knight Residence. Our one-bedroom apartment (#18), which comprised an entrance hall, bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen (complete with refrigerator, small appliances, and washer/dryer) , was sparkling clean, beautifully appointed, and had an unobstructed view of Edinburgh Castle (thanks to the recent demolition of a neighbouring building). The local Sainsbury's supermarket is a mere five-minute walk away; the Castle is a 10-minute climb up several flights of steps; and the entire city centre, including the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the new Scottish Parliament, is very walkable.

Although I could write pages about The Knight Residence and its outstanding staff, I will confine my comments to its amenities: daily maid service; a great entertainment system (with an adjustable remote speaker system) which included a flat-screen TV, a CD player,and a VCR/DVD player with a large library of video tapes and DVDs; a very generous hospitality basket containing cereals, jams, marmalades and cookies; a refrigerator stocked with butter, margarine, and fresh milk; a bread-bin containing a fresh sliced loaf . Unlike most hotels that provide towels which can hardly be called "bath-sized", The Knight Residence provided huge bath towels a-plenty; terry bathrobes; a large selection of toiletries; and a heated towel-rail for toasty-warm towels for the early morning shower or bath. In addition, The Knight Residence provides convenient recycling bins for bottles, paper and plastic. Check out their website for accurate photos of the apartments.

Last, but by no means least, the price! We spent three nights in a fully equipped one-bedroom apartment and paid less than the regular rate for one room at the nearby Novotel. No wonder The Knight Residence has been voted #1 of 192 hotels in Edinburgh -- they deserve it!

Everything about the flat was top notch: the furniture, equipment and decor were all thoughtfully selected and in excellent condition. The Knight Residence thought of everything including plenty of breakfast provisions for the next morning. A big plus was the Sony Brevia flat screen TV and fully integrated entertainment system, the DVD we brought worked perfectly. The only hitch is that street facing rooms will get noise from the nearby bars: bring ear plugs if you intend to leave a window open.

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We returned last night from a weeks stay at the Knight Residence and overall were very happy with our stay there. I picked this hotel from the reviews on Trip Advisor and do agree with what most of the people have already said - great to have the food basket upon check-in, very comfortable apartments with everything you could want, friendly staff although we only saw the concierge when we checked in and again when we checked out, don't worry about the clubs on the corner - we didn't even pass by them most of the time. We felt like we were in more of a home atmosphere than in a hotel.

We had a two bedroom apartment in the building behind the main residence so it felt as if we weren't really a part of the Knight Residence because we never used the main lobby. The area is fine - reasonably quiet most of the time...we heard more sirens than people, I think there's a fire station nearby.

Here are a few suggestions that might be helpful for your visit -

For groceries and/or some ready meals - Tesco Express and Boots on Earl Grey street. Sainsbury's is on Morrison Road (turn left at the Odeon theatre on Lothian Road)

Bring a few ziploc bags to store your open packages of food etc.
Bring a few face cloths if you like to use them when washing/showering. Your apartment will have terry bathrobes for your use and great toiletries. These apartments really are very well equipped with almost everything you could want or need.

Do some walking (especially stairs) before you go to Edinburgh. It is much more compact than I expected so it's easy to get everywhere in a short time, but it is also a lot hillier than I thought - get some training in before you go, for all those hills! ;-)

The city sightseeing buses were great - you could buy a ticket for one of the bus tours for 9 pounds or you could buy the grand ticket for 12 pounds and have access to all four tour buses. Each tour bus had a slightly different route and a different talk. We bought the grand ticket and went on 3 of the different tours as well as using the buses for transportation. The tickets were good for 24 hours from the time you bought them. The buses start and end on the Waverley Bridge.

It's hard to pick a place to stay in a city you've never been to before. This was a a good choice for our stay this time, the apartment was wonderful. I might investigate other parts of the city if I return to Edinburgh in the future - but it would also depend on what other places offered and their prices.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city with very friendly, patient people - enjoy!