The Steam Packet Inn

The Isle of Whithorn is the last village on a long peninsula that few travellers ever bother to drive down, which is its saving. The Steam Packet sits directly on the quay, its bar windows level with the masts, serving Galloway beef and whatever has come off the local boats. Walkers arrive along the coast path from St Ninian's Cave, the pilgrimage route that has drawn people to this shore for fifteen hundred years. Inside it is all low ceilings, working-harbour chatter and a fire when the wind is up. Rooms upstairs look out over the water for those unwilling to leave.

An independently run quayside inn at the end of a peninsula most visitors miss, serving local seafood and Galloway beef beside a working harbour on an ancient pilgrimage coast.

• Food Lovers
• Walkers
• Hidden Gem
• History Lovers