Best hotels UK 2022: Where to stay for luxury, design and value for money

We get it; ‘Best Hotels’ lists are often dominated by over-exposed and over-priced options. We, however, like to think we’re a fair bunch. We look at what sets the UK’s best properties apart, and where – whether spendy or spend-thrifty – you’ll truly feel like the bill is justified. Here’s our pick of pads, from affordable guesthouses in Powys to classy Chelsea townhouses.

The best hotels in the UK are:

Location: London

Sure, its sprawling sister estate in Leatherhead has topped many a best hotels list in its day, but if you’re inclined to go against the grain, you’ll be more impressed by what’s behind the unassuming doors of this swanky Sloane Street pied-a-terre. This is where you’ll find one of London’s best Japanese restaurants – The Fuji Grill, which easily gives Roka and Zuma a run for their money – as well one of the city’s most quietly chic cocktail bars. The best thing, though? Fourteen deceptively large rooms, named after London’s best theatres, each of which includes access to one of Chelsea’s most exclusive residential green spaces, Cadogan Gardens. Ask for ‘The Coliseum’: an entry-level room that easily outdoes some of the more expensive ones, in both size and décor.

Price: Doubles from £600, room only

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Location: Hampshire

If this sexily decorated country pile feels like it’s giving ‘story-book romance’, you might well be onto something. Amid sprawling green hectares near Jane Austen’s Hampshire home of Chawlton, you’ll find a quietly swanky members club and cinema, a farm-to-table restaurant from Skye Gyngell, and utterly seductive hotel rooms: think spacious roll-top baths, stacks of books, cloud-like beds and personalised keys. It’s the kind of manor that Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy would be proud to call…