3 Hotels in Scotland Worth Traveling For

Three-day weekend? Skip the seaside and go to these dreamy Scottish luxurious lodges as a substitute

Travel plans can usually change final minute, as journey plans are sometimes wont to do — and typically you’re left with an sudden 3-day window to fill. In summer season’s busy trip time, many head to southern European locales with hotter climates. If you’re choosing one thing somewhat cooler and fewer crowded than thrumming beachside locations, Scotland’s coastal breeze and foggy climate is asking. With swaths of inexperienced, grassy panorama and moody shorelines, it’s the right antidote to sweaty metropolis summers. 

From New York City, a fast 7-hour in a single day flight lands you in Edinburgh, the place you’re immediately greeted with the cool reduction of Scottish climate. From there, a 2-hour drive lands you within the southwest area, the place the huge expanse of Scottish landscapes — inexperienced highlands, craggy shoreline and the decision of seagulls within the distance present a much-needed respite from city environs. And with an extremely wealthy heritage that spans craft, tradition and historical past, Scotland has no scarcity of sights to see, nature to expertise and museums to go to. If you’re craving a summer season seaside crowd various, these three great Scotland stays encourage you to absorb some scenic countryside, discover the capital and get the most effective of each.

Glenapp Castle

Located on Scotland’s scenic southwest coast within the area of Ayrshire, Glenapp Castle is a historic 1870 fortress and property located on 110 acres of lush, verdant panorama, crammed with mountaineering trails that snake by means of woodlands and beautiful manicured gardens. Originally owned by the Earl of Orkney, the Edinburgh architect David Bryce was commissioned in 1870 to design the fortress as a house in what’s referred to as “Scottish Baronial style” — a design language that mixes Gothic and Renaissance parts to create the grand structure seen at this time. 

With the opening of Glenapp’s model new restaurant, The Azalea by Glenapp Castle — a high-quality eating expertise located in a 130-year-old glass-domed, greenhouse-like construction of their beautiful Walled Garden — the idea of farm-to-table is sort of actually on show from the entrance door. Dishes on the restaurant’s menu use substances like “curry plants, marigold leaves and rhubarb” from the ample herb and vegetable gardens in an indoor-outdoor eating expertise. 

Inside the principle home, 21 rooms and suites are adorned in conventional, opulent Baronial-style decor that feels homely but luxurious, together with a 4,500-square foot penthouse suite ranked as essentially the most lavish in Scotland. Carpeted flooring, trendy facilities and toiletries by the Royal favourite, Penhaligon’s, all result in a countryside escape so cozy it feels exhausting to depart. And with over 70 actions obtainable on-site from falconry to archery to curling, you gained’t wish to.

The Witchery

For a return to metropolis life, there’s no higher approach to expertise “Old Reekie” — a.ok.a. Edinburgh — than a keep that appears like stepping again in time. Located on the very prime of The Royal Mile, The Witchery is a resort in contrast to some other, positioned so near the entrance gates of Edinburgh Castle it nearly feels such as you’re sleeping inside. Equal elements five-star luxurious resort and medieval fantasy, the “restaurant with rooms” is located in two buildings positioned throughout from each other in Edinburgh’s UNESCO-designated Old Town. 

Nine totally different suites are positioned in a constructing referred to as Boswell’s Court, which dates again to 1595. Decorated in Baroque type, every room is individually designed with gothic tapestries, cardinal pink upholstery and vintage, canopied four-poster beds. The dramatic interiors, harking back to a medieval bedchamber — one of which is said to have inspired Hogwarts — are courtesy of resort proprietor James Thomson, considered one of Scotland’s best-known restaurateurs and hoteliers. For eating, The Witchery restaurant is considered one of Edinburgh’s tucked away splendors — a romantic, oak-paneled eating room courting again to the sixteenth century that appears like a hidden gem from the bustle of tourist-trodden Castlehill. From there, sightseeing is merely a hop, skip and a leap away. 

Prestonfield House

Further down the street, Prestonfield House appears like a countryside escape — albeit one which’s nonetheless in the course of town. Just a 5-minute drive from Edinburgh middle, Prestonfield House is an oasis from the thicket of Princes Street and the Royal Mile. After spending time testing the National Galleries of Scotland and native classic outlets, retire to the pastoral 18-bedroom nation property that dates again to the seventeenth century, located on 20 acres of landscaped gardens, full with grazing Highland cows and roving peacocks. 

Prestonfield’s Rhubarb restaurant is an city vacation spot in and of itself — bringing in locals for afternoon tea and farm-to-table eating helmed by chef John McMahon. But earlier than dinner, take pleasure in a stroll on the resort grounds with a view set towards the beautiful backdrop of Arthur’s Seat, a pure rock formation that looms within the distance. Built by the identical architect as close by historic Palace of Holyroodhouse, solely three households have presided over Prestonfield House for greater than three centuries. Many of the unique artifacts and particulars are nonetheless intact, together with the seventeenth century Cordoba leather-based panels and Mortlake tapestries that cling in frequent areas. The decor is simply as luxurious and historic, full with fully-upholstered velvet partitions, textured vintage materials and gilded furnishings.

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