The Boat Country Inn & Restaurant

This place is quite mad and not in a good way.||||When we arrived there was a queue to check in (and not quite sure why it was taking so long), so a member of staff gave us our room cards to save us waiting. That was nice, but he could have taken an opportunity to explain dining options and where the bar was.||||The room itself was clean and spacious but ideally a mirror near a window would have helped. The shower in the bathroom had low pressure. The roll top bath was beautiful, however, there was no bubble bath and the shower gel was in a fixed container in the shower so that was annoying. ||||Dinner was very random. Firstly a pint of Guinness is £7 which is more than London prices. We were seated down and the seats had crumbs on them. The young waitress was lovely but two other members of staff were very random. One just didn’t speak and the other decided to complain to us that she wasn’t meant to be on shift. Okkkk?! The food was good and my steak pie was excellent. ||||There are also no signs for the bar at all which would have been handy.||||Thete was also some man wandering around. I think he may be the owner but he never talked or offered any customer service and felt like some kind of weird ghost. Very bizarre. ||||Someone we were travelling with had housekeeping enter his room without knocking while he was still his room.||||Overall, it’s a great location with lots of potential but definitely needs to improve its processes and staff training.

I’m genuinely surprised by some of the lower reviews—my experience was lovely. My room was spacious and offered a pleasant view of the garden area just beyond the parking lot.||The hotel itself is full of character, housed in an older building with charming quirks like narrow staircases and creaky floorboards. There was a cozy fire crackling in the fireplace and inviting chairs perfect for reading or relaxing.||My room was decorated in a traditional country inn style, and while the bed was simple, it was comfortable and sufficient for a restful night.||I also dined at the hotel on two evenings and was thoroughly pleased. The Butternut Squash Risotto on the first night was delicious, and the second night’s selection of appetizers—including marinated olives and lentil soup—was equally satisfying. Both meals ended with outstanding desserts that perfectly capped off the evenings.

Had a wonderful overnight stay at The Boat Inn in BOAT of Garton last weekend. Enjoyed gorgeous evening dinner, breakfast and afternoon tea and also a trip on the steam train. The bedroom could be updated slightly. But the staff and service were absolutely brilliant, far exceeding our expectations. Very rarely is a welcome at a hotel so amazing. Hard to know how the owner can get every member of staff to be so friendly, accommodating and go above and beyond. Staff are just wonderful. Food is really lovely. The hotel is set in beautiful countryside and would make an ideal base for seeing this scenic area of Scotland. Steam trains, bike hire trips, walking this place has it all. We will definitely be returning as soon as possible. Thank you to the wonderful team.

Gorgeous Scottish hotel. This time round we had a huge 'garden room', with lovely views over the garden, and the sweet steam train station to the mountains beyond. Even had a rainbow when we arrived! Breakfasts are delicious and plentiful. The 2 restaurants are always pretty packed for dinner, so must be popular! Perfectly situated for Aviemore, and even Inverness. We will be back!!!

Stayed here last night on our way to meet family nearby. Hotel is lovely. Rooms and bed comfy. Had some food and drinks downstairs, and joined in the pub quiz. Great fun for all l. Breakfast had a great selection to choose from. Already recommended it to family when next visiting.

Absolutely loved our stay here. The Garden Room was just perfect for us and our two dogs. The room was very spacious and comfortable, plenty coffee and tea, and the Highland Soap Company toiletries in the bathroom were a treat to use. Actually a favourite of ours that we use at home so we were happy. Everywhere was lovely and clean too. The food was fab and the breakfast was excellent. And it’s a beautiful hotel, the interior is stunning and the staff were lovely. Would highly recommend and will definitely stay again.

The food was delicious. I had the salmon and my husband had the braised beef. Both were excellent. They were short staffed the evening we were there but the few employees taking care of everyone worked so hard to make sure we still had a great dinner. Highly recommend!

Having stayed a several times at the Boat Country Inn & Restaurant over the last 4 years, this stay was equally enjoyable. The location of the hotel is perfect for us, with plenty walks and a short distance from aviemore. The rooms a perfect and provide everything you would need during your stay. We have stayed in all room types and this time we were lucky enough to get an upgrade, due to it being our anniversary. We enjoyed the views from the room while enjoying a complementary bottle of Prosecco. The food never disappoints and is always cooked to a high standard and the sausage for the dog at breakfast is a lovely touch. Finally, the staff and service is always first class. The boat country inn and restaurant is always our destination of choice when visiting aviemore and would highly recommend.

We stayed here in October of 2022. It was extremely outdated, though it looked clean and was still more comfortable than one of our worse stays. With a little effort to bring in some modern edges, this hotel could be very charming to allow comforts of modernity while honoring a more historic feel, unfortauntely that wasn't what we experienced. There was a huge dip in the center of the bed, which was squeaky. The bathroom was an odd layout, and had a metallic or slight sewage smell about it. Breakfast was pretty awful and bland: eggs were watery, coffee was sludge. Happy we only had a brief night there.

Myself, my wife and my dog had a great stay here on the 2016 May Day holiday weekend. We picked up an incredible deal from a voucher website, however it's worth knowing that they do run these offers directly themselves so I would suggestion going directly to try and give them a little more money into their own pockets. All of the staff (most of them from the rest of Europe which I slightly odd in the Highlands!) were very friendly and they all made a fuss of Luna. The food we had was very nice. The starter portions were a little small, but when you saw the size of the mains it all made sense as a bigger starter would mean not being able to finish your three courses! They have a real ale available which is usually Trade Winds from the local Cairngorm Brewery. However it is expensive at £4.70 a pint, but well-kept and flavoursome. If you are lucky like we were you might also get a view from your room to the adjacent Strathspey Steam Railway - excellent for train enthusiasts!

The Boat Hotel is a very nice hotel. It's just that simple. Yes it has it's flaws but this is an old building. All the floors creak, all the heavy doors bang but in my opinion that's all part of the experience. We stayed DBB (3 course set menu) and we spent most nights eating in the hotel. The food was great, they done a very nice fish and chips, and the leek and potato soup was great. On the Saturday morning we had breakfast in the room (£5 tray charge) which arrived on time and was very nice. We love a good coffee and the standard coffee served with breakfast was full of flavour. We stayed 3 nights, checking in on Friday afternoon. We arrived before the 3 o'clock check-in time but the room was ready and we were able to get settled right in. We were in a simple classic room but it had a nice enough view. The bathroom window faced a wall that was literally a foot away, which was weird but really that made no difference. They had a nice blind covering it up. The room was very nice but nothing to go crazy about. The hotel is pet-friendly and we left our two dogs behind for this trip. We could see the garden rooms from our window and our dogs would love it here. So we will definitely return with them in the future. I just hope the rooms will be suitable for our two big German Shepherds! Also if you're city folk (like us) who are used to phone signal and high speed internet this is not the place for you. We got phone signal most of the time but we could not access data services on our phones. I done a speedtest on the wifi and it got 1.8Mbps download speed and around .26Mbps upload speed. No doubt this is the standard around the area and not a reflection on the hotel directly. Overall we had a great weekend and will definitely come back with the dogs.

Quick update, found an Italian-styled (I know right) patio shortly after. Absolutely packed by Boat Hotel standards. Guess what? They served us.