Commanding breathtaking views in the very north of the country, Hope Lodge is a first of its kind in Scotland, a place built to impress the well-travelled with its program centred on adventure, restoration and conservation.
“Oh god, they’re washing our car." We’ve just peeled ourselves away from our palatial room at Hope, on the far north coast of Scotland, to find someone doing their best to bring our worn-out steed up to standard. Nothing here escapes the five-star treatment.
My husband and I are staying on the opening weekend, but you wouldn’t know it’s the team’s debut. Everything is seamless and, I’m not sure, but I think this might be the best place I’ve ever stayed. The result of a company two decades in the making, Hope is the latest opening from the WildLand hospitality group, which has a ‘200-year vision dedicated to the ecological rehabilitation of the Highlands’.
It’s been a hotly anticipated opening, a challenger to the few other wholly high-end hotels in Scotland, offering guests looking for luxury a completely new format. Here, we discover a sort of grown-up utopia of impeccable service, heavenly interiors and an all-inclusive programme to rival any of the best hotels in the world.
Operating on an exclusive hire basis for the majority of the year, the lodge only operates as a hotel – where guests can book individual rooms rather than the whole lodge – during the summer months.
Where is Hope, Scotland?
Hope is set between moorlands and sea in Sutherland, Scotland. (Credit: Nick Law)
Unwind in an untamed, wild landscape. (Credit: James McDonald)
The accommodation is found on WildLand’s 40,000-hectare estate. (Credit: Nick Law)
Good news and bad news. The bad: there is no quick way to reach Hope Lodge; it’s set on WildLand’s 40,000-hectare estate in Sutherland, about as far north in Scotland as you can get, and is a 2.5-hour drive from the nearest airport in Inverness. The good: its position naturally means when you do arrive you’re rewarded with an untamed, wild landscape to unwind in.
The facilities
The Clachan, Hope’s communal space, houses a gym and spa treatment rooms around its courtyard. (Credit: James McDonald)
At first glance, the former hunting lodge could almost appear modest, with pretty 19th-century proportions, including a wraparound porch fringed with a tangle of oxeye daisies, yarrow and grasses. But soon we’re ushered around the rest of the property complete with its summer house, sauna and subterranean level. The owners raised the property on hydraulics to add a basement lair complete with vast bar and lounge spaces warmed by log burners and lit by floor-to-ceiling windows. They also added an underground car park, so cars wouldn’t clutter up the view.
Across the road, the project rolls on in a whole suite of steadings designed by award-winning architects GRAS. They’re built around the concept of community and include a ‘rec hall’, gym and a lounge where guests can mingle, and where regular conservation talks take place.
Conservation
A refreshing beach dip is sure to ignite the senses. (Credit: Rosie Conroy)
The conservation talk explains the owners’ long-haul vision for encouraging the Highlands to recover from overgrazing. With the loss of natural predators, there are now more than a million deer across Scotland, resulting in hillsides devoid of flora that once covered them. The answer, WildLand thinks, is to manage the population through culling.
The topic is nuanced and can be sensitive, but guests are brought along on that journey. A walk to the beach for a bracingly cool dip quelled by hot tea and flapjacks uncovers bog myrtle, blaeberries and an adder – Scotland’s only poisonous snake. This fragile patchwork of plants is needed to harbour habitats and maintain a healthy equilibrium. Less grazing would result in flora regeneration, which helps keep peatlands healthy. These areas are one of the most important carbon stores and provide a home to rare wildlife.
The rooms
The sheets are the crisp cotton kind. (Credit: James McDonald)
In Hope Lodge's rooms you'll find double vanity bathrooms. (Credit: James McDonald)
The Keeper's Cottage has an outdoor
firepit. (Credit: James McDonald)
Hope Lodge sleeps up to 20 guests across its seven rooms and the adjacent cabin, An Cala. There are also two separate cottages overlooking Loch Hope – the three-bedroom Keeper’s Cottage and two-bedroom Ferryman’s Cottage.
Somehow we’ve got lucky and found ourselves with the largest room in the lodge, a Palatial suite of grand proportions with enviable interiors and double aspect windows which each frame a little piece of the spectacular, undulating scenery of hills and glens outside.
The rustic yet elegant Keeper’s Cottage at Hope. (Credit: James McDonald)
The Keeper’s Cottage features timber
and copper. (Credit: James McDonald)
Walls are linen-lined, there’s a batik hanging behind the bed, and the sheets are the crisp cotton kind with immaculately ironed ruffled edges. Double doors open up to a balcony with breathtaking views down towards Ben Hope, Scotland’s most northerly Munro.
During the day we swan around, taking ourselves from writing desk to lounge chairs, through to a bubble bath and back again before we finally agree we should get some sleep before we’re up at 7am again in time for our next wellness fix. When the time does arrive to close my eyes, it’s met with resistance, because sleep means we’re one day closer to departure and saying goodbye to the life I’ve very quickly got accustomed to.
Dining and wellness
Savour homely delights such as oven-warm scones. (Credit: Rosie Conroy)
Hope’s all-inclusive offering ranges from food and drink (well-stocked bars and jars of cookies are dotted around the place, afternoon tea is a given and every mealtime is an event) to activities. This program is unique in the context of the country. Our ‘Daily Rhythm’ starts with a transportive sound bath and yoga on one morning, before a woodfired sauna and a hearty stomp down by the loch. Each evening brings pre-dinner drinks and long, candlelit meals that tumble on through the elastic evenings of summer, stretching out until their eventual breaking point well after my usual bedtime.
The dining area opens out to the scenic Scottish Highlands. (Credit: James McDonald)
These meals are often themed; one night we’re treated to a fully vegetarian dinner, while another evening brings a feast made entirely on the barbecue, from smoky oysters to incredible sharing steaks.
At breakfast there’s an ‘anything you want’ policy, which for us translates to rich and almost sweet venison sausages and gently spiced apple muffins. While lunch takes the form of paper-wrapped sandwiches on the beach or a full spread with other guests in one of the communal spaces, looking through to the the glass-walled, immaculate working kitchen.
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Does Hope Scotland have access for guests with disabilities?
Yes, Hope Lodge has a lift within the main building, making the rooms fully accessible.
Is Hope Lodge family friendly?
Take in the views from Hope Lodge’s conservatory. (Credit: James McDonald)
Children are welcome at Hope Lodge, with a sweet twin room perfect for kids available, but there are no connecting rooms or suites. Families might prefer to make use of the self-catering cottages dotted around the grounds instead.
The verdict
The lodge’s modern interior features a soaring vaulted timber ceiling with exposed wooden panels. (Credit: James McDonald)
With rooms from £1550 a night (or cottage rates from £800), this is a substantial investment in living your best life, but it’s a place impossible not to fall head over heels in love with: a perfect balance of informal and luxury, thanks to the warm, exemplary, anticipatory service and immaculate interiors.
It’s the kind of place that elicits little puffs of joy from you at every turn when you realise they’ve left afternoon tea cake out for you, or that dinner is candlelit, or that the cocktails literally never stop coming. It’s completely spoiling and will change your expectations of what luxury should feel like.
Cost per night: From around £1,550 per night (including food, drinks and activities), based on two people sharing, for a room in Hope Lodge. Cottage rates from £800 per night on a self-catered basis. All-inclusive rates for hiring the whole lodge for groups of up to 20 start from £21,000 per night for the fully-staffed lodge.
Good to know: For majority of the year, Hope operates as a private exclusive-hire accommodation for groups. It only operates as a hotel – meaning guests can book individual rooms rather than the whole lodge – during the summer months.
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Wellbeing means different things to different travellers. Here’s how to pick a hotel that gets it right for you.
The best wellness holidays aren’t necessarily spent wrapped in a spa robe. Sometimes they’re found around a dinner table in Cambodia, on a hiking trail in New Zealand or after finally beating jet lag on the other side of the world. The hotel you choose is what makes them happen.
1. Easy access to good food
Taste delicious meals at Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20.
One of the quickest ways to derail healthy habits on holiday is to spend half of it working out where to eat instead of digging into the culture around you. Thankfully, Novotel has done much of the hard work already, with chefs building menus that lean into the flavours, ingredients and traditions of each destination.
In Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Korkor soup – often dubbed ‘Cambodian ratatouille’ – sits alongside raw blue crab dressed with lime and chilli, best enjoyed with views across the Gulf of Thailand.
In the lovingly chaotic city of Bangkok, the presence of food cranks up the sociability. At Novotel Bangkok Sukhumvit 20, you can settle in with mango sticky rice and stranger-turned-friends beside the pool at Sky on 20 rooftop bar, or bring them along to tackle river prawns and stir-fried crab with holy basil at the buzzing Crab Paradise Dinner Buffet.
Then Novotel Dubai Al Barsha welcomes you with a laidback twist on the level of indulgence the Middle Eastern city is best known for up on Deck Se7en. Looking towards Burj Al Arab, the rooftop lounge has everything from Mediterranean-style dishes like seabass ceviche to Italian prosecco sundowners.
At the other end of the scale, in the hills that surround the Novotel Bali Ubud Resort, calm comes from nature. At Siralada restaurant, Balinese traditions shape the menu while thunder rumbles over the surrounding jungle – proving the setting is as nourishing as the food itself.
While at Novotel Nha Trang, chef Kieu Thi My Hanh and her team showcase Vietnam’s knack for balancing freshness, texture and fragrant herbs. Pho remains a favourite, while seafood salad with pomelo and mango brings those flavours together in one bright dish.
It’s all an approach backed by partnerships with expert food creators such as Alfie Steiner, whose plant-forward recipes prove healthy food should never taste plain.
2. Better sleep options
Sleep deeply with Novotel.
There are few travel experiences more disappointing than arriving in a new country, determined to seize the day, only to fall asleep fully clothed by 3pm.
For Australian travellers, jet lag is often an unavoidable part of the journey. That’s one reason Novotel runs sleep-focused initiatives that help guests adjust quickly without compromising on health. We’re talking partnerships with Sydney-based sleep specialist Olivia Arezzolo, known for her advice on everything from better sleep habits to beating jet lag, alongside features like pillow menus, in-room yoga content and tailored sleep guidance.
The sooner you’re operating on local time, the sooner you can get back to more pressing matters – like deciding which spa treatment to book.
3. More ways to move
Stay at Novotel Queenstown Lakeside and explore local hiking trails. (Credit: GettyI mages/ naruedom)
Every place in the world has its own way of getting you moving: whether that’s hiking up ice-bitten mountains before a sauna or gentle stretching by the pool before a facial. From fitness centres to spas, Novotel recognises that wellbeing rarely looks the same.
At Novotel Queenstown Lakeside, activity is inescapable. Here, hiking trails, ski fields, bungee jumps, and white-water rafting have made the region famous. The hotel’s location on the shores of Lake Wakatipu means less time spent organising yourself and more time out there experiencing them. To top it all off, you can book a private hot tub for the evening before heading back into the wilderness tomorrow.
Bali, of course, takes a softer approach. At Novotel Bali Ubud Resort or Novotel Bali Nusa Dua, movement is less about conquering a mountain and more about a dance class between the tropical gardens and lagoon pools. Afterwards, the spa takes over, with traditional treatments like a Lulur body scrub: a combination of rice, turmeric, sandalwood, ginger and jasmine that’ll soothe muscles already relaxed by the Balinese heat.
4. Better connections
Kids will love a stay at Novotel Sharm El Sheikh.
One of the best things about travel is that it gives your family stories you’ll be telling for years. Novotel helps create them with activities that bring everyone together, whether that’s trying something new, learning a local skill, or simply spending more time together.
Go for a distinctly Thai twist at Novotel Phuket Vintage Park, where many of the family activities draw on local culture. Kids can try everything from beginner Thai boxing and language lessons to umbrella painting and – a pastime beloved by children the world over – pool foam parties. Everyone is welcome to join in, whether that’s getting splashed, covered in paint, or simply watching their children discover a new side of Thailand during the dedicated Family & Kids Day.
A different adventure awaits at Novotel Sharm El Sheikh. Kids could be perfectly content with discos, drawing classes and new holiday friends, but the Red Sea has other ideas. Sitting on the edge of Naama Bay, days here might involve snorkelling colourful reefs, taking a boat trip to Ras Mohammed National Park or heading into the desert by quad bike or camel for a Bedouin-style dinner beneath the stars.
Everyone’s idea of wellness looks a little different. With more than 600 hotels across 65 countries, Novotel gives guests the freedom to choose the destination that suits them best. Whether that’s a beachside escape in Phuket, an alpine expedition in Queenstown or a city break in Bangkok, there’s a good chance a Novotel isn’t far away.
All that’s left? Choosing your version of wellbeing.
