Loch Ness Clansman Hotel

I didn’t stay at this hotel but I did shop at their gift shop: Loch Ness Nessie Shop. We had time before and after our Loch Ness cruise to shop here before moving on to our next destination. They have a lot of Scottish souvenirs here along with some essentials like tissues and cough drops. They had a lot of Nessie stuffed dolls and stuffed Highland coos (cows). They even had Nessie condoms if you believe it.
The staff was really kind and efficient. I found these really cute Scottie dog earrings in sterling silver here. They also sell whiskey and lots of it. They had gift sets but won’t sell any alcohol before 10 am. I bought a few bottles and a small souvenir gift set of Isle of Islay single malt whiskey. They did not permit photos to be taken inside the gift shop.

Pendant notre voyage autour de l’écosse nous avons décidé de nous arrêté au Clansman Hotel et nous n’avons pas été déçus ! Bön accueil et belle chambre dans le pur style écossais ! De plus l’hôtel est situé juste au bord du lac et propose donc des excursions en bateau jusqu’au château urquhart, il y a aussi un magasin proposant plein de produit de l’Ecosse ! On recommande !

Stopped here not by choice, because the tour I was on brought us here. There was a bar on the first floor (second floor in US terminology) so I grabbed a beer and looked at the lake for the better part of an hour. The gift shop downstairs has lots of Loch Ness memorabilia and apparently there’s lots of theft because there are «don’t steal» signs everywhere.
Across the street from the hotel is a dock where boats that tour the Loch Ness leave from. I didn’t want to go on the boat ride because it was like £15 for a 30-​minute boat ride. More importantly, they also don’t guarantee seeing Nessie. I wish stopped by the Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition instead for better speculative stuff about the monster.
This hotel is basically as touristy as you can get.

Ordered four rooms, only one was wrong…
After a day of exploring, we pulled up to the Clansman. Our Bride-​Guide checked us in since she made all the arrangements… all we had to do was pay on check out. She came back and said she had bad news: there were four rooms for us, but… they did give her one room with twin beds for the non-​couple and two other queen rooms. There was supposed to be another queen room, but instead we got a twin room. That’s fine. Imagine if it was the other way… our friend’s parents said they’ve slept beside each other for many many years, so it doesn’t matter for just one night. They did offer to move them to another room, but it wasn’t in the main part of the hotel.
Yes, they do have an elevator… it’s really just a wheelchair lift, but we were told we could use it. Not the kind that goes up a staircase, but off to the side. It goes up to the check in desk on the lounge/​restaurant floor. They have wifi! I had some Simpsons Tapped Out to play, so I stayed in the room for a bit. No tub in the bath, only a shower. Their toiletries are not mini bottles… the rooms are comfortable and it’s quiet here.
We all met in the lounge with another couple who were making their way to the wedding on their own. We sat around imbibing until our table was ready. Dinner was really good. I was told not to order pasta because as with Scottish Mexican, Scottish Italian wasn’t that great either. Fine, that’s fine. I spotted my love on the menu anyhow: deep fried haggis balls with a whisky cream sauce. Ahh… I also stole fries from my husband. The big showstopper moment for me was the pavlova. While the bride got Banofee Pie, I saw patron after patron get this. I wanted to like it, I really did. These are the things I live for… but it was super hard. Like I could use it to hammer a loose nail or something. Not even the copious amounts of whip could save it. I ate as much of it as my dental work would allow. I guess I’m just used to it being marshmallow-​y on the inside. This was dry.
The next morning we met for breakfast. Hi-​five for the full Scottish. This was lovely. Off to the side was a full buffet of cereals, canned fruit and fresh fruit and juices. The bride’s brother ordered what he thought was the best oatmeal he’s ever had. It was the cream.
They have signs on the road saying use the underpass to get to the water’s edge. Had I not told my husband, he would have just tried to cross the highway to get there to take photos. He didn’t not find Nessy. They do have a gift shop, but I didn’t look inside. I had to guard the luggage as they Tetris-​ed it into the back of the van.

We booked two rooms online — one with two single beds on the non-​view side and one with a double bed and a single bed with a view. I reiterated in the online booking that we needed two beds in the room that could be made up with one big bed or two small beds.
We arrived and the check-​in man was friendly, gave us our keys and we went upstairs to our rooms. This is where things went terribly wrong.
1. Both rooms were non-​view
2. The room that was supposed to have two single beds only had a one double sized bed
I went back down and explained our booking to the desk clerk in a «I’m sorry, I think there was a mix up, can you fix it» sort of way. He immediately became defensive saying we hadn’t booked the rooms I said. I showed him my booking and still not believing me he went to find his copy of my booking. After a few minutes of shuffling and arguing AT me saying it wasn’t his fault over and over (I just wanted him to give us two rooms with two beds… I didn’t really care who’s fault it was at this point… I had the proof in front of me I was clear in my booking) he pulled it out without showing me saying his didn’t match mine. I asked to see it (it looked just like mine) and I pointed out the two rooms and my comment for clarification — all were crystal clear.
He remained defensive and said he couldn’t help me. I pushed further reiterating we needed two rooms with two beds. He tried to take the one room with two beds we did have away from us and put us in 4 separate rooms. I had to solve this problem for him:
me: «Why don’t you let us keep the one room with two beds without a view and give us another room with two beds with a view.»
him: «I don’t have another room with two beds. Everybody’s already checked in»
(we arrived really early, btw)
me: «Well, we booked two rooms with two beds — one needs a view.»
him: «I can give you four different rooms.»
me: «Let us keep the one room with two beds without a view and make up one of your king rooms with two single beds.»
him: «It’s too late to do that.»
me: «Then, how are you going to solve this?»
*pause*
him: «I’ll let you keep the one room with two beds and I’ll give you two separate rooms with double beds with a view.»
me: «I guess we’ll have to take that then. Thank you.»
me: «Now, you aren’t charging us for that 3^rd room, right?»
him: «No, I’m high enough to allow you to have the 3^rd room on us.»
Now to the rooms. They were «just ok»:
–Mildew-​y and a bit shambly
–Teeny Tiny tv on the wall
–The free WiFi doesn’t reach the rooms
The only two decent things about this place:
–the food in the restaurant was pretty good
–the Loch Ness boat tour is across the street

Didnt stay at the hotel but did have drinks with lunch which was wonderful. Great salads and sandwiches. Amazing view!!!

My boyfriend and I chose this place mostly because it seemed like the best value (read: not too expensive and also not too sketchy). It turned out we were right!
We’d reserved a room on the woodland view side, after deciding that the extra 30 quid for the lochside view wasn’t really in our budget. It was very cool then, when we checked in and were given a lochside room anyway!
I realize there’s no guarantee of this happening to anyone else, but it seemed like there weren’t many people there, so my guess is that they upgraded the few guests there since they had the rooms open. The view was amazing.
The rooms have plenty of coffee and tea, and also some really nice shortbread. The bathroom was great too — heated towel rack and really nice shower. It really made us feel like we were in the kind of luxury hotel we can’t normally afford. The people were all just incredibly nice, too.
The breakfast hours are early — 8:00 — 9:30, but that’s the best breakfast I’ve ever had in a hotel and among the best I’ve had in a restaurant. It’s included with your room tariff and you can get as many of:
Cold cereal
Toast (with individual jars of jams and honey)
Fruit
Porridge (with plenty of cream)
Eggs
Beans
Tomato
Mushrooms
Haggis
Black pudding
Sausage
Bacon
Tea
Brewed coffee (Very decent, better than any hotel coffee I’ve ever had)
Juices
…as you want. I had porridge, eggs, tomato, and mushrooms. All were exactly right. The porridge was heavenly. My boyfriend had everything but mushrooms and loved it all. It definitely kept us going throughout the cold, rainy day we had ahead of us.

This is a fantastic hotel on the banks of Loch Ness.
I’ve never stayed in the hotel but I can tell you about the coffee shop, bar and restaurant.
The hotel is situated half way along the main road to Drumnadrochit on the side of Loch Ness and is one of the stops for the Jacobite Cruises, therefore it is obviously very touristy. It does however meet the needs of both nessie hunters and those who are there for the scenery.
The coffee shop is situated at the other end of the shop (nessie in every shape and form you can possibly imagine). It serves good coffee, fantastic cakes from the nearby Cobbs bakery and light snacks.
Upstairs in the hotel is the bar and restaurant area. The view from the bar area is phenomenal and there is nothing better than sitting in the window with a glass of wine watching the water whilst the sun sets behind you (the food is also pretty good and reasonably priced).