The Best Honeymoon Destinations in Scotland

It is most likely that you will want to spend some memorable, quality time with your loved one after you say 'I do', to recover from wedding planning and to reminisce about the day itself. Whether you are after the trip of a lifetime or a quiet, cosy short break, Scotland's got a wonderful range of destinations for the best honeymoon experience.

In the summer months the popular honeymoon destinations are likely to be packed, so Scotland might very well be the best choice for your post-wedding celebration. Whilst Edinburgh in August is impossibly full due to Festival madness, beyond the capital there are acres of stunning landscapes, miles of some of Britain's most beautiful beaches and the chance to walk along the rivers rivers and streams that inspired the love poems of Burns. Of course, your honeymoon doesn’t have to be in the summer, Scotland is one of the best honeymoon destinations in winter too. Here are our top picks:

The Witchery by the Castle, Castlehill, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh

The Royal Mile

The Witchery in Edinburgh is arguably the most romantic of Scotland’s honeymoon destinations. Booked out for Valentine's Day literally years in advance, this dark, Gothic sixteenth century building is full of atmosphere and history. It is best known as a restaurant, oak-panelled and dramatic as a theatre set, but there are also nine suites found up its winding staircases and crooked passageways. All are quite individual, richly decorated in lots of dark red. Several of the rooms have huge four-poster beds wrapped in heavy fabric.

The Torridon Boat House, Wester Ross, Scotland

Wester Ross

On the pebbled shore of Loch Torridon, the remote Boat House is your best choice of destinations on the Torridon estate, an 1880s hunting lodge in Wester Ross. You can stay in the lodge, but it is the Boat House that will appeal to those who want to escape to their own loch-side hideaway, by fern and tall pines, with a jetty out into the water. Inside the low, stone house it is light, modern and simple. The outside is where this place amazes. There are breathtaking views from the picture windows in the living room. It's a self-catering venue, but there are excellent eating and drinking options in the formal hotel restaurant, offering lobster fresh from the estates loch, or Highland beef, also from the estate. The bar in the main lodge also stocks 350 types of malt whiskey or you can snuggle in the nearby Torridon Inn.

Glengorm Castle, Tobermory, Isle of Mull

Tobermory

Arguably the most dramatic, Byronic setting in existence, Glengorm Castle overlooks the sea from high on the wild and windy moor of the Isle of Mull. There are five bed and breakfast rooms in the castle itself plus a collection of nine self-catering cottages and apartments to stay in on the estate. With a food store and café on the 5,000-acre family-run estate, you do not have to stray far when on your honeymoon. On the estate itself you will witness herds of Highland cattle and Blackface sheep, red deer, and golden eagles that all have the run of the estate. Of the five guest rooms in the castle, Ardmore is considered the best, with a canopy bed and deep Victorian bathtub with sea view. The Castle also has a panelled library with an open fire and plenty of reading matter.

The Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland

Auchterarder

When it first opened its doors in 1924, this magnificent countryside estate in the heart of Scotland was described as a “Riviera in the Highlands”. Today, as a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, Gleneagles continues to offer the best array of attractions to include a five-star luxury hotel, three championship golf courses, an award-winning spa, and the only restaurant in Scotland to hold two Michelin stars.

Known throughout the world as the host venue for the G8 summit of world leaders in 2005 and golf’s 2014 Ryder Cup, the 850-acre Gleneagles estate is within an hour’s drive of Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, with direct trains from London arriving in five hours at their very own station, just two minutes from one of Scotland’s best honeymoon destinations.