Set within a former Benedictine abbey on the southern shores of Loch Ness, The Highland Club is one of the most distinctive places to stay in the Scottish Highlands. Occupying 20 acres in the heart of Fort Augustus, its collection of self-catering apartments combines the scale and character of an extraordinary historic building with an impressive amount to do without leaving the grounds.

The Grade A listed abbey has been carefully converted into individually designed apartments, with many retaining original architectural details from the building’s past. Depending on where you stay, that might mean stained-glass windows, high ceilings and vast rooms alongside contemporary kitchens, bathrooms and comfortable living spaces. Apartments range from one-bedroom stays for two to larger two and three-bedroom options sleeping up to six, with views across Loch Ness, the Great Glen, river, canal or surrounding grounds.

It is what sits beyond the apartments, though, that makes The Highland Club particularly unusual. The former abbey chapel is now home to an indoor swimming pool, with a steam room and sauna alongside it. Elsewhere there is a gym, tennis court, sports simulator and Club Lounge, while the extensive grounds offer croquet, boules, giant chess, football, badminton, table tennis and a children’s play area.

For families, it means there is genuinely enough here to build a stay around the property itself. Guest reviews regularly highlight both the breadth of activities and thoughtful touches on arrival, including welcome hampers and children’s gift bags.

Then there is the location. The Highland Club sits beside the Caledonian Canal and Loch Ness, yet the pubs, restaurants, shops and famous lock gates of Fort Augustus are only a short walk away. Its position between Inverness and Fort William also puts a huge stretch of the Highlands within reach, from walking trails and lochs to Ben Nevis and Glenfinnan.

Historic, self-contained and unlike a conventional holiday apartment complex, The Highland Club works particularly well for families and groups who want the freedom of self-catering with considerably more to come back to at the end of each day.