Best Castle Hotels in Scotland: 9 We’ve Paid to Stay In

For a good few of the years we lived in Scotland, my birthday worked like this: sometime in January, Jess would disappear into a browser for an evening, and in February we’d find ourselves checking into a castle. February in Scotland is nobody’s idea of peak season, which worked well in our favour. The rates drop, the crowds vanish, and a five-star castle briefly becomes something two people who are not lairds can afford. Between those birthday trips and years of travelling around the country, we’ve now paid to stay in nine castle hotels across Scotland, from the Ayrshire coast up to Sutherland. Five are real castles. Two more trade under the castle name without being one, and two don’t claim it at all. We’ll say which is which, along with the one we’d book again first and what each one is actually like to stay in. Everything here is first-hand. We paid our own bill at every property, every photograph is ours, and Jess was there for all nine stays (staying in a castle without her was never an option, for reasons of continued marriage). Table of Contents: Which Castle Hotel in Scotland Should You Book?Scotland’s Castle Hotels ComparedWhich of These Are Actually Castles?1. Inverlochy...