Hotels in Marlborough

Marlborough's places to stay range from boutique rooms above historic coaching inns on the High Street to countryside bed and breakfasts set in Georgian farmhouses just outside town. Because the town itself is compact, almost everywhere listed here puts you within walking distance of the shops, pubs and restaurants that line the High Street, and within a short drive of Savernake Forest, the Marlborough Downs and the wider Avebury landscape. Several of the properties occupy buildings that survived, or were built after, the great fire of 1653, giving even modestly priced rooms a genuine sense of history rather than reproduction character.

At the upper end, boutique conversions of former coaching inns and townhouses offer individually decorated rooms, four-poster suites and marble bathrooms, while keeping the timber beams, fireplaces and uneven floors that come with buildings several centuries old. The mid-range is dominated by working inns and small hotels that combine comfortable, well-equipped rooms with lively bars and dining rooms downstairs, making them a sociable choice for a weekend rather than a purely quiet retreat. For a lower-key stay, family-run guest houses and farmhouse bed and breakfasts on the edge of town or in nearby villages offer simple, well-kept rooms, often with private parking and a proper cooked breakfast, at a noticeably gentler price than the High Street hotels.

Whichever category you choose, book ahead for weekends from late spring through early autumn, when the town's popularity with walkers heading for the downs, the canal and Avebury pushes occupancy up sharply, and rooms in the smaller guest houses can sell out weeks in advance.