The Fife Arms

About The Fife Arms

The Fife Arms is the most ambitious hotel in the Cairngorms by some distance. A Victorian coaching inn built to serve the traffic drawn to Deeside by Queen Victoria's Balmoral, it was restored and reopened as a five-star hotel filled with commissioned and collected art, from Highland folk pieces to major contemporary works. It now holds two Michelin Keys, an unusual distinction for a hotel this far from a city.

There are 47 rooms and suites, and no two are alike. They are grouped into themed families — Royal and Victoriana suites at the top, then Scottish Culture, Nature and Poetry and the smaller Croft rooms, plus family suites and one-off spaces including an Artist's Studio. Tartan, taxidermy, antique furniture and modern art are layered together in a way that could be overwhelming and instead reads as genuinely considered.

The eating and drinking is a small ecosystem in itself. The Clunie is the fine-dining room, cooking over an open fire; the Flying Stag is the pub, serving Scottish dishes to walkers and villagers alike; Elsa's is an Art Deco cocktail bar; Bertie's stocks more than 500 whiskies; and there is a tea room, a courtyard bar and a cellar wine bar besides. Braemar sits at the foot of the southern Cairngorms, with the Linn of Dee, Mar Lodge Estate and Glenshee all within a short drive, and the Braemar Gathering takes place in the village each September.