St Andrews, United Kingdom

Rusacks St Andrews

Price per night from$611.23

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP475.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Rusacks St Andrews Photos

Style

Tasteful to a tee

Setting

Eyeing the 18th

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We love a storied hotel: Rusacks St Andrews, first opened in 1887, undoubtedly has enough to fill a library, and this latest chapter is one to bookmark. Restored with deserving decadence, it incorporates St Andrews' golfing history without tipping into theme-hotel parody. Rooms are richly furnished, there is august detailing throughout, and three top-drawer dining destinations include a standout rooftop restaurant with views worth travelling for. Even if you think golf is a good walk ruined you can't fail to be charmed. 


 

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Facilities

Photos Rusacks St Andrews facilities

Need to know

Rooms

123, including 13 suites

Check–Out

11am, but flexible subject to availability. Earliest check-in is 3pm

More details

Rates include breakfast

Also

The hotel is wheelchair accessible throughout and several rooms with accessible bathrooms are available on request.

At the hotel

Multiple lounge areas, laundry service, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flat screen TVs, air-conditioning, tea- and coffee-making kit, iron and board, fully stocked minibar, Floris bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Rooms here, of all sizes, aren't shy of high-touch details – elegant wooden headboards, bespoke wallpaper, marble-topped sinks, chandeliers depicting native Godwit birds – but the added bonus of a balcony, looking over the golf course and out to sea, makes the sizeable Swilken King rooms a real hole-in-one.

Packing tips

If you're planning on teeing off while you're in town the hotel can assist with storing – and even shipping – your clubs.

Also

If you're in search of a suitable soundtrack, cue up Vangelis' Oscar winning Chariots of Fire score. The movie's iconic beach-running scene was shot just outside on West Sands beach, and it'll lend a suitably dramatic air to your coastal strolls.

Pet‐friendly

Aye. There are a number of dog-friendly rooms (an extra £35 per night) but subject to availability so do check in advance. See more pet-friendly hotels in St Andrews.

Children

Bairns of all ages are most welcome – and they're sprinting distance from the beach – but the hotel is generally geared towards adults.

Sustainability efforts

There's a real focus on first-class local produce – things fished, foraged, farmed, brewed and distilled in the surrounding area.

Food and Drink

Photos Rusacks St Andrews food and drink

Top Table

Window seats at the Bridge are particularly covetable as the sun starts to dip and golfer's shadows grow long.

Dress Code

Leave the Pringle and pastels to those outside and opt for some contemporary cashmere and bold colours

Hotel restaurant

18, on the top floor, is the showstopper here: a panoramic parlour for eating, drinking and savouring the very best view in St Andrews. One time MasterChef victor, Le Gavroche alumni and Roux scholar, Derek Johnstone, has crafted a locally leaning menu befitting of the handsomely styled surroundings – straight-outta-the-harbour lobster, Peterhead lemon sole, wood-fired leeks with Lanark goat's cheese, aged Aberdeen Angus steak – all cooked with requisite flair on a robata grill in the open-fronted kitchen. Back on the ground floor, you'll find the Bridge, a white-walled, light-filled brasserie with lashings of Southern charm: cane chairs, marble table tops, brass fixtures, cabana-striped banquettes… Here Johnstone's team serve more relaxed but no less brilliant fare, from indulgent pancakes and grilled kippers at breakfast through to haggis pizza, artichoke risotto and a sublime pork escalope with raisins and capers. All good enough to distract any hungry golfers just beyond the double-height bay windows. 

Hotel bar

A bar? Pfff. Here there's an entire actual proper pub in the basement. One Under (see what they did there?) has all the cosy booths, loungeable leather armchairs and wooden bar stools required for comfort, there's classic pub-food favourites to keep you sated, and the wealth of locally brewed and distilled delights will keep you well watered. Check the schedules for live music, too. Oh, and above the bar, etched elegantly into glass, is a cryptic abbreviation – we won't ruin the mystery but if we tell you the last letter stands for 'drink' it might spark some puzzle-solving. Taking things up a level, quite literally, is 18: the aforementioned top-floor dining destination. It sports a bonny wood-panelled bar which you can pull a stool up at, or repair to a cosy sofa. The prime position for sundowners, though, is out on its golf-course-and-beach surveying terrace where there's also a mini putting green and a warming fire pit because, well, this is Scotland. 

Last orders

You'll need to finish your last dram by 11pm.

Room service

A full room service menu is available round the clock.

Location

Photos Rusacks St Andrews location
Address
Rusacks St Andrews
Pilmour Links
St Andrews
KY16 9JQ
United Kingdom

Rusacks is prime St Andrews real estate; its entrance on the main road into town, its views over the old course and the beach beyond

Planes

Edinburgh (an hour's drive) and Glasgow (about two) are the major airports. Dundee Airport is a 25-minute drive away but only hosts flights from London City and Belfast City.

Trains

Leuchars, six miles away, is the station that serves St Andrews. Trains run regularly from Edinburgh Waverley and take about an hour. From there it's about a 10-minute taxi or bus ride.

Automobiles

This corner of coastal Scotland is good road-tripping territory, and Edinburgh is only an hour or so away if you're planning a two-centre trip. There's a couple of free street parking spots available near the hotel on The Links and Gibson Place.

Worth getting out of bed for

This is an eminently loungeable hotel where lunch at the Bridge, an afternoon in One Under and dinner at 18 would represent a day well spent. But it would be remiss of us not to mention the world famous Old Course right outside the window; the very birthplace of golf itself. You'll need some golfing prowess to play on it (a maximum handicap of 36) but a public ballot means securing a tee time is easier than you may think. Full details are online, but there'll need to be two of you and you'll need to enter your names before 2pm two days before you want to play (although the course is closed on Sundays, so there's no Friday ballot). Results are announced at 4.30pm that same day. Failing that, the hotel will happily arrange tee times at a number of other renowned local courses. But there's more to St Andrews than 18 holes, and there's no better way to get your bearings than to follow the Fife coastal path along the length of the town. You'll pass the ruins of the castle (birthplace of a king, fought over with the English, site of some intense religious squabbles) and the cathedral (ransacked, abandoned and left to ruin in the Reformation) which give good glimpses into the town's (and indeed Scotland's) past, before finding the lobster-pot-dotted harbour. Take a detour inland and you can stroll through the picturesque university cloisters. If you're feeling a little more energetic, follow the path along the cliffs and past the Fairmont Hotel – the views are spectacular and there are a few secluded beaches along the way. Talking of beaches, you'll find East Sands beach just beyond the harbour (good for watersports) and the sweeping West Sands beach just beyond the golf course outside the hotel (good for a bracing morning stroll). For more cultural pursuits, there's the bijou 1930s-built New Picture House cinema and the brilliant Topping & Company bookshop which regularly hosts billboard names from literature and academia for enlightening talks. Further afield, Dundee's riverside V&A museum is about 25 minutes away by car and a stop-off en route for a walk through Tentsmuir Forest showcases Scottish nature at its best. 

Local restaurants

Since opening in 2013, Cromars has been named the best fish 'n' chip shop in Scotland twice so if you see a queue forming on Market Street, that'll be why. Sustainably caught fish are delivered daily and served at their battered best from 11:30am til 9pm every day (or if you need to stave off the chills try Scottish favourite cullen skink). You'll find plenty of fish on the menu at Scandi-accented the Räv, an industrial-chic loft-style space with a terrace, although the likes of venison carpaccio, Swedish meatballs and honeyed duck breast will satisfy meat-eaters. Its sister restaurant, Lupo's, meanwhile, is a love-letter to all things Italian – seafood tagliarini, cannolis, Limoncello martinis… A few minutes out of town is Balgove Larder, an inviting estate that's part butcher, part farm shop, part café, part pizzeria and, perhaps most invitingly, part steak barn, where 28-day-aged steaks, handmade sausages and first-class burgers are grilled to perfection on a wood-fired barbecue. They don't take bookings, but even if you have to wait in line a little, there's no way you'll leave hungry. 

Local bars

Just beyond the historic West Port gate is Rogue, an invitingly low-lit cocktail bar with its own gin still. As such, gin features prominently on the menu, in combinations both classic and curious – all pair nicely with the fresh oysters and St Andrews Bay lobster that headline the snack menu. The Adamson, on South Street, is another lauded cocktail stop which serves til midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and has a terrace perfect for sunny afternoons. Keep things low-key and local at the needs-no-explanation St Andrews Brewing Co or sample some drams at source at Kingsbarns distillery, a wee bit further down the coast. Golf pilgrims will want to sink a drink or two at the memorabilia-rich Jigger Inn: 'the most famous 19th hole' in the game.

Reviews

Photos Rusacks St Andrews reviews
Olivia Triggs

Anonymous review

By Olivia Triggs, Creative counsel

We are – whisper it – non-golfers. Not usually one of life’s setbacks unless you’re off to review a golf hotel; say, a Scottish golf hotel – a Scottish golf hotel near one of the world’s best golf courses… 

After spending a night in Edinburgh, and a morning there going round the Royal Yacht Britannia (hard recommend), we’re in our hire car and on our way to Rusacks St Andrews. As we drive out of the city towards Fife, the landscape eases from suburbs to countryside and the sun is out. Things are looking good.
 
Arriving at this regally fronted Victorian grand-dame of a hotel, you don’t need to know your greens from your fairways to fully appreciate the golf course setting. We’ve discussed en route whether we’re tempted to book ourselves a lesson, but realise (easy, Tiger) that we aren’t actually that keen to play and decide against it. So, fair warning, this review is somewhat below par (or should that be over?) on golf intel.
 
Our bedroom (in the modern annex of the building) looks out over the course – which makes for scenic sips with my morning tea – as it twinkles with the first frost of the year, edged by the beach beyond.
 
We’re only in St Andrews for two days, so want to make the most of it. Luckily Rusacks puts many of the town’s delights on your doorstep – starting with its dining spots, which include top-floor parlour (and destination restaurant), 18. 

Attentive staff whisk around this smart, wood-panelled space, where the atmosphere is buzzing but relaxed and Parisian-style globe wall lamps cast a cosy glow. We check out the balcony view, post-dinner, and agree although it’s too cold for our November weekend, this would be a lovely spot to dine in summer. 
 
Cheese soufflé and crémant hit the spot that night (one of the best soufflés I’ve had, and so good, in fact, I have another the following night). Since our visit, executive chef Billy Boyter (formerly at the Cellar) has taken the reins, so you can expect polished plates, equal in calibre… 
 
If you prefer your greens felted, there’s an immense snooker table primed for after-dinner potting, but with international football on the schedule, the hotel has secured a screening, so we plump for spectating instead. Without exception, the hotel’s lounge spaces have a cosy feel and, especially with the build-up to Christmas, get us into the festive spirit with their large tree, decorations and a roaring fire in reception.
 
We fall into our grandly headboarded bed and enjoy a good night’s sleep. We’re cocooned in an elegantly trad room of night-dark hues, thick velvets and checks, and not even the golf portraits adorning the walls can disturb our dreams…
 
On our second day, after a delicious breakfast, again with lovely views over the course, and time to soak up the sense of the old grandeur of Rusacks with our eggs and coffee, we explore the streets of St Andrews.  Having not visited before, it’s lovely to walk around and past the old castles and the ancient cathedral, so rich in history. We discover a natural sea swimming pool, and with the sun out we’re tempted by a winter November swim (following the lead of others). 

If we’d had more time in St Andrews it would have been interesting to walk more of the coast on the other side of the town. From our Rusacks base, we manage a lovely shoreline stroll just as the sun is retreating – the mercury dropping simultaneously, but let’s call it ‘bracing’ and focus on the joy of having a beach on the hotel’s doorstep. We return to hot showers, followed by more crémant (definitely our drink of choice this weekend) and dinner. 

On our last morning, another beautiful day, we clock up the step count once more – drawn back to the same stretch of St Andrews Bay (well, if it ain’t broke…). It’s been the briefest of east coast flings, but we must set off for the Highlands, where our lack of prowess with pitching and putting is hopefully less of a handicap…

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Price per night from $611.23