Finest Fortress Motels in Scotland: 9 We’ve Paid to Keep In

For a great few of the years we lived in Scotland, my birthday labored like this: someday in January, Jess would disappear right into a browser for a night, and in February we’d discover ourselves checking right into a citadel. February in Scotland is no one’s thought of peak season, which labored effectively in our favour. The charges drop, the crowds vanish, and a five-star citadel briefly turns into one thing two people who find themselves not lairds can afford.

Between these birthday journeys and years of travelling across the nation, we’ve now paid to remain in 9 citadel inns throughout Scotland, from the Ayrshire coast as much as Sutherland. 5 are actual castles. Two extra commerce below the citadel title with out being one, and two don’t declare it in any respect. We’ll say which is which, together with the one we’d e book once more first and what each is definitely like to remain in.

Every little thing right here is first-hand. We paid our personal invoice at each property, each {photograph} is ours, and Jess was there for all 9 stays (staying in a citadel with out her was by no means an choice, for causes of continued marriage).

 

Which Fortress Resort in Scotland Ought to You Guide?

In case you simply need the reply, e book Inverlochy Castle Hotel close to Fort William. It’s probably the most costly stays on this record and the one we nonetheless speak about most.

Our prime three, so as, are Inverlochy, then Glenapp Castle in Ayrshire, then The Torridon in Wester Ross. The third of these isn’t a citadel in any respect, which tells you ways far the label ought to be driving your reserving.

Solely that prime three is a rating. The numbers beneath run to 9, however from 4 down they’re a listing relatively than a scoreboard, as a result of the remainder reply totally different questions: which is the most cost effective actual citadel, which has the whisky bar value a detour, which works as a base for Inverness.

By what you’re after:

  • The special day: Inverlochy Fortress Resort
  • Romance and darkish skies: Glenapp Fortress
  • Whisky, mountains and meals (not a citadel): The Torridon
  • An actual citadel on a price range: Tulloch Fortress Resort
  • The whisky bar of your goals: Dornoch Fortress Resort
  • An Inverness base with grounds: Bunchrew Home
  • Seclusion, or snowboarding at Glenshee: Dalmunzie
  • Fortress seems with a metropolis hooked up: Sherbrooke Fortress Resort
  • Close to Edinburgh: Dalhousie Fortress, freshly rebuilt, although we haven’t stayed for the reason that works

And probably the most helpful recommendation on this article: go low season. A winter night time on the top-end castles runs far beneath the summer time fee, the fires are lit, and the entire expertise will get quieter and a bit stranger, in a great way. Extra on that in our information to visiting Scotland in winter.

 

Scotland’s Fortress Motels In contrast

Listed below are all 9 aspect by aspect. We’ve used worth bands relatively than charges on objective: a Scottish citadel’s nightly worth swings a lot between February and August {that a} printed quantity would mislead you inside a season. The band tells you the place every property sits relative to the others.

Resort Area Band After we’d go Actually a citadel? Who it’s for
Inverlochy Castle Hotel Fort William, Highlands ££££ Winter, for the quiet Sure The once-in-a-marriage splurge
Glenapp Castle Ballantrae, Ayrshire ££££ Autumn, for the darkish skies Sure Romantics and stargazers
The Torridon Wester Ross, Highlands £££ Spring or autumn; summer time books out No, a capturing lodge Whisky, mountains, critical dinners
Tulloch Castle Hotel Dingwall, Highlands £ Winter, when charges drop Sure, Twelfth-century roots The price range citadel night time
Dornoch Castle Hotel Dornoch, Sutherland ££ Early summer time Sure Whisky drinkers, NC500 drivers
Bunchrew House Hotel Inverness, Highlands ££ Spring, for the gardens No, a baronial home An Inverness base with water views
Dalmunzie Castle Hotel Glenshee, Perthshire ££ Winter should you ski, autumn if not No, a sporting property Seclusion seekers, skiers
Sherbrooke Castle Hotel Glasgow ££ Any, it’s a metropolis keep No, a Victorian mansion Fortress seems with a metropolis hooked up
Dalhousie Castle Bonnyrigg, Midlothian Unbanded, simply rebuilt Submit-rebuild, untested by us Sure Edinburgh journeys

The bands work like this, primarily based on a typical shoulder-season double:

Band Typical entry-level double
£ Beneath about £150
££ About £150 to £300
£££ About £300 to £500
££££ Over £500

One caveat travels with that key: peak summer time runs effectively above the band and deep low season runs beneath it. The band describes every property’s place, not a fee you’ll be able to quote at reception.

 

Which of These Are Truly Castles?

5 of the 9 are the true article: Inverlochy, Glenapp, Dalhousie, Tulloch and Dornoch are all buildings which can be, or grew instantly out of, castles.

The opposite 4 break up two methods. Dalmunzie Fortress Resort and Sherbrooke Fortress Resort each commerce below the citadel title, which is exactly why you’ll meet them whereas looking for one: Dalmunzie is the turreted huge home of a Highland sporting property, and Sherbrooke is a pink sandstone Victorian mansion on Glasgow’s southside.

Bunchrew Home and The Torridon don’t declare it in any respect, being a baronial home on the Beauly Firth and a Victorian capturing lodge. They’re right here as a result of we paid to remain in them and fee them, not as a result of anybody is promoting them as castles.

The phrase “citadel lodge” will get utilized loosely in Scotland, to lodges, mansion homes, and the odd self-catering flat in a transformed wing, so should you’re reserving one night time for an anniversary and picturing turrets and a four-poster, test what the constructing truly is earlier than you commit.

None of this can be a mark towards the 4. The Torridon is one in every of our three favorite stays on this complete record. It’s about realizing what you’re reserving, and higher to know earlier than you test in.

 

1. Inverlochy Fortress Resort, Fort William

Inverlochy Castle Hotel

Our favorite citadel lodge in Scotland, and it isn’t shut. Inverlochy sits simply outdoors Fort William beneath Ben Nevis, a five-star citadel with 17 rooms and suites, nowadays a part of Small Luxurious Motels of the World. Additionally it is, comfortably, probably the most costly stays on this record.

We stayed in February 2018, for my birthday, and for our total keep we had been the one company within the constructing. I’m not promising you an empty citadel (it’s not a standard prevalence, and low season merely means quieter, not personal), but it surely occurred to us, and having a complete citadel working round simply two folks is not like the rest we’ve performed in Scotland. That keep is a big a part of why the low season recommendation on this article exists.

As a result of the employees knew it was my birthday and the lodge was empty, additionally they relatively kindly upgraded us from the comparatively cheap room we had booked to the most effective room within the lodge, with four-poster mattress, spectacular views, and sunshine. In February. In Scotland.

A four-poster room at Inverlochy Castle Hotel

The interiors are the complete interval manufacturing. Our upgraded room had a four-poster, the lavatory had a copper bathtub (which I photographed like a vacationer, clearly!), and downstairs there’s a drawing room and a billiard room to pad round within the night.

We additionally booked and had afternoon tea, which is one thing we frequently do at citadel inns as a result of it means we will arrive sooner than check-in and have one thing to do and eat.

Copper bath in a bathroom at Inverlochy Castle Hotel

Afternoon tea laid out at Inverlochy Castle Hotel

The place Inverlochy wins:

  • The entire castle-hotel expertise, performed on the highest degree of the 9
  • The setting, beneath Ben Nevis with the Highlands in each route
  • Low season, when the highest band turns into nearly affordable and the citadel goes quiet

The caveats:

  • It’s one of many priciest stays right here (££££), and it books as a special day, not a road-trip mattress
  • You’ll want a automobile, as with most of this record

If the band is the issue, Tulloch Fortress additional north offers you a real citadel for roughly 1 / 4 of the cash. And should you’re within the space, the surroundings round Glen Coe is half an hour down the highway.

The drawing room at Inverlochy Castle Hotel

Examine costs and availability for Inverlochy Castle Hotel on Booking.com, or see the hotel’s own site.

 

2. Glenapp Fortress, Ballantrae, Ayrshire

Glenapp Castle Hotel from the drive

Glenapp is our quantity two, and the hole to primary is skinny. It’s a five-star citadel on the backside of the Ayrshire coast with 17 Fortress Bed room Suites plus a four-bedroom penthouse, a Relais & Châteaux member since 2002, and since our keep it has picked up One Michelin Key, Michelin’s lodge equal of a star.

We stayed in October 2019. In case you requested both of us to sum the place up, we’d land on the identical phrase: magical. That’s not a phrase I attain for about inns. The service ran the entire keep with out ever feeling like service, and the placement does the remainder.

The Milky Way over Glenapp Castle

About that location. Ballantrae is a good distance from any critical gentle air pollution, and the skies show it. The picture above is the Milky Approach, shot from the lodge grounds. This isn’t me including stars to a photograph. That could be a actual, in-camera shot.

Glenapp runs a ranger-led stargazing expertise for company, and Galloway Forest Park, the UK’s first Darkish Sky Park, is close by. If you wish to see precise stars from an precise citadel, that is the reserving.

The library at Glenapp Castle Hotel

The remainder of the property retains tempo. There’s a library that’s all the things you need it to be, gardens that reward a gradual morning, and a waterfall within the grounds, which frankly feels a bit like exhibiting off.

A waterfall in the Glenapp Castle grounds

What stood out:

  • The darkish skies, and a lodge that really builds an expertise round them
  • Service that made an October keep really feel just like the citadel existed for us
  • Suites, not rooms, so even the entry degree is beneficiant

What to know:

  • Getting there takes actual effort. It’s on the best way to nowhere besides the Cairnryan ferries to Northern Eire, and it was nonetheless value it
  • Prime band (££££), identical tier as Inverlochy

If Glenapp is full, Inverlochy is the opposite keep on this class. Examine costs and availability for Glenapp Castle on Booking.com, or see the castle’s own site.

 

3. The Torridon, Wester Ross

The Torridon from the drive

The most effective stays on this record isn’t a citadel in any respect. The Torridon is a Victorian capturing lodge on the head of Higher Loch Torridon, a five-star with 18 individually designed rooms and suites, and it’s the third of our three favourites. We’d e book it once more with no second thought, turrets or no turrets, even when our bank card won’t respect it.

The mountains across the loch are about pretty much as good as Highland surroundings will get, and the lodge sits proper in them. It’s additionally simply off the North Coast 500 route (our NC500 itinerary passes shut by), which is how we ended up right here within the first place.

The whisky bar at The Torridon

Then there’s the whisky bar. I’ve plenty of affection for a great lodge whisky bar, as you’ll see once more at Dornoch beneath, and The Torridon’s would get me again by itself.

A drink in The Torridon's whisky bar

A bedroom at The Torridon

The place it wins:

  • The whisky bar, well worth the drive by itself
  • The setting on Loch Torridon, in a few of the finest mountain nation in Scotland
  • Rooms that maintain their very own towards the 2 castles above it on this record

The caveats:

  • It isn’t a citadel, if that’s the entire level of your journey
  • Honest warning: it books out a good distance forward, particularly for summer time

In case you can’t get in, Bunchrew and Dornoch maintain you inside attain of the identical coast. Examine costs and availability for The Torridon on Booking.com, or see the hotel’s own site.

 

4. Tulloch Fortress Resort, Dingwall

Tulloch Castle Hotel from the drive

Tulloch is the worth decide: the one true citadel on this record that frequently sits below £150 an evening, and in winter typically effectively below that. It stands above Dingwall, north of Inverness, with roots going again to the Twelfth century and 22 en-suite bedrooms, and it’s now run by Bespoke Motels.

Inside, the historical past does the work. There’s a correct staircase corridor, a vaulted eating room, and an open hearth within the lounge, and the entire constructing feels just about like what you pictured while you first typed “citadel lodge” right into a search field. These public rooms are the rationale to e book Tulloch, and at this band that’s the best approach to consider it.

The staircase hall at Tulloch Castle Hotel

The vaulted dining room at Tulloch Castle Hotel

The place it wins:

  • The most affordable actual citadel night time we all know of in Scotland
  • Twelfth-century bones, and public rooms that present them off
  • Dingwall is a sensible base for beginning the NC500, and it has a practice station

The caveats:

  • Dingwall is a working Highland city relatively than a postcard one, so that you’re right here for the citadel, not the postcode
  • You’re paying £ cash, so calibrate expectations to the band, to not Inverlochy

Jess covers Tulloch alongside the opposite NC500 stops in her NC500 accommodation guide. If Tulloch is full, Bunchrew Home is a little bit approach south towards Inverness, the place you commerce the turrets for a firth view. Examine costs and availability for Tulloch Castle Hotel on Booking.com, or see the operator’s page.

 

5. Dornoch Fortress Resort, Sutherland

Dornoch Castle Hotel from Castle Street

We’ve been to Dornoch Fortress thrice: we stayed as soon as, got here again one other supper time, and made a 3rd go to purely for the whisky bar. That final truth is many of the assessment.

The lodge is a family-run, impartial three-star on Fortress Road in the course of Dornoch, instantly reverse the cathedral, with 21 rooms, a walled backyard, and that award-winning whisky bar. Dornoch itself is without doubt one of the nicest cities on the east coast run north, with a seaside and Royal Dornoch’s golf a brief stroll away.

Dornoch whisky bar

A bedroom at Dornoch Castle Hotel

The place it wins:

  • The whisky bar, which we’ve got actually pushed again to Dornoch simply to take a seat in
  • You may stroll to all the things on the town, a rarity on this record
  • Strong ££ worth on a route the place summer time beds get scarce

The caveats:

  • It’s a three-star, so the rooms are fairly a bit easier than most of this record. The citadel and the bar are the present
  • Guide early for summer time; the NC500 fills Dornoch quick

Whisky folks also needs to see our information to the distilleries of the North Coast 500. If Dornoch is booked out, Tulloch Fortress is down the A9 and a band cheaper, and The Torridon has the opposite nice whisky bar on this record. Examine costs and availability for Dornoch Castle Hotel on Booking.com, or see the hotel’s own site.

 

6. Bunchrew Home Resort, Inverness

Bunchrew House Hotel at dusk

Bunchrew just isn’t a citadel, and doesn’t a lot faux to be. It’s a four-star baronial home on the shore of the Beauly Firth, a couple of minutes’ drive west of Inverness. What it presents is place. The lawns run all the way down to the water, and at nightfall, with the sunshine going over the firth, it’s a spectacular setting.

A public room at Bunchrew House Hotel

Bedroom with a dormer window, Bunchrew House Hotel

The place it wins:

  • The firth-side setting, particularly within the night
  • All of the comfort of Inverness with not one of the feeling of being in Inverness
  • 4-star consolation at a ££ band

The caveats:

  • It’s a home, not a citadel, and the clearest label mismatch of the 4
  • If turrets are the purpose, Tulloch is a brief drive up the highway towards Dingwall

There’s loads inside attain right here too, so take a look at our information to issues to do in Inverness. Examine costs and availability for Bunchrew House Hotel on Booking.com, or see the hotel’s own site.

 

7. Dalmunzie Fortress Resort, Glenshee, Perthshire

Dalmunzie Castle Hotel in its glen

Whether or not Dalmunzie is a citadel is a good query (the operator itself trades as a sporting property, and what you’re sleeping in is the turreted huge home of 1), however as a spot to vanish for an evening or two, it’s laborious to argue with. We lined it in our North East 250 highway journey itinerary, and what we wrote there nonetheless holds:

Dalmunzie Fortress Resort – In case you don’t thoughts staying outdoors city, this beautiful citadel lodge sits on an property first recorded in 1510, and is ready in a secluded glen round quarter-hour drive from Braemar. We stayed right here as soon as as a part of a go to to the Cairngorms, and beloved it. The rooms are cosy, employees had been attentive, and the on-site restaurant was wonderful (if a little bit dear).

A four-poster room at Dalmunzie Castle Hotel

Our room got here with a four-poster, and the four-poster got here with tea, which is the proper use of a four-poster.

Tea in the four-poster at Dalmunzie Castle Hotel

The place it wins:

  • Actual seclusion: a glen to yourselves, with the Cairngorms round you
  • Glenshee’s ski slopes are up the highway; see our information to snowboarding in Scotland
  • Cosy rooms and a four-poster at a ££ band

The caveats:

  • Distant means distant: the property restaurant is realistically your dinner plan, so e book it with the room
  • Not a citadel within the strict sense, nevertheless good the turrets look within the glen

Nothing else right here is sort of this secluded, but when the glen is booked, The Torridon delivers the identical remoteness a band up. Examine costs and availability for Dalmunzie Castle Hotel on Booking.com, or see the estate’s own site.

 

8. Sherbrooke Fortress Resort, Glasgow

Sherbrooke Castle Hotel from the lawn

Sherbrooke is the odd one out: it’s the one metropolis entry, it’s a pink sandstone Victorian mansion relatively than a citadel, and if this record had been purely about citadel romance it wouldn’t make the minimize. It’s right here as a result of typically you need the turrets and a metropolis on the identical time, and for that job it’s the choice.

We stayed in April 2024, our most up-to-date castle-hotel night time anyplace, within the Pollokshields neighbourhood on Glasgow’s southside. It has 18 rooms, and the centre of Glasgow is a brief drive or practice journey away. We had dinner within the restaurant and drank tea in a bay window, and the constructing pictures an important deal grander than the value band suggests.

Tea in the bay window at Sherbrooke Castle Hotel

Fish and risotto at Sherbrooke Castle Hotel

The place it wins:

  • Baronial structure with a complete metropolis hooked up
  • ££ band in a class the place seems like these often price £££
  • A superb base for the southside, with Pollok Home and its nation park shut by

The caveats:

  • The weakest citadel declare of the 9. It’s a mansion, full cease
  • Pollokshields is residential, so that you’ll be commuting to the sights

If you need the identical trick close to Edinburgh as an alternative of Glasgow, Dalhousie is the equal, with the caveat that we haven’t seen it for the reason that rebuild. Examine costs and availability for Sherbrooke Castle Hotel on Booking.com, or see the hotel’s own site.

 

9. Dalhousie Fortress, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian

Arriving at Dalhousie Castle

Dalhousie wants a special form of entry, as a result of the lodge we stayed at in 2018 now not exists in any significant sense. For as soon as, which may be excellent news.

First, the citadel itself. It’s the true factor, with some 800 years of historical past behind it (the operator calls it one in every of Scotland’s oldest inhabited castles), and it sits simply south of Edinburgh with 35 en-suite bedrooms. As a constructing and a setting, it was one of many extra spectacular citadel inns we’ve stayed at, and our September pictures of it in early autumn color nonetheless make me need the place to be sensible.

Dalhousie Castle in autumn colour

Our keep, in September 2018, was a birthday deal with for Jess. I reviewed it in full at the time, so that is written from notes taken inside days, not from eight-year-old reminiscence. The nice elements had been actual: first impressions had been, within the assessment’s personal phrase, “wonderful”, and dinner within the Dungeon was the most effective of it.

The dungeon restaurant at Dalhousie Castle

The remainder of it was a administration case examine. Dinner service was, to cite my very own assessment, “glacial”: an 8pm desk we had been lastly seated at simply earlier than 9, and I needed to go and discover somebody earlier than we may depart. Breakfast supplied no clear tables and a 45-minute watch for meals, and at checkout a random £47 merchandise on the invoice got here off solely after I argued it.

The birthday we’d booked the entire thing for went unacknowledged from begin to end. Reserving your spouse a citadel for her birthday and delivering that specific night is its personal particular form of home debt.

Right here’s why the entry isn’t a warning: all the things that failed was administration, and the administration is gone. Dalhousie was bought to new homeowners after our keep, and between October 2024 and July 2026 it went by way of a £6 million refurbishment overlaying all 35 bedrooms and the general public and eating areas.

There’s now a Ramsay Restaurant within the former ballroom, a brand new Alexander Bar, and the Dungeon runs an eight-course tasting menu. The Dungeon room itself isn’t new, regardless of the launch protection implies (we ate in it in 2018), however the menu idea is. All of it reopened in July 2026.

What impressed us in 2018:

  • The citadel and its setting on the River Esk, which had been by no means the issue
  • Dinner within the Dungeon, one of many extra memorable eating rooms in Scotland
  • Afternoon tea within the Orangery

What allow us to down in 2018, below the earlier homeowners:

  • Service at dinner and breakfast, from gradual to absent
  • A billing error at checkout, fastened solely below protest
  • No acknowledgement of the event we’d booked

We haven’t slept within the new Dalhousie, so we will’t but let you know whether or not £6 million fastened what a stunning constructing couldn’t. That’s additionally why it carries no worth band in our desk: a lodge that reopened in July 2026 has no fee historical past value banding. Till we’ve been again, deal with this entry as historical past plus a watching transient. In case you go earlier than we do, the placement is great for an Edinburgh journey, and our two-day Edinburgh itinerary pairs with it effectively.

In case you’d relatively e book someplace we will vouch for from a latest keep, Sherbrooke in Glasgow is the examined city-adjacent choice. Examine costs and availability for Dalhousie Castle on Booking.com, or see the castle’s own site.

 

Earlier than You Guide a Fortress Keep in Scotland

A couple of issues 9 citadel stays have taught us, supplied earlier than you hand over a deposit as an alternative of after.

 

You’ll want a automobile for many of those

Seven of the 9 are rural, and the west coast ones contain single-track roads with passing locations, that are much less alarming than they sound after the primary ten minutes. Sherbrooke in Glasgow is the exception, and Dingwall (for Tulloch) has a practice station. For in every single place else, rent a automobile. We use Discover Cars to check rental costs, and Inverness or Glasgow are the sensible pick-up factors.

 

Previous buildings imply stairs

Turrets include spiral staircases, and buildings this previous had been by no means designed round lifts. If stairs are an issue for anybody in your get together, say so at reserving and ask for a ground-floor room. Most of those properties have some, however after all they go first.

 

Dinner is a part of the plan, not an afterthought

On the distant entries (Dalmunzie, Glenapp, The Torridon), the lodge restaurant is realistically the place you’re consuming. You may after all drive out, however the nearest different is a protracted darkish drive away. Guide the desk while you e book the room, particularly in summer time. The excellent news is that we had a great eating expertise at practically all these places, so that you’re not lacking out by eating on web site.

 

Examine the marriage calendar

Castles are Scotland’s favorite wedding ceremony venues, and a lodge will be partly or wholly given over to 1 on any given weekend. In case you’re going for a quiet event of your personal, ask what’s on the calendar earlier than you decide to dates.

 

Staying just isn’t the identical as visiting

If what you truly need is to discover castles by day (battlements, dungeons, present retailers), that’s a special journey, and sometimes a less expensive one. Historic Atmosphere Scotland’s Explorer Pass covers its properties for 14 consecutive days (it doesn’t cowl Nationwide Belief for Scotland websites), and we’ve a complete separate information to the most effective castles to go to in Scotland.

 

The Fortress Motels Nonetheless on Our Record

9 stays in, our map nonetheless has apparent holes. Every little thing above clusters within the Highlands, Ayrshire, Perthshire and the central belt, with nothing within the Borders, Aberdeenshire, Fife or the islands. We’re engaged on it. Three we’ve got our eye on, with the caveat that we haven’t stayed at any of them, so no verdicts:

  • Glengorm Castle, on the north finish of Mull close to Tobermory – a citadel B&B with the ocean beneath it, and the islands entry this record is lacking
  • Fonab Castle, on the sting of Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire
  • Barcaldine Castle, north of Oban – a small citadel B&B in Argyll

 

Scottish Fortress Resort FAQs

Fast solutions to the questions that come up most about staying in a Scottish citadel.

 

Are you able to truly keep in a single day in a citadel in Scotland?

Sure, simply! Scotland has dozens of castles working as inns and B&Bs, from grand five-star estates to small tower homes. We’ve paid to remain in 9 of them ourselves, throughout each worth band from price range to blowout.

The principle factor to test is whether or not the “citadel” is mostly a citadel, as loads of lodges and mansion homes commerce below the phrase.

 

What’s the finest citadel lodge in Scotland?

Of the 9 we’ve stayed in, our decide is Inverlochy Fortress Resort close to Fort William, with Glenapp Fortress in Ayrshire a detailed second. Each are top-band, five-star stays.

If you need the expertise for much less, Tulloch Fortress in Dingwall is the most effective true citadel we’ve discovered at a price range worth.

 

How a lot does it price to remain in a citadel in Scotland?

Throughout our 9 stays, the unfold runs from below £150 an evening on the least expensive to over £500 on the prime finish, for an entry-level double. Season strikes these numbers lots, with peak summer time effectively above them and deep winter effectively beneath.

The dependable technique to save is timing. Guide low season and the highest tier will get inside attain. It’s how we did the February birthday stays, and it’s the one bit of recommendation right here we’d push hardest.

 

Which citadel inns in Scotland are actually castles?

Of our 9, 5 are actual castles: Inverlochy, Glenapp, Dalhousie, Tulloch and Dornoch. The opposite 4 (Bunchrew Home, The Torridon, Dalmunzie and Sherbrooke) are a baronial home, a capturing lodge, a sporting property and a Victorian mansion respectively.

All 4 are nonetheless value staying at. Simply know what you’re reserving earlier than you construct an anniversary round battlements.

 

When is the most cost effective time to remain in a Scottish citadel?

Late autumn by way of early spring. Charges drop laborious as soon as the summer time crowds go, which is how a February citadel night time turned a birthday custom for us whereas we lived in Scotland.

The trade-off is climate and daylight, however a citadel with the fires lit in winter is arguably the higher model of the expertise anyway.

 

Do you want a automobile to succeed in Scotland’s citadel inns?

For many of them, sure. Seven of our 9 are rural, and several other contain single-track roads. Sherbrooke in Glasgow is the town exception, and Tulloch’s city of Dingwall has a practice station.

In case you’re flying in, hiring a automobile from Inverness, Glasgow or Edinburgh is the sensible reply.

 

Are citadel inns in Scotland well worth the cash?

We’ve paid for 9 of them, so evidently we expect so, but it surely relies upon what you’re shopping for. On the prime finish, Inverlochy and Glenapp had been value each pound as events, and going low season made the maths bearable.

In case you simply need one citadel night time on a highway journey, the ££ and £ entries ship the ambiance for a fraction of the associated fee.

 

Additional Studying for Your Scotland Journey

If citadel inns are one piece of a much bigger Scotland plan, these ought to assist with the remainder:

And should you like a paper guidebook within the glovebox, Rick Steves Scotland is the one we advocate for journey planning:

Rick Steves Scotland (Rick Steves Travel Guide)

You may decide up Rick Steves Scotland on Amazon here.

In order that’s 9 citadel inns, all of them paid for out of our personal pockets. Come January, Jess will probably be again in that browser on the lookout for the tenth. In case you’ve stayed someplace in Scotland you assume belongs on this record, do inform us within the feedback.

We've paid to stay in nine castle hotels across Scotland, from Inverlochy to Tulloch. Here's our ranked comparison, and which four are not really castles.