Choice Hotels Choice Privileges Clarion Collection London London LHR UK

Clarion Collection Harte & Garter Windsor castle view room review

a stone tower in a city

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.

a stone castle with a large stone tower
Windsor Castle view from my room at Clarion Collection Harte & Garter Hotel.

Room #402 Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor, Clarion Collection

a group of people walking in front of a stone building
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor – Room 402 is top floor to left of hotel name sign with open window.
a building with a yellow circle
Harte & Garter Windsor, Clarion Collection – room 402

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.

a city at night with a castle
View of full moon rising over Windsor Castle
a stone building with many columns
View of St. George’s Chapel Windsor Castle from Harte & Garter Windsor Room 402

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 fireplace with a picture on the wall
Harte & Garter Windsor lobby fireplace
a bar with a glass shelf and chairs
Harte & Garter Hotel bar

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.

a group of people walking outside a building
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor view from bar seating to Windsor Castle.

The hotel stairways are obviously old with noticeable slants in places.

a staircase with a spiral staircase
Stairway in Harte & Garter hotel Windsor
a staircase leading to a house
Harte & Garter Hotel
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.

a close-up of a stained glass window
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor stained glass windows in lobby to Floor 1 stairway depicts characters from Shakespeare’s ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’. Sir John Falstaff is image in center left frame, Anne Page below him.
a hallway with a door and a chair
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor, 4th floor hallway
a couch and a table in a room
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor 4th floor hallway seating area with Queen Victoria portrait
a rooftops of a town
Harte & Garter 4th floor window view south over Windsor rooftops from side of the hotel.
a bar with a mirror above it
Harte & Garter secondary bar in hotel interior upper floor.

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.

a bed with a pillow and a suitcase
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor Room 402 King bed is 60 inches wide

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.

a room with a tall dark closet and a fan

a room with a desk and chairs
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor Room 402 desk and chairs
a view of a castle from a window
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor Room 402 window view
a room with striped chairs and a table
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor room 402 seating area
a mirror on a table
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor Room 402 desk area with coffee/tea and bottled water

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.

a white robe on a toilet
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor Room 402 toilet
a bathroom with a mirror and sink
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor Room 402 sink
a shower with a glass door
Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor room 402 shower

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.

a street with a sign and people standing in the middle
London Heathrow Terminal 5 coach area Stand 8 stop for GreenLine Coach to Slough, Windsor and Legoland takes about 50 minutes to Windsor Parish Church stop.
a green double decker bus
GreenLine bus service from LHR stops in central Windsor at bus stops in front of Windsor Parish Church close to Harte & Garter Hotel.

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.

a white bus parked under a bridge
Windsor to London Heathrow on Courtney Bus #10 was £5.00 one way/£6.50 / and took 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.

a stone tower in a city
Clarion Collection Harte & Garter Hotel Windsor

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.

 

 

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