Visit the best hotel in the Highlands for a luxury outdoor adventure with amazing lochside views and food

I didn’t expect a 36-mile cycle before lunch across one of the last remaining wildernesses in Europe, but there’s something about staying at the Loch Rannoch Hotel that makes you want to get out and celebrate the outdoors - and it’s a whole lot easier on an ebike.

This former hunting lodge turned Highland retreat makes the most of its 250-acre estate location at Kinloch Rannoch on the loch in the shadow of Schiehallion, with a dedicated programme of adventure activities including fishing, kayaking, sailing, paddle boarding, swimming, cycling, walking and hiking, as well as climbing, squash and badminton at the Rannoch School of Adventure with its marina and gym.

A four-star resort with a AA rosette restaurant, it’s also both luxurious and cosy enough to satisfy those who prefer to lounge around in comfort, glass in hand watching the light play on the loch or the mist on the ‘fairy mountain’, or face down on a massage table in the spa having their cares smoothed away.

Rannoch Station, where the Tea Room serves snacks and drinks, is located on the edge of the wilderness of Rannoch Moor and can be reached by cycle from the Loch Rannoch Hotel. Pic: J Christie

We were lucky with the weather on our weekend break and after gloomy skies brightened we embarked on our two-hour cycling expedition.

Borrowing ebikes from the hotel’s activities centre we cycled 10-miles along the lochside with its secluded beaches and picnic spots before heading up and across the sparse beauty under big skies of Rannoch Moor to our destination - the snug Rannoch Station Tea Room with its reward of fresh home cooking and baking.

If Rannoch Moor is remote and devoid of people save from a few hikers and cyclists, as one of the few places around to refuel, the Tea Room is hoaching with visitors, some of whom have arrived by train, so it’s best to book if you want to linger over its luscious lemon and mascarpone cake or scones with jam and cream.

Back on the bikes it’s an exhilarating whizz downhill all the way and a breeze to get back to the hotel in under two and a half hours to reunite with companions who had spent time out on the loch, fishing with a ghillie for Arctic char, trout perch and salmon, all returned to swim another day.

Loch Rannoch Hotel sits among trees on the shores of Loch Rannoch, Perthshire, just outside the village of Kinloch Rannoch. Pic: J Christie

I’d taken my walking boots and while Schiehallion loomed over the loch looking like a child’s drawing of a perfect mountain, just waiting to be climbed, we tackled the less strenuous Craig Varr hill at the back of the hotel. It’s a shorter walk, three miles there and back from the hotel and easy at under two hours, but the ambitious might want to try to beat the record of 19 minutes, clocked during the annual Highland Games in August. Whatever your speed, it’s worth it for the rewarding views from the summit.

Back at the hotel, it’s easy to fall into a big comfy armchair in the large open-plan, airy drawing room and soak up the authentic Highland hotel atmosphere. Given a contemporary revamp after it was bought from Macdonald hotels in 2020, the result is a welcoming family hotel with traditional touches from stag heads in the hallway to subtle tartan carpets, a whisky bar and log fires. A calming palette of greens and blues throughout references the surroundings of lochs, mountains and trees, with occasional brass fittings harking back to the days when a steamer puffed up and down the loch. Any why not soak up a reviving Loch Rannoch cocktail mixed by barista Khiara - Famous Grouse, Cointreau, Angostura bitters, soda and honey syrup as a reward for all your exertions while you consider where to eat?

A choice of dining venues at Loch Rannoch Hotel includes the AA Rosette Awarded Estate Room Restaurant for more formal dining, the more casual Rannoch Larder and Wild Brownie Bar for a menu that champions local fare and serves up favourites like a mean burger and risotto as well as a whole range of breakfast dishes in the mornings, as well as the Drawing Room with whisky bar and afternoon tea menu, there’s something to suit everyone and an appreciative crowd of residents and non-residents alike.

Of the Hotel’s 52 rooms the vast majority have views of the loch and Schiehallion and come in a choice of classic, heritage and contemporary, with some that welcome dogs, and they’re fitted with all of the things you need to keep you happy - a kettle and range of teas, coffee machine, shortbread, robes and Highland Soap Co toiletries. If you really want to push the boat out, go for the Rannoch Suite with its giant 2.6m Caesar bed, fit for an emperor, with its own private balcony with views down the loch.

Loch Rannoch Hotel sits in a 250-acre estate which is a haven for wildlife, as well as people. Pic: J Christie

After all of the outdoor activity it was time to sample the indoor options: curling up in the drawing room with a book and a glass of malt, challenging companions at one of the stash of board games, a game of pool or snooker in the games room.

Or do as I did and head for a pampering session at the spa in a separate building a short pad from the main hotel, with its swimming pool, sauna, steam room, and spa treatments by ESPA. There a soothing massage from Sonea eased work weary shoulders back into position and a manicure polished me up for dinner in the AA rosette Estate Room Restaurant. With an ethos that declares ‘every meal is an occasion to savour’ starters include Scottish coast hand-dived scallops and beetroot cured gravadlax with pickle jelly and burnt lemon curd, mains saw me served a perfect Loch Fyne Salmon with fregola, chorizo and green beans, and the desserts were pretty as a picture.

With more activities than time to try them, we left vowing to return to Loch Rannoch Hotel and its Highland hospitality. Schiehallion isn’t going anywhere and I’ll be back.

Prices - From £179 for two guests in a double room including full Scottish breakfast. See website for 15% Summer Discount for June, July and August Bookings.

Kayaking is among the water sports offered on Loch Rannoch which is over looked by the Munro, Schiehallion. Pic: Contributed

Loch Rannoch Hotel, Kinloch Rannoch, Perthshire PH16 5PS, (01882 632201,www.lochrannochhotel.com

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