My keep on the ‘greatest lodge in Wales’ for 2024 to see if it lives as much as the hype. It’s VERY good (however here is why it would not fairly get full marks)

The best hotel in Wales. 

This accolade was bestowed upon The Parkgate Hotel in Cardiff in the 2024 AA Hospitality Awards – an eye-opening stamp of approval for the property, which is housed in the Grade II-listed former head post office building and county court on Westgate Street.

Keen to see for myself what impressed the AA’s inspectors, I climb aboard a GWR express at London Paddington (see fact box for details on its ‘long weekender‘ ticket deals, which include Cardiff) with my dear mother and head west to the Welsh capital at 125mph for a stay at The Parkgate, notebook and video camera in hand.

Mother Thornhill is under strict instructions to have a splendidly lovely weekend – but also keep an eagle eye out for any imperfections the AA’s inspectors might have missed.

The challenge was accepted with gusto, 83-year-old Mother T excited to be part of the MailOnline hotel-review team and re-peruse a city she hadn’t visited for 60 years.

When she was last in Cardiff, the Portland-stone post office building, completed in 1897, would have included a grand, double-height entrance hall that housed a public counter area, with counters on three sides, and writing tables in the centre.

The Post Office moved in 1983, but the grand double-height entrance hall remains and makes for an impressive first impression (though it’s a shame the red post box outside is covered in graffiti).

White columns soar to a coffered ceiling, guests at marble tables nibble afternoon-tea sandwiches and the reception staff have their smiles set to beaming.

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

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

Any hotel room worth its salt should be a magnet, pulling you back in whenever you try to leave.

Test passed. I could move in.

Mesmerising views of the skyline, the adjacent national stadium of Wales – Principality Stadium – the castle and the hills beyond can be soaked in via a balcony and floor-to-ceiling black-framed windows that wrap around the space on three sides; step across the parquet flooring to the back of the space to enter a very smart ensuite with rainshower and Elemis toiletries, while lolling opportunities come courtesy not only via the plush king-sized bed but a chic blue sofa.

And the Parkgate Hotel is clearly angling for bonus points with the plug sockets by the bed on each side and the ample tea and coffee-making facilities. There’s a kettle with teabags and coffee sachets – and a Nespresso machine.

Magnet-like though the chambers are – Mother Thornhill and I can’t linger for long, as we’re only here for one night.

So, it’s off through the city for a harbourside lunch at Cote (very friendly staff) and a tranquil boat trip around the harbour and up the river to picturesque Bute Park, home to the engrossing castle complex.

Then it’s back to the hotel for a pre-dinner trip to the spa, which is swoon-worthy – a sixth-floor haven with amazing views from its pool and heated loungers through yet more floor-to-ceiling glass.

Ma T is bowled over.

We arrive with glowing cheeks at The Sorting Room, the hotel’s lobby-level two-AA-Rosette brasserie-style restaurant that was once filled with hand-written letters and brown-paper packages.

Now it’s smothered in dark wood, ringed by sumptuous banquettes and full of excited diners eager to see if the cooking lives up to the rosette hype.

It does.

My Monmouthshire reared pork and chorizo Scotch egg starter is as comforting as it sounds, while the main – a ‘celebration of Welsh lamb’ – is definitely worth celebrating. It comprises a tastebud-tickling trio of lamb delights – melt-in-the-mouth slices covered in 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 recorded delivery.

And for a p.s, you’d want to mention the ‘textures of chocolate cake’, a neutron bomb of chocolate that defeats me. It’s so intense I manage only half, and I’ve got a sweet tooth or three.

The service, meanwhile, for the most part is prompt and cheery – but here there’s room for improvement.

The waiter who delivers our dishes never knows who’s having what – which in a two-Rosette restaurant and when dealing with a table of two… is a tad shoddy. And as each dish is unceremoniously plonked down there’s never a check to see if there’s anything else we’d like.

One of the fruit-forward, quaffable red wines, for instance (which I summon separately). 

And at the end comes a moment that leaves a slightly bitter taste – our main waiter urges us to review the restaurant on Tripadvisor and thrusts his name tag at me, practically demanding I take a picture of it so I ‘don’t misspell his name in the review’.

I’m not allowed to pen anything for Tripadvisor, but that’s not the moan here because the waiter wouldn’t know that – it’s that this kind of pressure is tacky, unbecoming in a classy hotel like The Parkgate.

One of the housekeepers we pass in a corridor also urges us to name-check her in a review when we comment on our ‘lovely room’, and from her we learn the staff are financially incentivised to garner mentions. So I understand the compulsion, but it’s a slightly intrusive practice.  

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

The next day, after returning to The Sorting Room for a highly satisfying buffet breakfast, we saunter around the engrossing castle, which is just a few minutes’ walk away, returning to the lobby to pick up our bags before our train back to London.

The smiles are still beaming at the front desk.

Best hotel in Wales? Considering that rooms at The Parkgate Hotel cost from just £85 a night, according to Google, hoteliers will need to push the envelope out to knock it from its perch.