My stay at Clarion Collection Harte & Garter Windsor, England was one of those experiences where the room view made all the difference. There are 98 rooms in the four floor Victorian era hotel. Guest reviews are highly mixed, primarily between those who stayed in castle view rooms and those who stayed in the back side of the hotel where some views look over alleys and the back doors of restaurant kitchens and pubs create noise outside the room.
Choice Hotels Clarion Collection Harte & Garter website.
Harte & Garter Hotel UK website.
TripAdvisor Harte & Garter reviews.
Room #402 I stayed in booked with 16,000 Choice Privileges points offered perhaps the best room view of Windsor Castle available from the hotel.
Room #402 Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor, Clarion Collection
There are larger rooms, including suites, and more room windows in the turret area of the hotel, however, those rooms offer a different perspective of Windsor Castle. I loved the view from room 402 and I spent hours simply sitting in the hotel room watching the full moon rise over Windsor Castle.
My photos do not do justice to the actual clarity of the night sky over Windsor Castle in brilliant moonlight. I will always cherish those hours looking out the window from Harte & Garter on a quiet October Wednesday night in Windsor as one of the best room views in my travel memories.
St. George’s Chapel was the site of the wedding for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in June 2018. The chapel was originally constructed in the mid-14th century and its current Gothic design was primarily constructed starting in the reign of Edward IV in 1475 and completed in 1528 during the reign of Henry VIII.
Harte & Garter Hotel lobby
A pint of Stella Artois, Bass, Becks or Guinness priced at £4.90.
The large dining room was serving dinner or breakfast buffet at the times I passed through the lobby. I do not have any photos of the dining room. Breakfast is not included on reward stays booked with Choice Privileges points.
The hotel stairways are obviously old with noticeable slants in places.
stairway, Windsor
I walked a lot of stairs during my stay at Harte & Garter Hotel. The elevator only went to Floor 2 of the hotel. The elevator to Floors 3 and 4 was out of order and awaiting parts delivery for repair.
Wall and window decor throughout the hotel offer glimpses of British history.
The Harte & Garter Hotel has an events space and ballroom I did not see during my stay. There is also a spa. I did not explore the hotel extensively as this was my first trip to Windsor and I wanted to be outside exploring the city more with my limited time before heading to Heathrow Airport for a flight.
Harte & Garter Hotel Room 402
My reservation was booked using Choice Privileges points for an ‘Executive King room with castle view’. The Choice Privileges reward rate of 16,000 points was a bargain compared to the £198.55/$258 posted room rate for Choice Privileges members.
Warning for Americans staying in UK hotels.
Bed sizes in the UK are classified differently from the USA and most of the world in that a UK King is smaller. UK King bed (60 inches wide) is the size of US Queen bed.
UK Standard Double bed (53 inches wide), a common mattress size for many UK hotels is the size of a US Double bed. I generally book two singles (35 inches wide) for my wife and I when staying in UK hotels where the largest bed type available is a UK Standard Double.
I elaborate on UK bed sizes in a review I wrote in February 2017.
My Square Foot–Holiday Inn London Kensington unkingly quiet.
Wifi worked great for my stay.
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor Room 402 Bathroom
The bathroom was a bit small with the toilet behind the door.
As this was my first trip to Windsor with only an overnight, the exploratory scouting I made checking out the city in a stay of a short 16 hours whetted my appetite to return to Windsor for an extended stay. Clarion Collection Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor is a fantastic location for being in the middle of the tourist section of the city with the castle, loads of pubs and restaurants and public bus stops only 100 or so meters from the hotel with easy access to London Heathrow for as little as £5.50 round trip (£4.00 one way) from LHR Terminal 5 on the GreenLine bus.
On my return to Heathrow Terminal 5 I rode a Courtney local bus #10 back to Terminal 5 for £5.00 one way (£6.50 return) due to its departure 30 minutes earlier than the GreenLine. There is free Underground service between Terminal 5 and other terminals at LHR.
GreenLine bus service is mostly hourly. There are a couple of local buses from Windsor to Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 with more frequent service than GreenLine. Travel time is about the same or even slightly faster than GreenLine. Courtney Bus #10 dropped me off at Platform #1 of LHR Terminal 5 coach station area in 35 minutes.
Being my first time to Windsor, I did not realize the price savings buying a return ticket for LHR-Windsor with the same bus line. I will look to book a return ticket when I visit Windsor again in a couple of months with my wife Kelley.
Kelley is the true American Anglophile, Royal Family fan and British history lover. Traveling to Windsor with her will be significantly more educational when we visit on an extended stay of several days with time to tour the castle and surrounding area in depth.
