Inside Newtonmore Hostel

Ten beds in three small rooms, a wood-burner in the sitting room and a kitchen big enough to make supper without queueing. The building has been a hostel for over thirty years and most of it hasn't changed much — the carved wooden signs on every door were made by hand by an earlier owner and we kept them all.

The sitting room

Three armchairs facing a wood-burner, a blue futon under the window, and a bookshelf with the kind of books people actually leave behind — walking guides, dog-eared paperbacks, a chess set with all the pieces. The stove is lit on cold evenings.

There's a TV no one really watches and a Bluetooth speaker that you're welcome to take over for an hour.

  • Wood-burning stove

  • Books, board games, a chess set

  • Bluetooth speaker

  • Plenty of seats for ten people

The kitchen

A proper communal kitchen — not a microwave and a kettle. Two hobs, a full oven, a fridge with each shelf labelled with a room name. Mugs are polka-dotted, plates are stacked. Bring food, or pick something up from the Co-op on Main Street, two minutes' walk.

What you'll find

  • Oven, two hobs, microwave, toaster

  • Fridge, freezer, kettle, French press, tea bags from the local shop

  • Pots, pans, casserole dishes, measuring jugs, sharp knives

  • Crockery and cutlery for at least twelve

  • Washing-up liquid, sponges, tea towels — you wash up after yourself

The drying room

Few small Highland hostels have a proper drying room. We do, and it's been well used over twelve years of walkers. Wet boots and waterproofs in by the evening, dry by morning. There's a hand-wash basin and a spin dryer for anything that needs more than air.

  • Heated rails for waterproofs

  • Boot rack

  • Hand-wash basin

  • Spin dryer for socks, base layers, anything small

Bathrooms

Two bathrooms on the corridor, shared between three rooms. Electric showers with proper pressure. There are no en-suites anywhere in the hostel — that's the price of a building this old, and the price stays low because of it.

Hot water on demand, no time-of-day restrictions, no key card system. If you want a 6 AM shower before a hill day, the shower will be ready.

Outside

A small garden with a picnic table at the front and a bench at the back, both well placed for the evening sun. Bluebells in spring, allium and chives in summer, red maple in autumn. The garden catches the last of the day's light a good half hour after the rest of the village is in shadow.

Bike store round the back, bins to the side, a tap if you've been kayaking and want to rinse off a kit bag.

A bit of history

Newtonmore Hostel has been a hostel since the early 1990s. Most of what makes it feel like it does — the wooden signs above every door, the bookshelves, the way the kitchen flows into the sitting room — is the work of earlier owners. We took over in March 2026 and we've changed almost nothing on purpose.

Part of the building is a former coach-house stables, which is why some of the walls are thicker than others and some of the floorboards have a story.

What we don't have

We think it's fair to tell you up front. We don't have a bar, a restaurant, or breakfast service. We don't have en-suite rooms, lifts, or laundry facilities. We don't have on-site parking — the village square is a one-minute walk and is free. We don't have 24-hour reception (check-in is 16:00–21:30; WhatsApp us if you'll be later).

Everything else, we hope, you'll find more than enough.