Best UK hotels for under £200

For less than the price of many big-brand chains, you can stay at some of the UK's best hotels. 

Among them we found a historic Cotswold chapel, luxury stays in Manchester and Bath and the best UK hotel we've reviewed in seven years for under £200.

Our undercover inspectors stay at hundreds of UK hotels to bring you honest and impartial reviews you can trust.

Prices are for a Saturday night (peak price) and correct at the time of publication. All scores are out of five.

The best UK hotels we’ve visited for under £200 a night

• The Marcliffe, Aberdeen
• The Gunton Arms, Norfolk
•  At the Chapel, Somerset
• The Old Bakery Hotel, Warwickshire
• The Yard in Bath
• Boys Hall, Kent, 
• Eleven Didsbury Park, Manchester

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Best hotels in Scotland for under £200

The Marcliffe, Aberdeen

Peak price £185

Score 5

Check rates at the Marcliffe

From the moment you climb the sweeping drive of this Victorian manor house on the outskirts of Aberdeen, to the waistcoated staff who swing open the doors and usher you into a reception warmed by a blazing fire, every minute at the Marcliffe feels special.

There is no bling, no gold wallpaper or cocktail-snapping influencers, not even a hot tub in the small spa. The tartan carpets, high tea in the drawing room and impeccable service feel almost old-fashioned. But it’s this elegance that appeals and keeps minor royals – who can’t fit into nearby Balmoral – coming back.

Rooms: Bedrooms in muted greys and browns, with reproduction Chippendale desks, don’t especially wow, but they are spacious.

The locally made mattresses are wonderfully comfortable, and you’ll find snacks, robes, same-day laundry service and other amenities that are slowly being cut at other properties.

Food & drink: Guests still dress for dinner, lending a sense of occasion to taking whisky in the deep armchair of the drawing room, before being escorted to tables with crisp white linen and rattan chairs in the Conservatory restaurant.

Locally caught langoustines in chilli and garlic, and sirloin of Aberdeenshire beef, are exquisitely presented and taste excellent. With prices for mains starting at £25, it’s also brilliant value.

You’re back in the morning for the sort of breakfast buffet Willy Wonka would dream up: smoked haddock, grilled kippers, salmon and everything else you could possibly want.

Staff are exceptional. Able to answer any question you ask about the food, they're smartly dressed but make sure dining here still feels comfortable and relaxed.

Our verdict: It's the value that makes this the best UK hotel we've stayed at in the UK in the past seven years. To be so completely swept off your feet for less than £200 (including breakfast) makes The Marcliffe remarkable. 

This hotel was reviewed by an inspector for the March 2025 issue of Which? Travel 

Best hotels in England for under £200

At the Chapel, Somerset

Peak price: £175

Score: 4

Check rates for At the Chapel

Built as a chapel in the 17th century, this Grade II-listed restaurant with rooms has also been a congregational church, a silk house and a recording studio in its former lives. Sharing the space with a bakery, wine store and clubroom on Bruton’s historic high street, At the Chapel is a popular hangout for locals, too. If time allows, visit Hauser & Wirth Somerset (free), a contemporary art gallery and garden nearby.

Rooms: Simple and stylish with light wooden furniture and black-painted floorboards, our dog-friendly Chapel Room (room 7) had a huge marble en suite with walk-in shower and freestanding bath. A poster of Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger adorns the cool white walls. It felt incredibly tranquil, but light sleepers take note: the bells of nearby St Mary’s Church chime every 15 minutes.

Food & drink: Freshly baked croissants are delivered to your bedroom door in the morning (jam is in the fridge), but you can also enjoy a full English (£15) or shakshuka (£12) in the former chapel restaurant. In the evenings, it serves sourdough pizza (from £8) and pricier mains, too. Pews have been replaced by long, solid wood tables and green leather tub chairs, and a bar now stands in the altar spot. Double-height arched windows, however, remain untouched, letting in ecclesiastical beams of natural light.

Our verdict: Divine accommodation and a heavenly dining room

This hotel was reviewed by an inspector for the November 2023 issue of Which? Travel

The Gunton Arms, Norfolk

Peak price: £175

Score: 4

Check rates at The Gunton Arms

‘How the other half live,’ the affable receptionist remarks  as she hangs up the phone. A guest is planning to drop in for lunch in his helicopter. Set within a thousand-acre deer park near Cromer, the Gunton Arms is a traditional gastropub with rooms – with a difference. Owner Ivor Braka, a rock ‘n’ roll Chelsea art dealer, has hung pieces from his provocative collection (which include works by Damien Hirst and Lucian Freud) in every bohemian cubbyhole. Yet, on our visit, rugby-watching locals outnumber extravagant flying visitors.

Rooms: Our room in the coach house is an elegant jumble of country-house fabrics and vintage lampshades. There’s a freestanding bath and twin sinks in the huge grey-marble-tiled bathroom, with a range of local toiletries. The cheapest rooms (£135) in the main house are snapped up months in advance.

Food & drink: Chef Stuart Tattersall cooks succulent, locally sourced steaks on the open fire under the fossilised skull of a 10,000-year-old elk. It’s not something you see every day. Neither are you likely to often eat a first-class full English breakfast under the neon glare of Tracey Emin’s illuminated signs, with a giant red stag peering through the window.

Our verdict: Braka could have hidden his art away, but his collection – like his unpretentious inn – is accessible to all. A decadent feast for the eyes. 

This hotel was reviewed by an inspector for the May 2024 issue of Which? Travel

The Old Bakery Hotel, Warwickshire, England

Peak price: £110

Check rates at the Old Bakery Hotel with Booking.com

Score: 4

Few towns have a park as beautiful as Kenilworth’s Abbey Fields. A stroll past the lake and the ruined abbey brings you to the Old Town’s historic High Street and The Old Bakery’s weathered brick facade. This crooked-timbered 16th-century Elizabethan building – once the eponymous bakery (established in 1825 and still churning out bread and cakes until the mid-1990s) – is now a 14-room hotel with two saloons and a little courtyard. It looks like a traditional pub by night, with its dark wooden beams and rustic mismatched furniture, but by morning it’s more akin to a chic café, when light floods its welcoming front parlour.

Rooms: At £110, a night’s sleep here is cheaper than any ‘budget’ chain hotel we checked nearby. There are no baths, just a shower, but everything is clean and comfortable.

Food & drink: The pub concentrates on booze rather than food in the evenings, so there’s no dinner, but an excellent selection of beers and guest ales. Breakfast is simple but generous, with a decent fry-up, filter coffee, fruit and cereals.

Our verdict: Great-value stay in a beautiful location.

This hotel was reviewed by an inspector for the September 2023 issue of Which? Travel

The Yard in Bath

Peak price: £191

Check rates at the Yard with Booking.com

Score: 4

A former 18th-century coaching inn, The Yard in Bath was gutted from top to bottom and yet still gives a nostalgic nod to its past life. The carriage archway’s folding panelled doors open to a stylish café-cum-winebar, wrapped around a serene Grade II-listed courtyard. Just a five-minute stroll from the Royal Crescent, the hotel is filled with plants inside and out– olive trees, vases of fresh lilies and herbs in terracotta pots. Parking costs an extra £15 a night if you’re lucky enough to bag a coveted spot (check when booking). A two-night minimum stay is required.

Rooms: The 14 rooms, which are arranged across three floors, are luxuriously furnished by local designers, including the feature wallpaper (birds in our room) and soft woollen throws. The ‘Cosy’ rooms offer the best value, with a king-size bed and all the same features (including a coffee machine and fresh milk) squeezed into a more compact space. For almost double the price, the largest suite has a freestanding bathtub and a roof terrace. The only downside is that most rooms face a noisy street, with vibrations every time a bus trundles past.

Food & drink: Forget the stodgy full English: twee hampers of locally sourced delights are delivered to your room at 8am or served in the café downstairs. These include buttery croissants, organic natural yoghurt, homemade granola and fresh fruit. If you’re still feeling a bit peckish later, continue your culinary tour of Somerset with a custard tart (baked in Bath not Portugal) or a cheese and charcuterie board sourced from local farms. Wash it all down with a frosty Gem amber ale or a bottle of organic wine.

Our verdict: Elegant and airy, with plenty of local touches –this modern bolthole nails luxury without the inflated price. Just don’t forget your ear plugs.

This hotel was last reviewed by an inspector for the March 2022 issue of Which? Travel. Factual details were verified in February 2025.

Boys Hall, Kent, England

Peak price: £180

Check rates at Booking.com

Score: 4.5

The ordinary location (deep in the Ashford suburbs, tucked behind a Wickes and a car dealership) only makes this Jacobean manor house – clad in wisteria from bed rock to gable – all the more spectacular. Charles I may have stayed here when hoofing it from the Roundheads, but this is Boys Hall’s first turn as a hotel – its historic old bones of beams and fireplaces have been lavishly restored. With just 10 rooms set around the original carved oak staircase, it feels intimate and we’re ushered inside for tea and cake.

Rooms: While our spacious double has a four-poster bed and the sort of hefty timbered wardrobe that could house Narnia, contemporary fixtures and decorative tiles make it brighter and happier than most historic stays. Everything feels luxurious; from the sweeping floral drapes you need two hands to close, to a tea and coffee station with a choice of milks. There is also a complimentary slice of cake on arrival. 

Food & drink: The restaurant is the main event. You’ll find fabulous fine dining (the Michelin Guide is sure to catch on soon) under huge timber joists in the brightly lit conservatory or on the terrace overlooking the landscaped gardens. Service is warm, prices are fair and there’s lots of local flavour, from Romney Marsh lamb to Kentish wines.

Our verdict: There’s little to recommend the location, but this luxury stay is almost faultless.

This hotel was reviewed by an inspector for the September 2023 issue of Which? Travel.

Eleven Didsbury Park, Manchester

Peak price: £180

Check rates with Booking.com

Score: 4

The leafy suburb of Didsbury is famously well-heeled, and this Victorian townhouse hotel certainly holds its own. Communal rooms are almost womb-like, filled with tactile rich-toned fabrics and curiosities – from toucan bookends to Moroccan lanterns. The pretty walled garden, with century-old yew trees and a heated patio, feels a world away from the frenetic city centre of nearby Manchester.

Rooms: Snug is often a euphemism for shoebox, but not here. The smallest Snug still has wriggle room and a walk-in monsoon shower. We were upgraded to the cavernous Comfy, with a claw-foot roll-top bath in a geometric-tiled alcove. Attention to detail is everywhere, from the coffee pod menu for the in-room machine to the brimming bookcase (we only wish we were staying long enough to read all the books).

Food & drink: Small plates (such as the Thai butternut squash soup with roti) and mains are available, alongside a well-stocked bar. Take breakfast in the garden lounge or on wicker chairs in the exposed brick conservatory. Or hang your order on the back of your door for room service. We couldn’t fault our fresh fruit salad and eggs benedict, but the full buffet (£16 when we stayed) is a little steep for what it is.

Our verdict: Luxurious without being stuffy, this lovingly furnished bolthole feels joyously indulgent.

This hotel was reviewed by an inspector for the  May 2023 issue of Which? Travel

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How we reviewed these hotels

We completed stays at the hotels included within the past three years. 

Unlike all other national UK travel magazines and newspaper travel sections, Which? Travel never accepts freebies. We pay wherever we stay.

All our hotel inspections take place anonymously. We book a standard double room online, just as you would, and we sample the hotel’s facilities, just as you would. We never let on that we are from Which?

That means no special treatment, no reviewer upgrades and no opportunity for the hotel to influence our verdict.

And no matter how badly the hotel fares, we always publish the review, warts and all.

Our ratings

We use an overall star rating for the hotel based on what we think you should expect for the type of accommodation (B&B, luxury hotel etc) and price.

All our ratings strictly adhere to the following criteria:

• 0 stars – A dreadful hotel. We would not recommend staying here.
• 1 star – A sub-standard hotel we think is well below average in its category.
• 2 stars – An adequate hotel we think has room for improvement.
• 3 stars – A solid hotel that meets our expectations.
• 4 stars – An excellent hotel we think is above average in its category.
• 5 stars – An exceptional hotel we think is among the best of its type.