World's Best

Travel + Leisure Readers' 5 Favorite Resorts in the U.K. and Ireland of 2023

Palatial estates reigned supreme in the U.K. and Ireland in our annual "World’s Best Awards" survey for 2023.

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Published on July 11, 2023

Some things never change: Castles captured our imaginations when we were children listening to fairy tales, and they capture our imagination now that we’re adults. Maybe it’s their sheer scale, the way room follows room, hallway meets passage meets gallery (what’s around the next corner?), the sense of bounty and surprise. Or maybe we’re seduced by the aura of mystery, of hidden history, the ghosts of lives obscured by time. Whatever the reason, Travel + Leisure readers have long been beguiled by the castle resorts of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

How Voting Works

Every year for our World's Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Nearly 165,000 T+L readers completed the 2023 survey, an increase of nearly 25 percent over pre-pandemic voting levels. A total of more than 685,000 votes were cast across over 8,500 unique properties (hotels, cities, cruise lines, etc.).

Hotels were classified as either resort hotel, city hotel, or safari lodge based on their location and amenities, and they were specifically rated on the criteria below:

Rooms/facilities
Location
Service
Food
Value

For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of these responses.

Dining area at Gleneagles — Courtesy of Gleneagles

What Readers Loved

Of course, castle accommodations are known for superlative service. “From the moment we arrived,” writes one reader of Adare Manor (No. 3) in Ireland’s County Limerick, “nothing was too much for the staff to organize or provide for us.” Another contributor praised the team at another Irish favorite, Ashford Castle (No. 4) in County Mayo, “The service is impeccable. You are made to feel very welcome every moment of your stay.”

But the No. 1 resort this year is located amid the rolling Ochil Hills of Scotland, about an hour outside Glasgow. Here’s what entranced readers most.

The Winner

Gleneagles: Auchterarder, Scotland

Guest room at Gleneagles — Courtesy of Gleneagles

Falconry and fishing. Golf and gundogs. Fields and woodlands. Afternoon tea and malt whiskey. Everything you could possibly want from a Scottish castle hotel can be found at Gleneagles, a grand country estate an hour north of Edinburgh. Gleneagles has been climbing our list of the best resort hotels in the UK and Scotland for the past few years, and this year it reaches the top — just in time for its centennial in 2024.