Balcomie Links Hotel

Pretty hotel, pretty rooms, great sea view, great breakfast and restaurant. Slept very well and enjoyed a lot the sunshine on my face in the morning. Every evening we had some drinks after the golf rounds and the staff is just great. I spent a very nice week here and can't wait to be back!

New management since last here. Vastly improved menu. Enjoyed our meal and drinks. Interesting starter (try the panzanelle, vegan starter, though I’m not vegan!) Tuscan stew hit the spot too. Will return! Also happy with the bill. 2 courses 2 drinks each and £60 total.

Looking at the previous reviews, I am beginning to wonder if I stayed in a different hotel. I booked a double room here for two nights, it cost £185 each night so was expecting more than the 'average' accommodation, especially since this was the most expensive booking in my two week tour of Scotland. However, I was very disappointed that it did not live up to my expectations or the reputation it seemed to have from its reviews. On arrival, we were shown to our room on the first floor, quite a climb with luggage for those who may find that difficult. Unfortunately, there were no towels in the room so I had to return to the bar to ask for some towels, I was met with, "are there any on your bed?" Obviously not. The room was on the first floor and you could see the sea from the window, on the horizon over the rooftops. Sadly, only one of you could enjoy the view from the window as there was one 'dining' chair in this huge double room. Again I returned to the bar, this time to ask if I could have another chair and was told that the previous guests had broken the one in the room and they didn't have anymore. I turned to the restaurant behind me and pointed to the 40 or so chairs and asked why I couldn't have one of these - it was brought up later. We now had two dining chairs and a very small table....and the bed with two bedside tables....and two tall but narrow open-framed clothes racks with three coat hangers each. To say the room was minimalistic was an understatement, sparse and unfurnished (as a reviewer previously mentioned) would be far more accurate. Two lounge chairs and a coffee table would have easily fit into the room and would have significantly helped to make it feel comfortable and cosy and somewhere you could relax. As it was, the room was bare (treated boards for flooring) and consequently uninviting and almost clinical. In addition to a small sofa or two small armchairs which had been standard at all my previous accommodation, the room would have benefitted from having a large mat/carpet, a towel rail in the bathroom rather than two random small hooks (heated towel rails in all of our previous accommodation), and somewhere to 'put things'. Half of the small table was taken by the tray with tea/coffee, etc on it, the bedside tables had a lamp on each and there were 6 coat hangers in total - there was nowhere to unpack despite the huge amount of space. On the positive side, the staff were friendly and welcoming, there is ample parking, cleanliness was acceptable and the breakfast was good - although would benefit from adding fruit and yoghurts as options (something previous mentioned by another reviewer). It really, really felt like a budget hotel - which is fine - if you charge a budget price!