Inverness Left Luggage

[CallySleeperKid]

Popping up to Inverness in May and will be arriving early Tuesday morning on the Caledonian Sleeper, but as we will be staying in the Ramada Encore hotel, we can't check in until the afternoon.

Obviously the advantage of the sleeper is gaining an extra day in Inverness, rather than arriving late evening, but thats pointless if you have to drag you luggage round all day, so does anyone have the opening hours of the left luggage, and prices, to leave our luggages there for a few hours until we can check in.

Cheers CSK.

 

[gordonthemoron]

ask at the hotel, most will let you leave your luggage there before check-in and after check-out, free of charge

 

[CallySleeperKid]

ask at the hotel, most will let you leave your luggage there before check-in and after check-out, free of charge

Guest Houses are almost always fine with it, but not to sure witht these budget hotel places, I will ask but would like to have the backup of the left luggage if the hotel are not so welcoming!
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My partner has just decided to tell me that she has already e-mailed the hotel and they will take our luggage if the room if ready, GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Thanks anyway gordon.

 

[Greenback]

It will be fine - we did it last October in the Inverness Encore! If they have any empty rooms they may even let you check in early!

 

[mrcheek]

Speaking of Inverness, I recommend the Royal Higland Hotel, which is where I am typing this from, having arrived on the Highland Chieftain today!
Kyle of Localsh tomorrow, then Wick on wednesday!

 

[142094]

Was supposed to be staying at the Encore in January, but this was caped due to the snow. So now I'm staying in the Royal Highland Hotel in April, when hopefully there will be no snow!

 

[CallySleeperKid]

My budget for this trip shows why im staying at the Encore rather than the Royal Highland!

If you want a real real nice guest house to stay at, look up the Alexander on Ness Bank, right across the river from the cathedral, lovely place, free wi-fi, early check in and late check out (well luggage storage if the room is not ready) and a great breakfast. Oh, and very close to the Castle Tavern, the best pub in Inverness by a mile!

 

[Greenback]

Love Inverness, love the Castle Tavern, but if you;re staying at the Encore, try out the Blackfriars down the road in Academy Street! We were in there every night and there's a huge range of real ales and whiskies as well as good food! It's a lot closer to stagger back from!

The Alexander Guest house looks good!

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Love Inverness, love the Castle Tavern, but if you;re staying at the Encore, try out the Blackfriars down the road in Academy Street! We were in there every night and there's a huge range of real ales and whiskies as well as good food! It's a lot closer to stagger back from!

The Alexander Guest house looks good!

We have visited Blackfriars a few times on our many trips up north, Real ale and whisky, are you sure you don't know who I am?

Im just gutted I won't be there over the weekend this time, as the Sunday afternoon session in Hootanannys is a treat. We have also stayed at the Winston guest house, prob the best breakfast we have had, but only just shades the Alexander, and im talking by a whisker!

For a theme pub, you can't beat the food in Johnny Foxes, very fresh and not what you would expect from pub grub. I have been told to try The River cafe and restaurant, and looking at the website it looks quite nice and very reasonable.

Roll on May!

All tickets booked, we try and take different routes to London for the sleeper, this time we are going Nottingham - Liverpool Lime Street - London Euston. Just not any cheap enough first class tickets available to go Derby - Birmingham New Street - Tame Bridge Parkway - London Marylebone, to take advantage of the superb service on Wrexham and Shropshire. To put it bluntly, the East Midlands Trains first class service is rubbish, so we try and go via different routes, but its the HST ride that make it worth going EMT!

 

[Greenback]

I've been to inverness several times on my own, and once with the missus, and I've stayed at the Royal Highland mostly, but now I'm married it's the Encore for budgetary reasons!

Oh yes, the River' cafe! We had some coffee there one morning and went back for High Tea before catching the sleeper! I had a lovely bit of gammon with vegetables and toast, followed by tea and cakes, all for £10 IIRC! The Mustard Seed also does an early special, I think it was 2 courses for £11.95 with a free drink...

I liked Johnny Foxes, so we went there twice, but Mrs G prefers The Castle and Blackfriars! She is the whisky drinker, I tend to stick to the ale since an unfortunate incident with the malt when I was 21!

 

[george.mikal]

hmmm ok.

 

[CallySleeperKid]

hmmm ok.

Not a fan of Inverness then George :?
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I've been to inverness several times on my own, and once with the missus, and I've stayed at the Royal Highland mostly, but now I'm married it's the Encore for budgetary reasons!

Oh yes, the River' cafe! We had some coffee there one morning and went back for High Tea before catching the sleeper! I had a lovely bit of gammon with vegetables and toast, followed by tea and cakes, all for £10 IIRC! The Mustard Seed also does an early special, I think it was 2 courses for £11.95 with a free drink...

I liked Johnny Foxes, so we went there twice, but Mrs G prefers The Castle and Blackfriars! She is the whisky drinker, I tend to stick to the ale since an unfortunate incident with the malt when I was 21!

Yeah I read about the River Cafe on Trip Advisor and a good few people have recommended the High Tea saying you get toast and preserves choice of meal and a slice of cake for £9.95. We like Johnny Foxes and Castle Tavern for the fresh made food no frozen rubbish and the fact you are not just given chips and peas but offered all sorts of fresh veg and you can tell its all fresh too! Had a drink in Blackfriars a couple of times but yet to give the food a bash. We are the other way round Im the whisky (and ale) drinker and the Mrs is more real cider and ale!

Two or three of my Scotland galleries can be found on my photography site I keep meaning to add the non-railways ones because the scenery itself is worth seeing...... CallySleeperKid Railway Photography.

Sorry to the mods if this is wandering off topic, feel free to move to a different board.

Collected all my tickets yesterday and also booked 4 nights at Romada Encore, for a bargain £63.20 per night online! Being as you have stayed there have you had the breakfast whats the price and whats on offer? Im lead to believe its a buffet style set up?

 

[Railjet]

Speaking of Inverness, I recommend the Royal Higland Hotel, which is where I am typing this from, having arrived on the Highland Chieftain today!
Kyle of Localsh tomorrow, then Wick on wednesday!

I was in Kyle on Tuesday too - I took the afternoon train from Inverness out and back, having arrived from Edinburgh in the morning.

Stayed at a great B&B in Inverness for £40 - the top-rated (by Visit Scotland) in Inverness, apparently. In Edinburgh, stayed at the 4* Frederick House Hotel, just off Princes St - a bargain at only £30 including breakfast at the Cafe Rouge opposite.

Tuesday was a great day to be on the Kyle line - superb weather and frozen lochs and snow-covered hills.

 

[Greenback]

Not a fan of Inverness then George :?
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Yeah I read about the River Cafe on Trip Advisor and a good few people have recommended the High Tea saying you get toast and preserves choice of meal and a slice of cake for £9.95. We like Johnny Foxes and Castle Tavern for the fresh made food no frozen rubbish and the fact you are not just given chips and peas but offered all sorts of fresh veg and you can tell its all fresh too! Had a drink in Blackfriars a couple of times but yet to give the food a bash. We are the other way round Im the whisky (and ale) drinker and the Mrs is more real cider and ale!

Two or three of my Scotland galleries can be found on my photography site I keep meaning to add the non-railways ones because the scenery itself is worth seeing...... CallySleeperKid Railway Photography.

Sorry to the mods if this is wandering off topic, feel free to move to a different board.

Collected all my tickets yesterday and also booked 4 nights at Romada Encore, for a bargain £63.20 per night online! Being as you have stayed there have you had the breakfast whats the price and whats on offer? Im lead to believe its a buffet style set up?

We didn't have the breakfast - on day one we were in a rush to catch the train to Kyl, day two we went to a lovely little 'French' place near the shopping centre for coffee, croissants and baguettes, which were lovely, and on the third day we went to a cafe by the bus station because we just fancied some fresh toast! We don't normally eat breakfast at home, so we tend to only want a light breakfast and usually an hour or so after we get up, by which time hotels and B&B's have finished serving it anyway! I can't remember how much it was, but it was definitely a buffet!

In The River I had fresh carrots, broccoli and new potatoes with my gammon, as I too like variety rather than peas and frozen chips all the time! I'm going to have a look at your pics - thanks for the link!

 

[142094]

Sounds like some good reccomendations there, will have to try out a couple when I'm there. What are prices like up there as well, especially for a pint or three?

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Sounds like some good reccomendations there, will have to try out a couple when I'm there. What are prices like up there as well, especially for a pint or three?

Nothing more than you would expect anywhere, beer prices are average to what you would expect, about £2.50 odd for pints of real ale, Whisky can be different where you go, try and stick to the real pubs like Castle Tavern and Blackfriers, some of the others tend to bump the prices up a little knowing us southern mugs will buy them, but on average you are not gonna find anything to high or low in price.

Im im gonna recommend drinking in Inverness id say stick to Castle Tavern and Blackfriers for your real ale and whisky, you coulc add afternoon drinks and food in Johnny Foxes but id avoid that at night. For live music and good beer, head down to Hootanannys.