Lovely building, wonderfully welcoming staff, great location. Just go, you won’t be disappointed!
The Dolphin Inn, Dunbar saved our summer holiday!
There were 10 of us and 2 dogs who stayed ‘by accident’ at the Dolphin Inn, Dunbar for a week in Summer 2021. Our Airbnb had cancelled our holiday accommodation at the very last minute and we were lucky that The Dolphin Inn, very recently openend, still had spaces. In retrospect we all agreed that we had a better holiday in The Dolphin Inn, than we would have had at the Airbnb. We all also agreed that we had stayed in worse places that called themselves a hotel and charge hotel prices!
We loved the facilities and how the building has been renovated.
The accommodation has been very recently renovated. Lots of original character has been kept and it is wonderfully bright, airy and comfortable. The kitchen is very nicely equipped. Quite a few basics (salt, pepper, spices) as well as cereal, jam, bread, milk, tea and cofffee were provided. In fact so good were the kitchen and dining areas that we ate in more than we had planned, sitting in either the dining room or the courtyard (a wonderful sun trap) – both are fab.
The whole place is laid back and friendly
The staff at Dolphin Dunbar, (Lisa, Catt, Neil and Toby) were incredibly friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable about the area. They worked really hard to make sure everyone had a good stay. The hostel attracted some lovely and interesting guests so there was a very sociable atmosphere. The owner (Jo) was very “hands-on” and totally laid back which very much set the tone of the place.
The Dunbar area is great – so much to do.
We’d never been to the area before and it was unexpectedly great with beautiful, empty beaches, some good surf, nice cycling and sea kayaking. Dunbar has a real community feel about it – the locals we met were really happy to chat and seemed very proud of their town. There are some great shops too. The nearest beach was literally a one minute walk away.
Here are some of our tips
We found some great cycling in a big conseravtion area south west of Dunbar, the accommodation had a shed to store our bikes in which was really handy. At Foxlake Adventures, also in Dunbar we did wakeboarding and high ropes which was great fun. On another day we kayaked around Bass Rock, which is the world’s largest colony of northern gannets, how cool is that?? In need of a little culture we discovered that just a thirty minute train ride from Dunbar station took us to Edinburgh Waverley, so we enjoyed a day doing the sights. There are at least 60 things to do in Dunbar!
And the good news is that it’s dog friendly too.
It wasn’t just the humans who had a great holiday, the dogs had a marvellous time too and didn’t want to come home!
