Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada

The Scotsman Hotel

Price per night from$1,561.62

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 (CAD2,232.88), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Bonnie bolthole

Setting

Leafy lakeside burgh

Its co-ordinates are truly Canadian — between Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls — yet The Scotsman Hotel takes inspiration from (aye, you might have guessed it) Scotland. Owners Brenda and Blair’s travels around this wee country inform every inch: hole up in a styled-in-homage bedroom, tuck into a traditional fry-up, or sink a dram (or two) of scotch. But vineyard tours, river boat trips and lakeside picnics are your reminder that you’re a long way from the highlands…

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of sparkling wine and a welcome gift in your room on arrival

Facilities

Photos The Scotsman Hotel facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Six.

Check–Out

11am; check-in, 3pm. Check-out is flexible, subject to availability and an extra charge.

More details

Rates at The Scotsman Hotel include à la carte breakfast.

Also

Unfortunately, this historic home is not suitable if you have reduced mobility.

At the hotel

Charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, climate control, tea- and coffee-making kit, minibar, free bottled water, bathrobes, slippers and organic bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Owners Blair and Brenda so loved their trips to Scotland that each of the six rooms at The Scotsman Hotel is a tribute to iconic Scottish stays. A tribute to Edinburgh’s Prestonfield House, the Prestonfield is particularly romantic with its blushing pink palette, four-poster bed and fireside love seat. Swap fresh-faced romance for sultry seduction in the Dornoch, a Saltire-blue boudoir with gilded accents and pops of leopard print.

Packing tips

An appreciation for Scottish staples — you’ll find a scotch-stocked minibar and touches of tartan in your room, plus other regional references throughout. Ditch the single-use poncho and bring your Arc’teryx waterproof for a trip to the falls.

Also

Your hosts know the best spots in town for a massage — chat to the concierge to arrange a local spa treatment.

Children

Over-12s are welcome, but since little Smiths need to share with an adult, this Canadian crashpad is better suited to grown-ups.

Food and Drink

Photos The Scotsman Hotel food and drink

Top Table

A table by the piano is soundtracked by some light tinkering, or settle in by the fireplace in the whisky room.

Dress Code

Your laidback hosts cast no judgment towards how you choose to dress for breakfast, but your elegant surroundings might encourage you to swap pyjamas for Prada.

Hotel restaurant

There’s no formal restaurant but each morning chef Chris whips up a locally sourced spread. The hotel’s signature — naturally — is the traditional Scottish breakfast, laden with all the trimmings; equally indulgent are the buttermilk pancakes and gruyère omelet, and a fresh juice or wellness shot balances out the decadence (right?).

Hotel bar

All that glitters is gold in the lounge, where aureate banquettes, sparkling chandeliers and velvet armchairs are a maximalist’s dream. Niagara is known for its fine wineries, whose vintages you can sample here alongside scotch blends and single malts.

Last orders

Breakfast is served between 8am and 10am, but times can be flexible on request.

Room service

No need to cut pillow talk short — you can take your breakfast in bed.

Location

Photos The Scotsman Hotel location
Address
The Scotsman Hotel
95 Johnson Street
Niagara-on-the-Lake
L0S 1J0
Canada

You’ll find The Scotsman Hotel in quaint Niagara-on-the-Lake, which lies on Lake Ontario’s southern shores, right on the border with the United States.

Planes

Your closest international airport is Stateside: Buffalo Niagara is an hour’s drive away. Skip the border crossing by arriving into Toronto Pearson International Airport or Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which are both under 90 minutes’ drive from the hotel. Private planes can touch down at Niagara District Airport, 15 minutes away by road.

Trains

Two-hour rail routes from Toronto call at Niagara Falls Station, which is a 25-minute drive from The Scotsman.

Automobiles

Niagara-on-the-Lake is easily explored on foot, but you might want a set of wheels for reaching the falls and taking in the rest of the region. New York’s Buffalo is a 45-minute drive and Toronto is 90 minutes away by road. There’s free private parking at the hotel with an electric-vehicle charging station.

Other

Staff can arrange 20-minute private helicopter transfers from Toronto on request.

Worth getting out of bed for

Bordered by Niagara River and the vast Lake Ontario, Niagara-on-the-Lake is a postcard-worthy town, with manicured streets, independent boutiques and a host of wineries. Make a pitstop at sustainable Stratus Vineyards or epicurean Peller Estates for a tasting: oenophiles might also mark their calendars for the town’s two wine festivals in January and September. Expand your culinary repertoire with a local cooking class at Wine Country Cooking School or unearth the town’s creative side at Niagara Image Gallery. Bon vivants may also spend an evening at the fêted Shaw Festival Theatre, which hosts various productions throughout the year, or the stirring Niagara Symphony Orchestra. And, of course, the Niagara Falls is a short drive away — if this natural wonder is on your bucket list, it’s time to check it off… 

Local restaurants

Sit at the counter for front-row seats to the open-plan kitchen at Treadwell Cuisine, which draws an in-the-know crowd for its seasonal fare and Niagara-produced wines. History-steeped Hob Nob Restaurant brings currency to good old-fashioned socialising with refined modern American plates. Peller Estates’ farm-to-fork restaurant changes its menus with the seasons, but homegrown vintages are a year-round staple.

Local cafés

Seasonal brews and house-roasted beans make Balzac’s a caffeine fiend’s dream, and sweet tooths are more than satisfied with its cookies and cakes.

Local bars

The barrel-dotted lawn is your setting for mixologist-made cocktails at Limited Distillery, and if you can’t decide on a tipple, opt for a flight of the bartenders’ favorites. Fruity ales and velvety stouts make for a refreshing afternoon pick-me-up at Niagara Oast Brewery; return in the evening for late-night ‘barn boogies’.

Reviews

Photos The Scotsman Hotel reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this polished boutique hotel in Canada and unpacked their drams of whisky and Niagara Falls postcards, a full account of their bonnie break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside The Scotsman Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake…

More is more at The Scotsman Hotel. Each bedroom is a love letter to a top Scottish hotel — The Balmoral, The Caledonian — sealed with flourishes of tartan, pastel-hued furnishings and gilded details. Some have four-poster beds, others have roaring fireplaces, a few have freestanding soaking tubs, but they all set the scene for intimate sojourns.

Lavish interiors characterise the communal spaces, too. The black-and-gold lounge glistens with chandeliers and glossy surfaces; the fire-warmed whisky room is bold with leopard-print rugs and local artwork. Each morning, chef Chris prepares à la carte breakfast, and as tempting as the buttermilk pancakes sound, the hearty Scottish breakfast feels only fitting.

And if you didn’t succumb to one too many scotches the night before, your Lake Ontario locale places you within easy reach of awe-inspiring Niagara Falls, hero wineries and the US border. 

This deftly curated den is the talk of the toon.

Book now

Price per night from $1,501.56