Hotels in Cheltenham

Cheltenham splits neatly into a handful of areas, and where you stay shapes the trip more than in most towns its size. Base yourself around Montpellier or the Suffolks if walking to restaurants and boutiques matters most, since both sit within a few minutes of the Promenade's shops and wine bars. The town centre, closer to Cheltenham Spa station and the main theatres, suits anyone arriving by train or planning late evenings out, while the quieter streets around Pittville Park offer a greener, more residential base a short walk from the centre. Visitors coming for the Cheltenham Festival in March should book well ahead and expect to look slightly further out, since demand for anything near the racecourse spikes hard that week and prices follow.

Cheltenham's Regency terraces have given rise to a good number of boutique hotels and characterful guest houses converted from the same townhouses that make the town worth visiting, so a period building is easy to find at most budgets. Those wanting a full-service hotel with spa and dining on site have a reasonable choice on the edge of town, including properties set in their own grounds near the racecourse, while self-catering options are more limited than in the surrounding Cotswold villages. Anyone touring the wider Cotswolds by car may prefer to treat Cheltenham as one stop among several rather than a single base, given how close Winchcombe, Bourton-on-the-Water and the Cotswold escarpment villages all sit.