Best country house hotels in the Highlands

A bravura Victorian rebuild of a Georgian country house in wooded grounds above Portree Bay and the Sound of Raasay, Viewfield has been home to generations of Macdonalds, and is filled with family possessions and mementos.

‘The situation is absolutely beautiful; perfect for wild swimmers,’ write readers this year, in praise of this remote hideaway hotel on the shores of Loch Sunart.

‘A great place to stay if you’re after excellent food and high standards of comfort’, the family home of Lord Macdonald and his wife, cookery writer Lady Claire Macdonald, is ‘in a beautiful position’ on the shores of Loch Na Dal.

Guests can follow the Speyside whisky trail from the Marshall family's bay-fronted Victorian house, then return to sit by the fire with a dram from a list of fine malts and rare single-barrel casks.

A rambling Victorian baronial pile on the shore of Loch Oich, at the heart of the Great Glen, with the history-freighted ruins of Invergarry Castle in its grounds, has been run as a hotel by the MacCallum family for more than 60 years.

Peacefully set beside Loch Shiel, opposite the Glenfinnan Monument and with distant views of Ben Nevis, this handsome country house with tartan fabrics and four-poster bedrooms is a great Highland hideaway.

The River Forss curves around the wooded grounds of this late Georgian country house, run today as a ‘wonderful hotel’ with salmon fishing at the bottom of the garden.

Warm Scottish hospitality is the hallmark of this Edwardian country house B&B, from the home-made cakes and whisky-fuelled porridge to the beautifully tended garden and comfortable bedrooms.

With ‘wonderful views’ of Loch Gairloch, this Victorian hunting lodge on a wooded estate where falconry, fishing and deer stalking can all be laid on for guests now accepts dogs in its bedrooms and bar.

Genuine Scottish hospitality, and the chance to catch giant hill loch brown trout, lure visitors to the Campbell family’s old coaching inn, in an area known for its spectacular mountain scenery, its white sandy bays, and its lochs and lochans teeming with wild trout and salmon.

It’s hard to beat the setting of this Victorian baronial-style hunting lodge, in a wooded estate at the head of Loch Torridon.