Scottish Highlands..

[Jambob]

My girlfriend and I are thinking of going to the Scottish Highlands in September for a romantic get away. Now, neither of us have ever been to Scotland and have no idea on where to stay, although we would like to be in the mountains if at all possible.


Does anyone have an idea of where to stay in the Highlands? My budget would probably be around £100 a night (that can be upped if needs must) all suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.

[geminitrain]

Couldn't recommend anything for what your after but the Isle of Bute is a gorgeous place good for walks really laid back plenty of places to eat and many decent hotels or excellent B & B if going Scotland just a short ferry across

[Jambob]

Thanks for the reply, very much appreciated. I have just had a quick google and you are correct it does look beautiful. I shall put it forward to her as a suggestion. Cheers.

[kiteless]

We stayed in a cottage in Cannich in 2007, courtesy of this site:

http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/

Specifically this one:

http://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottages/highland...

It was just great. Easy access to great walks, great driving roads, and a pub not 2 minutes walk away that was dog-friendly and had F1 on widescreen.

[v15ben]

I'd recommend somewhere on the west coast. Great scenery, great little villages and plenty to do. Look at GetCarter's photos for inspiration, they are rather good

[CO2000]

Stay around Aviemore with a foray to the West Coast ?

[BigAlinEmbra]

http://www.thetorridon.com/inn/tariff.asp

Possibly the most scenic place in the country imo, and handy for Skye.
See GetCarter's photos for how gorgeous it is.

http://www.stevecarter.com/photos.htm

Hope you don't mind me bigging up your shots Steve!

[andrew311]

Oban is rather nice, my other half is from there. Should be much quieter come September when the kids are back at school, although I believe Scottish schools go back in August. Could take a ferry over to Mull, the drive up to Fort William by the coast is very nice, you could take a ride up the Gondola on Anoch Mor for some awesome views.

I suppose it depends where you're driving from and what length of drive you're happy with as it may prove time and cost effective to fly. We get married at this place next year and have stayed previously. They tend to offer very good deals if you stay more than a night including dinner, bed, and breakfast.

http://www.lochmelfort.co.uk/

Oban has plenty of hotels all well located with easy walking distance to shops, bars, ferry terminal etc.

[BigAlinEmbra]

andrew311 said:

Oban is rather nice, my other half is from there. Should be much quieter come September when the kids are back at school, although I believe Scottish schools go back in August. Could take a ferry over to Mull, the drive up to Fort William by the coast is very nice, you could take a ride up the Gondola on Anoch Mor for some awesome views.

I suppose it depends where you're driving from and what length of drive you're happy with as it may prove time and cost effective to fly. We get married at this place next year and have stayed previously. They tend to offer very good deals if you stay more than a night including dinner, bed, and breakfast.

http://www.lochmelfort.co.uk/

Oban has plenty of hotels all well located with easy walking distance to shops, bars, ferry terminal etc.

You know what, I passed through last week, and despite having spent a few years growing up nearby about 20 years ago, I was quite dismayed at how run down a fair bit of the centre of Oban is these days?
To the extent that I actually thought some tourists would probably be a bit dismayed at the state of some of the places.

It is a good point about setting off for the islands from there, but maybe staying up around Kinlochleven and a quite drive down to Oban after having blasted up through Glencoe is what our man is after?

I did a circuit of Edinburgh-Kinlochleven-Oban-Crinan-Edinburgh last Tuesday on a gorgeous sunny day and it was great!

To whet our man's appetite...


Rannoch Moor in an Italian supercoupe.


Glencoe rush hour.


Romance? What about flowers and a castle?


Oban does look nice here to be fair.


Cliche photo.

[andrew311]

I guess it depends on what the OP wants from his visit, isolation, things to do, places to eat etc or all of the above. With isolation it gets harder to find the latter. Scotland isn't so big that you couldn't have a driving tour and see a great deal in only a few days.

I don't think Oban centre is run down, don't know what you'd make of Fort William in comparrison!

[BigAlinEmbra]

Just struck me that there were a fair few boarded up places and more in need of a lick of paint.
To be fair there's sections of Edinburgh the same, god knows what tourists think if the stray along South Bridge!

Valid point that you can see a lot in a short space of time. Those photos all come from a single days drive, and that was setting off from Edinburgh not particularly early.
Had I made it a dawn raid then I could probably have had a quick ferry over to Mull and back in a day too!

[Jambob]

Thanks for all the replys guys, very much appreciated. Some excellent suggestions coming up.

We are looking for it to be fairly remote to be honest, maybe a small town/village nearby to go for a meal etc.

I will look into all of what has been mentioned.

Thanks again and sorry for the late reply I haven't had access to a computer as I have been on site.

[Catz]

Glengarry Castle Hotel http://www.glengarry.net/prices.php

Remote, close to a small village with another hotel http://www.invergarryhotel.co.uk/, does great food (or did when I was last there), within budget,close to lots of different places to visit and enjoy the Highland scenery.

Edited by Catz on Thursday 23 June 16:50

Edited by Catz on Thursday 23 June 16:52

[v15ben]

How about somewhere near Kenmore, Perthshire or Applecross or Plockton?
There are definitely good places to stay close to these which are remote and all have fantastic restaurants/pubs to eat in