Have you booked a bank-holiday break yet? Yes, we know it’s just two weeks away, but there’s no need to resign yourself to three days of rain-threatened back-garden barbecues just yet. We’ve rounded up 10 luxury and boutique hotels with last-minute availability (from 23–25 August) for a short break or staycation, to make the last long weekend before Christmas extra special.
Whether you want to arrive by tube, train or plane, or your budget’s lavish or lacklustre, our carefully chosen range of romantic hideaways, cosy B&Bs and hip city-centre trendsetters will inspire you…
HAM YARD HOTEL
What? Nattily Kit-ted out newcomer
Where? London, England
This Soho hotspot launched to much acclaim earlier this year. Dressed in Kit Kemp’s signature finery – hand-embroidered textiles, chevron-patterned headboards and mod-chintz wallpaper – the hotel’s bowling alley, spa, theatre and cinema cater for rainy days, and Mayfair and Oxford Street are both a short stroll away. Set around a leafy courtyard, with independent shops to explore, it’s tucked away from the bustle of central London.
Get a room! From £360 a night.
BLAKES HOTEL
What? Urban escapism
Where? London, England
Whether you want to bed down in gilded Versailles-style pomp and splendour (the Director’s Double) or lily-white India-inspired lavishness (the Corfu Suite – winner of Sexiest Bedroom 2013 in the Smith Awards), this South Ken hotel’s Anouska Hempel-designed boudoirs offer city-centre flights of fancy like no other. Designer shops, parks and palaces are all within easy reach and highbrow haven Exhibition Road offers bank-holiday distractions.
Get a room! From £180 a night.
THE TIDE HOUSE
What? Cool coastal hideaway
Where? Cornwall, England
This 16th-century bed and breakfast – just a cobbled stroll from the quayside – is the prettiest port in a storm we’ve seen. Nautical-chic decor is more haute than high seas, with porthouse windows, Breton-striped fabrics, and driftwood accents, and breakfast in bed made from the finest Cornish fare is perfect for lie-ins bathed in St Ives’ serene light. Blue-flag beaches and cultural kicks (the Tate St Ives and Barbara Hepworth Museum are within walking distance), are close by too.
Get a room! From £185 a night.
HARBOURMASTER HOTEL
What? Budget-friendly bayside stay
Where? Cardigan Bay, Wales
This idyllic, Grade II-listed Welsh inn’s heliotrope-hued façade hints at its quirky interiors. Daring paint shades and prints, wood-burning stoves and bath tubs big enough for two make charming yet eccentric couples’ dens, most with bay views from the hotel’s harbour seat. Linger over your long weekend here: amble by the seafront with an ice-cream cone, dine on caught-that-day crab and lobster at restaurants nearby and prop up the bar in the hotel’s sociable local-filled pub.
Get a room! From £110 a night.
POOL HOUSE
What? Homey Highlands hideaway
Where? Wester Ross, Scotland
Loch Ewe views (trust us, it’s comelier than its name implies), rugged surroundings and a whisky room for post-rambling drams are just some of this Wester Ross stay’s specialities. It may be in a get-away-from-it-all Highlands setting, but interiors are globally inspired and historic, bedecked with artefacts from the owners’ travels. French marquetry tables, hand-carved doors and Edwardian bathing contraptions almost outdo the sweeping views from suites’ bay windows or balconies.
Get a room! From £250 a night.
SAINT JAMES PARIS
What? Haute high-flier
Where? Paris, France
Hop on the Eurostar to check-in at this personality-packed hotel. The Napoleon III residence’s former guises include a boot-camp for French boffins and the site of the first hot-air balloon launch. There’s Michelin-starred cuisine, a Library Bar with more than 12,000 books and Magritte-inspired suites – quantum-leaping digs where fin de siècle finery rubs elbows with quirky mod accoutrements. The terrace is particularly surreal, with aviation-themed pavilions that look like they might just lift-off.
Get a room! From £341 a night.
HOTEL SEVEN ONE SEVEN
What? Revivified residence
Where? Amsterdam, Netherlands
Where better for a bank-holiday break than canal-threaded, louche and laid-back Amsterdam? This boutique hotel sits on picturesque Prisengracht, but if you’re wowed by the setting wait until you cross the threshold. The hotel’s owners bought all of the former residents’ possessions: books on shelves and liqueurs in the drinks cabinet, crafting a carefully curated homage to lived-in Dutch design. However, there’s no velvet-rope mentality here, so make yourself at home in decadent dishevelment.
Get a room! From £235 a night.
STORY HOTEL RIDDARGATAN
What? Scandi trendsetter
Where? Stockholm, Sweden
Pack your most obscure labels and head to Stockholm for a lively long weekend. This hotel asserts its cutting-edge cred on arrival; guests check themselves in on the lobby’s Macs, and its Ostermalm setting hosts designer stores aplenty. Interiors showcase artfully jarring styles: industrial-chic flooring, mid-century modern furnishings and Parisian-salon-style velvet seating mingle in the hip restaurant and bar, alongside graffiti scrawls and covetable artwork. Rooms are temptingly affordable, too.
Get a room! From £155 a night.
CASA TALIA
What? Baroque bolthole
Where? Sicily, Italy
Unesco-protected Modica makes a dashing backdrop for Sicilian B&B Casa Talia – the brainchild of no less than two Milanese designers, who clearly know their stuff. The hotel’s style distills the Greek, Spanish and Arab influence in the surrounding area, with a few modern touches thrown in for good measure. Guests have to brave a steep staircase to reach the hotel, but beyond its wooden doors free beers from the minibar, mercifully cool rooms, home-cooked breakfasts under the garden’s pomegranate trees and a generous slice of Sicilian hospitality await.
Get a room! From £112 a night.
DOMES OF ELOUNDA
What? Swimming and sunbathing
Where? Crete, Greece
Suites with a private Jacuzzi or pool, three restaurants to choose from and a patch of private beach make this a seaside stay worth splashing out on. The hotel overlooks the brilliant-blue Mirabello Bay of Elounda and the island of Spinalonga – you can charter a boat to explore the ancient fortress there, but your day-to-day will largely consist of swimming, sunbathing and tucking into Michelin-starred fare, on repeat. If you have little ones in tow, this hotel has ample child-friendly assets, too.
Get a room! From £250 a night.
Take a look at all of our bank-holiday hotels…