Kings House Hotel
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The Kings House Hotel is a remote inn and hotel at the eastern end of Glen Coe at the junction with Glen Etive in the Scottish Highlands. It is sited in an isolated position, about 2 km to the east of the head of the glen towards Rannoch Moor, and faces towards the Buachaille Etive Mor, a dramatic peak which is very popular with rock climbers. The inn lies on the old military Wade road over Rannoch Moor which now forms the West Highland Way and crosses the River Etive at the inn before continuing into the glen and ascending the Devil's Staircase, the old military road and drove road north across the hills towards Kinlochleven.
The Kings House was built in the 17th century and is thought to be one of Scotland's oldest licensed inns. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746 the building became a barracks for the troops of King George III of the United Kingdom engaged in crushing Jacobitism, thus getting the name King's House.
In the old coaching days it was customary for tourists to drive from Ballachulish via Tyndrum to Loch Lomond. The inn was visited in 1803 by Dorothy Wordsworth who wrote "Never did I see such a miserable, such wretched place, – long rooms with ranges of beds, no other furniture except benches, or perhaps one or two crazy chairs, the floors far dirtier than an ordinary house could be if it were never washed. With length of time the fire was kindled and after another hour of waiting, supper came, a shoulder of mutton so hard that it was impossible to chew the little flesh that might have been scraped off the bones."
By 1903, standards had changed and Alexander Wilkie recorded that "Arriving at Kings House Inn I have a hearty welcome. Tea, my clothes and shoes dried. Next morning after a walk round I go in for breakfast. What shall I have? – grapefruit? What! can I have grapefruit in Kings House; of course I can; and so I have grapefruit, and porridge and cream, and fish, and everything just like a west end city hotel. I tell you I am well looked after and at a charge so moderate that I am almost ashamed of my appetite."
This old inn still welcomes visitors, with bar meals are available all day and 22 bedrooms with suitable facilities for fishermen, walkers and climbers down from the glen's peaks, as well as skiers from the "White Corries" ski resort just across the road on the mountain of Meall a' Bhuiridh when snow conditions permit.
It is quite common for people to camp in the vicinity of Kings House, as the surrounding area is simply open moorland. Although not officially encouraged, provided one stays on the opposite side of the river from the inn it is not specifically prohibited either.
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