Grant Arms Hotel

About Grant Arms Hotel

The Grant Arms occupies the square in Grantown-on-Spey and traces its history to 1765, making it one of the oldest hotels in the Highlands. It holds an AA four-star award and has 51 rooms, which makes it substantial by Cairngorms standards while remaining recognisably a town hotel rather than a resort.

Its distinguishing feature is the Bird Watching and Wildlife Club, established in 2008 and open to guests. The hotel positions itself as a centre for wildlife tourism in the national park, running an expert-led programme of guided walks, hides, talks and day trips covering the species people come for: osprey, capercaillie, crested tit, crossbill, red squirrel, mountain hare and red deer. For anyone whose holiday is built around wildlife, that structure is worth more than any spa.

Rooms are straightforward and well equipped, with hospitality trays, controllable heating, flat-screen televisions and free wi-fi. There is an award-winning restaurant and a whisky offer that reflects the hotel's position on the edge of Speyside. Grantown itself is a handsome Georgian planned town with a good high street, an eighteen-hole golf course and the Anagach Woods on its doorstep, and Aviemore is about twenty-five minutes away by road.