Fodor's Expert Review The Angel Hotel

Guildford was once famous for its coaching inns, and this handsome, 500-year-old hotel is the last to survive. Guest rooms have reproductions of antiques, and marble-lined bathrooms; about half are in the original stone building, while the rest are in a modern annex. The courtyard, where coaches and horses clattered to a stop, is open to the sky. There's a salon with a fireplace and minstrels' gallery, and the 14th-century stone-vaulted crypt serves as the backdrop for an elegant bar. There is no in-house restaurant, but there is a branch of the excellent casual dining chain, Bill's, on the same site.