One Devonshire Gardens by Hotel du Vin

Before boutique hotels were a category, there was One Devonshire Gardens. Strung across five sandstone Victorian townhouses on a tree-lined terrace in Glasgow's West End, it built a reputation through the 1990s as the address where visiting musicians, actors and statesmen stayed when they came to the city, and that lore still clings pleasantly to the place under Hotel du Vin's stewardship.

The townhouse format is the charm: no two of the 49 rooms are alike, staircases wind unpredictably, and the mood is of a grand private home—dark panelling, deep sofas, whisky by the drawing-room fire. Bigger suites add four-posters and roll-top baths, while the smallest rooms are best treated as characterful crash pads. Bistro du Vin holds down the food side with confident Franco-Scottish cooking and a serious wine cellar, in keeping with the brand's oenophile leanings.

The kicker is the neighbourhood. Hyndland and Hillhead's cafés, the Botanic Gardens, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and the University of Glasgow's Gothic tower are all within an easy walk, giving guests a Glasgow quite different from the commercial centre. It is not a full-amenity luxury hotel—there is no spa or pool—but as a romantic, characterful West End base it remains quietly persuasive.