Into Romantasy? Put These 5 Scotland Stays on Your Bucket List

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We're living in an era of "set-jetting," where TV is reshaping the way we travel — turning fictional settings into real-world hot spots. An Expedia trends report found that over 50% of travelers worldwide have considered a destination because they saw it on screen. Scotland has most likely felt that shift more than almost anywhere, thanks to what's been coined the "Outlander effect," which draws millions of visitors to the country every year. And with season two of the new prequel, Blood of my Blood, on deck, the draw is only growing.

What sets the Starz series apart from other TV tourism drivers, like Game of Thrones or The White Lotus, is that its drama is rooted in very real historical events, like the Jacobite Rising and the Battle of Culloden. Blood of my Blood's early-1700s setting digs even further into that history, sitting roughly 29 years before the original series picks up in 1743. It's a bygone world of clan leaders and doomed rebellion — and the inspiration behind the stays we've curated below.

Among this list are locations directly tied to that history, some are the actual filming locations, and others simply immerse you in the feeling of stepping back in time. But (thankfully) all of them come with lush interiors and modern luxuries, because the 18th century sorely lacked on-demand bubble baths and ensuite Nespresso machines. So wrap yourself in tweed and tartan while soaking in the romantically rugged landscape, time-worn castles, a slower pace, and yes, an above-average concentration of men who look good in a kilt, all part of what makes the Highlands such a treasure. Bookmark these five stays the dream trip Blood of my Blood will have you plotting — designed to sweep you off your feet the same way the romantasy that inspired it does.

Hopetoun House & Parkhead House

Starting with the one actual filming location on this list, with the caveat that you can't spend the night inside Hopetoun itself. Instead, you'll stay at Parkhead House, a converted gamekeeper's cottage and 4-star VisitScotland-rated B&B on the estate. Expect fluffy robes and slippers, comfy linens, and what reviewers deem the best Scottish breakfast, served in your suite's own sitting room with organic produce from the Hopetoun Farm Shop.

Hopetoun House itself sits a stone's throw from Edinburgh — a 15-minute drive from the airport — and was built in 1699 by architect William Bruce. Widely considered "Scotland's Finest Stately Home," it served as the ancestral seat of the Hope family for over 300 years. Since 2016, it's stood in for 24 separate sets across the show, and Parkhead's staff can arrange private tours to the most iconic locations, including Midhope Castle — aka Lallybroch, the Fraser family seat — with a chance to find a "wee standing stone" to touch along the way. In the show, touching a standing stone is what sends characters hurtling 200 years into the past. In real life, they’re Neolithic monuments (some more than 4,0000 years old) and magically scattered across Scotland.

Pencuik Estate

The legendary Penicuik has stood on one family's plot of land for four centuries. Their self-catered "houses and hideaways" dotted across the estate, like Clermount and Stable Park, are restored with cozy comfort — think wood-burning stoves, roll-top baths, private terraces built around a Big Green Egg and a cedar hot tub. For larger groups, Penicuik House itself (the estate's restored 16-bedroom manor) can be booked in full, with a private-chef partnership turning out family-style feasts, or arranged privately for the smaller cottages. 

Days can be filled with guided e-bike rides, foraging walks, wild swimming, or a wood-fired sauna — all set within a Designed Landscape dating to 1654, one of the earliest and most complete Enlightenment-era landscapes left in Europe, still tended tree by tree by the same family, down to a 280-year-old grotto tunnel warning visitors to "beware of dark and hidden things." Naturally, everyone touches it for a photo anyway.

Bunchrew House Hotel

Historic, folkloric, and a bit spooky. Bunchrew sits on the shore of the Beauly Firth (a coastal inlet), just outside Inverness. It's close enough to use as a home base for both the city and surrounding areas like the Culloden battlefield, which is about 20 minutes away by car. If you’re making the trek, it’s worth booking one of the four Premium Rooms that are tucked into the original 17th-century wing and offer the largest, most indulgent experience in the house — decked out in tartans, dark antique wood, and distant water views.

The house dates to 1505, expanded into its current shape in 1621 by Simon, 8th Lord Lovat — the family line whose descendant shows up generations later as Jamie Fraser's grandfather in Blood of my Blood. The MacKenzie thread runs deep here too, with one of the oldest rooms carrying the clan's name. Maybe the best part of your stay will be a run-in with their most loyal guest, Isobel (the resident ghost), who’s said to have married the 12th Chief of Clan MacKenzie. Reportedly, she's been wandering the halls for centuries and even has a favorite table in the restaurant, though nobody will tell you which one until you're already seated in it. This stay is a living, sometimes breathing, piece of clan history.

Loch Lomond Arms

Freshly reopened this summer and proud of it. Loch Lomond Arms sits in the quaint conservation village of Luss, right on the shores of the loch and within easy striking distance of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The redesign leans into the inn's 800 years of Colquhoun family history, with 14 individually designed rooms named after actual Colquhoun ancestors (you're welcomed with your room's backstory, narrated on-screen by a Luss local) and roughly 60 percent of the furniture upcycled straight from the family's own collection, some pieces still wrapped in their original title deeds.

The inn started as a 17th-century coaching stop on Luss Estates, land the Colquhoun family has held since medieval Scotland, grounds that also hide the Loch Lomond Faerie Trail, a woodland path lined with carved fairy doors that locals still follow to the Faerie Pools further in, a cold, secluded wild-swimming spot fed straight off the mountain. Egyptian cotton sheets, soaking tubs, and Arran Aromatics toiletries keep things on the luxury side of rustic, and the Map Room, walled in hand-sketched local maps and stocked with whisky, works as the inn's unofficial trip-planning hub. Best of all is the boot room ceiling, wallpapered entirely in Tunnock's teacakes wrappers, the foil-topped, marshmallow-and-biscuit treat that's a mainstay on Scottish tea trays.

Culloden House Hotel

Nowhere on this list puts you closer to the real thing. Culloden House sits on nearly 40 acres just outside Inverness, a mere five-minute drive from the Culloden Battlefield. Inside, you’ll find 27 individually decorated rooms and suites, some with marble fireplaces or crystal chandeliers, pillowtop beds, and views of manicured gardens and open countryside. Dinner takes place in Adam's Dining Room, with a seasonal Scottish menu that’s partly grown in the hotel's own walled garden. For whisky lovers, the Library Bar pours from a collection of more than 120 whiskies, with guided tastings across all six regions if you want to make a night of it.

The current Georgian house is a 1770s facelift of a much older building. Culloden began as a 16th-century Jacobean castle, and it was there, three nights before the Battle of Culloden in April 1746, that Bonnie Prince Charlie set up his lodging and battlefield headquarters, the actual command post behind the rebellion Blood of my Blood builds toward. These days, the only battles fought on the lawn are croquet ones.

See You in Scotland?

Visiting Scotland makes centuries of history feel tangible, something you can walk right into rather than just read about, in every hall, loch, and clan stronghold. Television that weaves very real historical events into a fictional love story only amplifies that pull, whether you're chasing your own hot kilt-wearing main character or just the scenery. Season two hits Starz on September 18, so there's time to line up a trip before or after you binge it. Either way, we're already planning our own, so we'll see you there.