Macdonald Inchyra Hotel and Spa, Falkirk

There is still lots of Scotland content coming your way. If you’ve not already seen it, I did a HUGE blog post all about our eight-day Scottish Road Trip. We really did manage to squeeze so much into the week. I believe it was Day Six which we spent the day in the Cairngorms National Park before travelling down to the 4* Macdonald Inchyra Hotel & Spa. We were kindly invited to spend the evening at the hotel which was located on the outskirts of Falkirk. The hotel is located just off the M9 so it’s very accessible. It’s also very close to The Kelpies which is a huge iron sculpture of two horses.

As I said, we had been in the Cairngorms National Park and I think it was around a two-hour drive from Balmoral. We arrived just in time for our pre-booked slot in the swimming pool. With everything going on, there’s obviously a lot of rules and restrictions throughout the hospitality sector. However, during our check-in and our whole stay we felt safe. The hotel was operating a one-way system where possible, masks were obviously required in all areas and pre-booking was required for all meals and the swimming pool.

Once we had checked in, we made it to our room which had been sealed with a sticker. This is a new measure to show that the room had been thoroughly cleaned and no one had re-entered since. Our room was lovely and spacious and had everything we would need. The bed was actually huge and of course, the bathroom got my seal of approval with a big bath and waterfall shower. In the room, we both had our own slippers and robe. We had been advised to change in the room and head to the pool as there were limited facilities there.

As far as I was aware, the main spa was still closed at the hotel and it was just the Swimming Pool and Gym which were open. You could visit both as long as you had arranged a slot. I felt completely safe in the swimming pool, there were only two other people in there with us and we both stayed at opposite ends of the pool. I’m not sure what the maximum capacity would be at one time but it was pretty ideal just having two groups there. It’s the first time I’d been to a Swimming Pool for months so it was so lovely that we got the chance to go for a dip. It was also really relaxing to stretch the arms and legs after the long drive.

We had already pre-booked our time slot for dinner at their Steakhouse. I’ve stayed at a few Macdonald hotels before and they are known for their Steakhouse restaurants. I was very excited to get to dinner. It wasn’t too busy around the restaurant, so it was good to know reservations had been staggered through the evening.

I believe the restaurant was running at a limited menu but you wouldn’t be able to tell as there was still so much to choose from. Typically I went for the Scottish Flat Iron Steak which was served with a salad, fries and peppercorn sauce. The steak was cooked perfectly to my liking and tasted delicious. Stefan went for the beef burger which he added cheese and bacon as extras. The burger was also served with fries and we also got a side of onion rings. The burger must have been out of this world as Stefan was raving about it all night. He claimed it was one of the best he’d had in a long time and that you could really taste the quality of the burger. 10/10 for Stefan!

Of course, we couldn’t resist dessert. I can never resist dessert, especially when chocolate is mentioned. I got the Chocolate Truffle Torte which was supposed to be served with pistachio ice cream but I swapped it out for blackcurrant sorbet. in my opinion, that was an excellent choice on my part as the blackcurrant went very well with the chocolate torte which was just delicious. Stefan got the Lemon meringue tartlet which was served with the blackcurrant sorbet. It also looked amazing and I got no complaints from Stefan.

After dinner, I couldn’t resist not having a bath in the room which was equipped with Elemis products. The perfect way to relax after a day of exploring. I think we watched the latest episode of Gogglebox before I absolutely conked out. I was shattered and it was one of the best nights sleep I have had in a very long time.

To kick the next day off, we had a full Scottish Breakfast in the steakhouse. There was a continental table which we could help ourselves to with cereals and fruit. Other than that, breakfast was table service. I did think it was a little strange there wasn’t a menu as we just presumed it just a standard cooked Scottish Breakfast available. The food was lovely though. We had a little potato scone which seems to be a local Scottish thing as a substitute for a potato hash brown.

I was hoping to get a few photos outside of the hotel before we left but the weather was terrible. I’m sure if you’ve read my other Scotland post, you’ll know that Day 7 was a complete write off in terms of the weather. We had booked to go to Edinburgh Zoo which I will say is only about 20 minutes from the Macdonald Inchyra Hotel so it was an ideal location. It’s also pretty close to Edinburgh Airport too! However, the weather wasn’t the best to spend the morning at the zoo but we embraced the rain! The location of the hotel is pretty good though with connections to Edinburgh, Falkirk, Stirling and the Forth Bridge. Very ideal for people like us who are travelling about and visiting lots of places!

This wasn’t our first visit to a Macdonald Hotel, we actually visited the Holyrood Hotel in Edinburgh last year. Once again, we had another pleasant experience and it’s the staff which are so attentive and offer such an excellent service which really made our stay so lovely. You can always guarantee a super comfy huge bed in a Macdonald hotel too!