A hotel with heritage
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Located on the shore of sheltered Busta Voe on mainland Shetland, Busta House Hotel is an ideal base to discover Shetland. Our fantastic location, paired with the rich history and heritage of the hotel, sense of community and service of the team come together to make a stay in Busta House Hotel a memorable experience. We look forward to welcoming you.
History
Busta House Hotel has an intriguing and storied history. It is a tale of class, love, tragedy, and deceit. Find out more about Busta House’s past, the story of the Gifford family and the ill-fated Barbara Pitcairn.
Our Team
Busta House would be nothing without all of those working both front of house and behind the scenes. Find out more about the team dedicated to making your stay as enjoyable as possible.
Reviews
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Just got home after 2 weeks at the Busta House. This was our second stay at the Busta, and we had such a wonderful time that the third is already... read more booked. The staff are super-welcoming, friendly, and *nothing* is too much trouble - they go out of their way to ensure your day from the magnificent Busta breakfast to the delicious evening meal runs perfectly. There is no greater joy than to return from a day's coastal walking to drinks and the aroma and warmth of a peat fire in the comfort of the Long Room. A further treat awaits after dining from the splendid menu (who can forget the southern-fried Stenbiter!), choosing from the enormous range of whiskies on offer. The house has a fascinating history, in a spectacular location. We can't wait to return and hope to continue for many years to come.
4th June 2022The warmest of welcomes at this quaint outpost of the truly magical island of Shetland. The staff are exemplary. The food is plentiful and delicious. The rooms... read more comfortable and in keeping with the age of the building. Not to mention the biggest selection of whiskey ever
9th February 2023 -
Wonderful hotel. The young and dynamic staff are a credit to the hotel and the travel industry in the Shetland Islands. Although I was part of a large group the... read more efficiency and care of us at dinner was superb. I enjoyed a dram after my meal and I really appreciated the lovely young female member of staff who was wonderful in conversation and made me feel very welcome. I am sure fault can be found in any hotel but come with the right attitude and you will feel privileged to stay in such a lovely setting with such caring staff.
25th August 2021Beautiful location; huge room with sea view; lovely old building; cheerful and highly attentive staff; fascinating wine list; hundreds of whiskies; generous portions of well-cooked food - we loved it... read more all!
28th June 2022 -
We only had one night here after a week on Unst, and we’ll definitely return for a longer stay. It’s a very atmospheric country house hotel with a friendly, enthusiastic... read more and very efficient staff. The dinner menu is comprehensive and the food is very fairly priced. The bedroom, though slightly on the small side, was comfortable with a well equipped bathroom. Great location for exploring the west mainland of Shetland.
2nd July 2022love Busta house great friendly staff made us very welcome when we arrived very efficient nothing was a problem food excellent absolutely delicious from start to finish ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ well worth... read more it. Will be back very soon another family meal.
20th June 2022 -
This hotel was quite a distance from Lerwick, but with a beautiful view over the lake. The room at Busta House was smallish, but with good storage, although access to... read more the hanging cupboard was hampered by a trouser press hanging on the inside of the cupboard. The major problem was the shower, which did not produce hot water until the 3rd evening. We complained about it early on the morning of the second day to the staff (who in general were friendly and helpful) promised to look at it, but we think that it was our complaint to our tour company, which triggered action and I was finally able to enjoy a hot shower on the third evening. They gave us the 3rd evening meal “on the house” in recompense. Nice, but I would have rather had a hot shower. The water provided for the bath was not hot enough for my husband to have bath on the first evening, but was on the second evening. I can’t use a bath, because of 2 knee replacements. The standard of the restaurant meals (breakfast and dinner) was generally very good, of excellent value and served in huge portions. I was pleased that the restaurant offered a good choice of smoked fish dishes for breakfast. The COVID precautions were reassuringly thorough
15th October 2021We LOVED this property for just about everything. We had two twin beds on the top floor. The room was quiet and comfortable, with seemingly new bathroom fixtures (it... read more was an en-suite room). The service on check in and during the stay, and in the nice restaurant, was FANTASTIC. We quickly latched on to Bradley, one of the nicest and hardest working people I've seen in a long time. He was friendly, professional, helpful with suggestions on our ferry trips and walks on Shetland. The property is an historic one, so they have a rustic character and is very charming, as is the garden. Its location is fabulous for touring the whole mainland. We'll be back! From the guest log we can tell that there were a lot of satisfied customers like us.
29th September 2022 -
We regularly have a weekend stay. The food is excellent with lots of choice on the menu. They cater for gluten free options too. The rooms are lovely particularly... read more the upgraded bathrooms. The management and staff are friendly, knowledgeable, efficient and attentive. We would highly recommend to anyone
5th June 2022Not your average hotel, the Busta is one with plenty of character! Despite the age of the building it is well appointed with a long spacious lounge, well stocked bar... read more and serves first class food. We stayed as part of a walking group, so ate dinner in the library, which was a treat. All the staff were friendly and helpful. Accommodation was varied as one would expect from the age of the building, nevertheless we found our room more than adequate.
28th September 2021 -
An old characterful building in a gorgeous setting next to a quiet loch, I had an enjoyable overnight stay here as part of a group tour of Orkney and Shetland.... read more The young staff were all incredibly warm, friendly and helpful yet still really efficient - oh that all hotels were as well staffed as this! The public rooms in the hotel are in the style of the place as a whole, but clean and well maintained. My room (Bigga) was a quirky one - the sloping floor being its most notable feature! (I tried to put the kettle on the bedside table and it immediately slid off...!) The purposely exposed historical graffiti on the plasterwork was an interesting touch; the wallpaper was clean and looked quite new, but sadly the carpet was in quite poor condition and had also creased up in several places around the room. The bathroom was modern but tiny; the shower was ok. The bed was surprisingly comfortable given the slope! The room overlooks the kitchens so was quite noisy with the window open, and sadly you can't see any of the surrounding area. The Wifi is excellent, really fast, but I couldn't get any phone reception inside the building. The highlight of any stay here, however, is the food - both our dinner and breakfast were superb and the organisation and efficiency of the eating process, given COVID protocols, was amazing (particularly at breakfast). Both... An old characterful building in a gorgeous setting next to a quiet loch, I had an enjoyable overnight stay here as part of a group tour of Orkney and Shetland. The young staff were all incredibly warm, friendly and helpful yet still really efficient - oh that all hotels were as well staffed as this!
The public rooms in the hotel are in the style of the place as a whole, but clean and well maintained. My room (Bigga) was a quirky one - the sloping floor being its most notable feature! (I tried to put the kettle on the bedside table and it immediately slid off...!) The purposely exposed historical graffiti on the plasterwork was an interesting touch; the wallpaper was clean and looked quite new, but sadly the carpet was in quite poor condition and had also creased up in several places around the room. The bathroom was modern but tiny; the shower was ok. The bed was surprisingly comfortable given the slope! The room overlooks the kitchens so was quite noisy with the window open, and sadly you can't see any of the surrounding area.
The Wifi is excellent, really fast, but I couldn't get any phone reception inside the building.
The highlight of any stay here, however, is the food - both our dinner and breakfast were superb and the organisation and efficiency of the eating process, given COVID protocols, was amazing (particularly at breakfast). Both meals were the best I had throughout our tour! More
13th August 20213 of us stayed for 3 nights. Ate in the restaurant twice. Rooms have plenty of space and are clean. Decoration in places is a bit tired but kind of... read more adds to the charm. Food is lovely. Staff are really friendly and accommodating to every request and are happy to give recommendations on where to go and when.
Covid meant a few things were a bit different to what they would have been, but it didn't affect the enjoyment of our stay at all.
Every time we told anyone we were staying at Busta, they always told us we'd got the best hotel on the island. Have to say, I think we agree!
10th October 2020 -
The setting is charming; room was very comfortable. Food was very tasty. Long room experience was excellent. The internet was very fast; not only in common rooms but in bedroom... read more as well. Overall, terrific experience.
11th August 2021My son and I had lunch here on our five day visit to Shetland. The ambience was genteel, the food delicious and we were looked after superbly by a lovely... read more young man called Andrew. We enjoyed ourselves so much we went back two days later to repeat the experience and were not disappointed. We would happily recommend this hotel to anyone looking for good food and good service.
27th October 2022 -
Why would anyone stay elsewhere in Shetland? Classic Scottish charm. Delightful staff. Good food at a sensible price. Well place to explore the islands.
We really can’t fault it. Perhaps... read more in this environmentally aware age, our sheets and towels didn’t need changing every day nor our bedroom lights switching on in anticipation of our return. I’m sure energy costs will highlight those issues anyway!!
Well done and renewed thanks.
29th April 2022We have dined once or twice each time we have visited Shetland over the last 15 years and have never been disappointed. So many things have changed permanently... read more since lockdowns with so many comforting extras removed. But not at Busta House. We enjoyed two evening meals at Busta House this year and found the welcome as friendly, the food as good and the service as professional as ever. Congratulations to Grant and Joel and their cheerful, efficient team.
12th June 2022 -
Location was great, room was good size, food was excellent and the staff were absolutely BRILLIANT. Thank you all for looking after us on our stay - bringing food... read more to the room when we were not well. Use of the other rooms (Library, sitting room) as well as the garden were great ways to relax.
6th June 2022I actually won this night in Busta House in a raffle, which they had very kindly donated.
As usual, everything was just perfect. We were in the Vementry room,... read more which has a lovely sea view. The bed was lovely and comfortable, and massive lol.
Our evening meal was excellent! We had the prawns for a starter, my husband had the haddock, which was HUGE, and I had the steak, which was cooked exactly as I like it. The Bailey's cheesecake was to die for.
Full Scottish breakfast set us up for the day.
Full marks for the staff. Everyone was polite, attentive, helpful, and smiling.
Hope we get to come back soon xx
23rd February 2023 -
an exceptionally great place to stay , quirky and old , with lots of history and ambience around it . the staff were beyond excellent , the food and drink... read more was great , as was all the service by the the staff
27th September 2022As a fairly regular visitor to Busta, we are always delighted and impressed with the very high standard of service and customer care they provide. Saturday was no exception and... read more despite how busy the hotel was we were very well looked after and enjoyed a superb meal. A beautiful and very well run hotel with a great team of enthusiastic and friendly staff. Thank you, and we are very much looking forward to our next visit.
30th January 2023