Marking 200 years since the world’s first public passenger railway, Crerar Hotels is inviting southern guests to ‘revive the romance of rail travel’ by taking the Caledonian Sleeper service to Scotland.
In Spring of this year, the hotel group entered a partnership with the Caledonian Sleeper, offering Londoners a ‘seamless, sustainable way’ to journey overnight to its various award-winning locations in the Scottish Highlands.
Director of marketing at Crerar Hotels, Alison MacLeod, said: “Rail travel first made the staycation possible. Two hundred years on, we’re proud to celebrate that heritage, helping guests arrive rested, inspired and ready to explore the beauty of Scotland.
“Our partnership with Caledonian Sleeper makes that sense of slow, scenic travel more attainable than ever before. It’s a modern luxury that still honours the romance of Britain’s original railway journeys.”
Rail remains one of the most sustainable ways to travel, producing up to 90% less carbon emissions than driving.
MacLeod said that, for modern staycationers, it offers ‘the rare chance to slow down, switch off and savour the journey’, much like Victorian travellers did when the rails first reached Scotland 200 years ago.
She added: “Crerar Hotels has always been rooted in their landscapes and communities, places that owe so much of their accessibility and prosperity to the arrival of the railways.
“By encouraging guests to travel by train, we’re helping to protect those same landscapes for generations to come.”
From London to the Highlands, the Caledonian Sleeper offers easy connections to Crerar Hotels stays across the country: to the Oban Bay Hotel via Glasgow Queen St to Oban Station; to the Isle of Mull Hotel & Spa, also via Oban Station and thence to the Craignure Ferry Port; to Glencoe Inn via Fort William Station; to Dunkeld House Hotel, via Dunkeld & Birnam Station; to Fonab Castle Hotel via Pitlochry Station; and to Golf View Hotel & Spa via Inverness and Nairn Station.
