The best Scottish golf trips are run from a single great base, where you sleep above the course you came to play and walk to the first tee after breakfast. From a four time Open links on the Ayrshire cliffs to a five star estate in the Perthshire glens, here are the seven resorts we rate most highly for a stay and play trip, ranked, with our verdict on each.
Photograph: Old Course Hotel, Old Course Hotel, via Google
Scotland invented both the game and the golf resort, and it does the stay and play trip better than anywhere on earth. The appeal is simple: a hotel worth coming home to after the round, championship courses you can reach on foot or by a short transfer, and the kind of food, whisky and service that turns a golf week into a proper holiday. We looked for resorts where the golf and the hotel are both genuinely first rate, not one carrying the other, and where a group can play several great courses without ever packing the car.
We weighed the quality and variety of the golf, the hotel and its dining, the setting and the ease of building a multi day trip around the base. Every fact here, from designers and opening years to host events, was checked at the time of writing. The order is our editors' view. Where we mention green fees or package rates they are seasonal and indicative and run high in peak summer, so always confirm directly before booking. Tell our concierge your dates and your group and we will build the whole trip around the right base.
The most complete stay and play resort in Scotland, a grand white hotel on the hill above the Ailsa course, a four time Open venue and the stage for the 1977 Duel in the Sun. Martin Ebert's 2015 to 2016 redesign pushed several holes hard against the shore beneath the famous lighthouse, now a halfway house, with views across to Ailsa Craig. A second course, King Robert the Bruce, a spa and some of the finest rooms in British golf complete a resort that has no real weakness.
The grande dame of inland golf, a five star estate in the Perthshire glens with three championship courses. The King's, a James Braid masterpiece opened in 1919, is the connoisseur's choice, while the Jack Nicklaus designed PGA Centenary hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup and the 2019 Solheim Cup. Add the Queen's course, a two Michelin star restaurant, a celebrated spa and country pursuits from falconry to shooting, and you have the most rounded luxury golf resort in the country, parkland rather than links.
The best base in the home of golf, a five star hotel running right alongside the seventeenth, the famous Road Hole, with the out of bounds wall and the railway sheds beneath the windows. Guests enter the daily ballot for an Old Course tee time like everyone else, but the location, the rooftop dining and the help with the wider St Andrews Links courses are unmatched. The hotel also runs its own heathland course, the Duke's, laid out above the town by Herbert Fowler, for a guaranteed round.
A modern resort on the cliffs above St Andrews Bay, minutes from the town, with two of its own courses, the Torrance, a European Tour qualifying venue, and the clifftop Kittocks. The big advantage is self contained convenience: a large spa hotel, sea views, family rooms and two solid rounds on site, with the Old Course and the rest of the St Andrews links a short drive away. It is the easiest base for groups who want space, facilities and golf on the doorstep without leaving the property.
The most dramatic modern links in Scotland, laid out by Martin Hawtree through enormous shifting dunes on the Aberdeenshire coast and opened in 2012, with a second eighteen added in 2023. The boutique MacLeod House and Lodge gives the property a country house feel, and the golf is as big and bold as the duneland it runs through. Pair it with the classic Aberdeen links nearby, Royal Aberdeen and Cruden Bay, and the north east becomes one of the best and least crowded golf coasts in the country.
The base for the toughest test on the Open rota, a hotel set right behind the eighteenth green of the Carnoustie Championship course, the fearsome links that has decided eight Opens. Step out of the door and you are at the first tee, with two more courses, the Burnside and the Buddon, on the same stretch of links. It is functional rather than opulent, but for a golf first group that wants to wake up beside one of the great championship links, nothing else in Angus comes close.
The most romantic golf escape in Scotland, a links hotel set among the dunes on the whisky island of Islay, the historic Machrie course rebuilt by D J Russell and reopened in 2018. Blind shots, rolling fairways and total seclusion make it a true away from it all golf trip, and the island's celebrated distilleries are minutes from the first tee. It takes a flight or ferry to reach, which is precisely the point. For a small group after links golf, single malt and silence, it is unique.
Designers, opening years and host events verified June 2026 against the resorts and the championship record. Package rates and green fees are seasonal and indicative and run high in peak summer. Always confirm what is included, course access and tee times directly before booking. Check resort availability.
Tell us which resort or region appeals and roughly when, and whether you want links by the sea, parkland in the glens or a tour of several. One concierge arranges the rooms, the tee times and the transfers and costs the trip to the head, with no obligation.
Trump Turnberry on the Ayrshire coast is our pick, a cliff top hotel above the Ailsa course, a four time Open venue redesigned by Martin Ebert in 2015 and 2016, with the lighthouse halfway house and views to Ailsa Craig. Gleneagles in Perthshire runs it close, a five star inland resort with three championship courses including the Ryder Cup host. Which is best depends on whether you want links by the sea or parkland in the glens.
The Old Course Hotel sits right on the seventeenth, the famous Road Hole, and is the most natural base for a St Andrews trip. Guests still enter the daily ballot like everyone else for an Old Course tee time, so nothing is guaranteed, but the hotel can help arrange the other St Andrews Links courses and runs its own heathland course, the Duke's, above the town. Fairmont St Andrews, minutes away, is the other strong base with two courses of its own.
May to September is the season, with the longest daylight and the firmest links in high summer. Late spring and early autumn bring lighter crowds and lower rates while the courses are still in fine condition. The flagship resorts and their tee times book up months ahead for summer, so plan early, and always confirm green fees, package rates and tee time access directly before booking.
Stay and play packages usually bundle accommodation with rounds on the resort's own courses, and resorts can often add tee times at nearby links as part of a wider itinerary. Exactly what is included, and at what rate, varies by resort, season and group size. Package prices at this level are seasonal and indicative and run high in peak summer, so always confirm what is included directly before booking.
Scottish resort news, links openings and the trips our concierge is quietly building. Every other week.
Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Last reviewed June 2026. We verify designers, opening years and host events at the time of writing and review them again on a schedule.