Hotels in Cheltenham

Cheltenham is a Regency spa town on the edge of the Cotswolds — terraces and iron balconies around Montpellier and the Promenade, good independent restaurants, and festivals of literature, jazz and science through the year. But it is defined by one week in March: the Cheltenham Festival at Prestbury Park, four days of jump racing climaxing in the Gold Cup, when a town of 120,000 absorbs a quarter of a million racegoers.

That week, hotel prices multiply and everything sells out months in advance — book absurdly early, or base yourself in Gloucester or a Cotswold village and travel in. Otherwise, stay around Montpellier or Pittville, the latter walkable to the racecourse.