This renovated Victorian coaching inn at the centre of bustling wee Braemar is perhaps the world’s most unusual art hotel. The dissonance of 16,000 modern, astonishing, humorous, and sometimes mad artworks interwoven into a pantomime Victoriana setting in the Highlands is its quirky calling card. Multi-millionaire art collector owners Iwan and Manuela Wirth and luxe interior designer Russell Sage created the look. You’ll see a winged stuffed stag, a Picasso, a Lucien Freud, and Richard Jackson’s neon antler chandelier — and that’s just for starters. The food in the main Clunie restaurant is firmly rooted in the location. Outdoor experiences abound, arranged by dapper tartan-clad ghillies.
Overall score 8/10
Main photo: the Fife Arms in the heart of Braemar
Rooms and suites
Score 9/10
The designer Russell Sage’s makeover is a theatrical riot of William Morris wallpaper, Timorous Beasties textiles, blood-red brocade and Victorian antiques. There are chaises longues and Highland landscapes, proper cups and saucers for your tea, and tweed hot-water bottle covers — it’s like waking up in 1883. Top-dollar Royal Suites feature carved mahogany four-posters, freestanding copper tubs and rain showers; Victoriana Suites are a lavish mix of period wallpaper and tartans; Croft Rooms have cosy cabin beds, some with Highland scenes painted onto the panels by guest artists. Go for a room overlooking the babbling Clunie Water river.
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Food and drink
Score 8/10
Dishes in the Clunie dining room are all about letting local produce shine. Take the Invercauld Estate venison with hot pot, cabbage, baby kale and chestnut and the flavour-packed starter of Perthshire mallard with plum, savoury granola and wild mushrooms. Tip-top local provenance is the aim, and includes an admirable ban on farmed salmon. Chefs can be glimpsed at the open fire on which some dishes are cooked. Diners may also ogle the art, including a Brueghel (the Younger), a stuffed prancing stag, and a vast cubist mural by the Argentinian artist Guillermo Kuitca. Breakfast is also served here, and includes Great Glen Charcuterie cured meats, locally-sourced sausage and egg options to order, and porridge doused with Fife Arms blended whisky and local honey.
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There’s also the Flying Stag, a buzzy bar at the front of the hotel, where local dog-walkers and families gather for upmarket pub grub (venison burger and chips at £18, for example) under portraits of Braemar locals commissioned by the Wirths. There are still some service issues here in the pub, and the not-that-posh food leaves some visitors unimpressed.
What else is there?
Score 7/10
Don’t miss Bertie’s Whisky Bar, a cosy snug that literally glows gold. Drams range from many of the 390 varieties at under £10 a glass, to a £1,200-a-dram 1957 Strathisla. Signalling their commitment to raising food standards round here, the Wirths opened the Fish Shop in nearby Ballater in 2023, too. It’s well worth the cab ride for a breezy, fun atmosphere and excellent fish and seafood all sourced from British day boats. The hotel also offers a range of experiences, including wild swimming and Land Rover tours, as well as writing, sketching and photography workshops.
Where is it?
Score 9/10
To say it’s on the high street is a stretch — Braemar is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village in a hidden crook of the Cairngorms National Park — but it is the biggest show in town. That said, a fancy Highland Games Centre and museum is two minutes’ walk away, and Braemar Castle stands a wee bit beyond. Standing at the confluence of the Clunie Water and Dee rivers, and only 15 minutes’ drive from Balmoral Castle, the hotel is a cracking base for riverside walks — and for winter skiing at Glenshee, ten minutes’ drive south.
Sophie Pither and Jeremy Lazell were guests of The Fife Arms
Price B&B doubles from £434
Restaurant mains from £28
Family-friendly Y
Dog-friendly Y
Accessible Y
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