Exploring Scotland - Where to Stay North of Edinburgh

When journeys begin in Edinburgh, the next thought is often: where to stay as the road opens north? It’s a question we welcome. Beyond the familiar names — the heritage hotels, the lodges often featured in glossy guides — lies a quieter, richer map of places to bed down. Cabins by a loch’s edge, crofter’s cottages tucked in glens, farm stays where the owners tend their livestock, shepherd’s huts warmed by wood stoves and lit by star-filled skies.

Over time, we’ve compiled a thoughtful wish-list from our own travels, alongside recommendations from friends who venture beyond the capital. These stays speak of place; many are family run and independently owned. In this guide, we offer a curated selection — not exhaustive, by any means — of those places worth seeking out.

Come spring, we will turn our attention to the islands; for now, we’re sharing our overnight picks from Perthshire up to the Highlands’ remote reaches. We hope this saves you some guesswork and inspires slow paced sojourns off the well-trodden track.

Carskiey resides on the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, reached after the long and winding road from Glasgow or the short hop by plane to Campbeltown. The estate offers three distinct places to stay. Carskiey House, the largest, is suited to gatherings — its bedrooms, library and wide sea views lend themselves to family parties or groups of friends. Shore Cottage, smaller and set almost on the beach, is a quieter choice: four can sleep here, with the sound of the waves and the fire for company. Its interior blends old and new — the dining room dresser from the big house, now painted oxblood red, sits alongside a driftwood bench found years ago on Garvault Bay, while Fermoie fabrics in linen bring pattern and light to the soft furnishings.

A little further inland, The Artist’s Studio is a single, open space, more private still, with woodland around it and the burn running below. Together they offer a range of stays, all with the same sense of being held close by the land and sea with Sanda Island, Ailsa Craig and Northern Ireland on the horizon.

Website | Carskiey, Campbeltown, Kintyre, Argyll PA28 6RU

Photo credits: Pete Helme 

Taking its name from the Gaelic for ‘the rock of the eagle’ — this larch-clad house nests above Loch Shieldaig, cantilevered over steep ground with views across Torridon’s mountains and sea lochs. Designed by Dualchas Architects, floor-to-ceiling glazing frames weather and wildlife as part of daily life. Inside, oak boards, underfloor heating and a wood stove are a lesson in warm minimalism, while a well-equipped kitchen and intimate dining space invite long evenings. The master bedroom, with three aspects and a freestanding bath overlooking the loch, feels like a private eyrie. Beyond the glass, eagles wheel, seals and dolphins surface, and red deer move quietly through the glen. The house lies just off the NC500, with Shieldaig village nearby, in a landscape shaped by the ancient Torridonian sandstone. For walkers, nine Munros rise within reach — among them Beinn Alligin, Beinn Eighe and the mighty Liathach.

Website | Shieldaig, Strathcarron, Highlands, IV54 8XH

Photo credits: photo 1 Viktorija Peciulyte; photo 2-3 - TravelTwo; photo 4 - Emily Sandifer

Set in rolling Perthshire farmland, beneath the Sidlaw Hills, Dunsinnan offers three places to rest your head. The Cabin at Fairygreen is a small retreat for two, timber-clad with wide windows onto the fields and an outdoor copper bath beside its deck. Fairygreen Cottage, built in 1872 for the estate’s stockman, has been simply yet stylishly restored: two bedrooms, a wood stove, a kitchen to linger in. Macbeth’s Bothy sits at the foot of Dunsinane Hill, with a king bed, en-suite shower and French doors that open to an outdoor bathhouse and fire pit. Each offers a different rhythm, yet bound by the ground where Shakespeare set his witches and kings.

Website | Dunsinnan Farm & Estate, Fairygreen Farm, Collace, Perth, Perthshire, PH2 6JA

Photo credits: Solasta Creative

Where the River Gairn meets the Dee, Gairnshiel was once a Victorian sporting lodge much frequented by Queen Victoria, King George V and others to hunt for grouse. In 2015, a Belgian family — Eric and Hilde, soon joined by their sons Maarten and Quinten — took on the property, stripping it back to its granite shell and reworking interiors with restraint, drawing on Belgian and European influences alongside Scottish architectural memory.

Now available for private hire, The Lodge holds nine bedrooms, broad but cosy living spaces, terraces and a sauna — a base for gatherings in the hills (with Balmoral as its nearest neighbour). Across the estate, cottages such as the Old School and Laggan provide smaller, self-contained stays, with kitchens, wood stoves and wide windows spilling onto river and moor.

Website | Gairnshiel, Ballater, AB35 5UQ

photo credits: Gairnshiel

On the edge of the Cairngorms, Glen Dye is a family-run estate lovingly shaped over decades by Charlie and Caroline Gladstone, who settled here from London in 1990 to regenerate tumbledown buildings left to decline. The move was part family inheritance, part leap of faith. What began as a hay loft, a bothy, a keeper’s cottage, or a shepherd’s hut is now a collection of cabins and cottages — around ten in all — each with its own story. The Hay Loft, for instance, still carries its past in the tall window once used to throw down hay for cattle, now the picture frame for a sitting room with views across the glen.

The interiors are colourful, layered, and a mix of vintage finds and modern pieces, more eclectic than restrained. Expect painted floors, patterned textiles, record players, bright kitchens, and wood stoves — with fire pits, hot tubs or saunas outside.

Life in The Mearns is shaped by the land, a wild fold of Aberdeenshire where the Howe of the Mearns gives way to moorland and forest. Guests can take part in salmon fishing on the River Dye, guided walks and bushcraft, or the arts of flower arranging, willow weaving, basket making, even venison butchery. The estate also holds its own shop, pub, adventure centre, and event spaces, keeping things convivial and decidedly outdoorsy.

Website | Bridge of Dye Steading, Strachan, Banchory, AB31 6LT

Photo credits: Kym Grimshaw

Snuggled into a south-facing hillside between Abernyte and Kinnaird, Guardswell is a 180-acre grassland farm with wide views down the Tay and over to Fife. The Lamotte family have been its guardians since 2011, though their roots in farming and food run deeper: Anna and Digby Lamotte now lead the vision, drawing on a family history that includes Scotherbs, The Buttery café, and most recently Diggers Cider — Digby’s natural Scottish cider made with apples from their orchards and wild yeasts.

The farm holds a handful of huts and houses to stay in — from pared-back huts for two to larger cottages and a farmhouse with a red Aga at its heart. Each balances simplicity with Scandi-inspired comfort, often built into the farm’s older structures. Sleeping here means waking to lambs bleating and birds singing in the hedgerows.

Across the working farm, Shetland cattle, Hebridean sheep, Angora goats and free-ranging hens are all part of a regenerative system that builds soil health and increases biodiversity. Their beef, wool, mohair and eggs can be found in the farm’s Provisions Store, alongside seasonal produce. Guests are invited to connect with that cycle through hands-on workshops in spoon carving, rug making from Guardswell’s own fleece, cheesemaking and more.

Website | Kinnaird, By Inchture, Perthshire, PH14 9QZ

Photo credits: photo 1 - Claire Fleck; photos 2-3 - Murray Orr

Nowhere is that edge-of-the-world feeling more tangible than on Scotland’s west coast, where mountains drop into sea lochs and islands dissolve into mist. In the village of Plockton, Iorram is a modern cottage for two, so close to the shore you can watch the boats drift by from its wide picture windows, yet so still it feels a world apart.

Designed and built by architect-owners Colin and Megan of Baillie Baillie, the cottage is compact but quietly spacious, a play of light, proportion and material. Clay blocks, Highland-grown timber and drystone walls root it in place; a kitchen made of Douglas fir, unpainted clay plaster walls, and terracotta floors (underheated for comfort) complete an interior that feels both elemental and refined. Soft linen bedding, simple furniture and muted tones add to the sense of calm.

Days can be spent watching tides, reading by the window, or stepping out onto coastal paths that lead to coves and crags; wild swimming is possible in sheltered bays; and Plockton itself has pubs and restaurants worth a pause. Skye lies just across the water — close enough for day trips to Portree, the Old Man of Storr or quieter Sleat.

Website | Plockton, Wester Ross

Photo credits: Murray Orr

On the banks of Loch Nell near Oban, this cluster of architect-designed bothies can be reached on foot across farmland and ancient oak woodland. Each bothy has its own character: Beatha, calm and cream-walled, tucked in the woods; Sitheil, the newest, dark-clad and looking out across the loch; Uisge, green-walled and perched directly on the shore. All are designed for two, each with an outdoor deck, fire pit, wood-fired oven and an interior shaped by clay plaster, timber and simple, crafted detail.

The ethos here is ‘wild luxury’: slow days, simple cooking, immersion in the land. A farm-to-bothy breakfast is included, and provisions from Argyll’s larder can be delivered for outdoor feasts. A lochside sauna can be booked, and canoes, paddleboards and rods are available for exploring the water. Off-grid dining is also offered by chef Tim Kensett, whose fire-cooked tasting menus draw on his River Café and Fife Arms experience, served at secret sites on the estate.

Inverlonan farms Luing cattle, Hebridean and Shetland sheep, manages 100 hectares of native woodland, and runs environmental schemes that sustain black grouse, eagles and butterflies. Neolithic and Iron Age relics are scattered through the hills, including stone circles and standing stones.

Website | Oban, PA34 4QE

Photo credits: photos 1, 2, 4 - Patrick Hartmann; photo 3 - Paul Fegan

In Appin, between Oban and Fort William, this pair of contemporary cedar-clad dwellings — North House and South House — is designed to frame one of Scotland’s most dramatic views: Castle Stalker on Loch Laich, with the Highlands beyond. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls keep the landscape ever-present, whether from the living area, super-king bedroom, or the deep, mosaic-tiled hot tub sunk into the deck.

Inside, both houses are furnished with care: polished cement or parquet floors with underfloor heating, Next125 German kitchens, wet rooms with rainfall showers and built-in Sonos, and mid-century pieces such as the Swiss DeSede leather suite. Woodland separates the two, giving each privacy.

Red deer roam the hills, sea eagles soar overhead, otters and seals pop their heads up in the bay. Guests can kayak around Castle Stalker, cycle across to the island of Lismore, or climb nearby Munros such as Beinn Sgulaird and Beinn Fionnlaidh. Evenings are for watching the weather roll in, sinking into the hot tub, and stargazing in quiet seclusion.

Website |Portnacroish, Appin, PA38 4BL

Photo credits: photo 1 - Stormhouse; photos 2, 5 - Solasta; photos 3, 4 - TravelTwo

From the brooding seas of Scotland’s north coast to the Cairngorms’ forested slopes, Wildland is a collection of properties shaped by Scandi-Scot design and a philosophy of slowing down while respecting nature. Each place is rooted in its landscape, which forms part of a 200-year project established by Anne and Anders Holch Povlsen.

Some of our favourites include Lundies House, a former manse in Tongue on the NC500. Now an art hotel with four en-suite bedrooms, three studios and a self-catering bothan, the interiors are refined yet simple, meals are candlelit and convivial, and the wild north coast is on the doorstep. Killiehuntly, in the depths of the Cairngorms, is an agriculturally inspired guest house with four bedrooms and a set of cottages — friendly, unfussy and homely, with suppers shared at a long table or cooked at your own stove.

Kyle House, in North Sutherland’s Flow Country, is a one-bedroom retreat that’s been carefully restored by Edinburgh’s GRAS architects, pairing minimal interiors with polished Caithness stone underfoot — and is the only house with views along the length of the Kyle. On Loch Ness, the Aldourie Estate offers a handful of cottages scattered across the castle grounds, each self-catered and close to the water, with fishing, walking and woodland all around.

Wildland’s experiences are as much part of the stay as the buildings: fishing on lochs and rivers, deer stalking as part of conservation, 4x4 tours with local keepers, pony picnics in the Cairngorms, and guided nature walks.

Website

Photo credits: Fran Mart