It’s urban, but only just. The Bonham, in Edinburgh’s relatively quiet West End, is just far enough outside the thick of it all to provide a properly oasis-like experience. The atmosphere is residential, as befits a Victorian townhouse hotel, and the interiors, while still bearing recognizable marks of that same Victorian architectural heritage, are in fact quite contemporary, with rich, bold colors and modern furniture bringing the atmosphere very much up to date.

Rooms start out simply enough, with little more than a queen bed (or two doubles) to their name, but spread out as you move up in the categories, gaining working desks, sitting rooms, canopy beds or bay windows. All are different, though most draw from a shared color palette — save, that is, for the Black Room, which is just what it sounds like, and offers a hyper-masculine alternative to its more colorful sisters.

Public space is quite limited — with no reception or lobby to speak of, you’ll find most of your time not spent in-room is spent, rather, in the straightforwardly named Restaurant at the Bonham, a modern Scottish restaurant focusing on local and seasonal ingredients.