The Tweed & the Scottish Borders

A very relaxing and enjoyable walking holiday. The walk on the first day, walking west of Peebles was a definite highlight. We enjoyed seeing lots of sand martins, herons, dippers and a kingfisher. Peebles and Melrose are great places to stay. Della's in Peebles was good for rolls for picnics. Apples for Jam was a great café in Melrose. Burt's hotel was particularly comfortable with excellent food. We often bumped into fellow Inntravellers on the walks and at the hotels and we enjoyed sharing our experiences with them.

My wife and I really enjoyed our first visit to the Scottish Borders, particularly as we were blessed good weather throughout the week. There was a good variety of walks to suit how much or how little we wished to do each day.  Walking and sightseeing highlights were the Over the Hills route from Peebles to Innerleithen (challenging and does require clambering over trees felled by Storm Arwen but well worth it), Traquair House, Abbotsford and the view from the top of the Eildon Hills in Melrose. Dining in and out was a pleasure throughout. Our favourite meals were dinner at Burts in Melrose, which was so good we ate there both nights. The breakfasts at Caddon View were excellent. Unfortunately, they were not serving dinner on the nights that we stayed. However, the Indian restaurant, Saffron in Innerleithen was really good. It is quite small, so I would advise booking in advance. The café at Traquair House was excellent for lunch and tea and we really enjoyed the coffee and cake at the Caberston Farm Café in Walkerburn on the way to Traquair. Finally, we found the people of the Scottish Borders extremely friendly and welcoming which added to the enjoyment of the holiday.

We did the last days walk in reverse climbing the hill first and we think this is definitely the best as the climb up the hill was less steep.

Recommend Keilzie gardens which we loved

We found the food and the service excellent at all three locations and the walking along and around the Tweed was lovely at this time of year with young foliage on the trees and wild flowers in bloom. We didn't see as many bird varieties as expected but you can't have everything. Although the weather and forecast sometimes threatened rain we only put our rain jackets on once.

An enjoyable walk along a beautiful valley with several options for shorter/longer/more demanding walks on most days.

It is a beautiful walking tour in a lovely area of the country. The cafe in Walkersburn was excellent for a coffee stop on route and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal in Provenders restaurant in Melrose. Kalzie gardens were well worth the detour and the Harmony gardens in Melrose (NT of Scotland) were beautiful.

Easy comfortable walks for two elderly folk made easier by the excellent weather! Not terribly impressed by your choice of accommodation, The Caddon View, in Innerleithen, but it is obvious that the options are limited in this location.

A very fine walking holiday in a part of the country I'd never explored, particularly for people like myself who would struggle in more difficult terrain. All accommodation and taxi services spot on.

It was a very peaceful and relaxing walk and we really enjoyed the holiday. We would recommend this time of year to enjoy this walk if you are interested in flora and birdlife as we enjoyed spotting the birds on the river and in the woodland where the emerging leaves did not hamper our view too much.  We spotted a golden eagle one day with the help of our binoculars and saw many goosanders and dippers on the river. It was also beautiful to see the flowers blooming in the spring weather.  It was quiet and peaceful by the River Tweed and the perfume and colour of the gorse in full flower was a lovely accompaniment on the hills.

The accommodation and food at The Townhouse was excellent as was the food at Caddon View.

This was a really nice holiday in a lovely area. The walks are good. The accommodation in Peebles was exceptional; a lovely friendly hotel with super food, very good value for money. The hotel in Melrose was also really nice. Innerleithen; Caddon View was OK but our bedroom and the sitting room felt a bit ‘tired’. Also, the tone of their customer information seemed rather authoritarian. With some judicious rephrasing it could have a better effect and we would not feel told off (eg telling us not leave stuff on charge or they would unplug it, due to it being a fire risk - could have been better put!).

In Innerleithen, the Indian restaurant was lovely, we had a great meal there. We ate the other night at the Traquair Arms and they were really nice there and our meal was very nice.

We had a fabulous first day's walk along the River Tweed from Peebles (the 7-mile one from your pack). The countryside was stunning and varied and lots of interesting things to see along the way. Heavy rain and flooding badly impacted the rest of the walking but we found plenty of interesting historic places to visit, all again from your pack. Good food as well!

We had forgotten how pretty the borders were and really enjoyed the walking. The weather was excellent especially for October. We felt the restaurant at the Tontine was quite old-fashioned and not very comfortable, so the second night we ate at the Crown Hotel across the road and had a lovely meal with a good atmosphere. Would recommend booking somewhere other than Caddon View for the second night meal. As always the service from Inntravel was very good especially as we booked it very last minute and everybody was extremely helpful on getting information to us and forwarding the pack to Peebles.

Trimontium to Old Melrose, ending with ascent of the Eildon Hills had everything one could ever wish for from a day's walk (including a wonderful teashop halfway round). Particularly memorable, too, was the introductory walk to the River Tweed valley, around Peebles.  We had brought historical maps of each town so that we could see how they had changed since their industrial heyday.

We found the variety on the walks on both the first and the last days wonderful. They are the sort of walks you could do again and again in different seasons or weathers without tiring of them.

Very enjoyable walking along quiet paths and besides the River Tweed. All arrangements were in place although found bookings for dinner and breakfast got a bit muddled as we moved around! Suggest pre booking dinners at Innerleithen in advance for both nights as choices in small village are limited. 

Found nice food at cafes at Abbotsford and Traquair open even if you dont go into grounds.

Roman museum now open alongside Burts Hotel in Melrose, which gives more information added to your walk around Melrose past the sites of Roman occupation.

Also recommend the Chambers Museum in Peebles (above library).

I was fascinated by Trimontium. That bit of our walk that day took far longer proportionately than the distance covered. The Trimontium Museum in Melrose is now open and well worth a visit.

The circular walk around Melrose was particularly good, as was the walk west along the Tweed Valley from Peebles

The Tweed is lovely and we thought all the accommodation was great with very friendly staff and very good meals. We had both our second night meals in the Tontine and Town House as the food was so good.  We were pretty unlucky with the weather but the sun shone occasionally and we made sure we made the most of it.

We found a really nice Jazz Bar in Edinburgh which the hotel recommended, up beyond the museum. We went both nights.

The highlight was Melrose as Burts was a easily the best hotel and the proprietors were welcoming and efficient. The choice  and qualityof restaurants in the town or in Gattonside was excellent and we had our best meal of the holiday at Seasons. Room 17 at Tontine was depressing to stay in with tired and dull finishes and was not like any rooms shown on their website.

Most of the walks only lasted a half day or less and Inntravel could have reccomended more afternoon activities and provided approximate costs.

The walks were interesting with some stunning scenery, worth watching the river, we were lucky to see two salmon leaping in the river. The Indian restauran in Innerleithen , The Saffron was superb and we strongly recommend booking in advance. The town trails were particularly interesting and visits to Traquair and Abbotsford are really worth the time. The Townhouse and Burts Hotel were exceptional, the welcome from both properties was so warm and genuine and we were made most welcome.

Easy walking. Plenty of sights and history.

We have been many times to Traquair and still enjoyed it. And the best and most varied walk is the upriver one from Peebles.

Spotting a Kingfisher on the Tweed just west of Peebles on our first day. The friendliness of the staff and everbody we met in the area who all went out of their way to be helpful and were happy to talk to us.

We couldnt really recommend this holiday to anyone we know. We have used Inntravel holidays quite frequently and this is the only holiday that we have been disappointed with. Two of the hotels did not match up to our expectations . There was no WiFi in the rooms at either The Tontine or Caddon View, and both properties didn't see this as a problem, we rely on WiFi at night and it is a problem for us

BARC travel - the taxi company are unable to communicate with the travellers due to GDPR. It would therefore be helpful if your program stated the pickup and delivery point at Waverley Station which is Calton Road near platform 2. Waverley is huge and not well signed. It meant that both for delivery and collection we had to call BARC travel.

The whole experience was excellent. More grade 1 walking in Scotland please.

We thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. The hotels were excellent although it may be worth considering a superior room at Caddon View - our room was very small. We had excellent food throughout but it was particularly good at Burt's and The Saffron at Innerleithen. The notes for all the walks were excellent. It was quite a climb up Lee Pen especially in 28 degree heat but well worth it for the views. If you fancy a longer walk whilst at Peebles, ask the hotel as they had lots of information. Thanks to all the staff at Inntravel for organising some more UK walking holidays in difficult times.

Abbotsford was excellent. However, the entire holiday was superb and passed without a hitch, aided by beautiful weather.

We gather that this is one of your most popular holidays this year as was shown by the fact that we were doing the journey at the same time as at least 5 other couples. Despite the injury to my leg I was able to complete the holiday comfortably which indicates that it is one of your easier walks.

Really need minimum of clothes to suit warm or wet weather. Meals are very substantial.For me 2 courses was ample.

The whole holiday was excellent, well up to the standards of what you offer abroad. We particularly liked the gardens at Traquair House, well worth visiting. The walk to Innerleithen didn't take as long as we expected and we would recommend spending a bit longer in Peebles before setting out as there's plenty to see there, or detour to Traquair House if you don't plan to visit it the following day. We would definitely recommend Osso in Peebles for a really good meal.

A chance to discover a beautiful area by the River Tweed, lovely gentle walking (a few ascents!) with good accommodation and excellent food.

One particular highlight was dinner in the smart dining room at Burts Hotel. We had pre-booked a restaurant in the town for our second night but with the benefit of hindsight we wished we had eaten at the hotel both nights. And don't miss the Melrose town trail. We did this on our last morning before leaving and it was well worth while.

Lovely countryside and comfortable welcoming hotels. Excellent organisation by Inntravel

We were very lucky to have quite a bit of sunshine during our trip and this really helped to show us the beautiful borders countryside at its very best.  We loved walking along the Tweed, taking in the views and looking out for birds and other wildlife.  Another highlight was the amazing dinner that was included on our first night at Burts hotel in Melrose - really outstanding!

The part from Yair Bridge to Melrose was the more interesting and varied. We walked back to Peebles after Neidpath Castle on the other side of the river, it was a tougher walk than expected, perhaps advise others if they wanted to take a shortcut back.

The walking was just right especially as we had some concerns before we started as we have lost a bit of stamina during lockdown. It was easy with some beautiful views of the river and surrounding countryside. The suggested walks for our 'rest' days provided more challenge which was welcome. This holiday provided exactly what we needed to recharge our batteries. Thank you

We thoroughly enjoyed the walks, the comfortable accommodation and glorious scenery.

Nice relaxing holiday, walking was pretty easy although with options to extend on many days this worked well. Accommodation, food and service were all good. The walk between the first and second hotel was pretty much on a cycle path whilst this was ok, there were nicer routes that could have been offered and I think this would be a worthy improvement. Very enjoyable holiday, beautiful area great place to go to unwind. [INNTRAVEL NOTE: Following customer feedback, we have incorporated a more challenging alternative route between Peebles and Innerleithen, which is provided in our holiday route notes.]

Walking by the river Tweed was a delightful surprise. The walking was interesting but not too strenuous. Our highlights were the walk from Peebles to Lyne and back as it had river, hills and interesting buildings all in one go, and being able to visit Traquair and Abbotsford en route in addition to the actual walking. Our dinners were very good especially at Burts in Melrose and all the hotel staff were very friendly and helpful. As we had our car at Melrose we could visit another restaurant which we would highly recommend - The Seasons at Gattonside (which may be walkable - we didn't try because of the rain!) 

We thoroughly enjoyed this trip and were blessed with good weather. The walks were very good and the 3 places we stayed were well chosen.

Another enjoyable walk - the food at Caddon View is excellent so well worth timing your walking hoilday so you can eat there on both nights; pre-booking acccess to Traquair House and Abbotsford worked well; a 1600 entry for Traquair allowed us to do the longer Option B forest walk with ease with time in hand for a cream tea in the Traquair House walled garden cafe before going into the house.

The walks and wildlife along the banks of the Tweed were excellent. It is possible to divert on the walk from Peebles to Innerleithen and visit Kailzie gardens.

I did really enjoy the holiday. Traquair House and grounds were definitely a revelation. The Maze needs to be entered more seriously! We entered not taking on board how large it was and were helped out by a young man who rescued us with 5 minutes to go to our ticket time! We were dizzy and feeling trapped - very good design! The house full of fascinating items from its long history - I have read about Mary Queen of Scots and realise now how appalling her treatment was by everyone. Her only 'crime' the misfortune to be born at all.

Hotels were great. I thought they were all doing their absolute best under difficult and changing regulations. All staff were attentive and helpful.

This is a charming and undervisited area of Scotland with a lot of interesting history. I am a fan of John Buchan and enjoyed the Peebles Buchan Museum. Traquair House is a must see. The river is a delight and a very relaxing walk. But by a very long way, I think this was the least demanding walk we have ever done with you. That is not a criticism. It absolutely fitted what we wanted as a first venture out after the lockdown.

Beautiful area - all hosts very friendly. Use OS map and try to get up higher for the views if weather allows. Felt walks were a bit short taking about 3 hours leaving a lot of the day free with limited options.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week (of course it helps if you have 7 days of sunshine, which I don't think is usually the case!). The scenery was fantastic - lumpy green hills and the river. All the accommodation and food were excellent and the guesthouse in Innerleithen was a good contrast to the hotels. Food equally good, but in a different way. There was no choice (although, presumably, they accommodate dietary requirements) but we had seabass one night and venison the other, so who's complaining? The towns/villages we stayed in were large enough to have a bit of interest and provide somewhere to stroll around when we had recovered from the walks. 

Lovely walks where wild flowers were more abundant than people.

We had never really considered a holiday in the Scottish Borders, tending to travel through for holidays further north. Covid had stymied our Inntravel holiday in Austria and we switched to the Scottish Borders and weren't disappointed. The Tweed is a lovely river, the scenery is great, particularly if you make the effort to take on some of the climbs. Traquair House and Abbotsford also provide some historical interest along the way. All in all an enjoyable holiday in accommodation where we felt safe.

We thoroughly enjoyed walking along the banks of the Tweed and seeing the wildlife (especially herons and sandmartins).  Traquair House, Robert Smail's Printing Works (Innerleithen) and Abbotsford were all well worth seeing.  We enjoyed dinner at Coltman's in Peebles (we also had a good dinner at the Crown, arranged for us by The Tontine Hotel as their chef had been "pinged").  All the hotels did everything that was needed to ensure everybody's safety in the light of the pandemic.

Beautiful easy walking along the Tweed. We were blessed with lovely weather which meant we could linger at the best bits!

An excellent holiday in a wonderful part of the country.

Another great holiday and thanks to the Inntravel staff for working seamlessly behind the scenes on alternative arrangements when plans changed at the last minute due to Covid19.

We are used to travelling abroad with you and have always valued your expertise and research for these holidays. The same has happened with this holiday. No problems and all was well organised but flexible. All the hotels gave us a lovely Scottish flavour and their friendliness and help in all three was very much appreciated. We will definitely be back for another walking holiday with you.

Lovely to see so many dippers along the river and an osprey in Melrose. Don't forget your binoculars! 

This is a lovely gentle route (apart from the optional climbs!) and we enjoyed the scenery, history and birdlife along the way. We also found that the local people were friendly and happy to stop for a chat. We added extra nights in Innerleithen and Melrose and this allowed us to do all the different options at these locations. We also added a night in Edinburgh which makes a nice stop-over. We used many of the recommendations for restaurants and places to visit - with particular favourites being Abbotsford, Smail's print works and the John Buchan museum. We've done many Inntravel holidays abroad but this was our first in the UK and it was great to have this option during the current travel restrictions. 

The owner and staff at The Tontine went out of their way to make our stay as enjoyable as possible.

Everything about our holiday with Inntravel along the River Tweed was excellent. The accommodation, the food, the walks, the transfers, the service provided and the overall holiday fully lived up to our expectations. Thank you Inntravel for another great holiday.

We really enjoyed this holiday, and were very fortunate with the weather particularly on our final walk up the Eildon Hills on a perfect sunny day. There is so much to see in this area, sites such as Traquair and Trimontium as well as the river and countryside around it and we were made to feel welcome everywhere we went.  The excellent dinners at Burts Hotel in Melrose were a lovely treat at the end of our week.  We had an extra day in Melrose which allowed us to devote a day to Abbotsford as well as having a day for the Old Melrose/Eildon Hills walk either of which I would have been sad to miss.

The River Tweed is beautiful and the three border towns along the route are delightful. The accommodation was great and I wholeheartedly recommend this holiday.

My wife and I have done more than twenty Inntravel walks all over Europe but the Tweed Valley walk on our doorstep in Scotland compared favourably with any of them. 

Well researched accommodation and walking notes, with just the right amount of background information.

We enjoyed the optional walks especially the more challenging ones, we were particularly lucky with the weather as it was dry throughout the week.  We felt the exra day at Caddon was worth including and on the way to Melrose the detour to Abbotsford House is definately recommended. Please note if one wishes to a lunch there a pre-booking would need to be made.

It was all pretty good. The Tontine was excellent, very 1950s and all the better for that with afternoon tea on offer and a cracking chef. But perhaps a more prestigious room might have been nicer.  The service was outstanding.

Melrose and the Burts Hotel were also very good. The food there is excellent. Two floors up for us oldies is a bit of a trek. Avoid Marmions brasserie its not very good.

The Saffron Indian resteraunt at Inerleithan is very memorable with distinct flavours to its quisine.  But BOOK.  It's quite small. Caddon View B and B, quiet and pleasant.  Take care to understand the catering offering.

Abbotsford House was underwhelming.  But the upper garden splendid.  The girls at the cafe were so very helpful when we needed a bite to eat.

This was a charming holiday in a lovely and relatively under visited area of Scotland. The walking was easy and mostly on the flat by the River Tweed. There were opportunities for more challenging walks on some of the days as well. There was plenty of wildlife to see. We were lucky to spot an osprey on two separate occasions while walking alongside the river. The accommodation was very comfortable and hospitable in all of the three places we stayed at, and we ate extremely well! Because the walks were not particularly challenging, there was plenty of time to visit the various historic houses and attractions nearby, all of which need to be booked ahead under the current covid restrictions. We enjoyed visiting Traquair House, Robert Smail's Printing Works, Abbotsford and Melrose Abbey. We also made good use of the excellent Inntravel walking notes when following the three town trails, which were all very enjoyable. We were particularly taken with Melrose. It is in a beautiful setting, with the Abbey ruins and the Eildon Hills dominating the town. It also has two lovely little gardens run by the National Trust for Scotland. There are plenty of small independent shops in the town as well. As always, Inntravel excelled in finding lovely places to stay and the walk notes were detailed and informative. 

The Option A walk at Peebles was superb ; not so Option B which had little to offer in quality of townscape , except for Niedpath Castle.

Traquair House at Innerleithen is worth a visit for the grounds alone with a challenging maze & provides a pleasant walk to & from Caddon View utilising the notes on page 87.

The outstanding hotel was Barts at Melrose & the upgraded room did not disappoint. Option B & C walks at Melrose are both rewarding & picturesque, the former being rather challenging on the ascent/ descent of the Eildon Hills. However, there is an overlap on the latter stages of the Option C walk & your Innerleithen to Melrose walk commencing at Yair Bridge. But on a beautiful day who cares!!

A very relaxing and beautiful walking holiday. Most of the walks were physically easy though optional walks from hotel bases included more  energetic hill walks with great views.

Climbing Lee Pen and the Eilden Hills was a welcome change from the river walk and different view of the river.

We have no tips or recommendations as everything was worth recommending.

We thought it was a fantastic trip, we really enjoyed it. It was very relaxing. We would definitely do it again. 

It wasn't in France (where we've been for previous Inntravel holidays) but it was a lovely holiday with better weather than we expected.  We had enjoyable meals in Francos in Peebles, in the Traquair Arms Hotel and the Cornerhouse Hotel (Chinese menu) in Innerleithen, and Marmions in Melrose.  The staff in the Cornerhouse were particularly friendly and helpful even though they had had more customers than expected and some dishes were unavailable.  We visited Traquair House where we thought our personal tour, although good and interesting, was overpriced.  A visit to Robert Smail's Printworks was really interesting.  Abbotsford was also interesting.  It would have been a good idea to carry earphones as visitors are provided with a commentary to be downloaded onto phones.  The café was full when we tried to have lunch there because of the Covid-restricted capacity but the trailer in the car park (run by the same organisation) provided a suitable snack.

In the current pandemic, it was some time since we had the courage to "get out" and enjoy time walking.  This was a good lead in, not being too demanding, and limbered us up satisfactorily for the steep climb to the trig point on the Eildon Hills.  Sadly the "temporary" lockdown imposed at the last minute, spoilt our full enjoyment of the hotel dining as we could not have alcohol with our meals, but Burt's at Melrose saved the day, having erected a marquee with heaters provided.  I realise that the Tontine at Peebles hadn't got the space to provide this facility but I did think that Caddon View could have been a better experience. I think he was working hard (which he did remind us of frequently!) but I wasn't convinced it was the right venue for the Inntravel experience, particularly in the colder months.

Early autumn colours - & views on the Tweed

This is a lovely, easy walk, highly recommended. The hotels coped amazingly well with all the new rules and regulations and we were made to feel very welcome by all the owners and staff.

Decent accommodation and food.  Lovely scenery and relatively easy walking.  Very enjoyable.  A really nice addition Inntravel's UK options.

I haven't had an Inntravel holiday since the 1990s, when I had some excellent trips in France and Italy and was highly impressed with the brilliant selection of interesting routes and charming, personal small hotels providing outstanding food and generous hospitality. But that was a long time ago - so what a thrill to find that nothing's changed! Your curation of delightful places to stay - and delightful routes to link them - is still top-notch.

The whole week was excellent: we had been unsure about staying in hotels in these difficult times but we felt relaxed and secure throughout the trip. The scenery along the Tweed was stunning with the autumn colours and opportunities for bird watching but we particularly enjoyed the circular walk from Peebles on Day 1, the section from Innerleithen to Walkerburn and the first section of the walk from Yair Bridge towards Melrose.  Our final day in Melrose was warm and sunny and our memories of our visit to Melrose Abbey followed by our climb up the Eildon Hills will stay with us for a long time.

We had a glorious six nights in the Tweed and Scottish Borders. Helped by some beautiful weather, we really enjoyed discovering a part of the UK that we hadn't visited before. Everyone that we met was friendly and welcoming and all three hotels were a pleasure to stay in. They went to great lengths to comply with the many and varied COVID restrictions and we felt totally safe. Our personal favourite was Caddon View because the owner and staff were so friendly. It felt really good to be supporting hard pressed hoteliers during these difficult times. 

The walks are not very demanding and walking alongside the river can mean too much time walking close to roads. We really recommend making an effort to get away from the valley. Combining the walk from Peebles with Caerlee Hill and Lee Pen was a great success. Perhaps most importantly, do book the various historical sights well in advance. The tours of Traquair House (call ahead rather than using the website), the Smailes printing press and Abbotsford were excellent. We didn't have time, but adding on a visit to Edinburgh would make a lot of sense. Our last night was spent at the Provender restaurant in Melrose. It is absolutely superb and should not be missed. If, like us, you had to cancel your European Inntravel holiday, this is a good alternative. Hopefully, the start of more UK walking holidays from Inntravel.    

This is a lovely walking holiday in a quiet, unspoilt part of the UK. The hotels are ideally placed to explore the river Tweed and its wildlife, we saw herons fishing for their food every day! The locals are friendly and keen to stop and chat! The walks themselves are a great introduction to the area and the information provided is excellent to understand some of the history of the Tweed. If you are good at map reading, or want alternatives then all the hotels can provide other options for the intermediate days. Overall a great 5 days, thanks again Inntravel!