Fingal floating hotel, Edinburgh
Location:
Fingal Hotel, best described as one of the most unique hotels in Edinburgh, is a floating hotel berthed in Albert dock in the Historic Port of Leith. Leith, which officially became part of Edinburgh city in 1920, is located on the water front about 3 miles from Edinburgh city centre and is also home to the Fingal’s sister ship, the Royal Yacht Britannia. In recent years Leith has become a hip and trendy district boasting many swanky restaurants, including celebrity chef Tom Kitchin’s The Kitchin, and is a cool district to explore away from the grandeur of Edinburgh city centre.
Although Fingal looks every inch an ultra luxury ship, enjoying a beautiful retirement as a floating hotel after a lifetime of cocktail sipping and caviar quaffing, nothing could be further from the truth. Fingal’s former life as a Northern Lighthouse Board supply vessel was long, hard and extremely treacherous at times. For 36 years after her commissioning in 1963, she serviced the lighthouses of the west and northern coasts of Scotland.
Following that, and after 14 more years in the much calmer waters of the River Fal in Cornwall, she was purchased by the Royal Yacht Britannia Trust and work began on completely transforming her into the luxury hotel she is today. She is lauded as the sister ship to the Trusts other pride and joy, Her Majesty the Queen’s retired Royal Yacht Britannia, which is permanently moored a stone’s throw away from Fingal’s permanent mooring, with a complimentary ticket to tour the Royal Yacht included with your stay.
Rooms:
Fingal Hotel opened to the public in January 2019 after a £5 million makeover, with 23 bedroom cabins, including four duplex cabins and the exquisite Skerryvore Suite, named after one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the world.
Each cabin is affectionately named after one of the Stevenson lighthouses she originally serviced as a lighthouse ship. The Stevenson family designed all of Scotlands Lighthouses. Robert Sevenson’s visits to remote lighthouses accompanied by his grandson, famous Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, were the inspiration for him to write Treasure Island and Kidnapped. To name the cabins after these historic lighthouses is an original and inspired touch, and photographs of each of them decorate the walls of the cabin corridors. They’re fascinating to look at and really capture the drama of these dangerous and isolated buildings, and the extreme conditions Fingal had to deal with in reaching them.
We stayed in an entry level classic cabin, Cape Wrath, which was located on deck two. Although these are the entry level cabins they are beautifully adorned, luxurious, spacious and well equipped. The headboard, like each and every other headboard in this hotel is bespoke made with an embossed map of the lighthouse’s location and topography surrounding it. The bathrooms are magnificent with beautiful brass fittings, luscious fluffy towels and robes, and luxurious Noble Isle amenities. The bedroom boasts a divinely comfortable king size bed which for some reason is very high, but fear not, each room is also equipped with a little stool to use if you’re having trouble reaching the summit. The room has everything you would need for an overnight stay, including a Nespresso machine with fresh milk delivered on request and delicious welcoming chocolates and shortbread.
However, the classic cabins only have porthole windows so for those that like more natural daylight we would recommend pushing the boat out (see what we did there!) and booking a luxury cabin. These are located on deck 3 and have a door out onto the deck for guests to be able to step outside for fresh air and daylight. Unfortunately we didn’t get to view one of these cabins but the staff were kind enough to show us around one of the four duplex cabins which are beautifully designed into the curved hull of the stern. Set over two floors, the upstairs has a small seating area with a spiral staircase leading down into the stunning bedroom and bathroom. The bedroom area is large, boasting a super king size bed, and the bathroom is magnificent, with double sinks, a separate bath and massive rainfall shower. There is also the ultra luxurious Skerryvore Suite which we weren’t able to access on our visit but sounds like it would offer the ultimate romantic stay with its large living and dining space, complimentary mini bar and private deck - maybe next time!
Public areas and restaurant:
The public areas are equally as stunning as the cabins, with seemingly no expense spared in providing the guest with details to gawp, grin and wonder at. Though the reception is relatively small the welcome from the Fingal staff is large. Access to the Fingal is up the red carpeted gangway leading into the beautiful reception area, compete with plenty of French polished wood, brass adornments and a glass elevator.
Taking the elevator down one floor, guests can visit the original engine room, which the Trust have opened up by installing a glass public viewing gantry above the engines. Off the main reception area is the beautiful cavernous Ballroom, specially designed to fit into the bow of the ship to give a double height room suitable for a variety of events and entertainment.
Up on the top deck is the Bridge room which is a small room, perfect for private events. When we were staying a small group had hired the room for the afternoon to celebrate a family birthday with a delicious afternoon tea. For sea and ship lovers its the perfect environment, offering luxurious surroundings with the history of the ship, including the original brass wheel, on display.
Opposite the Bridge towards the aft of the ship is the Lighthouse Restaurant, a fine dining restaurant and cocktail bar which is perfectly positioned to make the most of the evening sun on the large aft deck or in the lounge area to the rear of the restaurant seating.
We had reserved a table in the Lighthouse for an evening meal on our one night stay, so after enjoying a signature cocktail on the outside deck we were shown to our table in the dining room. Although dining at the Fingal is not cheap with the prices being about mid range for this kind of establishment, we were not disappointed with the quality of the dishes. In fact, they were pretty delicious, as was our breakfast the following morning. And the service was exemplary, with friendly knowledgable staff in both the bar and restaurant.
Our opinion:
There’s very little to find fault with on board Fingal. It’s costly to stay on and if we really had to criticise anything in the interests of a fair and balanced review, we would say that the entry level cabins with just port holes can be a little bit dark without any kind of view, so if this bothers you we would suggest spending a little bit more for the luxury cabins. Also, it’s not in the centre of Edinburgh so as fantastic as it is, we’d only really stay on for two nights maximum as there’s relatively little to do once you’ve walked around Leith, visited the Royal Yacht and done some shopping in the local mall. It’s a small hotel with limited facilities, but then you know that when you book your stay, so it’s no surprise.
Overall though, Fingal surpassed our expectation and we were glad we made a last minute change to our Scotland road trip itinerary to fit our stay in. So much thought, passion, detail and love has gone into her transformation, you can’t but fail to fall in love with her too. The staff are utterly brilliant too and share that enthusiasm and love. They are just so welcoming and eager to show Fingal off to you. If you’re visiting Scotland, and have a decent hotel budget, Fingal is somewhere you MUST stay, even just for one night. Moreso if you love ships, lighthouses, fine food and have an appreciation for the unique. Fingal pushes all those buttons and more.
We stayed at the Fingal in September 2020. We booked directly with the hotel and paid £200 for a classic cabin room on a bed and breakfast basis with 2 tickets to the Royal Yacht Britannia included in this price. We paid £120 for our dinner and drinks, as featured above.
If you enjoyed this blog post and are considering a stay in Scotland, why not take a look at our Torridon Hotel review.
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