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#2 of 5 B&Bs in Durness
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Property amenities
Free parking
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Internet
Free breakfast
Non-smoking hotel
Shared lounge / TV area
Room features
Fireplace
Complimentary toiletries
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Family rooms
Good to know
HOTEL STYLE
Great View
Languages Spoken
English
Location
40Car recommended
Grade: 40 out of 100
4Restaurantswithin 5 miles
18Attractionswithin 5 miles
76Reviews0Q+A4Room tips
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We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
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Fantastic bed and breakfast with great host. Smoo Lodge is located within easy walking distance of Smoo Cave. Communication with the host (Merlin) was great. The B&B had a quiet, high-end feel and my family (couple and 2 teens) enjoyed our two-night stay. Great options available for breakfast and the food tasted very fresh. Great option to explore this beautiful corner of Scotland.
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Date of stay: July 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 23 Jul 2023
Thank you for the review Dan, we appreciate it. It was a pleasure hosting your family and we are glad to read that you had a lovely time here. Merlin & Kyunghee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Kyunghee and Merlin were superb hosts, so kind and helpful. They communicated well from the time we contacted them about the booking. We were greeted with tea and chocolates and learned about the property and the area. Our room was absolutely beautiful, very clean and welcoming, we had everything we needed. The bed was extremely comfortable and the bathroom was a joy with a fabulous shower and a wonderful bath. We had a great breakfast which set us up very well for a hill walk. Overall we had a lovely stay in a beautiful and well appointed place, with wonderful hosts. We look forward to returning and highly recommend this hotel.
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Date of stay: June 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 23 Jul 2023
Thank you Diana for taking the time to leave us a review. It was lovely meeting you both and we're so pleased you enjoyed your stay here in Durness. It was fortunate that the weather was pretty fine, perfect for getting out hiking on the nearby hills. We hope to see you back sometime. Kind regards, Merlin & Kyunghee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Amazing place so clean and immaculate maintained. If you like things to be just right this is the place to stay. The breakfast is something else. We had one of the best night sleeps. Exceptional. Not many places to eat at night unfortunately but we did know in advance. Thank you again.
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Date of stay: May 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 23 Jul 2023
Thanks for the lovely review. Good to know that you had a pleasant stay and that you appreciated all the effort to make the place clean, comfortable and satisfying. Merlin & Kyunghee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Stayed here for 2 nights. Lovely warm welcome with tea and cake on arrival. The house is very sympathetically decorated, cool chic. Great breakfasts. Comfy bed and excellent duvet and pillows. It would be helpful to have the room numbers or names on the bedroom doors, if you are on road trip, one door looks a lot like another! Wi-fi took an evening to connect. It's expensive but a lovely experience.
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Date of stay: September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 23 Jul 2023
Thank you for the review Nik. We're really pleased that you had a good stay and appreciated the luxury aspects and tasty breakfast options. You highlighted some good points that we have been addressing since your visit. We installed a new wifi system this Spring, so the wifi is now much faster, more consistent and very reliable, coping well with everything, even when we are full and have teenagers staying. We are in the process of attaching room name labels to the doors, to make it easier to know which room is which. Regards, Merlin & Kyunghee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Durness is not exactly a riverting place to be, apart from the fact it is on the NC500 and near the tip of north west Scotland. Lots of single track roads, camping sites and camper vans. It is therefore bliss to have this excellent B&B to stay in. Not cheap, no evening meals, but excellent breakfasts and very welcoming owners
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Date of stay: September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 23 Jul 2023
Thank you for leaving us a review, we really appreciate reading what people make of our B&B, as well as the local area, NC500, etc. We're glad that you had a nice stay and appreciated the quality of what we are offering. The price is not cheap, but as so many of our guests tell us they like what they experience here, we are confident people understand why quality costs more and are happy to stay in a luxurious B&B, treating themselves to a great night of rest and relaxation in pleasant surroundings, after a long day of driving or hiking.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
We thoroughly enjoyed our recent stay at Smoo Lodge. Our hosts were very welcoming into their home and this is appreciated. The accommodation is first class, comfortable, quiet and spacious. The amenities and room inclusions were very good. Our breakfast was first class - great freshly prepared food and generous portions. We felt very satisfied after this meal. The Lodge is well located and a short walk to Smoo Cave and the Smoo Hotel. Very pleased that we stayed here, and would happily return.
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Date of stay: June 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 23 Jul 2023
Thank you for leaving such detailed and kind review. It is always nice to read positive feedback and we love it when we learn that are guests have been happy with their stay and enjoyed their time in Durness. We hope to welcome you again. Best wishes, Merlin & Kyunghee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
A fantastic stop on our bucket list tour of the Highlands. We had such a warm welcome which included tea and red wine cake which we highly recommend. We can't recommend Smoo Lodge enough and highly rate this place for the warm welcome, cleanliness, attention to detail and delicious breakfast. We will certainly be returning. Thank you Merlin for your hospitality.
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Date of stay: October 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 23 Jul 2023
We're super pleased that you enjoyed your stay and appreciated the welcome, the work we put into keeping then place clean and presentable and the preparation of a good breakfast. Lovely to meet you and glad you enjoyed the time in our area. Kind regards, Merlin & Kyunghee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
This B&B could be great and I suspect that at some point pre Covid it was. Now however the whole experience was for us very fussy and too rigid to be enjoyable. The room was fantastic and very clean, but the service was very rigid and not relaxed. We arrived 10 minutes early for check in and had to wait in the car outside with another car that had turned up 10 minutes early. We had to take off our shoes and put slippers on, We were ok with that but the slippers for me were too small and it was not a request but an order. breakfast was either 8 or 9 - we wanted 8 and got 8 but the next couple in were unlucky as they wanted 9 and could only get 8. Admin had to be done before we could go to our room with check in forms and breakfast requests made out. The breakfast was mixed, poached eggs on toast were not great, toast was poor and eggs were hard Fruit was excellent but yoghurt was requested and we got two flavours neither of which we liked. all in all an average experience…
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Date of stay: September 2021
Value
Rooms
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 1 Oct 2021
Thank you, David, for taking the time and care to leave your review. We really appreciate all customer feedback and we are also happy to comment on the points you made, to help you, and readers of your review, understand why we do things the way we do. Covid-19 - We are glad that you acknowledged that covid has led to the accommodation & hospitality sectors having to adopt a lot of extra (but very necessary) measures, in order to help keep everyone safe, during this global pandemic. Perhaps you hadn’t realised just how much extra work there is - it has almost doubled our workload, with all the extra cleaning, sanitising and serving implications. We haven’t increased our rates. We also believe it is right to be a bit ‘fussy’, in order to ensure everyone’s safety during this covid-19 pandemic, which is far from over. We are sorry though that these same measures have spoiled the enjoyment of your experience staying here. Most of our guests comment that they feel reassured by the way we are operating, during covid times, so we are disappointed, of course, that you don’t share their view. Our Rooms - It is wonderful to read how you found your room to be ‘fantastic’ and that you also appreciated the cleanliness (something that many of our guests frequently remark upon). Our Service - We are disappointed that you felt the service we provided was too rigid and not relaxed. You did acknowledge that you and another couple had arrived 10 minutes early (our check-in is from 4.00 PM), and we are really sorry that on that day we couldn’t allow you to check-in before 4.00 PM, but our priority has to be safety. We do explain (on our website, our email responses to enquiries and booking confirmations), that we require every minute between check-out at 10.00 AM and check-in at 4.00 PM to get all the work done, e.g., cleaning, sanitising and preparing the guests rooms, as well as all the common and staff working areas. Perhaps you hadn’t read this, or had simply forgotten about our explanation, but we believe we have taken every step possible to pre-warn our guests of what to expect when they arrive at our B&B. Check-in & Check-out times - The information we send out in advance includes our check-in & check-out times, but also our request for guests to kindly remove their outdoor shoes and to then wear the slippers that we provide. To be clear, I say to all guests, when they arrive in our porch, “would you mind taking off your outdoor shoes and putting on the slippers please?”. Some people prefer to keep to their socks or bare feet, and that is fine with us too. I certainly didn’t ‘order’ you to do this, but I did politely request you to do so (as I do with all our guests & visitors), so it is disappointing that you should so disingenuously claim such a thing. Early Check-ins - To give an idea of how early some people try to check-in (despite them knowing what our check-in time is), on the day you arrived, (you were only very slightly early), we had once couple ask to check-in at 12.15, then try again at 14.45, before returning finally at 15.45. Other couples also arrived from around 15.00, so we had to ask them to be patient and wait for us to complete the cleaning and sanitising, to ensure their safety. Outdoor shoes & Slippers - The reason we ask people to not wear outdoor shoes inside is two-fold; firstly, it helps us keep the place clean, but secondly (and more importantly in covid times), it is a preventative recommendation within the Scottish hospitality covid-19 guidelines, as a way of helping minimise the potential for covid to be brought into the house. We trust you will now appreciate why we have adopted such a stance. I am sorry if we didn’t have a pair of slippers large enough for you (we do stock large & medium), but as I mentioned earlier, we are also very happy for people to wear socks or just bare feet, if this works for them. Registration and Covid-19 - It is still mandatory for Hospitality businesses in Scotland to gather, record and retain minimal contact information for all (non-takeaway) customers, visitors and staff. It makes sense to collect this information as guests arrive, so that we don’t forget it, so obviously prior to anyone going to their guest bedroom. We’re sorry if you didn’t like being asked to do the admin (covid-19 ‘test & trace’ check-in & breakfast forms), prior to being shown to your room, but we feel it important to ensure we gather all the relevant information from our guests as soon as they arrive. We do email a copy of the covid-19 test & trace registration form out with our booking confirmation, asking for this to be completed and returned to us ‘as soon as possible’, but it seems that you chose not to do this, hence we had to ask you to complete a paper form upon arrival. Breakfast Forms - We did trial asking people to drop their completed breakfast forms down later, but we found almost 50% of newly checked-in guests would forget to do this (not so with those staying longer), so we now prefer to ask for new guests to complete them at check-in stage. Breakfast Times - Regarding allocated times for breakfast this is also related to our efforts to continue to keep our guests spaced as much as possible, due to covid, but also to ensure that we can serve breakfast without any guests having to wait too long. We are only a small B&B and we cannot serve an unlimited number all at once. We allocate breakfast times on a ‘first come, first served’ basis, and this means some people might not have their first choice. This approach is in line with how many other hospitality operations run (e.g., for evening meals at Smoo Cave Hotel nearby). Again, covid now requires us to serve everything to the table, which means we need to know in advance when our guests are arriving for their breakfast and what they are wishing to eat. The extra workload involved, serving every item, means we have very little slack time, so it is vital that we run to a pre-planned schedule. Breakfast - I am pleased you thought the freshly prepared fruit was ‘excellent’, but I was surprised to read that you weren’t happy with your cooked breakfast and the flavour of the yoghurts, especially as I make a point of asking all guests “Is everything OK with your breakfast?” I recall asking you this and, for some reason, you didn’t raise any issues with me at the time. I would have gladly offered to get you different flavoured yoghurts, but you didn’t mention your dissatisfaction with this aspect. Some guests specify their preferences on their breakfast form, or simply ask me in person, but you did neither, so left me no way to put things right for you. Obviously, in pre-covid times, we were able to leave a selection of breakfast items, such as yoghurt, fruit, juices, etc., out in the dining room for people to choose from, but this simply isn’t permitted at the moment. Check-out - I do my best to say ‘goodbye’ to all our guests as they leave, and I also check with them that everything was OK with their stay. Perhaps, on this occasion, I missed the opportunity with you and your wife? I certainly don’t recall either of you telling me of all the things you were clearly disappointed by, so again, I do sincerely apologise and thank you for bringing them to our attention now. Kyunghee & I are really sorry that you didn’t enjoy your stay as much as we would have liked, especially as we, and our hard-working helpers, strive very hard to provide the highest standards possible, even throughout this trying covid-19 pandemic, which I’m sure you’ll appreciate has made our hospitality operations much more difficult in so many ways. We are extremely proud that so many of our guests tell us how happy they are, recognising and appreciating all the efforts we make to provide high quality, comfortable, clean and safe accommodation for them to stay in. We were also thrilled to be included in a recent feature by The Guardian: 20 of the best UK hotels and inns to rest and relax. Best wishes Merlin Hendy
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Beautiful grounds and views.Very relaxed welcome into the location and offered tea and cake. Very spacious accomodation, bed comfortable, all ammeities available in the room. Breakfast cooked to order, good portions and great taste. Impeccable standards in every department. Unbelieveably high standard of cleaning.
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Date of stay: August 2021
Value
Rooms
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 1 Oct 2021
Thank you for taking time to leave a review for our B&B, we really appreciate it. We are so pleased that you enjoyed your stay here in Durness and thrilled that you appreciated the quality of our accommodation & breakfast. It is pleasing too, to have our cleaning quality acknowledged in such a positive way. Our team work hard to try to achieve the highest standards and it is wonderful that our guests notice and value this aspect, particularly in times of covid. Best wishes, Merlin & Kyunghee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
It was very clean, the breakfast was better than 5 star hotels we have stayed in. Merlin was very attentive but not overpowering. Ideal location to stay on NC500 route (if camping/caper vans are not your thing!). Close to lovely beaches. We would stay again.
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Date of stay: September 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip: Maybe stay 1 night only not because of Smoo Lodge just because there isn’t much to do in Durness...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Response from Merlin Hendy, Owner at Smoo Lodge
Responded 1 Oct 2021
Thank you Wayne, for taking the time to leave a review of our B&B, we really appreciate it. It is pleasing to have our cleaning quality acknowledged in such a positive way. Our team work hard to try to achieve the highest standards and it is wonderful that our guests notice and value this aspect, particularly in times of covid. We are so pleased that you enjoyed your stay here in Durness - we agree, we do have some stunning beaches on our doorstep - and we're glad too that you appreciated the quality of our accommodation, service & breakfast. Best wishes, Merlin & Kyunghee
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
LOCATION
United KingdomScotlandScottish HighlandsCaithness and SutherlandDurness
NUMBER OF ROOMS
4
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Frequently Asked Questions about Smoo Lodge
Which popular attractions are close to Smoo Lodge?
Nearby attractions include Durness Beach (0.7 miles), Balnakeil Beach (1.8 miles), and Smoo Cave (0.2 miles).
What are some of the property amenities at Smoo Lodge?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free wifi, free breakfast, and free parking.
What food & drink options are available at Smoo Lodge?
Guests can enjoy free breakfast during their stay.
What are some restaurants close to Smoo Lodge?
Conveniently located restaurants include Smoo Cave Hotel, Meet And Eat, and Cocoa Mountain.
Is Smoo Lodge located near the city centre?
Yes, it is 0.9 miles away from the centre of Durness.
Are there any historical sites close to Smoo Lodge?
Many travellers enjoy visiting Ceannabeinne Township Trail (0.9 miles).