An hour and a half by train from London, Margate is beautifully situated along the coast. We booked a room at No 42 by GuestHouse, Margate - formerly known as Sands Hotel which is beautifully situated down by the beach and has a fantastic view!
In other words, there are nothing to say about the location, but driving a car and arriving from the road, it was a bit tricky to find our way through one-way streets and left-hand traffic. There is no car park directly adjacent to the hotel either, so we had to stop in the middle of an intersection at the back of the hotel. Not the best way to arrive, but we made it.
The hotel is newly renovated and painted in bright and nice colours. Luckily we got a room with sea view. And what a room!
Sleeping comfort
In terms of size, the room was ok. Not the biggest room we have ever experienced, but still quite spacious for a family of four. A spacious double bed and a sofa bed. The bed was not as good as Beach Hotel in Brighton, but the overall experience in the room weighs up. This hotel scores top notch in the category sleeping comfort:
- Perfect temperature and good air conditioning
- Completely dark with perfect blinds
- Comfortable pillows and duvets
The mattress could have been slightly more comfortable if we are going to be picky. In addition, they have super fast wifi in the rooms and the bathroom was large with both a bath tub and a giant shower. Delicious! Another thing to be a bit picky about was the "double duvet" in the sofa bed. The kids did not like it at all, and made them a bit stressed.
ALSO READ OUR EDEN HOTEL, AMSTERDAM REVIEW
Lovely food
Originally we had planned to have dinner out in the town the evening we stayed in Margate, but after arriving at the hotel, we changed our plans and chose the hotel´s own restaurant: The Bay at Sands.
A small restaurant and bar, with a wonderful terrace where you can enjoy a few glasses at just enjoying sunset. We chose a three course meal for the whole family, a meal that was one of the better we had during our whole stay in England. The kids menu was a bit simple, but the food was very, very good.
The breakfast was also very good, where you ordered the main breakfast to to the table. The downside was that there was not very much food served, considering the price of our stay. We could have had a bit more breakfast. No 42 by GuestHouse, Margate is by no means cheap in high season and the offer we got was only included breakfast for the adult guests. We had to pay extra for the kids breakfast. The prices and offers we got is a story by itself. We got a few offers, also one offer for dinner for all four of us included. The price for the kids meal was way too high though.
We were allowed to keep the room for an extra hour on the day of departure so that we had a quiet morning. The hotel offers a limited number of parking spaces just a few seconds walk from the hotel. The car park itself is in a backyard, so do not have high expectations. But it did the job.
No 42 by GuestHouse, Margate is probably, by far, the best hotel in Margate and with good food and drink, a fantastic view and lovely rooms we can definitely recommend it. Although it was a bit expensive.