A slow staycation from Edinburgh to London
This luxurious trip from Auld Reekie to The Big Smoke takes the pace out of city-breaks.
It’s part of Edinburgh lore that, come mid-July, the locals begin plotting their great escape. As the world prepares to descend on the city and indulge in festival-fever, Edinburgh natives are quietly packing their suitcases to get away from it all.
Planning such an escape is another story. Trawling through hotel listings, juggling travel times, comparing flight prices… it can all feel more exhausting than the crowds you’re trying to avoid. Hardly the best start to a peaceful getaway.
So this year, we’ve found a way to do things differently.
Planning a Slow Staycation
We handed the reins over to PoB Hotels, a collection of some of the finest independent, luxury British hotels, who has curated a selection of Slow Staycations across the UK, all easily reached by train. From Edinburgh, they’ve mapped out an elegant journey across the East Coast, from Edinburgh, to Northumberland and onto London, paired with stays at some of the finest independent hotels across the British Isles.
Travelling from Edinburgh to London by Lumo
The best way to experience a journey along the rugged East Coast is by train, and so PoB has partnered with Lumo, the UK’s only all-electric, sustainable rail service. Their 100% electric trains produce 25 times less CO2 than flying, making slow travel between the Scottish and English capitals both easy and eco-conscious. There’s ample legroom and being electric, it's wonderfully quiet. It’s a simple, no-frills experience (no dining car, for example) so I’d recommend packing a few snacks and a good book. But for a sustainable, comfortable way to start your escape, it ticks all the boxes.
Where to stay - The Athenaeum
Our destination for this Edinburgh-to-London trip was The Athenaeum Hotel, ideally situated beside Green Park. The hotel is dressed in greenery of its own, with its frontage transformed into a vertical garden of plants and trees, stretching from street level all the way to the 10th floor.
City breaks often come with the pressure to ‘do it all’. Ticking off galleries, shows, restaurants, sights. The priority for this trip however is the slow down, and it is evident from the moment you walk through the verdant entrance of the Athenaeum that this is a place where you can both discover the city and languish in a restful reverie .
With this slow travel ethos firmly in mind, I resisted the urge to rush out sightseeing, and upon check-in kicked off my shoes, drew a hot bath and poured myself a fresh coffee. I sat contented with a cup in hand by the window, watching black cabs and red buses weave between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner.
The bedrooms are bathed in natural light, with a plush furnishings and a vintage-inspired bathroom gleaming with mirrors and stacks of fluffy towels. The hotel has a small but perfectly formed spa, complete with a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room - quite a rarity for a central London hotel, and a welcome treat after the journey from Edinburgh. Come golden hour, I ascended to the rooftop lounge for aperitifs, and soaked up the picture-book views of the London skyline, framed by the verdant stretch of Green Park.
Where to dine - The Hari
A gentle stroll through the circling crescents of Belgravia took us to The Hari, another of PoB’s London hotels, It’s interiors are darker, more mysterious than The Athenaeum, yet equalled in quality and attention to detail.
The hotel’s Italian restaurant, Il Pampero, served some of the best Italian food I’ve ever tasted. Creamy Andria burrata topped with jewels of heritage tomatoes and fresh basil, followed by Pici Cacio e Pepe, a decadent pasta dish that’s part meal, part theatre. It’s prepared tableside in an Oro Nero cheese wheel, creating a silky Pecorino and black pepper sauce that’s utterly divine.
For dessert, I enjoyed a trio of creamy Italian artisanal gelato - a heavenly combination of pistachio, salted caramel and vanilla. If the showmanship of the Pici Cacio e Pepe tickled your fancy, then the tiramisu, carefully constructed layer by layer before your eyes, has to be your desert of choice.
When visiting a city as vast and diverse as London, it’s easy to feel that the grass may be greener at another bar, another restaurant, another hotel. But as the night slipped gracefully into the small hours, I felt no urge to be anywhere else but in the low-lit, gilded surroundings of The Hari, with excellent food, fine wine and good company. I knew that back at The Athenaeum, a hot bath and snow-white bed awaited, with a whole day in London’s most beautiful neighbourhood stretching out before me. I could get used to life in the slow lane.