Best Scottish hotels: where to stay in Scotland

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Market Street Hotel, Edinburgh

Edinburgh's first member of the Design Hotels group is a slick and slender 98-room pad in the city centre that’s topped with a panoramic champagne lounge and terrace. Top and tail your weekend here, with breakfast from the gourmet pantry or the chef’s counter, then return for a glass of fizz and Queenie scallops as the sun sets over Edinburgh’s dramatic skyline.

Doubles from £180 per night, check availability at booking.com, mrandmrssmith.com, expedia.co.uk or marketstreethotel.co.uk

A modern white stone building against the Edinburgh skyline

Glenmorangie House, Highlands

Boldly beautiful, this 17th century house looking out over the stunning Moray Firth offers a maximalist stay with a creative Highlands menu in the hotel restaurant.

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With only six bedrooms and three cottages, and warmly attentive staff who’ll soon know how you take your tea, the stay here is designed to feel more house party than hotel. The dining room has one large table, cocktails are taken together before eating, and evening entertainment in the form of music, mixology or stargazing is arranged to make the most of the company. The interiors, by designer Russell Sage, tell the story of Glenmorangie whisky with maximalist styling, sensory interpretation and more than the occasional surprise.

Head chef John Wilson creates Glenmorangie food pairings, dishes that are enhanced by, and in turn enhance the flavours of, each whisky. There are all the Scottish treats you’d hope for, with rich haggis en croûte in a velvety whisky sauce. Surrounded by pristine Scottish waters you can expect fresh langoustine, lobsters and scallops, too. Your bacon, sausages and black pudding for breakfast travel just three miles from a local artisan, and some of the fruit, vegetables and herbs are picked outside the dining room window in the handsome walled garden.

Thanks to the carefully planned design and the eclectic collection of local arts and crafts, there are new details to discover wherever you turn. Seating in the snug mixes traditional tartan upholstery with bright plain seat pads, antique bud vases are displayed with different seed heads and lichen like prized blooms.

Rooms from £1,347 for three nights, check availability at booking.com, expedia.co.uk or glenmorangie.com

A cosy lounge at Glenmorangie House including plush red sofas, wooden furniture and red curtains and lamps

The Dipping Lugger, Ullapool

A restaurant with rooms as opposed to a full hotel, this makes a special foodie stay. Three luxurious bedrooms (with freestanding baths, striking Morris & Co wallpapers), command views across Loch Broom. In the 18-cover restaurant, chef David Smith creates ambitious tasting menus from Scotland’s abundant larder. Dishes might include beef fillet, beetroot and horseradish, or gin-cured halibut with caviar, baby cauliflower and fennel crackerbread.

Check rates and availability at thedippinglugger.co.uk

Gleneagles, Perthshire

No longer aimed so squarely at the huntin’, fishin’, golfin’ brigade, 5-star Gleneagles still offers a luxury experience but also fun for the whole family. De-tartaned bedrooms are softer and prettier (not least the Royal Lochnagar suite, pictured). Two Michelin stars and Andrew Fairlie aside, the resort’s restaurants and bars are much improved – with menus that cater to the brunch and burger crowd as well as finer diners. With 850 acres to explore – and a vast programme of supervised activities – Gleneagles has always been popular with families. There is Little Glen, a supervised play space for kids up to nine, and The Den, whose video games, air hockey and cinema room should keep older children and teens happy.

Doubles from £495 per night, check availability at booking.com or gleneagles.com

The Bridge Inn, Ratho

The 18th-century Bridge Inn, in the village of Ratho on the Union canal is just a caber’s toss from Edinburgh. The field-to-plate concept is an easy one for owners Graham and Rachel Bucknall, who breed pigs and grow vegetables and herbs in the walled kitchen garden.

Each of the rooms are named: Bijoux Bonnington, Baird, Bryce and Burke are cosy rooms, all with views. Bonnington has an ornate four-poster bed. Baird has a slipper bath, Bryce a brass bed and Burke is in chic cream-and-striped country style.

Doubles from £250, check availability at booking.com or bridgeinn.com

Glenapp Castle, Ayrshire

As well as ivy-clad turrets and excellent food, there’s one thing Glenapp Castle has plenty of: fresh air. It sits in 36 acres of grounds, all detailed for guests in a beautifully illustrated map. Despite the grand exterior (it was originally built in 1870 as an imposing family residence for James Hunter, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire), there’s no intimidating reception hall – just a welcoming parlour, with neat piles of wellington boots for guests to borrow, panelled wash rooms, chesterfield sofas and a vintage telephone to use if you need assistance. Up a carpeted staircase and to the left is the drawing room, with stone fireplace and ceiling-high windows that frame a spectacular view of Ailsa Craig (you’ll find granite curling stones from that island propping doors open around the castle).

Guest rooms, especially the master suites, are spectacular. Chandeliers, four-poster beds, huge windows framed by thick drapes, a fireplace surrounded by armchairs and a sofa and, in one case, a curved corner door that leads to a private spiral staircase... follow it down to reach a wooden hatch that opens on to the castle’s forecourt (imagine the trysts!). So big are the suites that guests also enjoy their own walk-in wardrobes, and there’s enough seating for at least a dozen people.

Doubles from £395, check availability at booking.com or glenappcastle.com

A view of Ailsa Criag from Glenapp Castle, Scotland

Isle of Eriska, Oban

Cross the rattly Victorian bridge to Eriska and you immediately feel a sense of island zen. A little way up the Scottish coastline from Oban, this 350-acre private island hotel has views to Lismore and to mountains. There are seals on the shore, badgers coming to the door to be fed milk at night, fat sofas beside big fires and two restaurants to choose from. Book tours of nearby Mull and Iona or The Trossachs (Scotland's first national park), relax in the spa, swim in the 17m heated pool or enjoy afternoon tea in the grand drawing room before relaxing in your room or self-catering lodge.

Doubles from £324, check availability at booking.com or eriska-hotel.co.uk

Rutland Hotel, Edinburgh

If you fancy something a bit different to the usual hotel offering The Rutland offers one and two-bed apartments that tick every box in terms of luxury. The roomy apartments are plushly furnished with colourful squishy sofas and dreamy kingsize beds. Rainfall showers, well stocked mini bars, coffee pod machines and treat boxes mean you are taken care of on arrival but still perfectly placed in the centre of town if you want to stock up on goodies. If you are after instant gratification, gourmet steak restaurant Kyloe, The Huxley cocktail bar and Edinburgh Gin Distillery are all housed in the same building.

Doubles from £218, check availability at booking.com, expedia.co.uk or therutlandhotel.com

Grandtully Hotel, Perthshire

The story began with an escape to the country. Ex-banker-turned-chef Chris Rowley and his wife Rachel dabbled with the supper club concept in Edinburgh before taking the plunge and moving to rural Perthshire. Their first venture, Ballintaggart Farm – a rustic restaurant with rooms and cookery school – was an instant hit. It's no longer a working farm, but much of the produce is grown in the kitchen garden and orchard. Alongside cookery classes, they also run five-course seasonal feasts that showcase the local larder. Then, in 2018, the duo turned a once-tired Victorian hotel, The Grandtully, into a sleek gourmet getaway with Chris's brother and bar impresario Andrew, who mixes negronis in the wood-panelled bar. In the restaurant, the daily changing menu features small plates such as Murthly Estate venison carpaccio, fermented salsify and rocket, while more filling dishes include Loch Etive sea trout, sea kale and lemon aioli.

Doubles from £286, check availability at booking.com or ballintaggart.com

Saorsa 1875, Perthshire

Perching on the edge of pretty Pitlochry, in Perthshire, 11-bedroom Saorsa 1875 was the UK's first totally vegan hotel. It’s a place for 'plant-curious' travellers, as well as vegans.

‘Saorsa’ is Gaelic for freedom, and 1875 is the year this stately residence was built. From the outside it's grand gothic, but step across the threshold and it’s a very different story. The dark, rock ’n’ roll, entrance hall is lit by a fluorescent Saorsa 1875 sign (owner Jack McLaren-Stewart's background is in cocktail bars), and there's no traditional reception – just a contemporary glass desk for check-in. The vegan and eco-conscious philosophy is evident in all aspects of the hotel, from the cleaning products to the bedding and the electric vehicle charging point. Even the energy comes from Ecotricity, a green energy company certified by The Vegan Society. The cosy lounge and restaurant is an all-day spot for relaxing by the fire, or sip cocktails at the bar. Dine at the plant-based restaurant and take your pick from either the small plates menu or a 5-course tasting menu, both regularly changing with the seasons.

Check rates and availability at saorsahotel.com

A bedroom with green tropical wallpaper and a double bed with green headboard

The Torridon, Wester Ross

Sweeping, glacially carved mountains tower behind Loch Torridon. Their golden ridges cut a constantly changing sky and dwarf the tiny strip of white houses that run along the loch’s south-eastern shore. “This place makes the Lake District look like nothing,” says one fellow hotel guest that evening. The scale, the colours and the wild setting combine to form a powerful panorama that every Brit should witness at least once. Preferably from the cosy comfort of The Torridon, a conical-turreted Victorian hotel where you can perch in the Drawing Room’s bay-window sofa, the fire burning behind you, and gaze out at the loch.

The hotel is cosy and Scottish, welcoming and luxurious, but neither stuffy nor obsequious. Rooms are just-right comfortable, with huge beds, Nespresso machines and Tunnock’s Teacakes. The brilliantly cheery activities crew (plus team collie, Cuillin) are a huge bonus, with plenty on offer from stargazing experiences to guided walks, mountain biking, clay pigeon shooting, sea kayaking, archery and gorge scrambling. After all that activity, there are two restaurants and two bars to choose from during your stay, including the atmospheric Whisky Bar with over 360 whiskies and 60 gins lining the walls.

Check rates and availability at thetorridon.com

Inver, Loch Fyne

Inver, an award-winning outpost on the shores of Loch Fyne, is the ultimate west coast pilgrimage for foodies. After stints at Noma and Fäviken, chef Pam Brunton and partner Rob Latimer took a punt that Scotland was ready for their version of ‘new Nordic’ cuisine. Inver is a visionary restaurant in an old whitewashed croft house, where traditional Caledonian dishes are reimagined and elevated not just to another level, but a whole new stratosphere. Using local wild and farmed ingredients, innovative dishes include smoked cod’s roe, green gooseberry and pink beetroot, alongside chilled courgette and smoked almond soup with rosemary honey. You can also expect home-baked sourdough bread and cultured butter, which you can buy at Inver’s shop along with homemade preserves and beer brewed with help from Fyne Ales. If you’re staying over, cosy up in a shepherd's hut or splash out on one of the luxury bothies. Breakfast delivered to your door in a wicker basket is a gourmet treat, with homemade bircher muesli or granola, fruit compote and yogurt, freshly baked pastries and bread, eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice.

Check rates and availability at inverrestaurant.co.uk

Scottish cabins and cottages

Guardswell Farm, Perthshire

Guardswell Farm's 150 acres of grassland cradles a rural getaway where you can switch off, soak up the silence and learn about the land. The family-run enterprise offers an eclectic range of courses and foodie events throughout the year, from spoon carving to no-dig organic vegetable growing with pioneering horticulturalist Charles Dowding. Sleep in the Pinterest-pretty clutch of cabins, cottages or farmhouse (sleeps 10) scattered across the farm, including The Pendicle – a larch-clad bolthole with a wildflower-sown roof, wood-burning stove, fire pit and jaw-dropping views from the decking over a field of Hebridean sheep. Or opt for The Infield, an off-grid hilltop hideaway with a stargazing window above the bed (pictured below). Add a breakfast basket onto your stay for a morning delivery of sourdough, eggs, granola, apple juice and homemade compote.

Check rates and availability at guardswell.co.uk

Alladale Wilderness Reserve, Ardgay

Sumptuous seclusion on a wilderness reserve in the Scottish Highlands is the ultimate staycation. And it comes with a chef. You can seek shelter at Alladale in Sutherland, and never leave the pewter-tinged lochs, brooding glens and heather-sprung moorland of the 23,000-acre estate. There are three lodges sleeping between four and 14. Two cottages – Ghillie's Rest (sleeps four) and Eagle's Crag (sleeps 10) – are kitted out with well-stocked kitchens and freshly prepared meals ready to cook. Breakfast kits feature ready-to-pour pancake mix, all the ingredients for a full Scottish, fruit, granola and yogurt. Alladale Lodge's chef, Natasha Buttigieg, whips up gourmet meals using organic produce from the vegetable beds and state-of-the-art aquaponics garden (the three large greenhouses powered by the estate's hydro-generator ensure zero-waste and zero emissions), along with ethically culled wild venison, local game and trout.

Check rates and availability at alladale.com

Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages, Kincardineshire

Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages sits within a 30,000-acre estate in Kincardineshire. Choose from Steading Cottage, with its own woodland hot tub, North Lodge, with a romantic riverside summerhouse, or The Sawmill, with its converted Airstream trailer and private outdoor shower. With interiors designed by the estate’s owners, Pedlars founders Charlie and Caroline Gladstone, and Big Green Eggs to cook on, this is seriously decadent glamping. For eating out there’s Spider on a Bicycle café in Aboyne or Buchanan Bistro in Banchory.

Check rates and availability at glendyecabinsandcottages.com

Achnahatnich House, Cairngorms

At the end of a private road through the forest on the Rothiemurchus Estate, Achnahatnich House is an off-the-beaten-track hideaway in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. Built in 1900 and once home to tenant farmers, this tastefully renovated three-bedroom house now has a Scandi-chic vibe, its white wood-panelling and soft dove grey palette offset by the odd splash of mustard and Delftware blue. The large open-plan kitchen is the perfect place to whip up a feast, but if you don't fancy cooking you can pre-order a range of freshly cooked meals to be stocked in the fridge (a whole week's worth if you like) from the Rothiemurchus farm shop, made with produce from the estate – think hearty beef stroganoff and venison casserole. You'll also find a complimentary welcome hamper stocked with food from the farm shop and, if you're feeling adventurous, you can book a range of food-focused activities, from champagne picnics by the river to foraging and cooking experiences.

Check rates and availability at hiddenhighlandretreats.com

Inverlona, Loch Nell

Designed for visitors looking to disconnect from the day-to-day Inverlonan’s “rough luxe” bothies are only accessible by boat, on foot or (the slightly less cool option) by buggy. Overlooking Loch Nell, on the west coast of Scotland near Oban, the bothies are surrounded by ancient oaks, inky waters and wild moorland. Each comes with an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven and open fire pit, plus a breakfast hamper stuffed with the likes of Isle of Seil eggs and Inverlonan Farm jams. For an additional charge, everything from a pizza kit to ingredients for a seafood BBQ (think whole bream, langoustines and rustic rolls) can be delivered to the door.

Check availability at inverlonan.com

Inshriach, Cairngorms

This 200-acre mini Highland estate in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park is home to a rustic gin distillery where owner Walter Micklethwait concocts small-batch Speyside gins in an award-winning shed. The estate’s elegant country house is perfect for a large family gathering (sleeping up to 18, with or without a chef) but, for a back-to-nature experience, there’s a cluster of quirky glamping options peppered throughout the tangled woodland. The long-standing yurt has been replaced by a log cabin which Walter and his family made themselves during lockdown. It’s as popular for holidays as it is with TV and photoshoots. The quaint Swedish-style shepherd’s hut is old-school romantic and cradled by juniper bushes (the key ingredient in gin; most of the botanicals are foraged from the estate) but for those who want something a little more contemporary, there’s the bothy, a little modernist cabin nestled in the birch woods above the Spey. Another cabin is in the pipeline, this one made from wind-blown oak trees. We are promised that this will top them all.

Check rates and availability at inshriachhouse.com