My stay at the ‘best hotel in Wales’ for 2024 to see if it lives up to the hype. It’s VERY good (but this is why it doesn’t quite get full marks)

The best hotel in Wales.

This award was presented to The Parkgate Hotel in Cardiff at the AA Hospitality Awards 2024 – a sensational endorsement for the property, which is housed in the Grade II listed former Main Post Office and County Court on Westgate Street.

Eager to see for myself what impressed the AA inspectors, I board a GWR express in London Paddington (see the fact box for details of the ‘long weekender‘ ticket deals, including Cardiff) with my dear mother and head west at 120mph to the Welsh capital for a stay at The Parkgate, notebook and video camera in hand.

Mother Thornhill is given strict instructions to have a brilliant weekend, but also pay close attention to any imperfections that the AA inspectors may have overlooked.

The challenge was met with gusto, 83-year-old Mother T was excited to be part of the MailOnline hotel review team and re-explore a city she had not visited for 60 years.

When she was last in Cardiff, the Portland stone post office building, completed in 1897, is said to have had a large double-height hall with a public counter, with counters on three sides and writing desks in the centre.

The post office moved in 1983, but the large, double-height entrance hall remains and makes an impressive first impression (although it’s a shame the red letterbox outside is covered in graffiti).

White columns reach the coffered ceiling, guests at marble tables nibble on afternoon tea sandwiches and the reception staff beam radiantly.

Ted Thornhill checks into The Parkgate Hotel in Cardiff, voted the Best Hotel in Wales at the AA Hospitality Awards 2024. Above is his Deluxe Junior Suite

The Parkgate Hotel has a ‘swoon-worthy’ spa (upstairs), with heated loungers and ‘amazing’ views

The property is officially a four-star hotel, but in this glamorous, pristine lobby it feels five-star and is already worthy of a ‘best hotel’ gong. An atmosphere that never really disappears.

Our accommodation is on the fourth floor – a Deluxe Junior Suite consisting of two separate double rooms (nos. 426 and 427) with a connecting lobby.

Any hotel room worth its salt should be a magnet that pulls you back in when you try to leave.

Test passed. I could move in.

Mesmerizing views of the skyline, the adjacent Welsh national stadium – the Principality Stadium – the castle and the hills beyond can be admired via a balcony and floor-to-ceiling windows with black frames that enclose the space on three sides; walk across the parquet floor to the back of the room and enter a very beautiful bathroom with rain shower and Elemis toiletries, while the possibilities for lazing arise not only thanks to the soft king-size bed but also via a chic blue sofa.

And the Parkgate Hotel is clearly aiming for bonus points with the power sockets by the bed on each side and the ample coffee and tea making facilities. There is a kettle with tea bags and coffee bags – and a Nespresso machine.

However magnet-like the rooms are – Mother Thornhill and I cannot linger long, for we are only here one night.

So we head across town for a harborside lunch at Cote (very friendly staff) and a peaceful boat ride around the harbor and up the river to picturesque Bute Park, home to the captivating castle complex.

Afternoon tea is available at The Parkgate Hotel in the ‘glamorous’ lobby lounge (upstairs)

The Sorting Room, the brasserie-style lobby restaurant with two AA rosettes

LEFT: Ted’s Sorting Room main course of Welsh lamb. RIGHT: Ted’s ‘neutron bomb of a dessert’ called ‘chocolate cake textures’

Then it’s back to the hotel for a pre-dinner trip to the spa, which is worth it: a sixth-floor retreat with fantastic views from the pool and heated loungers through yet more floor-to-ceiling glass.

Ma T has been overthrown.

We arrive with glowing cheeks at The Sorting Room, the brasserie-style lobby restaurant with two AA rosettes, once filled with handwritten letters and parcels of brown paper.

Now it’s smothered in dark wood, surrounded by lavish banquets and full of excited diners eager to see if the cuisine lives up to the rose hype.

It does.

My Scottish egg starter with pork and chorizo ​​from Monmouthshire is as comforting as it sounds, while the main course – a ‘celebration of Welsh lamb’ – is certainly worth celebrating. It consists of a trio of tasty lamb delicacies: melting slices covered with a herb crust, a mini leg of lamb shepherd’s pie and a lamb belly terrine, accompanied by a salt-baked parsnip puree and red wine jus.

A dish to write home about – first class registered delivery.

And for the PS you might want to mention the ‘textures of chocolate cake’, a neutron bomb of chocolate that beats me. It’s so intense that I can only get half of it out, and I have a sweet tooth or three.

The service is generally fast and cheerful, but there is room for improvement here.

The waiter who delivers our dishes never knows who is eating what – which in a restaurant with two rosettes and when it comes to a table for two… is a bit sloppy. And because each dish is presented without mercy, we are never checked to see if we want anything else.

One of the fruity, drinkable red wines for example (which I mention separately).

Luxury: Upstairs is one of the hotel’s most premium rooms: the Tower Suite

Cardiff Castle (above) is just a few minutes’ walk from The Parkgate Hotel and is a ‘captivating’ experience

The Parkgate Hotel is housed in the Grade II listed former Main Post Office and Provincial Court on Westgate Street

And at the end there comes a moment that leaves a slightly bitter taste: our head waiter urges us to review the restaurant on Tripadvisor and pushes his name tag towards me, almost demanding that I take a photo of it so I can see his don’t misspell name. in the review’.

I’m not allowed to write anything for Tripadvisor, but that’s not the complaint here because the waiter wouldn’t know – it’s that this kind of pressure is tasteless and not appropriate in a classy hotel like The Parkgate.

One of the housekeepers we encounter in a hallway also encourages us to mention her name in a review when we comment on our “beautiful room,” and from her we learn that the staff is financially incentivized to collect mentions. So I understand the coercion, but it is a somewhat intrusive practice.

Although in the grand scheme of the stay, a quibble.

The next day, after returning to The Sorting Room for a very satisfying buffet breakfast, we stroll around the captivating castle, which is just a few minutes’ walk away, and return to the lobby to collect our bags before heading off to the train back to London.

The smile still shines at the reception.

Best hotel in Wales? Given that rooms at The Parkgate Hotel cost just £85 per night according to Google, hoteliers will have to push the envelope out to get it out of place.