Hotels in Aboyne

Aboyne makes a quiet, well-placed base for exploring Royal Deeside, with a small but useful choice of hotels and guesthouses around the village green and river. The Boat Inn is the obvious pick for anyone who wants to be in the thick of it, a riverside inn with ensuite rooms, log fires and a beer garden looking over the Dee, all within a few minutes walk of the shops and the loch. Beyond the inn, Aboyne and its surrounding countryside have a scattering of bed and breakfasts and small guesthouses, many run out of traditional stone houses, offering a more personal alternative to a hotel stay and often generous with local knowledge on walks, fishing beats and the best times to visit Glen Tanar.

Self-catering cottages are common in and around the village, ranging from converted farm steadings to modern lodges with views towards the Cairngorm foothills, and these suit visitors planning a longer stay built around walking, cycling the Deeside Way, or fishing the Dee. Families and larger groups will generally find more choice by widening the search slightly to include Ballater, around 10 miles west, or Banchory, a similar distance east, both of which have a wider spread of hotels while still keeping Aboyne itself within easy reach for day trips.

Booking ahead is worth doing around the first Saturday in August, when the Aboyne Highland Games draw visitors from across Deeside and beyond and the villages limited accommodation fills up quickly. Outside of the games, Aboyne tends to be considerably quieter than Ballater or Banchory, which suits visitors after a low-key Deeside base rather than a lively one.