Whoever thought of putting a railway hotel up here back in 1902 should have taken some shares in The Balmoral. It’s still above Waverley Station, but it's got so much else good going for it.

After a great night’s sleep at The Balmoral, it was time for the gym, which opened at 7 (here was a first, the attendant needed a photo). The entire basement is devoted to wellness.

Chris Bancroft, above, is quite a guy. Hotel kid grows up to win all kinds of UK awards and scholarships, Cornell and The Newt in Somerset, when he moved north of the border to what is arguably the most charmingly eccentric hotel in Scotland, if not Europe.

The Fife Arms’ amazing art is carefully explained in an impressive tome, The Fife Arms, by Dominic Bradbury. The fuchsia-highlighted Art Deco cocktail bar, above, is Elsa’s.