Return of the King

Glen Coe’s iconic Kingshouse Hotel is to re-open in February. Over a year ago the hotel, which sits just off the West Highland Way on the cusp of Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe, closed its doors to guests for a renovation. The plans were to increase the size of the hotel to accommodate more guests, the land agents arguing that the original limited capacity made the business “uneconomically viable”. The plans were met with objections from Mountaineering Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland and the John Muir Trust, but after revisions planning permission was granted by the Highland Council and work began in November 2017.

The hotel was built around the 1750s alongside the military road that ran from Tyndrum to Fort William. It was extended in the 1960s, although these 20th century additions have been demolished as part of the rebuild. The Kingshouse bar will open on Monday 4 February, rooms in the hotel or bunkhouse and tables in the Kingshouse Restaurant will be available for bookings from Saturday 9 February, and The Way Inn, the traditional walkers’ bar located in the original 18th century building, will also re-open on the 9th.

Although the new form of the 250-year-old hotel is still dividing opinion, the general consensus is that its re-opening can only be a good thing for visitors to Glen Coe, particularly those passing through on the West Highland Way, for whom the Kingshouse Hotel has long been a landmark.