Scotland’s first hostel app with unique features

Anyone looking for the friendly, affordable and convenient accommodation that hostelling offers will now find it a lot easier to source a bed for the night. Scottish Independent Hostels  has commissioned the first hostel app for Scotland which is now in the App Store and Google Play. 

One major benefit for hostellers, who are often travelling in remote regions which may have no connectivity is being able to still find the accommodation information they need on their phone. When online, app users will be able to synchronise with the website to get up to date information via a searchable map, a regional listing of hostels and an A-Z listing. Each hostel listing has a description, images, address, prices, contact details and a review rating. 

The app has special features which will be welcomed by travellers, for example allowing them locate their nearest hostel through ‘hostels near me’, based on the user’s current location. The ‘my hostels’ section saves favourite hostels and directions for future use, a particularly valuable benefit for users when offline.

SIH, commissioned Scottish technology company, Planys Mobile to produce the app.

Paul Stewart, Creative Director at Planys Mobile explained: “Our design approach focused on creating a simple, intuitive and useful app, while making the most valuable information available quickly. We developed and highlighted features that make the proposition useful even after a hostel had been found”.

Visit Scotland visitor research carried out during 2015 found that 65% of visitors use a smart phone during their visit; during 2017 this figure will be even higher. The research found that one of the few negatives for visitors was any lack of wi-fi availability, therefore the offline features of this app should prove a hit with hostel guests.

Chris Davidson of Haggis Hostels and Vice Chair of SIH was the driving force behind developing the app.  He firmly believes that  the release of the SIH smart phone app  will make travelling and staying across Scotland in our hostels a much easier process. Enabling Scotland's visitors to find up-to-date information such as reviews, prices, directions and contact details on our members’ hostels and to book in real time on their phone will benefit all who download and use the app.

Escape on a Hostelling Hogmanay in Scotland

Hostelling is perfect for Hogmanay, offering excellent value, the camaraderie of sharing experiences and an invigorating start to the New Year. The Independent Hostelling Sector in Scotland has a range of options throughout Scotland still available for Hogmanay and New Year with 15 unique suggested stays located from City Centres to far flung islands.

Choose a city break with The Haggis Hostel Hogmanay Package in Edinburgh or the Street party in Stirling at Willy Wallace Hostel. Or head north for Loch Ness Backpackers which hosts its own lively Hogmanay Party with the option for a walk on the Great Glen Way afterward to clear the head.

For a total escape, a Hebridean Island is the answer with a good chance of seeing the northern lights or meteor showers in the dark skies.  The 8-bed Otter Bunkhouse on the Isle of Lewis and the 16-bed Coll Bunkhouse are available for exclusive use, both in stunning locations.  Set in the heart of the Cuillin Mountains on the Isle of Skye, a mecca for climbers, walkers and mountain bikers, Sligachan Bunkhouse is available for Hogmanay for an exclusive use booking for 20 people.

On the remote mainland at Morvern, Ardtornish Bunkhouse, on the shores of Loch Aline is perfect for a family escape with just 6 beds. Badralloch Bothy on Little Loch Broom near Ullapool, sleeps 12 guests, making it an excellent size of venue for a group Hogmanay celebration, with whisky, walking, and a roaring wood-stove. The perfect transition into the New Year! 

For bigger groups looking for exclusive use there is still a good choice.  Callander Hostel, in fabulous countryside only one hour from Glasgow or Edinburgh offers exclusive use for New Year for up to 28 guests.  Or choose an Alpine Bunkhouse at Glencoe Hostel for a New Year break, sleeping 16 guests in a wonderful rural mountain location near the Glencoe Mountain Resort.  The Weem Inn in Highland Perthshire is a historic house, in a fabulous wooded location, bursting with character and perfect for a large group get together for New Year, with 32 beds and all the traditional Highland touches. 

For those keen on the outdoors, the Cairngorms National Park is the place to be. Slochd Mhor Lodge is in a lovely rural location and can accommodate 21 guests for exclusive use or will take individual bookings.  Fraoch Lodge is offering a New Year 6-night package of dinner, bed and breakfast from December 27th including a free ticket to the Boat of Garten Hogmanay Ceilidh. 

For the genuine traveller intent on leaving the celebrations behind, Sandra’s Backpackers Hostel is located on the wild, dramatic north coast at Thurso but they should be warned, even this small town has its street party!
Full details of all suggested venues can be found here>

Take a hostel-hopping journey through Scotland, “under your own steam"

Become a genuine traveller and discover the real Scotland “under your own steam” without the use of a car or motorbike, meeting fascinating people and communities while staying in Scottish independent hostels.

Travelling through Scotland on foot, cycle, bus or train is a great way to have interesting and unexpected adventures, and unquestionably more fun than the isolation of travelling by car.  Adding hostel accommodation to your journey will increase the chance of meeting some really fascinating people, from hostel owners and local characters to fellow travellers.

Scottish Independent Hostels is compiling a series of journeys “under your own steam” to inspire people to become genuine travellers, getting to know the communities they visit and the people who live there and meet along the way, by staying in their hostels.  We have 130 hostel members throughout Scotland, easily accessible by bus, train, ferry and bicycle. Other methods of travelling, from kayaking and sailing to horse-riding are also perfect for hostelling.

Two “under your own steam” journeys, taking in the Orkney Islands and the Isle of Skye are on the SIH website; the Isle of Skye Journey can be by cycle, train or bus.  A further three journeys to the Outer Hebrides; Loch Ness and the Great Glen and central Scotland are in the pipeline. 

Travel writers, bloggers and hostellers are invited to visit the SIH website to choose their preferred destinations for their personal “under your own steam” journey. For a firm commission, hostels will provide complimentary accommodation 

At the Hostel Door: September, 2016

Sunday morning here and the weekend crowd is dwindling to the last remnant hostellers, hesitant to leave in case they miss something yet at the same time keen to get on a hill on their way home.  For those from Aberdeen meeting up with a distant friend from the south the Friday evening squeals and hugs were repeated today as each prepared to return to their own.  It's that coming together aspect of hostel living whether from a busy working home where family members feel sometimes that they are ships passing in the night or from geographically far flung friends coming together for a treasured re union that is so typical.  The hostel therefore bears the responsibility of facilitating, as best it can, these happenings.

I suppose the only times we struggle is where he or she who booked has not thought to share a hostel's essential information, usually to be found on their website, with other members of the party.  Whether it's the smoking issue or ensuring consideration for guests in nearby accommodations or indeed anything else in each hostel's arrangements designed to promote harmony and a good time to be had by all, he or she who booked, and therefore takes responsibility for the sharing of essential information, can so easily drop the hostel in it with the rest of the group.

Thank goodness this unenviable position is a rarity for hostel keepers and their staff to deal with.  At least it is for us and I hope for others too.  As summer is moving to early autumn we can look back on so many different gatherings and happenings from honeymooners to veterans' gatherings, small groups stealing out in the dawn with long lensed cameras to capture the deer and her fawn, feverishly flying swallows racing against time to rear their young or the pair of crossbills who have taken a liking to surveying the scene below from one of our nearby pines.  Then there have been the hardy ones, Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award kayakers  en route for the point where our substantial river meets the sea, mountain bikers, Silver Boot long distance horse riders, zip wire flyers, tubing enthusiasts and more.  The convivial gatherings round the sitooterie open fire is oh such a good way to bring their day to its close.

I have said before that hostel keepers are quite likely to have a second occupation.  Many are providing activity courses or experiences.  Others have a second and vital income from a variety of unimaginable sources.  How, for instance, do you fit running a four en-suite room hostel on a small Orkney island with providing 'patient and friendly learner driver tuition'   Well that's what it says on Richard Seeber's business card and the day after we met I found him skilfully scooting his bike on to the Kirkwall ferry for a short teaching spell there before heading  back to Stronsay. The other card he gives me is for the Stronsay Fish Mart Hostel and Café  which he and his wife Evelyn have been running since April this year. 

There are helpful younger family members also resident on Stronsay, two hours by the ferry out of Orkney's capital city, Kirkwall. Well it is if you happen to call in at the pier on Eday on the way.  Together this family team pulls together to make hostel and forty two seat café, a real hub for the island, population three hundred plus.  Evelyn's cakes are legendary and last Sunday's traditional roast lunch had an eager queue right out of the door.  Their all day breakfast also has its devotees.

Richard left Zimbabwe in 1986 and via South Africa arrived in Scotland, married Evelyn, herself from Stronsay and the rest is history. 

The twice refurbished, Fish Mart is pristine and in a central position next to the ferry point and opposite the pub.  Good luck to both of them as they put their mark on this most enviably located of small hostels.

At last I managed a visit to Roy at The Poor House  on the eastern fringes of Tongue in Sutherland.  Here Roy and Isobel Slaughter have in the last five years successfully brought to life a unique building circa 1897 provided by the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, not the same generation as they who promoted the Clearances,  as a refuge for the destitute of that part of their Sutherland Estates.  Records say that four men and four women were accommodated. 

So, Roy and Isabel are down on numbers.  Seriously, they offer a single six bed room with sturdy wooden bunks, each garnished with a hot water bottle hanging on a hook.  The pine clad 'snug' and pristine bathroom and kitchen make for a cosy stay.  I bet the water bottles are used although currently the hostel closes from 10th October, reopening on 1st April.  What else does Roy do?  For years he was a professional photographer specialising in portraits.  Now, with a second wind his landscape photography leaves me green with envy.  Why can't I have that judgement, eye and outright skill?  Even if I had his camera, I could do no better than I do currently.  I reckon to have taken only five decent photographs in my life, already quite long, so it's a bit late for me to catch up. 

Roy's work is everywhere in the hostel adding an informative as well as an aesthetic touch.

It was Roy who enlightened me about the road route recently christened as The North Coast 500.  Shame on me for never having heard of this designated term for it.  And yet each of the sections I know well and have travelled several times.  Snaking north west from Inverness the route covers miles and miles of first gentle then raw landscape particularly in the rocky far north west.  In Caithness, approaching Thurso and then John O' Groats you are on the edge of the haunting Flow Country before edging south hugging the East coast of which author Neil Gunn wrote so passionately highlighting the rugged lifestyle forced on those who lived there by the infamous Highland Clearances.

“At the same time, areas of the interior that had not already been cleared to make way for sheep were now being "improved". The most notorious clearances took place on the 1.5 million acre estates of the Countess of Sutherland and her husband, the Marquess of Stafford (later to become the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland), from which 15,000 people were cleared between 1811 and 1821. On one occasion a witness reported seeing 250 crofts on fire from a single vantage point, and in 1816 the Countess's factor, Patrick Sellar, was tried but acquitted on charges of arson and culpable homicide of the elderly Margaret MacKay.”

Undiscovered Scotland

The descent to Dingwall and finally the trek across the Black Isle and on to Inverness completes the circuit.

In all I reckon there to be about eighteen highly individualistic independent hostels, all members of SIH, along this route which together with the five SYHA hostels gives great choice.  At a time when travellers in these parts are sometimes having to sleep in their cars as hotels and B&B's are either full or not there at all, hostellers seem pretty well provided for.

As I wrote in March last year, the folk in Portsoy, renowned for its Scottish Traditional Boat Festival are well on target for the completion of the conversion of the old rope works into a quite remarkable hostel. Warden Ian Tillett, he of downright practical experience, now manages both the caravan park and the bunkhouse.  Ian is likely to be looking for able help particularly with the bunkhouse and the package could be good for someone.  Good luck Portsoy Community Enterprise chairman Roger, Paul of the North East Scotland Preservation Trust and your dedicated community team for the launch this autumn.  Such a programme of sea centred courses and cultural experiences mingled with a welcome to individual travellers and groups will be a boon for the Banffshire coast.

It's all go in Portsoy for the new Back Green Bunkhouse

Now after a many times interrupted day of writing I can hear Volunteer Helper Caroline from New Zealand enthusiastically guiding this evening's arrivals at our own hostel.  The guests are neatly shown everything, ending up in the hostel itself.  As is often the case they are from all over and revisiting old haunts.  Welcoming them myself later I find myself in deep conversation with Luke from Australia and now in Toronto, Canada.  Luke managed a hostel in Skye for two years and has worked in several others.  In a short half hour I detect in him those special qualities of patience, in depth perspectives and innate understanding of how to best provide for hostellers and have them leave happy.   I have met a good man and you know what?  Luke has made my day.

Hostelkeeper

Why Hostelling is a better option than B&B, Guest House or a Self Catering Cottage

Hostels with private rooms are now more convenient than B&B or self-catering cottages. For some of our guests, private rooms with shared self-catering is the new way to enjoy all the fun of hostelling in Scotland.

People choose hostels because they are affordable, friendly and overflowing with character. Once upon a time if you wanted your own private space you used to have to choose a guest house, b & b or a cottage - but no more!

The new style of accommodation evolving in the Scottish Independent Hostelling sector offers private rooms, often ensuite, with the standard shared self-catering and living accommodation found in all hostels. In addition many hostels offer additional shared facilities such as drying rooms, cycle storage and laundry, with many providing services such as bike hire and walking and wildlife tours and guides.

Dot Mechan, SIH Chair, runs Jessie Mac’s in Dunkeld in Perthshire. She thinks the emergence of private rooms in our hostels now provides a further choice for holiday makers. She said “People have the option of private sleeping arrangements but enjoy the shared self-catering aspect of hostels which is very convenient, affordable and sociable. It is much more flexible than hiring a cottage for a week or having to pay for meals in a guest house, with any length of stay on offer from one-night.”

The days of hostels offering only large bunkrooms with queues for the showers is no longer the norm. Many hostels offer a variety of accommodation from double, family and small bunkrooms to cater for couples and families to larger bunkrooms for groups, and nowadays they often have their own ensuite too.

Hostelling used to be for backpackers and groups, but is now becoming more and more popular with people of all ages and interests. Our hostels are found in the most idyllic parts of Scotland and are privately or community owned by people who are a fount of local knowledge, which they love to pass on to their guests. In addition many of our very small hostels are perfect for exclusive use.

To find the perfect hostelling accommodation, use our “Accommodation Search” facility, but don’t leave it too late – hostelling is more popular than ever and rooms are now often booked out.

At the Hostel Door:March, 2016.

March is here, the days are drawing out and still skenes of greylag and pink footed geese fly well above us between the coast where they feed and the nearby loch where they overnight. “Welcome to Scotland” provides excellent information on greylag goose and pink footed goose

What caught my eye recently and which has been the subject of sometimes passionate conversation with those of our hostel guests who are connected by umbilical cord, it seems, to their binoculars is the report of research work at Uppsala University in Sweden that our birds can 'speak in phrases'.  Furthermore they can send out a 'scan the surroundings for danger' call followed by a 'come here' call.

Pristine snow: the hill from the hut

And this is not all, for much as in the same way that astro physicists and their like are forever gathering yet more new knowledge about our universes, we are learning from animal and bird researchers that 'referential communication', formerly thought to be the preserve of humans, is more widely spread among other species.  They don't mean just those species who mimic or who are trained by man either.  So we know about parrots, bonobos and dolphins but what about chickens? Yes chickens use different 'language' to distinguish between aerial and ground predators. Read this article to find out more.

When collecting their eggs therefore I must rank as a ground predator unless that is, as I fondly imagine, I am seen as a harmless pal.  I often take hostelling children into the hens' field and to the hen hut itself.  There is something quite magical in collecting one's first warm egg. Remember?  Cautious fingers feel into the nest, under a hen even and small faces are wreathed in anxiety followed by triumph and delight.  This time of year we are seeing a surplus of eggs grow in the basket where folk are invited to help themselves for a contribution to the feed.

Hebridean box bed hostel hut comfort

It was so relaxed and such fun when a family from Glasgow returned recently for their eighth hostel visit.  They do much the same things each year except that the nine year old who was in a papoose for her first time here is now into anything and everything to do with water, trees, swings, wood collecting, our dog and more.  This last weekend it was the turn of those quite serious veteran Edinburgh mountaineers who picked their weather just right.  So of course and at the same weekend did a fair proportion of Scotland's hill men and women.  The route into the most frequented corrie was busy and queuing at the foot of the ice climb a foregone conclusion.

When the meteorite burned up in skies just twenty miles to the north of us on 2nd March it was stunning.  The pair 'anniversarying' in the wood fired hot tub were struck dumb by the blinding light and a few seconds later a low persistent rumble of noise.

I was interested to see former First Minister, Alex Salmond's erudite explanation of just how near a catastrophic miss we in Scotland had just a bit later with 2013 TX68  Rather an embellishment perhaps of the more modest appraisals coming from seasoned scientists?  Maybe but then Alex now augments his MP's salary by writing for the Aberdeen Press & Journal and, fair play I suppose, it was  avuncularly convincing enough on U Tube.  Read more here>

This late winter's honeymooners seek out our hostel's more secluded spots, in the wood or by the water and now a spot in the field where they can oversee the lambing process almost upon us.  Our Soay sheep, originally from St Kilda are just unique in looking after themselves, including the lambing process, year after year.  Don't though try and herd them in the way we have watched the Scottish Blackface flocks on the admirable BBC 2's This Farming Life.   They splinter remember, not herd!

What a great programme to allow supper time at the main house kitchen table to take its time.  It stalls conversation of course and I wouldn't make a habit of it.  Talking time is too important a feature to our hostel team for it to be lost to television.  Friday evening's, pre supper 'noggin' together is the highlight and we clear the decks of the past week and look to the next in all its simple detail as well as its complexities.

We had a 'refugee' employed hostel keeper drop in last week.  She had given up in despair and reluctantly but with great relief taken leave of the hostel where for the past three months she had been put in charge.  Those very few hostel owners who buzz off abroad leaving unsuspecting, poorly inducted staff to carry the can just ought not to be in business.  The last straw for this lady came after a sickeningly drunken stag party of revellers had totally undone the half deep clean she had achieved in the week before they came.  They had not a thought, cared not a jot for her and the efforts she was making to see them well looked after.  To boot she was required to live in a single room in the centre of the havoc and share the kitchen.  Oh boy! What a misjudgement on the part of her inadequate employers.  That's not at all typical of a group hostel situation mercifully.  I know of hostels which positively welcome stags and hens, engage with the organisers in a positive and forthright way and provide for them admirably well whilst at the same time having the hostel's boundaries respected. It's not our scene but all strength to their arm.

I love the idea being promoted by Re Foresting Scotland to increase the nation's 'well-being' by reintroducing the concept of hutting. Read more here>

The movement is gathering strength and now with Scottish Government backing we may see, alongside and possibly integral with some of Scotland's independent hostels, a growing culture not unlike the enviable achievement over several generations to be found in the Scandinavian countries.  The concept sits easily with what a fair number of Scottish hostel keepers are attempting to achieve: diversity.

With a blackbird now singing to us each evening for two hours before the gloaming sets in, the glow of departing guests in the mornings each clearly wanting to tell us of how their two, three or more days in this oasis has inspired and reinforced them in their 'other and real world' we can feel good, yes, really good about having come to this stage in our own lives whereby we can give service as a way of life and most certainly not as a job.  Very soon Easter will be on us, a few small tents will arrive in May to add to buzz to these few acres and we will, alongside all other tasks, continue to fell, block, split and store the non-native lodge pole pine which feeds our six hungry wood burning stoves.  Then there is the hot tub and the scavenging we engage in to keep three chimineas gently reeking.

Bring on the Spring.

Hostelkeeper

Setting the standard for a stag party!

A group of ten stayed at the Cullen harbour Hostel on 11 and 12 December 2015 in order to celebrate the stag party of James Dodds who married Laura Willox on 19 December in Perthshire. Not content with a humdrum stag party they preferred to make the most of the history and natural beauty of Scotland. This stag party had a tough act to follow after pictures from the group's previous stag party on Skye attracted more than 25 million online visitors and coverage from the BBC.

They booked exclusive use of Cullen Harbour Hostel. The unique style of the hostel fitted in with the theme for the stag party.  It has an authentic, hand-built feel, with flagstone floors, exposed roof beams and chunky bed frames.

It was an excellent base for embarking upon a Viking feast in the nearby derelict Findlater Castle.

On the Saturday afternoon, food, chairs and an oak table were carried along the coastal path to the 14th Century Findlater Castle. On arrival they identified the perfect spot – a room overlooking the sea cliffs and with a vaulted ceiling to protect from the winter chill. The dining table was duly set up and the group had a fabulous meal of roast pork (locally bred in Speyside). They drank their way through a keg of locally brewed dark ale and told ghost stories sitting around the old fireplace.

At the end of the evening they lit flaming torches (prepared by a professional fireman) to light the journey back to the hostel. It was a cloudless sky with no moon and as they crunched through frosty grass they had a really privileged view of the Gemenid Meteor Shower to mark the end of a fabulous night of celebration. They returned the next day to collect their furniture and remove all traces of their presence

Howard Owens of Cullen Harbour Hostel commented “Stag parties can be problematic but these guys were great. They were simply in pursuit of pure pleasure which was fit, healthy and purposeful as well as fun.

This sets an example that you can have a good time without being drunk and offensive and messy but without being tame and boring too. For these lads, it was a question of doing something one stage more ambitious than their last stag party on Skye. I like the idea of being energetic and outdoors whilst partying. This type of group is welcome at Cullen Harbour Hostel anytime!”

The Structure of Findlater Castle is much deteriorated with large cracks in many of the walls so the group and Cullen Harbour Hostel want to make it very clear they are not recommending this particular experience to others!

The amount of coverage the group are getting in the media does seem to demonstrate they are setting the standard for a stag party!

View the coverage in the Scottish Sun of the Findlater Castle Stag Party

View the BBC coverage of the Skye stag party

New Scottish Independent members for 2016

We would like to welcome our ten new Members in 2016.  We are delighted that such a unique variety of  Independent Hostels, all based in stunning locations throughout Scotland are now members of our Association. 

Ardenbeg Bunkhouse, Grantown-on-Spey, Cairngorms

Ardenbeg Bunkhouse is part of Craggan Outdoors Activity Centre, offering good value accommodation for groups of up to 23 people in a variety of rooms; the 4-bed, 5-bed, 6-bed and 8-bed rooms all have their own private bathroom facilities.  Craggan Outdoors offers a range of outdoor activities for groups of all abilities. The Bunkhouse is located on a quiet road in Grantown-on-Spey just 15 minutes from Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park, with access to all that the area offers.

www.cragganoutdoors.co.uk 

Ardtornish Bunkhouse, Loch Aline, 

Campbeltown Bunkhouse, Mull of Kintyre

Campbeltown Backpackers in Kintyre is just 10 minutes from the ferry terminal. There are two dorm rooms providing 16 beds and excellent kitchen facilities, a dining area and lounge; wifi, a drying room and a secure bike store are also available for guests.  The Hostel is ideally situated for exploring the region for walkers and cyclists with the famous Campbeltown Whisky Distillery next door.

www.campbeltownbackpackers.co.uk

Inchnadamph Lodge, Near Lochinver, Assynt

Inchnadamph Lodge is a former Highland shooting lodge surrounded by the spectacular mountain scenery of Assynt in the Northern Highlands. It is an ideal base for walkers, climbers, families and backpackers to explore the area. The Lodge provides quality low-cost accommodation for groups, families and individuals in both hostel style dormitory rooms and private double rooms.

www.inch-lodge.co.uk

Isle of Muck Bunkhouse, Small Isles, Inner Hebrides

Visit the Isle of Muck for a total escape amongst wonderful wildlife and scenery. Muck, together with its neighbours Eigg, Rum and Canna, form the group of idyllic islands, the “Small Isles”. The Isle of Muck Bunkhouse is situated with views of the shore and sleeps up to 8 guests in 4 rooms with the option of exclusive use.

www.isleofmuck.com

Loch Nevis Bunkhouse and Centre, Loch Nevis

Be a castaway with your group to the remotest bunkhouse in the West Highlands. With a spectacular mountain loch side location, Loch Nevis Centre is situated at Ardintigh Bay on the shore of Loch Nevis, accessible only by boat or on foot. It is owned by adventurer Tom McClean, the first man to row alone across the North Atlantic from Canada to Ireland, amongst other daring exploits

www.outdoorcentrescotland.co.uk

Boreland Loch Tay Bunkhouse, Highland Perthshire

Boreland Loch Tay Bunkhouse is a perfect getaway in the heart of Highland Perthshire. From the Bunkhouse there are outstanding panoramic views of Loch Tay. The Bunkhouse can comfortably cater for large groups, including stag and hen, or special occasion breaks with activity packages on offer. The Bunkhouse sleeps 20 guests and is newly refurbished to a high standard with excellent facilities

www.borelandlochtay.co.uk


Skyewalker Hostel, Isle of Skye

True Scottish hospitality awaits you at the family-run Skyewalker Hostel on the Isle of Skye. The Hostel is an ideal base from which to explore the Cuillin mountain range, swim in the Fairy Pools, take a tour of Talisker whisky distillery, spot a sea eagle or a shooting star and see for yourself the spectacular, wild landscapes of the Isle of Skye. The hostel can sleep up to 40 people and has a variety of clean, comfortable rooms on offer, from private, 2-bed bunk rooms to a 10-bed dorm.
www.skyewalkerhostel.com

The Weem Inn, Highland Perthshire

The Weem Inn is a very historic building with original features, located in Highland Perthshire in a beautiful, natural setting near Aberfeldy. It is close to some of the most exciting activities in Scotland from white water rafting to kayaking , paintballing to mountain climbing, with kayaks and cycles available from the Inn. There is a choice of rooms, which are all ensuite, to suit all budgets with a self-catering kitchen and spacious lounge.

www.theweeminn.com

The Cowshed Boutique Bunkhouse, Uig, Skye

The 33-bed Cowshed Boutique Bunkhouse is in a wonderful spot overlooking Uig on the Isle of Skye with stunning coastal views and a great location to explore everything the island has to offer. With luxury bunks and excellent facilities, this is a not the traditional idea of a bunkhouse, very much designed with the comfort of guests in mind.  It is a luxurious but friendly retreat from exploring the beauty and wilderness of the Isle of Skye.

www.skyecowshed.co.uk