A 150-year-old coaching inn in Islay's most central village.
Eleven individually decorated bedrooms — doubles, twins, a family room, dog-friendly options — right in the middle of Bridgend, with free private parking and car hire for guests. Bowmore, Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain are all a short drive away, which is the whole reason to base yourself here rather than on one coast.
Katie's Bar and the Strath Lounge serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, built around venison, lamb and beef from the hotel's own estate farm, and oysters, crab and lobster from Islay's fishermen. Katie's pours a wide range of Islay whiskies and gins alongside an extensive wine cellar — a proper village pub as much as a hotel bar.
Whisky writer Alfred Barnard slept here — then known as Beul-an-Àth — the night before he walked down to Bowmore Distillery.
From The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom (1887), via undiscoveredscotland.co.uk — cross-checked against the hotel's own history