Scotland: Accommodations

At the Westerton Bed & Breakfast in Callander, you’ll be treated to high quality accommodations by friendly hosts.

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

Note: Some links throughout our site are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Scotland is a diverse country - from bustling cities to popular rural outposts and small towns. In planning our 10-day road trip through the Highlands and Isle of Skye, we realized we couldn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to the five different locations where we needed to book overnight accommodations. Because we have only been to this portion of the country, we cannot speak to accommodation options outside of this region.

Accommodation types

Scotland offers travelers the usual list of options - full-scale hotels, B&Bs and inns, Airbnbs and other rentals, hostels, and camping.

Because our trip only had one major city on the docket - Edinburgh - there really weren’t places with standard, big city hotel options. And generally those are not our preference anyway, as they have a tendency to make every city feel just like any other. While we love camping at home, we have yet to try that on any trips, overwhelmed with the logistics. And hostels just aren’t our thing.

So, we turned our eyes to two options that would suit our needs: B&Bs and Airbnbs/Homeaway rental properties.

What to expect

Most likely, you will need to be flexible and find the best available option. We booked our trip 7 months before we went. That’s actually a little later than we usually book but is allowing more advanced planning than many others do based on our experience. Our trip to Scotland was planned for mid-summer, definitely a popular season in the northern country.

In certain locations - Portree (on the Isle of Skye) and the Cairngorms National Park area in the Highlands - we found that most options we looked at were booked, whether B&Bs or Airbnbs/Homeaway. It is important to be aware of this and book as early as you can!

We ended up booking two B&Bs and three Airbnb stays. This was actually a nice mix to enjoy the nicer B&B experiences but also have opportunities to cook for ourselves and get some laundry done at the rental apartments.

We found both the B&B and Airbnb experiences to be similar to what we’ve experienced in other countries. A couple of tips worth noting:

Towel rack warmers are common in the country and are amazing, so use them!
Most places have a hot water mini tank heater (this is what I’m calling it and am not sure what it is officially called) that has to be activated to get hot water in the shower. In some places, they were positioned directly in the shower and were obvious. In other accommodations, there was a heavy duty light switch, sometimes outside of the bathroom, that had to be flipped on to get hot water in the shower.
As we have experienced in many places in Europe, a washer and dryer are often the same machine and when they are do not dry clothes in the way that is standard in the US. Be prepared for this - start your laundry early and check on it often, or you may find yourself packing damp clothes into your suitcase.

If you are in the Cairngorms, be sure to stay at Firhall Highland Bed and Breakfast. You can thank us later!

Where we stayed

We traveled with another couple so when we booked rentals, they had at least two bedrooms to accommodate our group size. Our preference was for two bathrooms as well, but that didn’t always happen based on availability.

Edinburgh: York Place 3 Bedroom Apartment with Parking via Airbnb - The off-street (but cozy!) parking in the alley behind the house was everything. If you are renting a car, consider this option since street parking in Edinburgh is not easy! The apartment was conveniently placed in New Town, and walkable (though a bit of a jaunt) to all that Edinburgh has to offer. Search for other rental properties on Homeaway in Edinburgh here .

Grantown-on-Spey: Firhall Highland Bed and Breakfast - This B&B was our base for exploring the Cairngorms. The stay, the hosts and owners, and the food were amazing - so much so that we have dedicated an entire blog to it that you can read here.

Portree, Isle of Skye:1 Marine Buildings via Airbnb - The apartment itself was fine, but it's lcoation was perfect. This apartment is located right in the harbor with views of the water and very walkable to everything. Check-in and check-out is at Portree Hotel , and breakfast there is included for guests of this apartment. When you look at photos of Portree and see the row of colored houses dotting the water, this is one of those. Search for Portree rentals on Homeaway here.

Corpach/Fort William:Modern apartment, Ben Nevis views,near supermarket via Airbnb - Located in the sleepy town of Corpach, which is right next to the larger (but still small) town of Fort William, this is a good base for those hiking or exploring the area. Our main activity in the area was the Jacobite Steam Train, also known as the Harry Potter train from the movie, and this spot was very convenient for our purposes. Search for Homeaway rental homes in Fort William here.

Callander: Westerton Bed and Breakfast
We fell in love with the town of Callander and would absolutely stay at this B&B again. Its owners and hosts were welcoming and attentive, the rooms were wonderful, and it's location was walkable to town as well as a short drive to hikes and all the offerings in the Trossachs National Park area.

Click the image below to save this post to Pinterest!