The Best Western Braid Hills Hotel is a quaint hotel located in a residential neighborhood 3 miles from downtown Edinburgh. The exterior kind of reminds me of a small castle. The interior is elegantly decorated in an early 1900s decor. It's an old hotel that doesn't have an elevator.

Our room, although neat and clean, was very small. It was about the size of an inside cabin on a cruise ship. The television stand was so low that you couldn't lie in bed and see the whole screen. The bathroom was small and had a tiny shower. The hotel supplies towels but no washcloths.

For what the Braid Hills Hotel lacks in size, it more than compensates in service. The hotel has a small staff that is very friendly and helpful. Whenever we needed anything, they were at our door within 2 minutes. The room was kept spotless. Every day, housekeeping supplied our room with complimentary tea, coffee, cookies, and bottled water.

The price of our room included a delicious breakfast buffet each morning in the cozy dining room. The buffet consisted of eggs, ham, sausage, beans, potatoes, fruit, hot/cold cereals, bread, and fruit juices. Lunch and dinner (not included in room rate) are also served in the dining room, but we were normally out sightseeing during these hours.

The head server of the dining room was Nino. This guy was full of personality and would bend over backwards to make sure we were happy. He was a joy to talk to each day. Even in the morning, when the dining room was suddenly inundated with a tour group of 60 people at 7am, Nino still managed to stop by our table to find out if we were enjoying our vacation in Scotland. This guy is a class act.

There is a convenient public bus stop in front of the hotel. The double-decker bus was our means of transportation for getting to and from the city. The area around the Braid Hills Hotel is very dark at night, making it difficult to tell when to get off the bus. We learned to use the Shell gasoline station as a landmark to tell us when our stop was coming up. In one case, the bus driver actually glanced back and nodded at my wife and me to let us know our stop was coming up. This was just another example of the friendly, helpful people we met in Scotland.

I recommend the Braid Hills Hotel for its courteous, professional staff and clean facilities. The standard room with a double bed is cramped, so request an upgrade if you require more space.