Accommodation
Coillabus is an unusual new turf-roofed eco-lodge on the Oa peninsula in the south-east of Islay. Caithness flagstone and oak floors, local tweed furnishing, a sauna and a cedar hot-tub combine in a cosy retreat that sleeps four, with good access to cliff walks, trout fishing (a licence at the nearby angling club is included), golf or tasting the island's famous whisky.
• 07824 567435, coillabus.com. From £250 a night for a couple, or £300 for three or four (three-night minimum, fifth night free); from £1,400/£1,600 for a week. Ferries (calmac.co.uk) run four times a day until 20 October from Kennacraig to Islay, or Flybe (flybe.com) flies twice daily from Glasgow International to Islay
Welsh cottage specialist Sheepskin Life has branched out to Scotland. The Ferry House on Loch Creran, near Oban, has simple interiors, industrial- style lighting, underfloor heating, views of the shore and 66 acres of private fields and forests to explore.
• 01865 764087, sheepskinlife.com, from £600 for three nights, sleeps four
Resembling a princess's castle with its white turrets, but with sleek glamorous interiors, The Cairn is a 10-bedroom boutique hotel opened in Auchterarder, Perthshire, in April. It's part of Aurora Hotels, a small chain of luxury hotels across central Scotland, which is also opening the Colessio Hotel in Stirling later this year.
• 01764 662634, cairnlodge.co.uk, doubles from £165 B&B
A 19th-century hunting lodge built for the Duke of Argyll is now the Putechan Hotel, in Bellochantuy on the western edge of Kintyre, with views of the isles of Islay, Jura and Gigha, a private pebble beach, champagne picnics and a restaurant serving seafood including Loch Fyne oysters, and local whiskies. The rooms are a bit plain and dark, but it's a great location.
• 01583 421323, theputechan.co.uk, doubles from £60
It's a bit of a way off now, but Malmaison is opening a hotel in Dundee next summer, on the site of the vacant Tay hotel, built in 1889. It will have 91 rooms and suites, a brasserie, whisky snug and wine- tasting room. The hotel will be part of a huge £1bn redevelopment called the Dundee Central Waterfront, which will include improved transport, a new civic space, railway station, a new gridiron street layout, and a new V&A museum (to open in 2015).
• dundeewaterfront.com
Things to do
Birdwatchers can spend a day with one of the biggest collections of owls in the world, from tiny scops owls to giant Siberian eagle owls at the new Scottish Owl Centre, which has moved to Polkemmet country park, near Whitburn in West Lothian, a lovely spot for a walk and a picnic.
• 0150-122 8184, scottishowlcentre.com, adult £7.50, child £5.50, family £24
The Stevenson Way is a new wilderness walking route inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 book Kidnapped, in which young lad David Balfour is kidnapped by his wicked uncle and put on a boat bound for America, only to be shipwrecked on the island of Mull on the way – a tale based on a true story. The new route involves a 230-mile hike from the island of Erraid on the west coast of Mull to Edinburgh. The route is not waymarked, so trekkers need to be confident with using a map and compass.
• stevensonway.org.uk
Fletcher's cottage spa is a rustic yet luxurious spa in the grounds of Archerfield House, a 17th-century manor house in Dirleton, East Lothian. Innovative features include a Himalayan salt room and private wooden bath huts serviced by a personal spa butler.
• 01620 897050, archerfieldhouse.com/spa. From £385 for an overnight spa break for two, including B&B in a luxury pavilion room and two spa treatments
In Edinburg, the Michelin-starred Galvin brothers have opened their first restaurant in Scotland, The Pompadour by Galvin, at the Caledonian on Princes Street, which will relaunch as a Waldorf Astoria hotel on 17 September after a £24m restoration. A further, less formal, restaurant, the Galvin Brasserie de Luxe, with a circular dining bar, will open after the relaunch. Both will rely on great Scottish ingredients.
• 0131-222 8888, waldorfastoria3.hilton.com
Canoeists and kayakers could consider paddling the Great Glen Canoe Trail, a new 60-mile route from Fort William to Inverness along canals, rivers and lochs. The trip will take at least five days but there are plenty of campsites en route.
• greatglencanoetrail.info
Cameron House, a swanky hotel on the shore of Loch Lomond, has an innovative take on fitness breaks. Earlier this summer it launched a military-style Boot Camp, with group sessions of outdoor circuit training and orienteering around the Trossachs and the loch. There's a spa to luxuriate in afterwards, and healthy meals such as poached eggs, baked salmon and wild rice.
• 0871 222 4681, devere-hotels.co.uk. Camp £149pp a day (open to non-guests), including breakfast and lunch; rooms from £169 B&B
The UK's most northerly arts hub, the Mareel creative centre, opened last week in the Shetland Isles, and will feature a programme of live music and film, plus facilities for local creative types. The striking new building is on the quayside in Lerwick, next to the Shetland Museum.
• shetlandarts.org
More news and ideas at visitscotland.com/surprise
