Salutation Hotel, Perth, UK, Guida per visitatori e cosa fare nei dintorni

The Salutation Hotel is a historic coaching inn at 30-34 South Street in the centre of Perth, Scotland. It is widely described as the oldest hotel in Scotland, with a founding date of 1699, and it is tied to the Jacobite story of the city. It is still a working hotel, so you can see it as part of an ordinary walk through Perth's old streets.

The story behind it

The Salutation began life as an inn in the late 17th century, at a time when Perth was an important market town and a stopping point on the roads between the Highlands and the south. Its claim to be Scotland's oldest hotel rests on the 1699 date, and it has traded as a place for travellers to eat, drink and sleep ever since.

The best-known tale is its link to Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie. Perth was where he gathered support in September 1745 at the start of the Jacobite rising, and the hotel says he stayed here. Treat the details of that stay as local tradition, but the connection is part of how the building presents itself today.

What to look for

• Find the entrance on South Street and read the hotel's name, which recalls the old tradition of the greeting inn.
• Look at the overall frontage and notice how it sits among the other buildings along South Street, a reminder of the street's long history as a main route.
• Stand across the road and picture the coaches and riders that once arrived here, since the inn was built for travellers.
• Notice any signs or plaques about the hotel's age and its Jacobite connection, which the building uses to tell its own story.

Tips for your visit

• Ten to fifteen minutes is enough to see the outside and take a few photos, longer if you stop for a drink or a meal.
• As a working hotel, what is open to non-guests can change, so check current opening hours and access before going in.
• Daylight shows the frontage best, and South Street is quieter in the morning.
• It is a short walk from the centre of Perth, so it combines easily with St John's Kirk, the River Tay and the South Inch.

Explore it on a quest

Perth rewards walking, and the best way to take in places like the Salutation is to follow a route that links them together. Questo's self-guided quests lead you on foot from stop to stop, tell you about each place as you arrive and set a puzzle in what is in front of you. Browse the quests in Perth, UK and start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join.