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Luxurious Yet Historical and Down-To-Earth Scottish Highlands Stays: Essentials Edition
The Central Scottish Highlands consist of most of my favorite places. I know, this is a huge statement⏤but it is true. I have never enjoyed myself more, or felt more connected to place than in the highlands of Scotland. Magic lives there. The highlands have an aura of secrets to be discovered and great adventures to be had. Driving is personally my favorite way of exploring the area, enabling me to go anywhere I want in my own time. There are so many gorgeous luxury hotels throughout the central highlands. However, in this post I would like to bring to light my two favorite luxury stays for those that want a truly indulgent, yet down-to-earth highlands experience. I want to introduce you to historic hotels where you not only feel that you are stepping back in time, but also to feel truly at home and immersed in Highland history.
Check out my other Essentials Edition Travel Recommendations here.
The Glencoe House is located in Glencoe, Scotland, in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. It is within a five minute drive of the famous mountainous spot of Glencoe, where tourists surely have their cameras at-the-ready. The home has a rich history. It was built in 1896 by one of Scotland’s premier architects, Sir Robert Rowan Anderson for Lord Strathcona, a railway and shipping mogul. It went on to become a hospital in the 1940’s to fill a need in the area. It became a hotel in 2011, as you see it today.
The Glencoe house is a home away from home rather than the usual 5-star hotel experience. The house opens itself up to your presence as you take your car down the long, winding drive towards the estate. It is important to note that there is no long line of stuffy chauffeurs awaiting to take your things. You pull up, and Anne, the very conscientious manager, welcomes you warmly into the living room of the great house with a glass of champagne upon arrival. Check-in is effortless, and your bags are brought to your suite without pomp or circumstance.
Each suite is more like a small apartment than a hotel room, complete with the addition of a living room and dining room. To say that the suites are spacious is an understatement⏤they are enormous, and extremely elegant. However, the rooms are not over-the-top, where you feel like you can’t touch anything as in an art museum. The space is made to feel that you are in your own private apartment, and you can kick back, relax, light some candles, or play some traditional Scottish tunes on the piano.
In-room, private dining is by far my favorite aspect of the Glencoe House. Every day, breakfast and dinner are served in your private dining room. What’s especially lovely, is if you don’t happen to care for anything on the menu, the chef will cook you whatever you please⏤within reason, of course! Dinner is a five course affair, with simple, yet elegant traditional and modern Scottish dishes. A dinner example would be an Appetizer of Timbale of West Coast Crab served with a Red Onion Salad and Lime and Thyme Dressing, followed by Bramley Apple Sorbet, an Entree of Roast Argyll Duck Breast resting on Braised Red Cabbage Fondant Potato and Blackcurrant Cassis Jus, a Watermelon and Vodka Gazpacho, and finally, a Spiced Ginger Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce. Check out a sample menu here.
The Bell Sweets, which are located outside of the main building, don’t offer in-room dining, but are equipped with gourmet, pre-prepared meals. Guests staying in these rooms also have the exclusive option of dining in the Great Hall.
For those that love exploring but don’t want a full-on hike can wander the 10 acres on which the home is set. There is a 1 mile walking trail on the grounds which makes its way around a loch, ripe with woodland and mountain views. If you go out on a daily adventure, the Glencoe House chef would be happy to whip you up a gourmet, boxed lunch for the road. All-in-all, I would argue that the Glencoe House is one of my favorite places to stay period.
The Boath House is a gorgeous, well-preserved Gorgian-style country House located in Nairn, Scotland, which is just about 30 miles west of Inverness. While the house was built in 1830, its garden and outbuildings date back to 1550. The house grounds served as a camp for soldiers who fought at the Battle of Auldearn. The Matheson family⏤the current owners ⏤ have owned and have been renovating the property since the early 1990s. Within a ten minute drive is the legendary Culloden. Thus, if you have plans on visiting this historic battlefield, the Boath House is an excellent place to stay whilst doing so.
The Boath House is widely known for it’s five-star cuisine, sustainably sourced produce, and award-winning gardens. What I find special about the Boath House, is that when you stay there, you feel like you are actually staying at your own estate set in 20 acres of explorable grounds. It’s marvelous, and a rarity as far as luxurious accommodations go.
While the accommodations at the Boath House are lovely, the main reason I would go back is for the incredible, locally sourced food and gorgeous gardens. I could spend hours alone walking through the gardens. All of the fruits and vegetables are grown on site, and bread is made fresh daily. The Kale Yard, the newest restaurant addition to the property, is located within the garden, and has delicious oven-baked breads and pizzas. Some of its dishes include roast pork loin with white bean cassoulet, garden gnocchi, and sticky toffee pudding.
The main dining room is an experience like no other. Every night, guests are invited into the main parlor where they are greeted with glasses of champagne and light hors d’oeuvres. Next, couples are led in one by one to their table in the main dining room, where they can choose between a 3 and 5 course menu. The food is exquisite, 5-star fare that reaches a high level of sophistication. In fact, the restaurant attained a Michelin star in 2009, but in 2017 it moved away from the confines that the award comes with, providing more approachable food and service. When I was at the Boath House, I had the opportunity to experience the five course menu, consisting of produce ranging from locally caught sea scallops with a parsley coulis to roe deer served with locally sourced wild mushrooms, artichoke and salsify. The breakfast is equally as lovely, with freshly pressed vegetable and fruit juices from the garden along with sophisticated traditional Scottish favorites like Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict and the best Black Pudding I’ve ever had.
The Glencoe House and Boath House are uniquely different, and offer different things. The Glencoe House, set in a reclusive part of a very popular destination, offers service fit for a king in your private dining room. Located just minutes from the infamous Glencoe, the hotel is close to a large variety of hiking trails and picturesque highlands scenery. The Boath House is located in a lesser travelled area of the highlands, but offers award winning food and gardens that will leave you drooling for more. Both the Glencoe House and the Boath House are wonderful places to visit. They are not only a reflection of the history and culture in which they are located, but also special destinations where you truly feel at home.