Craig Villa Guest House
Hotel review Craig Villa Guest House
Age: 26-30
Travel time: in September 10
I travelled as: Couple
Children: none
Duration: 1 week
Type of trip: Countryside and Spa
Recommendation: Yes
Average rating of this review: 6
Wonderful B&B close to the city centre
Enlarge letters A A Downsize letters A ASnug B&B with a small number of rooms close to Inverness City Centre (5-10min walk) also offering en Suite rooms.
The house was built in the 19th century and has been refurbished with a mix of contemporary and classic designs which makes it a place of character and relaxing atmosphere.
The house is very clean and in a very good condition.
The service includes a breakfast which consists of a menue list of cooked and freshly prepared meals and a buffett with cereals, sweets and juices. The cooked breafast offers full scottish (fried egg on potato scone, sausage, black pudding, haggis and toast either brown or white), eggs prepared due to your preference, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, pancakes with syrup, cream cheese bagel with salmon, etc.).
The type of guest vary, there is a room for children so it is possible and likely that families with children stay there as well as the typical backpacking tourists who leave after 1-3 nights. The nationalities are mixed.
Location
The B&B is very close to Inverness city centre. Inverness offers a nice pedestrian area with shops of all sorts and a shopping mall (boots, pharmacy, M&S, Starbucks, etc.). Close to the shopping mall you can find the Victorian Market and I recommend to see it, it is worth it.
Just around the corner of the Craig Villa you find a Tesco's which opens until 10 p.m. daily.
Inverness retail park is just a 10 min drive away by car.
Inverness itself has a good location to start from if you want to explore the Highlands. We had rented a car and stayed at Inverness during the whole vacation using the car for exploration.
The Black Isle /Culloden Battlefield/ Clava Cairns/ Fortrose (Beach + Dolphin Viewpoint)/ Nairn Beach were within short reach 20-40 mins drive by car.
We took approx. 2-3h to Ullapool and Fort William (Nevis Range) from Inverness and 2h to Glendronach Destillery.
If you come by car you will get a parking permit which covers any parking space on Kenneth Street.
The B&B owners are extraordinary friendly people who also like to talk to their guests and offer some good ideas where to go and what to see.
The rooms are cleaned daily.
As for the breakfast: you can order as much as you can eat.
We appreciated the talks very much.
Pictures/Videos to hotel review (Click picture to enlarge!)
The B&B offers no other food than breakfast. The breakfast room is clean, the quality of food is great.
There are plenty of restaurants at Inverness city centre.
I would recommend:
Bella Italia
It is actually a chain restaurant but we also go there when we are in London and they offer high quality freshly cooked italian meals. Pasta, meat, Pizza, desserts, etc. The staff is very friendly. Moderate prices.
The Kitchen
I would call this restaurant a Gourmet Restaurant. The prices are a bit higher but it is worth it. Food is freshly cooked and very delicious. They have a partner restaurant "The Mustard Seed" but we didn't try this one.
I wouldn't recommend the Johnny Foxes Pub, it was far away from good.
Sport & Entertainment not available
Room
We had two different rooms because the bigger room was engaged for the first night of our stay.
The first room was a bit smaller and had no en Suite bathroom but an external oen exclusively for our use.
The room included a double bed and some storage for the clothes but no cupboard, it is actually meant for people who stay for one or two nights only.
The second room was a big room with a built-in wardrobe, a desk and two armed chairs and an en Suite toilet and shower.
All rooms have a flatscreen TV and facilities to prepare instant coffee or tea. The welcome gift are some local made shortbreads and new biscuits are filled up daily.
The condition of the rooms is great, they have been refurbished recently. The building was built in the 19th century.
Wi-Fi is offered for free.
Tips and recommendations
Mobile phone access is great in cities but of course there's no connection available in the highlands on remote spots.
Scotland's weather is almost unpredictable. We were very lucky because we had warm and sunny days. It was quite windy during our stay so I would recommend to bring all weather preparations and wear fleece jackets or pullovers and cover with a rainproof jacket if neccessary. We brought zip off hiking trousers and of course hiking boots, this is neccessary if you want to walk up Nevis Range or hike at Glen Affric (what we did). If you go in summer you should also bring sun protection, the wind betrays the strength of the sun. If you dont protect your skin it will get burnt!
The climate in general was quite maritime.
We had rented a car at Arnold & Clarke with a 10% reduction because we booked with the "Visit Scotland" Website.
It was a bit funny to drive on the left side and sit on the right side...but if you are careful you will manage it. Just be careful with roundabouts and make sure that you pick the correct lane for your aimed exit.
I wouldn't recommend to drive at night because there is a lot of deer roaming around the roads (we met 4-5 groups of deer on our way home from Ullapool in the dark) which is quite dangerous, I wouldn't drive again in the dark.
If you have any more Questions, please contact me.
Additional info concerning your hotel review Craig Villa Guest House
| What type of room did you review? | Double room Special offer with view Garden |
| Did the hotel meet the standards of its official catalogue description? | Yes |
| Does the hotel deserve its official star rating? | Yes |
| How would you describe the value for money? | Excellent |
| Which tour operator did you travel with? | No details |



















