In Scotland, Taking the Traditional and Making It New
When Manuela and Iwan Wirth of the acclaimed contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth opened the Fife Arms, their renovated Victorian coach inn in 2018, the Highlands town of Braemar became a destination for design aficionados. The hotel is a glorious mash-up of art, culture and history, where a Picasso is hung upon tartan-clad walls and set off by a ceiling mural by the Chinese artist Zhang Enli, and a watercolor by Queen Victoria hangs a few paces from a hot pink cocktail bar dedicated to Elsa Schiaparelli.
Each of the 46 wildly cozy rooms salutes a notable Scot or visitor to the region (for example, Flora Macdonald, a heroine of the Jacobite movement) and brims with character in the form of eye-catching wall coverings, curated bric-a-brac and artwork. This being the Highlands, the great outdoors beckons. “Ghillies,” or local guides, are on tap for horseback riding, fly-fishing, birding and hiking in Cairngorms National Park (doubles from £600 per night).
Tours
With its widely spread out attractions, wind-whipped landscape and lack of public transport, Scotland can be challenging to tackle on your own, especially if the thought of driving on the “wrong” side is daunting. Highland Explorer Tours offers bus-based group tours ranging from single-day outings to the Highlands (highlight: flying across the arched Glenfinnan viaduct on the Jacobite Steam Train, also known as Hogwarts Express from the Harry Potter films, £185 per person) to six-day trips with stops in Orkney, Isle of Skye and the beaches along the North Coast 500 (£1,509 per person). Rabbie’s Tours offers one-day (£54) and four-day (£209 without lodging) “Outlander”-themed tours centered on filming locations.
For custom private tours, Away from the Ordinary crafts itineraries with eye-popping niche experiences — surfing on the Isle of Lewis; salmon fishing on the insanely scenic River Lochy, in the shadow of Ben Nevis, Scotland’s tallest peak; sampling yet-to-be-released casks at micro whisky distilleries. Beyond activities, the company can secure tucked-away lodging and car transfers (starting at $1,000 per day for a couple, including hotel, guide and experiences, but excluding dining).
Source: The New York Times
