Old Course Hotel Golf Resort and Spa

Presumably it's only golfers who will be interested in the Old Course Hotel; a few of you may just be mad for the hills of Fife, but most are here to see the birthplace of the game. For the Old Course is not just any old course, but the original course, St. Andrews, and the Old Course Hotel stands so close to these ancient links it’s actually in play on the 17th hole.

Getting in to play on the old course is another matter entirely, and a stay at the Old Course Hotel by no means guarantees you a spot — this you'll have to get through whatever are the customary channels. St. Andrews, however, is not short on golfing opportunities: it's home to a half-dozen other courses, including the hotel's own Duke's Course (confusing, we know), at which hotel guests are guaranteed tee-times.

Wherever you're playing, you could do a lot worse for a hotel than the Old Course. Though a relatively new building (dating back to the Sixties, it's about five hundred years less old than the old course), it's built to blend in with the classic buildings of the St. Andrews seaside. Inside it's more modern, a conservative marble lobby giving way to spacious and comfortable rooms in a restrained contemporary style — the temptation, here avoided, would have been to load up on the tartan, leaving guests too cross-eyed to swing a club.

Golf widows and other conscientious objectors can take advantage of the palatial spa complex, complete with a stunning indoor pool and a fitness center, in addition to the usual complement of body treatments. And at the end of the day golfers and golf-dodgers alike come together in any one of three restaurants to dine with a view of the old course.