Perthshire holiday cottage and self catering accommodation guide

Self-catering in Perthshire, Strathearn, Tayside and Perth and Kinross in central Scotland.

Perthshire, in the heart of Scotland, is an ideal location for a self catering holiday. There is a wide choice of Scottish properties to rent available with a range of styles and catering for all tastes. You can choose from a stunning selection of self-catering accommodation in Perthshire. In the beautiful Perthshire countryside there are farm cottages, loch side lodges, converted steadings and even cottages with paddock so you can take your horse on holiday with you! If you prefer to stay in Perth itself there are town houses and flats so you can leave your car behind and explore this historic town on foot.

The towns and villages of Perthshire offer a wide range of excellent holiday cottages: there are self-catering cottages in Comrie, holiday houses in Crieff, Aberfeldy self-catering, holiday cottages in Dunkeld - Glenshee, Blairgowrie, Gleneagles, Kenmore, Killin and Loch Tay, Kinross, Loch Rannoch, Perth and Pitlochry are popular however wherever you want to stay in Perthshire there will be excellent places to rent all over the county. Crieff is a very popular holiday town and a great centre for a Scottish holiday. Just a couple of miles outside Crieff is the Glenturret Distillery with the Famous Grouse Experience, telling the story of the well known whisky. Drummond Castle Gardens, a few miles south of Crieff, are stunning formal gardens and well worth a visit.

Travelling north from Crieff on a very pretty road through the Sma' Glen, will take you to the small market town of Aberfeldy. Aberfeldy is another popular centre for holiday makers and was made famous by Robert Burns' poem The Birks of Aberfeldy. Dewar's Aberfeldy Distillery is open throughout the year and offers tours and has a good heritage exhibition. There are lots of outdoor pursuits in and around Aberfeldy and if you want to go abseiling, white water rafting on the River Tay or gorge walking there are local companies that can arrange this for you. Loch Tay, Scotland's largest loch, lies 6 miles west of Aberfeldy, and is popular for watersports of all kinds. Nearby Glen Lyon is one of the most beautiful glens and there are some fantastic walks here as well as the pretty village of Fortingall. Close to Aberfeldy is the Keltneyburn Nature Reserve - a beautiful wildflower meadow, perhaps the finest in Scotland.

The small village of Killin has a dramatic setting at the Falls of Dochart, on the western end of Loch Tay. Killin is on the edge of the Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve and is a great base for a walking holiday, as well as enjoying fishing or water sports on the loch. There is a good outdoor shop in Killin and you can also hire kayaks, bikes etc there too. Moirlanich Longhouse is a fascinating cruck frame cottage and byre in Glen Lochay, now in the care of the National Trust of Scotland you can see how a family lived in rural Scotland in the 19th century.

Six miles west of Aberfeldy lies the pretty planned estate village of Kenmore - built by the Earl of Breadalbane in the late 18th century. The imposing stone gateway which is the entrance to Taymouth Castle is in the middle of Kenmore. On the south Loch Tay road is the fascinating Scottish Crannog Centre, with the amazing reconstruction of an Iron Age crannog in the loch. Ben Lawers (Perthshire's highest mountain) overlooks Loch Tay and has a good visitors centre and a nature trail at it's base - it's also a great Munro to conquer!

It's known as Big Tree Country and the wealth of ancient woodland fully justifies this - Perthshire also is home to the oldest yew tree at Fortingall and the highest hedge at Meikleour. Many famous plant hunters came from Perthshire: the Douglas Fir amongst many other specimens, was brought back to Scotland by David Douglas, who was initially a gardener's boy at Scone Palace. Pitlochry self-catering is very popular location for exploring much of highland Perthshire and particularly with people wanting to visit the famous Pitlochry Festival Theatre, which offers a wonderful summer season of plays as well as hosting many events throughout the year. Grandtully (about 3 miles east of Pitlochry) is a pretty village - you can walk along the old railway line from Aberfeldy to here, much of the path goes alongside the River Tay, and then on arrival visit the Scottish Chocolate Centre and enjoy a delicious hot chocolate and buy some award-winning handmade chocolates.

Perthshire offers wonderful opportunities to combine stunning scenery (Rannoch Moor), outdoor pursuits (Loch Earn, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Loch Rannoch, Loch Tay), golf courses in abundance, fishing (Loch Earn stretches to the River Tay), skiing in Glenshee and much more. All this is available with the convenience and freedom of a self-catering holiday in Perthshire. With the world-famous golf courses at Gleneagles near Auchterarder, along with over 40 other superb courses all over the county you will be spoilt for choice - every holiday cottage in Perthshire is within easy reach of a golf course, whether a challenging championship 18 hole course or a 9 hole highland course, with superb views over the countryside. Many visitors coming to Scotland for a golf holiday chose to rent self-catering accommodation but of course there are some excellent hotels and guest houses near golf courses too.

The Cateran Trail is a popular long distance walk from Blairgowrie to Kirkmichael going through Bridge of Cally and then Strathardle. Kirkmichael is a pretty village with some excellent pubs and a local community-owned shop selling local produce and arts and craft items, as well as all the necessary supplies for a self-catering holiday. In north west corner of Perthshire is Kinloch Rannoch, at the eastern end of Loch Rannoch and set amongst spectacular scenery. You can reach the top of Schiehallion without too much difficulty if you are reasonably fit and the views over Rannoch Moor and beyond are superb. A great day trip is to take the train to Rannoch station and either walk or cycle round the loch - Outlander was filmed here and it's easy to see why it was used as a location.

Blairgowrie and Rattray used to be the centre of the flax industry and you can still see the mills on the River Ericht which flows through the town. Nowadays Blairgowrie is very popular with golfers (Rosemount Golf Course being said to be one of the most beautiful inland golf courses) and more recently with gin lovers, who flock to the craft gin distillery north of the town. Dunkeld is one of the most beautiful historic towns in Scotland and has a great range of accommodation as well as some super places to eat and enjoy live music. If you are staying here then a visit to Dunkeld Cathedral is a must. Neighbouring Birnam is said to have inspired Beatrix Potter to write her tales of Peter Rabbit during her many holidays in Birnham.

On the border with Angus lie some beautiful highland glens and arguably the prettiest is Glen Isla. The River Isla, a tributary of the River Tay, runs through it and the Cairngorm National Park is on the doorstep - fabulous skiing in the winter and great walking in the summer. Harrietfield is a pretty village near Glenalmond and close to Methven - it also has a popular pub and is a great location if you want to see the salmon jumping at Buchanty Spout. Going from Perth towards Dundee takes you through the low-lying Carse of Gowrie, along the Firth of Tay and through a major soft fruit growing area. There are many pretty villages throughout the Carse and the thatched cottages in Rait are very pretty, and the nearby antique centres are popular with visitors too.

One, 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroomed cottages in Perthshire can be found on the main pages of this site. One bedroomed cottages are ideal for a couple who want a break and many people rent a cottage for their Scottish honeymoon - there are a great selection of romantic cottages to hire. If you are coming to Perthshire for a honeymoon you may well want to rent a cottage with a log fire - curling up in front of an open fire after a walk in the hills is many people's ideal ending to their day whilst on vacation. There are some great cathedrals and churches in the county to explore too - Dunblane and Dunkeld are definately worth a visit. The church in Forteviot is beautiful and if you are in the southern part of Perthshire then the pretty village of Dunning is worth making a detour to see.

Large holiday houses have their own section, sleeping over ten people - ideal for a holiday with two families or your extended family, perhaps to celebrate a special birthday or anniversary. Self catering is very popular in Perth and Kinross, but some of the large houses for rent can be catered and you can hire a cook for the week with the house. Perthshire also has some excellent places to eat out at ranging from Michelin starred restaurants to simple cafes with delicious home-made food. Local food is much promoted and ranges from Glamis asparagus to chocolate made in Perth. Perth is the first town in Scotland to be a Cittaslow town and this is reflected in the wonderful range of small, interesting shops, beautiful buildings and a gentle pace of life. Perth also has a great racecourse which offers fun days out if you are staying nearby and quality racing. The Fergusson Art Gallery and the Perth Museum are also well worth visiting. Scone Palace, site of coronations of Scots kings, is a magnificent country house with beautiful gardens to explore too.

There are wonderful 5 Star self catering houses to rent in Perthshire as well as many other luxury properties to rent - there are even quite a few cottages with hot tubs too - great fun for adults and children! Many of the holiday properties listed haven't applied for a Visit Scotland rating but they are all of an extremely high standard and often would have achieved 5 stars if they were part of the scheme!

Perthshire is famous for fishing and golfing holidays - the perfect place for outdoor pursuits. Cycling, walking and watersports are all within easy reach of most of Perthshire and Comrie, Crieff and St Fillans are very convenient for all outdoor pursuits (Loch Earn is on the doorstep). Perthshire offers the best that Scotland has to offer - magnificent scenery, castles, gardens, distilleries, highland games, golf, fishing and much, much more. It is an ideal location for a Scottish vacation and being in the centre of Scotland Edinburgh and Glasgow are within easy reach too - though there is so much to see and do in Perthshire you won't want to leave.