Island hotels in the UK (and Channel Islands)

A single-track road leads to this remote and intimate Skye ‘black house’, with simple, chic bedrooms, glorious views and a restaurant serving a four-course set menu of local produce.

Beside the ferry landing, with views to Mull and Staffa, this family-run hotel and island social hub has smart, uncluttered bedrooms, and short menus of locally fished and farmed produce.

On the Islay Estate at the heart of an Inner Hebrides Island famed for its malt whiskies, this stone-built Victorian hotel in ‘glorious gardens’ sits amid lochs, deserted beaches, and hills roamed by red and roe deer.

Centred on a 17th-century granite house in flower-filled gardens, this well-run hotel offers a good choice of immaculate, individually styled bedrooms, casual and formal dining in bar and restaurant.

Graeme and Emma Clark’s hospitable guest house on the Isle of Islay basks in uninterrupted views over the Mull of Oa; guests often bask in the comfort – and indulgent treats – the hosts provide.

The only hotel on this sparsely populated island has warm, simple bedrooms with contemporary furnishings and appetising, no-nonsense menus of gastropub-style favourites.

'In a beautiful position' on the shores of Loch Na Dal, in the lee of a wooded hill, this former hunting lodge offers 'comfortable bedrooms and public rooms and excellent food'.

On the north-west coast of the Isle of Lewis, Elaine Fothergill and Richard Inger invite you to their traditional Hebridean farmhouse to switch off, unwind and relax.

The actor Colin Firth is a fan of 'the hospitality, the food, the comfort of the rooms', not to mention the location at this sprawling, cliff-top Edwardian house.

Overlooking the white sands of St Martin’s and with views across the waters to Tresco, this long and low stone-built hotel offers a luxurious yet laidback retreat with a private jetty for the ferry from St Mary’s.

Home-baked scones ae among welcoming touches at this smartly furnished B&B overlooking Loch Indaal on the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides.

The sands of time have seen changes at this formerly drab Edwardian seaside guest house, now a ‘beautifully refurbished' contemporary hotel and restaurant.

With their background in TV and film, Sara Curran and Peter Sussman, new owners of the former North House, are experts in presentation.

Down the pretty cobbled streets of St Anne, this contemporary hotel makes a chic base from which to experience island life.

Take the stairs or ride a tiny lift to traditional rooms and suites at this late-Georgian hotel on the promenade; descend to relax in the panelled lounge or to dine on brasserie classics in L’Experience restaurant.

Cross the causeway at low tide to an island ‘renowned for its seafood’, and this gastropub-with-rooms, left empty and derelict from 2013 until Piers Baker (see The Sun Inn,Dedham), stepped in in 2021.

A turreted and gabled summer villa built for the owner of the Newport–Freshwater railway, is now a B&B ‘with the feel of a luxurious hotel’, our inspector reports.

‘Move over restaurants-with-rooms’, this boutique guest house is ‘all about wine with rooms’, writes our inspector.

Arrive on Sark and horses Ronaldo or Willow can be there to collect you, with maybe an 1850s Ferrari Victoria in tow.

Surrounded by Rylestone Gardens, with its tearooms and bandstand, this cottage orné-style Victorian residence is presented in traditional style, with period furnishings and a breakfast cooked by the enthusiastic host.

The ferry from Oban brings you to the sole hotel, now under new ownership and management, on a beautiful island of fine sandy beaches, heather-clad hills, wild goats, ancient woodland, peat bogs and tidal flats.

Decorated in cool Scandi-Scots style, this former crofter’s house on the shores of Loch Dunvegan is a celebrated restaurant showcasing local produce, with, across the courtyard, spacious, split-level bedrooms painted in restful shades.

With possibly the best location in Portree, this former Victorian shooting lodge has spectacular views over the bay and Sound of Raasay to the Cuillin mountains.

With porte cochère, crenellated tower and fine Victorian interiors, this country house overlooking Loch Portree is redolent of the history of the Macdonald family.

Overlooking Scapa Flow, the Doulls’ restaurant-with-rooms has spruce modern bedrooms and a many-windowed dining room, where Paul Doull’s menus of locally farmed and fished produce vie for attention with the seascape.

In a ‘fabulous’ position, this large hotel in lush subtropical gardens overlooks a ‘magnificent’ sandy bay. It is run by ‘extremely friendly, helpful and well organised’ staff.

La Sablonnerie is currently closed. Please contact the hotel to discuss future dates. A horse-drawn carriage conveys you over a dramatic, narrow isthmus 80 metres above the sea to this 17th-century farmhouse on a tiny island with no airstrip, no tarmac road, and no cars.

Pack your Schiaparelli gowns, beach pants and playsuits, and board the 'sea tractor' for a trip back to the 1930s at this Art Deco hotel on a tidal island where the beau monde came to play.

You can sit on the ramparts and watch for puffins, seals and invading armadas over a cream tea at this Elizabethan artillery castle and family-run hotel within star-shaped walls.

'Absolutely faultless from the moment we arrived', Malcolm and Patricia Lewis's manor-house hotel (Relais & Châteaux) sits in landscaped gardens with a lake and specimen trees.

High on the clifftop above St Peter Port, this town house hotel has enviable views over the harbour and neighbouring islands, sleek bedrooms and an established reputation for its food.

The long drive is worth it to this edge-of-the-world location, where a Georgian manse, with pretty, traditional rooms and superb food, overlooks a long sandy beach.

Sitting above a secluded cove on Bryher’s rugged west-facing coast, with 'nothing in between to Canada', this pretty blue-and-white weatherboarded farmhouse-turned-hotel is a '10/10 experience’, say smitten guests.

A short uphill stroll from the boats in the harbour, the Chambers family run their unpretentious, family-friendly hotel in an 19th Century house set in expansive grounds.

If you don’t see owners Amanda and Niall Leveson Gower around their small hotel, they may be at sister venture Hamersay House, or out diving for scallops and gathering mussels for supper.

You’ll find home-baked biscuits and other thoughtful touches in your individually styled bedroom at this warm-hearted farmhouse B&B with views over gently rolling hills.

Sporting a fresh new look in bedrooms and dining areas, the only pub on this family-owned, car-free island still retains its innate charm.

There are panoramic views of the island and Galway Bay from the very spacious, stripped-down-chic suites at this remote, sustainably run island retreat with Michelin-green-starred restaurant.