A beautiful hotel set in the heart of a fantastic and vibrant city.

The staff were superb and very helpful, the room excellent with a high ceiling, king size bed, walk in wardrobe settee and arm chairs, plenty of room.

Breakfast was top notch with as much as you wanted with both a hot and cold menu.

The bar very elegant but comes with an elegant price 11.50 for a Brandy Alexander I thought was on the high side especially for such a small drink, but hay you dont have to drink there and once more the staff very friendly and attentive.

Overall we found our stay at the Balmoral more than we expected and not as expensive as I would have thought.

We Will Be Back.

We ended up in Edinburgh after a mix-up with some friends and had to make a last minute booking. I randomly booked the highest rated hotel on hotels.com for a few dollars more than the others, the Balmoral. I had no idea it was a hotel of this international quality, and we were pleasantly stunned.

The toiletries were lovely, and the bathtub was extra long. Our view was just lovely, of the castle and a well-placed Scottish flag. The sheets were fantastic, it had a brand new Bang & Olufson TV. The concierge even tracked down a UK Blackberry charger at midnight for us.

The only drawback is the pushy luggage handler who insisted on taking my small overnight rolling bag. He then lingered until we gave him money. An awkward start, but this GORGEOUS property more than made up for it.

My family and I stayed here in May to celebrate my 40th birthday. The hotel is simply the finest in Edinburgh and we loved every minute of our stay. The location is perfect right in the centre of everything. The staff could not do enough and I even had a special cake and personal chocolates made for me by the chef in the in-house restaurant. The concierge helped us with local information and the front reception were always smiling and helpful. Our rooms (all three) were clean with wonderful bathrooms and views. This is our favourite hotel and we hope very much to return next year hopefully with our two daughters as the afternoon tea is a must and I can't wait to see their faces. Please dont listen to negative reviews this is a fabulous hotel which is warm and welcoming whilst retaining its 5* quality. We felt very special to be guests please don't change a thing.

Worth a viist:

The good:
- Location excellent
- Afternoon tea a highlight and must
- Front desk very helpful
- Smaller room but huge bathroom

The bad:
- Room service food was not 5 star quality
- My room was dusty when I arrived, more through lack of use
- Avoid the 6th floor as this is the top and has sloping roofs

This was a good 4 star hotel, not Ritz Carlton standard but for 150 pounds a night we were very happy.