Ballifeary House

This is a very quiet and well appointed guest house located in a quiet neighborhood a few blocks from the River Ness Walkway and downtown Inverness. Breakfast was very good, and The room and bath were very nice, and Fraser gave us great tips for walks and sites as well as restaurants with vegan offerings. Check-in is only after 4pm (there is no one at the house before that) so that is something to keep in mind. I would definitely recommend Ballifeary Guest House if visiting Inverness

This friendly B&B is clean, comfortable and welcoming in a beautifully well-maintained old victorian house. Fraser (the host) was very accommodating and gave various top-notch suggestions for eating & drinking. The room (3) was huge with a large comfortable bed and chairs (not always found in a bedroom). A good cooked breakfast too. It's in a nice quiet area and is a 10-minute walk to the centre and station along the pretty river Ness and by the cathedral. That means if you're after a quiet night, you'll get it here. But it's not far to go for an evening out.

We stayed at The Ballifeary Guest House April 10-12, 2023. The reviews I read online were accurate as far as the beauty of Ballifeary Guest House, the attention to detail given by the owners and the wonderful food served. All of these areas lived up to my expectations. However, there was a feeling of precision and demand that came along with the attention to detail that was not enjoyable. Personally, I think of a Bed and Breakfast as a cozier kind of accommodation where you can meet with the other guests over breakfast to have conversation and the hosts are warm and friendly. It's always been the attraction of a B & B over staying in a hotel. The Ballifeary Guest House did not live up to that expectation. The host required that we sign up on a paper form for Breakfast. They offered meal slots in 20 minute increments. We thought that maybe this was designed to allow for more ease for the cook, but it had the effect of separating the guests from dining with one another. The host selected our table. When we came down 4 minutes into our time slot, our first course was already on the table. It felt like a military schedule and I didn't appreciate having to nail down my 20 minute time slot so precisely, since I might want to sleep in, or be more carefree, because I'm on freakin’ vacation! Our first breakfast was perfection, but, for our 2nd breakfast, the fruit compote was smaller and instead of a stack of 3 pancakes, we got 2 pancakes. When we asked for our 3rd pancake we were told we got our meal order in late. Again, the military comes to mind. Additionally, we had taken the owners suggestions of changing our day plans, which lead us into a very long and taxing day and we didn't get back in until 11pm. Nonetheless, we filled out the breakfast form and left it in the hallway that night. They had our breakfast request before the morning when the food was made, so why didn't they just make more pancake batter? Was it made the night before? Were we being punished because we didn't get our order in on time? It was ridiculous and a poor practice to wow someone on day one and then serve an inferior meal on day two. We only ever saw the Frasier, the owner, but not his partner, who we think was the cook. The other thing we really disliked was the ungenerous check-in and check-out policy– 4pm check in and 10am check out. If you stay for one night, you pay for an 18 hour room. We called it the “GTFO check-out policy” and after our long day, it was stressful to meet our breakfast time commitment and get the f--*k out in time. Our twin beds and the bed covers were narrow, so that when I rolled over, my blankets went with me. I spent several times during the night picking my bedding off of the floor. Frasier, the owner is known for being a font of information about the area, which is true, but we found that without asking for advice about our plans, he just launched into where we should go and what we should do. Kind of talked 'at' us rather than 'w