Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
B&Bs & Guesthouses
B&Bs are a Scottish institution. At the bottom end you get a bedroom in a private house, a
shared bathroom and a fry-up (juice, coffee or tea, cereal and cooked breakfast - bacon,
eggs, sausage, baked beans and toast). Midrange B&Bs have en suite bathrooms, TVs in
each room and more variety (and healthier options) for breakfast. Almost all B&Bs
provide hospitality trays (tea- and coffee-making facilities) in bedrooms. B&B options
range from urban houses to pubs and farms.
Guesthouses, often large converted private houses, are an extension of the B&B
concept. They are normally larger and less personal than B&Bs.
Camping & Caravan Parks
Free 'wild' camping became a legal right under the Land Reform Bill. However, campers
are obliged to camp on unenclosed land, in small numbers and away from buildings and
roads.
Commercial camping grounds are geared to caravans and vary widely in quality. There
are numerous campsites across Scotland; VisitScotland has a free map, available at tourist
offices, showing a good selection of them.
SELF-CATERING IN SCOTLAND
Self-catering accommodation is very popular in Scotland and staying in a house in a city or cottage in the country
gives you an opportunity to get a feel for a region and its community. The minimum stay is usually one week in
the summer peak season, and three days or less at other times.
Accommodation of this type varies very widely, from rustic one-bedroom cottages with basic facilities and
sheep cropping the grass outside to castles, historic houses and purpose-built designer retreats with every mod-
con.
We've only listed limited self-catering options. The best place to start looking for this kind of accommodation
is the website of
VisitScotland
(
0845 859 1006;
www.visitscotland.com/accommodation
)
, which lists numer-
ous options all over Scotland. These also appear in the regional accommodation guides available from tourist of-
fices. A quick internet search will reveal many websites listing thousands of self-catering places all across the
country.
Expect a week's rent for a simple two-bedroom cottage to cost from £180 in winter, and up to £300 or more
July to September.
The following are other places to search:
Embrace Scotland
(Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers; 01866-822522;
www.embracescotland.com
)
As-
sociation of self-catering properties with a searchable database of over 2500 across Scotland.
