Best Pubs in Scotland
Published 24 November 2025

The Applecross Inn is legendary for its food, craic and location. At the end of the nail-bitingly vertiginous Bealach Na Bà Pass, it’s the highest and one of the hairiest passes in Britain – and a highlight of the famous North Coast 500 road trip. A sign at the bottom reads ‘normally impassable in wintery conditions.’ The less intrepid can curve around the coast from Sheildaig.

Run by Judith Fish MBE since 1989, this whitewashed pub with rooms attracts a steady stream of bikers and campervan holidaymakers ready for a nerve-calming dram (there are over 50 malt whiskies on offer) or a pint of ale from the locally owned Applecross Brewery. Outside, a smattering of picnic tables huddle above a rocky beach with dreamy wide-angle views over to the Isle of Skye and Raasay, while a converted silver airstream caravan (the Inn-Side Out) offers fish and chips, ice cream and coffee to go.

Inside, it’s properly old-school, shabby but not chic: red carpets, orange pine panelling, the bar strung with fairy lights, a large wood-burner. The menu naturally showcases local seafood: Applecross Bay prawns or langoustines swimming in hot, garlicky butter; plump hand-dived scallops; local oysters; smoked salmon and crab. In terms of portion size, read: huge. Haggis flambéed in Drambuie is a plate-scraping show-stealer, while a luxurious special of seafood linguine in Champagne butter sauce is worth the hefty price tag. The menu also includes excellent fish and chunky chips (haddock, of course, as this is Scotland) alongside steaks, burgers, Thai curry and vegetarian chilli. Desserts are in the same vein, huge portions of pub classics ranging from fruit crumble to cranachan, a muddle of fresh raspberries, cream, whisky, oats and meringue. 

Halfway up the Southern Upland Way, alongside the Galloway Forest park, the Clachan is in a world of its own. Get off the M74 and turn left at Gretna Green. A whitewashed village inn with slate floors, antique panelling and a bar festooned with dried hops, it runs to a template that will have your metropolitan friends turning green with envy. The bothy takes the overspill from the main dining area – and there is nearly always overspill, so popular is the locally sourced, smartly presented cooking.

A game-season starter might partner Gelston partridge with pickled pear, golden raisins and a hash brown done in duck fat, or look to potted shrimps with pickles of kohlrabi and cucumber. Loin of the local venison goes into a labour-intensive main course with a pie of the braised shank, with fondant swede and red cabbage for company, while the marine option might team monkfish and mussels against a backdrop of celeriac, 'nduja, black olives and samphire.

At the end, there might be buttermilk panna cotta with rhubarb and gingerbread, or a platter of Scottish cheeses with oatcakes and chutney. The short wine list is founded on a bedrock of seven wines by the glass, from £3.25.

The sign outside this whitewashed 17th-century inn – and its logo – reference the local custom of curling on the frozen waters of nearby Loch Kilconquhar, although most attention focuses on the output of the pub's kitchen these days. This part of Fife feels fairly remote, but chef/co-owner James Ferguson is plugged into local supply lines – not least from the Balcaskie Estate, which oversees 2,000 acres of mainly coastal farmland hereabouts.

Menus change daily, depending on what produce arrives at the kitchen door, so expect anything from refined seafood dishes such as steamed razor clams in oloroso to a starter of Shetland lamb offal, fired with pickled chilli and served with yoghurt flatbread. Line-caught mackerel might take its place among mains, grilled and served with horseradish-infused baby beetroot, while russet Tamworths provide the pork chops that are cooked with fennel, onions and sage.

When it comes to finishers, homemade ice creams with oaty shortbread are hard to beat, or look further afield for a sorbet of Amalfi lemons soused in Polish vodka. Drinks include craft beers and cider, plus a short but enterprising wine selection.

There are tables outside for the balmy seasons, and an air of simple rusticity within (complete with candlelight in the evenings) – thanks to co-owner Alethea Palmer, who runs the place with appreciable cheer and a breadth of welcome that extends to pre-advised dogs in the bar area.

Located in what is possibly Perthshire’s prettiest village (with glorious river views), this aptly named all-purpose destination is an asset to any community. Factor in some very decent cooking and you also have a bright spot on the local dining scene. It's all down to Fraser Potter, who took over this live music venue (once owned by singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean) and turned the riverside car park into a beer garden partly sheltered by a stretch tent (this is Scotland, after all), complete with firepits, a pizza oven, long tables for communal feasting and an outdoor bar. The Taybank even has its own riverside cinema, while the original bar remains charmingly rustic with musical instruments ready and waiting for weekly live sessions.

On the first floor, sheepskin-strewn seating sets the tone in the high-ceilinged two-room restaurant, which also makes the most of the dreamy river views. Here, the cooking is well above the local norm, with homegrown produce from the walled garden adding some zingy freshness to fiercely seasonal dishes that seem to please just about everyone. Food miles mean a great deal here.

A starter of creamy garden pea velouté with a slow-cooked egg, broad beans, sugar snap peas and a punchy apple-smoked Cheddar foam was thick, creamy and suitably moreish, while tender slabs of Perthshire venison haunch were accompanied by earthy beetroot, shredded venison in a flaky pastilla parcel, turnip gratin, asparagus tips, Drambuie-spiked venison jus and a nasturtium-leaf garnish. For dessert, lightly poached chunks of still-squeaky garden rhubarb came with a sharp rhubarb sorbet sweetened with white chocolate and a sprinkling of crumble. A thoughtfully assembled wine list offers sound drinking at fair prices, plus a handful of ‘fine wines’ if you want to splash out.