17 Best Hotels in Aberdeen and the Northeast, Scotland

Right on the River Dee, this Georgian lodge offers the lovely touches you expect at a luxury hotel, but at a moderate cost. Guest rooms are all different but share tweed and tartan flourishes and hillside hues. There's a laid-back atmosphere in the bar and conservatory restaurant. The decked outdoor dining area is delightful for breakfast or evening drinks.

Contemporary style meets original 19th-century architectural detail within this gracious hotel. The color scheme in the rooms and suites emphasizes muted gray, beige, and cream shades, which marks a welcome change from the omnipresent tartanry in this part of the world. Look out for original artwork by Scottish artist John Byrne in bedrooms and public areas, which include a swank cocktail bar. The on-site IX Restaurant is highly regarded.

This opulently quirky, art-filled boutique hotel is a much-needed addition to Braemar's rather thin lodging portfolio. Each room is an art installation in its own right, melding dreamy fantasy themes with heritage elements—think tweed, tartan, velvet, polished mahogany, and four-poster beds. Wood-fired cuisine in the Clunie Dining Room, malt whiskies and craft ales in the Flying Stag bar, and smart drinks in Elsa's cocktail bar add to the elegant mix.

This grand mansion has been turned into a resort with a luxury spa and country club, combining Victorian style with modern comforts. Leisure facilities include two pools (one for toddlers) and tennis and squash courts. The hotel has one of the area's better restaurants, and all rooms and suites have kitchenettes.

Part of a British minichain, this boutique hotel with fabulously comfy rooms and suites---some with terraces from which you can watch the sunset---sets the standard by which all rivals in Aberdeen are judged. Think deep-burgundy-and-purple-velvet throws, softly colored plaids, high-thread-count linens, fluffy robes, stand-alone tubs, rain showers, and luxury toiletries.

This historic yet contemporary hotel in the heart of Rothes is renowned for its luxury designer rooms and suites, its excellent café-restaurant serving hearty pub grub, and its enormous selection of world whiskies and gins, to be enjoyed in the comfort of the stunning Spirit Safe bar. The decor in the public areas is traditional without being stuffy—think floral wallpapers, subtle hints of tartan and tweed, and paintings of pastoral scenes—while bedrooms are elegantly muted, with comfy Hypnos beds, smart TVs, and coffee machines. For the height of luxury, book the Caperdonich Suite, complete with four-poster bed, mezzanine floor with freestanding bath, and mood lighting, as well as a very swish television that folds away into the foot of the bed.

This simply renovated old church, with some interesting architectural features preserved in its public areas, is a comfortable enough base for a night or two in Ballater. The residents-only lounge bar is a cozy sanctum, serving a wide range of malt whiskies. Tables are set outside for summer evenings.

This contemporary bed-and-breakfast couldn't be in a more convenient location or have better views. There are standard rooms on the lower level and, upstairs, two larger rooms, one with its own kitchen and balconies overlooking the sea. Each room is individually designed with original artwork and modern furnishings. Huge, healthful breakfasts are served in the Big Moon Coffee House downstairs, which also serves excellent cakes.

This once-abandoned manse (minister's house) looks as if it has always been loved and lived in: huge bedrooms with wooden floors, antique fireplaces, and large beds dressed in Harris tweed throws are married to contemporary bathrooms. Downstairs the peat fire fills the spacious living room with the smell of rural yesterday. Ample breakfasts are served in the old-fashioned dining room, which looks out onto the front garden. Dinner is available with prior notice.

On one of Aberdeen's most attractive squares, these 18 modern and comfortable suites come with fully equipped kitchens. (Look in the refrigerator and you'll find your continental breakfast.) The rooms are well designed and include luxe touches like LCD TVs and king-size beds. There are lots of complimentary goodies in the bathroom.

Who would expect a rock-chic hideaway in the heart of sleepy Speyside? But that's what this stylish old town house has become. In part, stars like Kate Moss and Liam Gallagher have been lured by the hotel's Quaich Bar, famed for its 900 single malts. But don't overlook sumptuous bedrooms with four-posters, high-thread-count linens, and cashmere-soft furnishings—or the sybaritic bathrooms.

This very-Scottish hotel prides itself on its whisky bar and its friendly welcome. The good-size guest rooms are nothing fancy, but there is a fine standard of upkeep, especially in the bathrooms. The restaurant serves stomach-lining Scottish meals like haggis and steak-and-ale pie. You are sure to gravitate toward the bar, a belt-and-braces affair that stocks 180 malts: the barman will happily talk you through each and every one of them. Between November and February, connoisseurs who spend £50 a night each on whisky (very doable if you stick to high-end, high-priced malts) earn two free nights' accommodation.

Offering a perfect combination of town and country outside the city center, this elegant hotel stands on 11 acres of wooded grounds and combines old and new to impressive effect. Service is equally impressive. The bedrooms are large and softly furnished with huge beds. The restaurant serves expertly prepared local lobster and crab and top-quality Aberdeen Angus beef, and you can choose from more than 400 wines.

Curvy yet sturdy, this former station hotel, now a smart B&B with a popular restaurant, is the social hub of the village. The bedrooms, named after local distilleries, are vivid and fresh, decorated with deep hues and an abundance of snow-white pillows and duvets.

With touches of period charm, this Victorian-era house offers old-fashioned hospitality and simple, understated comfort. The bedrooms are conservatively decorated but pristine, with bathrooms that shine. The lounge and library are all comfort and crackling fires. The conservatory dining room serves an excellent breakfast: the porridge with Drambuie is fit for a queen.

Built in 1822, this gallant old coaching inn has retained much of its period character through its rebirth as a modern boutique hotel. Accommodations are a mix of contemporary, sleekly designed rooms and more traditional bedrooms where tweed and tartan rule. The Grant dining room and Bar 19 are welcoming places for a meal or drink, and the four luxurious self-catering cottage apartments sleeping up to eight are ideal for families.

Built as an Edwardian plutocrat's Highland retreat, this mock-baronial mansion hosted Charlie Chaplin and a clutch of small-time European blue bloods in its heyday. Located on the outskirts of Banchory, it sits proudly within its own wooded grounds and tries very hard to evoke its past grandeur with ultraposh rooms, some with four-poster or sleigh beds, freestanding roll-top baths, and other period touches. Fans of Downton Abbey will love it.