Portavadie

Brilliant. The shepherds hut was comfortable and cosy, the food was tremendous, the spa, hot tubs and pools were fantastic. The best thing about Portavadie Loch Fyne is the staff, every single member of staff we interacted with were going above and beyond. They are a credit to this fine place, I definitely will be back to enjoy the great surroundings and meet all the staff again.

Stayed in the Lodges at Portvadie with the spa experience bolted on. Price vs accomidation I'd say it's on the pricier side for what you get (no balcony). Room clean with everything you'd need. Comfy bed. Spa is also expensive @ £30 pp which basically gives you access to a separate steam room / sauna and hydropool (kid free). There is a sauna down stairs which if I'd known would probably have binned off the extra spa cost as the leisure suite downstairs (outdoor pool / jacuzzies / sauna) come with the room price. For some reason you're also no allowed to take pictures outside in the pool area which if we'd known we probably wouldn't have booked. Had dinner which was nice but again on the expensive side but this is expected due to location. Two starters, two drinks, and two main meals worked out to be ~£90. Breakfast was also decent with a fixed menu of options which was included in the room price. Experience was tainted when trying to leave due to some old speccy, dryrobe wearing, merc driving idiot (another resident) who decided he was going to start on me and my pregnant partner for overtaking him while he was stationary on the road at 5mph. Seemed like he was having some sort of mental breakdown and taking it out on other guests / staff and preventing people from leaving after being hunted by the hotel himself / refusing to leave. I commend the staff member who handled it and informed me he'd already contacted the police to attend / remove them.

One thing that’s become increasingly uncomfortable is the presence of two, sometimes even three staff members closely watching over while guests swim or relax in the hot tubs and pools. I completely understand the importance of safety, but this level of supervision feels excessive and frankly, slightly invasive. It's hard to truly relax when you feel like you're being monitored like a child—especially during a paid experience that’s supposed to be about unwinding. I was also scolded for having my phone outdoors when I simply wanted to take a single picture enjoying the vacation I paid for… surely not too much to ask for? I understand privacy concerns for other guests, and I absolutely respect that—but the area was quiet, and I was in the hot tub alone with my boyfriend. And realistically, I wouldn’t want people I don’t know in my pictures anyway. Honestly, my primary school was less strict about phone use! Lastly, the steam room wasn’t functioning during our visit, which was disappointing. I’m also not sure why it is so difficult to reach anyone on the property who was able to assist us with our booking and reservation requests. The two separate people we spoke to on the phone number provided could not give us concrete answers to our questions unless we were on site. Portavadie, I’ve always loved coming here over the years. I hope you take this feedback on board, because I’d love to see you return to the relaxing, welcoming place I once looked forward to visiting.