If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP175.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
A sign promising ‘coffee, lunch, negroni’ is the beacon directing incoming guests, weary travellers and refreshment seekers to the Grandtully Hotel by Ballintaggart, near the Perthshire town of Pitlochry. Inside, there’s all that and so much more, especially if you’re in the market for a tasting menu of seasonal Scottish produce. Outside, the River Tay is over the road and waiting for paddle-board, kayak or white-water-raft take-offs; and sister stay Ballintaggart Farm (and its tennis court and cookery school) are two miles away. You’ll be glad you called by to rest your head – and not just because of the noteworthy negronis, though they’re a noble place to start.
Double rooms from £175.00, including tax at 20 per cent.
More details
Rates usually include breakfast.
Also
The Victorian building is unfortunately not easily accessible for wheelchair users.
Hotel closed
From November to March, the hotel is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. It also shutters up for a few days over Christmas and for two weeks of January.
At the hotel
Free WiFi, library, terrace, and tennis court (over at sister site Ballintaggart Farm). In rooms: Noble Isle bath products, TV, and tea and coffee from the Glen Lyon roastery up the road in Aberfeldy.
Our favourite rooms
Each of the Grandtully Hotel by Ballintaggart’s eight rooms has its own quirks and charms (and tile colour). If you like the sound of a record player and a well-picked selection of vinyls (ie Bob Dylan to Bananarama), book Room 3; fittingly, it also has a feature wall graced by some wallpaper called ‘Pet Sounds’ starring badgers, guitars and trumpets. For the most natural light, book Room 7, which has the most windows of them all; it can connect with Room 6 for friends and families. Four of the rooms have roll-top bath tubs, so book wisely if soak potential is a dealbreaker. Room 8 has a buffeted-from-the-wind, sun-trap terrace to enjoy your morning coffee or early-evening negroni on.
Packing tips
You can basically take the hotel home with you: the bottle of wine you loved, the soap that smelled amazing, the throw that was so soft – it’s all for sale up the road in Aberfeldy at the Ballintaggart boutique, with a smaller selection available for purchase at reception.
Also
Since this is Scotland, you’re never far from a wee dram – in fact, all you’ll have to do is tap the ‘press for whisky’ button in the library.
Children
All ages are welcome to stay, but kids under 14 are not allowed in the restaurant. There is a children’s menu in the bar, though, and one set of connecting rooms, along with cots and rollaway beds.
If there’s a group of you (or you’re just feeling especially sociable), dine beneath some hanging bowler hats at the 20-seater long dining table.
Dress Code
Since the decor has banished tartan, you might as well bust out your clan’s preferred check.
Hotel restaurant
You won’t find anything as unsustainable as an avocado on the seasonal, hyper-local, frequently changing menu at the Grandtully restaurant; even salmon is banned – instead, the chefs look for sustainable, Scottish alternatives (we’re not sure what the Celtic equivalent of an avocado is, but we’re sure it’s delicious). Diners can choose between the tasting menu (with vegetarian and vegan options available) or the shorter seasonal set menu. Courses might feature beef tartare with soy-cured egg yolk and house-gin-enhanced pickled onion; or wild halibut with salt-baked celeriac and Inverlussa mussels. Breakfast is a hearty spread of sourdough with Ballintaggart jams and marmalades, cheese and charcuterie, and a hot special (such as an Isle of Mull cheddar hash brown with a fried egg and herb yoghurt) that changes daily.
Hotel bar
The Tully starts the day as a coffee shop and bakehouse, and ends it as somewhere to enjoy an expertly mixed cocktail with a garnish from the garden, a pint of its own beer (Tully Table), a G&T made with Ballintaggart gin or a glass of natural wine, picked by the resident grape guru. The menu served here depends on what the chef can get hold of; even the cocktails change with the seasons, which is great news for regulars and returning guests.
Last orders
The Tully is open from 10am until 11pm, with hot food served from 12.30pm to 4pm and 5.30pm to 8.30pm. In the restaurant, the tasting menu is served between 6pm and 8pm; the market menu is available until 8.30pm.
Room service
A small selection of dishes can be delivered to your room between 9am and 8pm.
The Grandtully Hotel by Ballintaggart is in the Perthshire Highlands, an hour and a half away from both Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Planes
There’s an airport in Dundee an hour’s drive away, but your best bets are Edinburgh and Glasgow, both of which are within around a 90-minute journey by car from the hotel. It’s also possible to touch down at Inverness, which is a two-hour drive north. The team can organise a local taxi to greet you if needed.
Trains
The nearest station is 10 miles away in Pitlochry; the hotel can arrange taxi pick-ups on your behalf. It’s a stop on the Inverness to London line and the Caledonian Sleeper regularly chugs in during the wee hours, too.
Automobiles
A car will come in handy for seeing as much of the scenic Scottish surroundings as possible – there’s free parking at the hotel.
Worth getting out of bed for
Grandtully Hotel by Ballintaggart is directly opposite the River Tay, so it’d be rude not to take to its rushing waters at least once (you can choose your mode of transport from the usual suspects: kayak, paddle-boards, white-water raft…). If you want to take kayaking seriously, make the 20-minute pilgrimage to Loch Tay. Also available on the placid waters of the loch are banana boats and more paddle-boards; it even has water trampolines. It’s also a popular spot for salmon fishing, gorge walking and canyoning. Hikers in these parts will frequently be rewarded by waterfalls as well as the regular, just-as-breathtaking Scottish scenery along the Rob Roy Way. Aberfeldy is remarkably well-equipped for a small town – there’s an art deco cinema, a beautiful bookshop, a distillery and, of course, the Ballintaggart farm shop. In the other direction, Dunkeld is also worthy of some mooching. You’ll also be able to head over to sister stay Ballintaggart Farm a couple of miles away for a class at the Cook School by Ballintaggart, a feast night or a round of tennis. And this may not quite be the Alps, but the nearby Cairngorms National Park is home to one of the UK’s few-and-far-between ski resorts.
Local restaurants
Around 10 miles or so north of Pitlochry, Killiecrankie House is a fine-dining restaurant surrounded by towering trees in the Cairngorms National Park, where you can feast on seafood-focused tasting menus (some of which last for 15 courses). At the Glenturret distillery in Crieff, there’s a restaurant on hand if you’ve overdone it during the whisky tasting, but be quick – it only has seven tables. And if you find yourself in the centre of Perth (a 35-minute drive away from the hotel), Deans will reward you with tattie scones, haggis with whisky cream, and West Coast fish pie.
After a previous stuff-ourselves-silly stint at Ballintaggart Farm, my sister and I pull up to sister stay the Grandtully Hotel by Ballintaggart with a similarly indulgent agenda (and hearty appetite). As delicious as the at-home suppers are at the self-catering main farmhouse, we’re eager to experience the much-lauded seasonal tasting menu as well as the Tully’s more casual eats (and this time, leave the cooking to the experts). Taking note of the ‘coffee, lunch, negroni’ board and fragrant herb gardens out front, followed by reception’s generously-stocked shelves with homemade jams, granola and other farm-fresh goodies – tell-tale signs of the treats to come – we check into light-filled Room 7 to freshen up. Kicking off my wellies, the whisky-scented bath oil and rolltop bath tub are a most welcome combination.
Preparation for our first night’s feast had involved an energetic afternoon amble along the River Tay, passing through lamb-dotted pastures, sun-dappled forests, and rolling hills carpeted with bluebells. The recent late spring rain followed by this wonderful sunny spell means that the hillsides and fields are lusciously green beyond belief, and the bright yellow gorse is in full, coconut-scented bloom. Fortunately, the sunshine sticks around for our stay – making the Grandtully’s proximity to rivers, lochs, and waterfalls all the more pleasing. More on these later…but first, food.
We’re seated in the Tully bar by the cosy fireplace with a couple of the hotel’s signature Negronis on the way, dilly-dallying over what to order. We usually like to pre-examine menus online, but the dishes here change almost daily, so we’re reading through temptation after temptation with fresh eyes. Hence, the indecision. Eventually, we order all the sides to accompany the buttery halibut, and brioche-sandwiched pork burger stacked with smoked applewood cheddar, sriracha, and tempura gherkin. Although my childhood was spent in Japan, I’d never tasted a tempura gherkin before – but I now fear that I can’t eat a burger without one. Dessert is usually my favourite course, and this sweet pairing doesn’t disappoint. The rhubarb and white chocolate pavlova is almost too pretty to shovel your spoon into, and the cinnamon ice-cream which sits atop a salted caramel-soaked date sponge (the hotel’s clever take on a sticky toffee pudding) could be sold by the bucket-load.
On our short stumble back up to the room, we spot a ‘press for whisky’ button in the wall and an intimate private dining area tucked around a corner. We later learn that the dining table is upcycled from the inn’s former bartop, still studded with marks from dancing high heels and hints at its spirited past. Thankfully, today’s crowd seems less rowdy – and, as bedtime draws near, we’re grateful to be hitting the hay without any whisky-fuelled shenanigans unfolding downstairs. Enticing though it might be to press that button…
Despite the hotel’s proximity to the road, we awake to the sound of birds chirping and the rather amusing sight of two oarsmen carrying an extremely large canoe over their heads while crossing the neighbouring paddock, taking admirable care not to trample the bluebells underfoot. Paddleboarding, white-water rafting, canyoning, and wild swimming are all daily activities for some of the weather-hardened locals around here, and although we don’t actually get out onto the water this time, we plot our route to encompass as many waterways as the extended daylight allows. Energised from our breakfast – highlights include smoked Scottish steelhead trout from family-run Campbells & Co, lighter-than-air butter from artisan dairy farmer Katy Rogers, and locally foraged wild mushrooms on homemade sourdough – we hit the woodland trails around the Birks of Aberfeldy (named after the abundant birch – or ‘birk’ – trees). Heeding the lyrical advice of Robert Burns, ‘Come let us spend the lightsome days / In the Birks of Aberfeldy’, we cross several bridges over the babbling Moness burn, steadily climbing the gorge to reach a series of enchanting waterfalls. It’s easy to see why this poetry-inspiring place draws ramblers and nature enthusiasts from all around the world.
After a leisurely paddle in the cooling waters of Loch Tay in the waterfront village of Kenmore, we venture further along the shoreline to the Falls of Acharn (a particularly picturesque part of the Rob Roy Way). With the promise of a hermit’s cave, cascading waterfalls, and a Neolithic stone circle, we brave the steep ascent and breathlessly admire wonder after fantasy storybook wonder. Sadly, we are not transported back in time to the rugged embrace of Outlander’s Jamie Fraser when touching the Schiehallion Mountain-facing stones, but then we would have been several centuries too early for the Grandtully’s tasting menu. And that really would have been a shame.
Appetites well and truly worked up, we return to the hotel for seven farm-to-fork courses, which celebrate the finest seasonal Scottish produce. The so-called ‘snacks’ include refined hunks of milk and honey bread (best dunked in the wild garlic butter, don’t bother with your knife), a beef tartare-topped potato terrine, and a delicate goat's curd tart. There’s a garden, game, fish, field and cheese course before the grand dessert finale, with the option to add Loch Fyne oysters with your choice of glaze. The wild duck ravioli, Perthshire pork, and herb-tossed gnocchi are all veritable stand-outs, but the Nashi pear tarte tatin paired with Hebridean blue cheese and salted caramel sauce steals the show. That is, until the lemon verbena curd comes out, garnished with Italian meringue, pink peppercorn, rhubarb, and lovage ice-cream (made with herbs picked just metres away from our table). Seventh heaven, indeed.
For one last impossible-to-resist treat, we pay a visit to the hotel’s next-door neighbour: the Highland Chocolatier. Truffle specialist Iain Burnett creates beautifully boxed chocolates using fresh cream from herds of Scottish Friesians and local heather honey, which we raid for our road trip back to Edinburgh. The scenic drive takes us through yet more of Perthshire’s rolling hills, past riverside paths and stone-clad villages with pretty bridges and bountiful farm shops – seemingly Scotland’s answer to the Cotswolds. ‘Don’t you mean the ‘Scotswolds’?’, my sister grins. That’s exactly what I mean, and to the ‘Scotswolds’ we shall be hastening back.
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