Planning a Scottish getaway? We’ve visited some of the best Scottish hotels for a memorable foodie stay. Read on for our picks of the best hotels in Scotland. From slick city boltholes in Edinburgh to rural historic estates and hotels nestled in the Highlands with views of mountains and lochs, there is a hotel for everyone. Plus, if self-catering is your bag, we’ve tried-and-tested some extra special self-catering cottages, cabins, glampsites and even treehouses.
For more travel inspiration, check out our guide to the best country house hotels in the UK and the best romantic hotels in the UK.
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
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.
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
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
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