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Boat Of Garten Caravan & Camping Park
Deshar Road
Boat Of Garten
Inverness
Inverness-Shire (Browse area)
PH24 3BN
Tel: 01479 831652
Visit their website Check Digital TV coverage See Weather Forecast
   
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Pitches: Holiday lodges Only
Open: 01/01/2024 to 31/12/2024
01/01/2025 to 31/12/2025
Rating: 
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 No Tents |
 No Caravans |
 No Motorhomes |
 No Campervans |
 No Glamping Units |
 Holiday Homes for Hire |
 Holiday Homes for Sale |
 No Seasonal Pitches |
 No Electric Hookups |
 No Hardstandings |
 No Fully Serviced Pitches |
 Show Full Facilities |
| Who's it for |
 Families Welcome |
 Not Members Only |
 No Rallies |
 Not Naturist Site |
 Dogs Welcome |
 No Dogs Allowed |
 Groups Welcome |
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| Facilities |
 Toilet Facilities |
 Hot Showers |
 Washing Up |
 No Bathroom |
 No Baby Changing |
 Laundry On Site |
 Drinking Water |
 Disabled Friendly |
 No Chemical Disposal |
 No Battery Charging |
 Gas Exchange |
 No Recycling Facilities |
 No Kitchen Facilities |
 No Freezer / Fridge |
 No Motorhome Point |
 No Wifi Access |
 Shop <1 mile |
 Bar <5 miles |
 Restaurant or Cafe or Takeaway <5 miles |
| Activities |
 Kids Playground |
 No TV Room |
 No Games Room |
 No Evening Ents |
 No Fishing |
 No Wild Swimming |
 No Indoor Pool |
 No Outdoor Pool |
 No Horse Riding |
 No Cycle Hire |
 Golf <5 miles |
 No Tennis |
 No Beach |
 No Watersports |
 No Boat Launch |
| Other Features |
 No Sea Views |
 Not Working Farm |
 No Campfires Allowed |
 Open All Year |
 No Waterside Pitches |
 Public Transport <1 mile |
 No Dog Walk |
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Reviews:
26 in total, now showing 1 to 10
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| Date of Visit: February 2017 |
Unit: Touring Caravan |
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| Reviewer: Werrington-wanderer |
1 review from this member |
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 This morning, 09th February 2017, I contacted Boat of Garten to enquire about touring caravan storage. I used the booking enquiry on this website and had a reply within a few hours. However, this was their reply ~ 'Hello and thank you for your enquiry. I am sorry we no longer take touring caravans on site. Kind Regards'.
If you know that this situation has changed in the future, please contact this website to let us know. Many thanks 
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| Date of Visit: July 2015 |
Unit: Static |
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| Reviewer: Alhep |
1 review from this member |
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The site is in a easy to access area with lots to do within the area.
The manager is run off her feet trying to cope with this site and another at Aviemore so not always available straight away.
The village shop at the entrance to the park is extremely good, nearly everything you ever need is there.
We find the park to be quiet and the grounds well kept.
Speed bumps keep the car speeds down so safe for children as well.
Due to a policy change earlier this year there are no longer electric meters with card reader so one less problem for visitors.
In the area there is Landmark, if you have a lot of children it gets expensive!
Toilet facilities are available for tourers and tents.
A laundry is adjacent but quite expensive and only 1 dryer was working when we were there.
Playground facilities on site very limited but as most people are away every day I think that is low on importance list. Nearby there is a proper playpark.
The highland wildlife park is only 15 minutes away.
The steam railway passes through Boat of Garten and is a good 5 min walk from the park.
The area is useable all year round with walking, cycling and skiing all close by.
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| Date of Visit: April 2015 |
Unit: Static |
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| Reviewer: Slbhill |
11 reviews from this member |
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A nice location - but without doubt the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I won't go back unless they change their ownership &/or management.
Customer service responses have included:
- 'oh you're looking at the wrong website, we don't have those type of units. ' Which website should we be looking at? 'It's not built yet'.
- booking confirmation was never received, although we did chase for it.
- phone not answered, no answerphone or voicemail.
- On arrival the office was unmanned although it was within their signposted opening hours. Our key was in an (unsecured) envelope with our name (wrongly spelt - maybe why the booking confirmation email didn't arrive) and the caravan number - but there is no map of the site or directions to the relevant part of the site.
- When office was closed the phone numbers listed were the office number (we could hear it ringing behind the locked door) and the mobile number of a lady who didn't want to help because it was her day off.
- No welcome pack of any type in the 'van
- Credit cards are not accepted (because the site is only acting as an intermediary for privately-owned vans, I think) although there is a 'credit cards welcome' sign on the door
- Electricity in static caravans is by a card meter (£5 cards are available from reception, they last between 1 and 3 days depending on your usage), so this is an additional cost but this is not communicated at any point. I tried to suggest it would be a useful thing to add to the booking confirmation but was told it was a perfectly reasonable system.
- Staff member refused to give me a receipt for a cash payment of over £300 and told me it was an unreasonable request.
THE PARK ITSELF is nice enough. It was fairly quiet (although not policed at all, so that is presumably dependent on the current residents). The vans were clean, pleasant and reasonably well equipped. It did appear from the sizes of saucepans and cooking pots that we were only expected to cook for 2 or 3 people in our 6-berth van, and there were only 4 dining chairs plus two rickety stools.
The site's play park comprises one worn swing (very high off the ground) and two toddler bouncers (a horse and a car), and is on the edge of the entry road with no fence. If you have young children, take a 5 minute walk instead - turn right out of the site and then take the next left - outside the community hall at the end of the cul-de-sac is a good size modern play park which is clean and well equipped, and safely fenced off.
There were quite a few children on-site when we were there and most of them occupied their time with bikes and scooters doing laps of the various loops of road within the park. Traffic was slow speed and took good care around the children.
As others have noted, the entire camping/touring space was taken up by travellers with trade vans and big caravans who appear to be there long-term. They were good neighbours but mean the site is effectively fully booked. Our camping friends who turned up on spec were told they could camp if they could find space but they couldn't.
The only other site facilities (as far as we found - no map or info provided) are a toilet/shower block (but we didn't use it) and a laundry room. I put £2 into a tumble drier for 40 minutes use but the washing didn't seem to be any drier at the end of it, I'm not a regular user so maybe all laundrettes are like that.
There is a shop by the site entrance (not associated with the site, which they are careful to point out!) It's a proper Scottish village shop and sells a bit of everything. It's open fairly long hours but don't get caught out by Sunday's early closing like we did (our own fault for losing track of the day of the week!).
LOCATION
Boat of Garten is a lovely little village, and the surroundings are gorgeous. There are ospreys nesting nearby which you have a good chance of seeing. It's a 5-minute walk to the railway station where some days you can get a steam train to Aviemore on the Strathspey preserved railway. There are lots of attractions with 40 minutes' drive or so, a great location for a family holiday (but if I were you I'd find a different nearby site!)
EATING OUT - There is a good (I'm told) restaurant nearly opposite the site but you need to book more than a week ahead so not much use for short visits. The only other evening eating place is the Boat Hotel which was a bit posh for us and fairly expensive (~£12 for a pasta main course) although we did have a good meal there. There are a couple of coffee shop / cafes which seem to get good reviews but close around 4pm.
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| Date of Visit: April 2015 |
Unit: Static |
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| Reviewer: Gi11 |
23 reviews from this member |
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Lovely area with lots to see and do within easy reach.
But my advice would be to find somewhere else. Worst customer service I have ever come across at a campsite. Just unbelievable. Had to pay the deposit to an unknown name - presumably the owner of the caravan, but felt a bit iffy. Camping area taken over by very large caravans and trade vehicles.
Wouldn't go there again.
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| Date of Visit: August 2012 |
Unit: Tent |
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| Reviewer: OLDALAN |
1 review from this member |
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This is now a site used by 'workers', and we would not recommended it for families at the moment. As it is not quiet at night.
The toilets and showers are clean but could benifit from some updating. There are plenty of hook up points around the pitches.
There is a small play area on the site and woodland walks and a sports field very close by, which has a children's play area also.
There is a good shop at the entrance to the site and another shop and post office just down the road.
A resturant is situated almost across the road and a large hotel is situated a few mins. Walk (by the Steam Railway Station. )
When busy the pitches are rather small, and you may need 'rock pegs 'to pitch the tent.
The new staff are very helpful, jovial and eager to help.
The site is a few mins. Drive from the Landmark Centre, which is great for family days out.
The Steam Railway is a few mins. Walk, and you can get return tickets at the Station.
The Boat of Garten Osprey centre is a short drive from the site.
The National Cycle Route passes very close, and there are many on road and off road options near.
The area is also good for walking.
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| Date of Visit: August 2011 |
Unit: Touring Caravan |
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| Reviewer: Sheltie |
10 reviews from this member |
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We were on this site in 2008 and went back this year, fair to say it was now busy, very busy with little sign of site planing.
Some pitches were flat but I could not level our van.
Nice location, shop on the corner of the site was superb.
Showers were not hot and at times cold.
Toilets were not exactly clean despite the best efforts of the cleaner.
Reception was seldom attended and not very friendly although the price was very fair.
Perhaps demand had surpassed supply at this time of year.
Might use again but will look at others first.
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| Date of Visit: May 2011 |
Unit: Touring Caravan |
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| Reviewer: Han+sue |
2 reviews from this member |
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We stayed here for 3 nights. The positives are that it is in a good area to access to all the local attractions of lochs, mountains etc.
The site is reasonably level and there is a good shop at the entrance which is not part of the campsite. The hotel and bar, restaurant is in walking distance as is the Strathspey steam railway and Speyside way cycle track.
Negatives are that it was overcrowded and we had to squeeze in between 2 other caravans although we had booked.
The showers and hot water taps were out of action our entire stay with no signs to say why, so we had to ask at reception but there was often no one there.
I appreciate it is nice to have a dog friendly site but there were one or two that were allowed to bark at all times and throughout early mornings and late nights. . I believe that one of these are owned by seasonals of the park in several touring caravans grouped together. The site is dominated by these and the statics, there seems to be some work going on to improve the statics. But maybe some thought should be taken on the only one set of broken showers for the rest of us!
The play area looked like it had been pulled apart by some of the local kids and had not been reassembled by the time we left so not great for families to visit. Maybe this was just a bad week.
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| Date of Visit: October 2010 |
Unit: Motorhome |
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| Reviewer: Wheelsfargo |
7 reviews from this member |
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Site is attractively landscaped.
There were only a couple of tourers on at the time of our visit, but a few in the statics which mainly dominate the site.
The touring field is compact. The hard standings round the edge were all taken by what looked like semi-permanent seasonal pitches.
The main touring pitch in the middle was fairly flat.
The toilet & facilities are near the entrance which were clean (although my husband stated that 2 of the 4 male toilets were not in use.)
To clarify how far the toilets are from the camping area ~ It was 140 strides from toilets to rubbish bins and a further 125 strides from rubbish bins to camping area ~ (I am 5ft tall)
End of October 2010 we paid £17.50 per night ~ £2 of that would have been the EHU ~ we are 2 adults in a motorhome. We could have got age concessions at the Forest site in Aviemore for less with no TV reception ~ BUT At this site here in the Boat of Garten you can get a good TV digital reception.
There's bike hire facilities nearby and you can cycle into Aviemore via a cycle path. I would recommend this site.
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| Date of Visit: July 2010 |
Unit: Tent |
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| Reviewer: Agillespie |
1 review from this member |
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Nice site, Although there was slightly reduced tent space since last visit due to more statics, but we had no problem finding space and a hook up. The toilets and showers were keep clean and plenty hot water. Found a great mini bus which took us home from Aviemore once we got the steam train through - dig out timetable before you go. Would definitely recommend.
There is a small Childs play park on site. The steam train is 5 mins walk from the site which takes you on lovely trip to Aviemore. The Boat hotel is also 5 mins from site which serves high priced food, but has a public bar for a drink. Excellent shop just outside site which has pretty much everything you could ever want!
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| Date of Visit: May 2010 |
Unit: Tent |
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| Reviewer: EB00 |
6 reviews from this member |
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We chose this site for convenience to visit the osprey centre at Loch Garten. We have visited this beautiful area before but this was our first time back in Scotland with tents and children.
The weather was very wet on arrival. My husband had booked for 2 tents but it became apparent (after we had been told it was a bit busy and we might not get our car next to the tents) that there were no marked pitches and the inadequate area allocated for tents was already overcrowded with assorted backpackers, vehicles and a motorhome.
As we were debating which area of mud and stones to squeeze ourselves into or whether to go to the forestry site near Aviemore instead the manager appeared and after explaining our situation he found us a spot between 2 caravans which although a bit cramped was quite adequate for our short stay.
The only facilities are near the main entrance and not very near to the camping area - maybe a problem if you have younger children. We found them to be clean and comfortable - plenty of room for dry things in the showers. The shop right by the entrance is excellent and although not connected with the campsite they were happy for us to freeze our ice packs there. There is a hotel in the village with a bar etc where they were happy for us to have a drink with our children one evening.
Generally a good site in a lovely area - it's a pity that it has been taken over by static caravans so tent campers no longer have the space and convenient facilities which are important to us.
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Common Questions
Is Boat Of Garten Caravan & Camping Park child friendly? YES, it accepts children & has a playground View all facilities
Where is the nearest shop to Boat Of Garten Caravan & Camping Park? There is a shop within 1 mile View all facilities
Is Boat Of Garten Caravan & Camping Park dog friendly? YES View all facilities
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