Walk far enough into some of Scotland’s quieter landscapes and you may eventually find a small stone building standing miles from the nearest road.
There may be no electricity, no running water, no bed and possibly nobody else for miles.
But the door is unlocked.
This is a bothy — one of the simple shelters that have become part of Scotland’s outdoor culture.
For walkers, climbers and people travelling through remote country, a bothy can provide four walls, a roof and somewhere dry to spend the night. What it does not provide is a hotel, hostel or guaranteed place to sleep.
What is a bothy?
A bothy is a basic shelter, usually found in remote countryside and generally available for travellers to use without booking.
Many are old cottages, estate buildings, farmhouses or workers’ accommodation that outlived their original purpose. Instead of being abandoned completely, some have been kept wind- and watertight so that people travelling through the hills can continue to use them.
That simplicity is important.
A bothy is not intended to offer conventional accommodation. You might find a fireplace, stove or sleeping platform, but you should never assume that any of them will be there.
At its most basic, a bothy is simply a dry building in a wild place.
What does a Scottish bothy look like?
There is no standard bothy.
One might be a tiny stone room beside the sea. Another could be an old cottage hidden in woodland or a larger building deep inside a Highland glen.
Inside, conditions can be equally varied.
- Some have wooden sleeping platforms; others have bare floors.
- Some contain fireplaces or stoves; others have no source of heat at all.
- A few have toilets, but many do not.
- There is normally no electricity.
- There is normally no running drinking water.
- There are no beds, bedding or hotel-style facilities.
You therefore need to arrive equipped as though you were camping rather than checking into accommodation.
Are bothies free to stay in?
Bothies maintained by the Mountain Bothies Association are free to use.
You do not need to be a member of the association and there is no charge at the door.
That does not mean the buildings belong to whoever arrives first. Most MBA bothies are owned by estates, individuals or other organisations and are kept open through agreements with their owners.
The privilege depends on visitors treating the buildings and surrounding land responsibly.
Do you need to book a bothy?
No. MBA bothies do not operate a booking system.
You simply arrive — and so can everybody else.
That means you should never travel to a bothy expecting to have it to yourself. Another walker may already be there, several people might arrive after dark, or a popular bothy could be busy.
There are no reserved beds and no principle of “first come, first served”. Bothies are shared shelters.
If having somewhere to sleep is critical to your trip, carrying a tent gives you a backup if the bothy is crowded or unavailable.
Can anyone sleep in a bothy?
In general, anyone can use an open MBA bothy for a short stay, provided they behave responsibly and follow any local restrictions.
There are some important limits. Large groups of six or more should not use bothies because of overcrowding and the limited facilities, and MBA bothies are not intended as overnight accommodation for commercial groups.
Individual buildings can also have temporary restrictions, particularly during activities such as deer stalking or lambing.
Always check the current information for the particular bothy before setting off rather than relying on an old guidebook or social-media post.
What should you bring to a bothy?
Think of a bothy as replacing your tent, not the rest of your camping equipment.
For an overnight stay you would normally want to carry:
- a sleeping bag
- a sleeping mat
- food
- a camping stove and fuel
- a torch or headtorch
- suitable outdoor clothing
- a map and compass
- water or equipment for treating water safely
- a way to carry all of your rubbish back out
If the bothy has a stove or fireplace, do not assume fuel will be available. In many remote areas there is very little wood, and cutting live trees or damaging surrounding property is unacceptable.
The Bothy Code
The informality of bothying works because visitors follow a simple principle: leave the place fit for the next person.
The Mountain Bothies Association sets out this approach in its Bothy Code.
In practice, that means:
- make other visitors welcome
- leave the bothy clean and tidy
- take your rubbish away with you
- do not leave perishable food behind
- do not cut live wood for fuel
- make absolutely sure any fire is out before leaving
- close doors and windows properly when you go
- respect the landowner and any local restrictions
- keep your stay short rather than treating the bothy as a holiday cottage
Many bothies also contain a logbook. Adding a brief record of your visit is part of a tradition that allows bothy users — and those looking after the building — to see something of the people passing through.
What about toilets?
This is one of the practical realities worth knowing before your first bothy trip.
Some bothies have a toilet or composting toilet. Many do not.
Where there is no toilet, human waste needs to be dealt with responsibly and well away from the building and any water source. Follow the guidance provided at the bothy and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
A bothy is remote accommodation in the most literal sense. There may be nobody arriving in the morning to clean up after you.
Can you light a fire in a bothy?
Only where the individual bothy has a fireplace or stove and its current information allows it.
Never assume every bothy permits a fire. Some have no fireplace or stove, fuel may be scarce, and fire risk can change with conditions.
Where a fire is permitted, use fuel sparingly and never cut live trees. Before leaving, make certain it is completely extinguished.
Where do you find bothies in Scotland?
Bothies are scattered across some of Scotland’s most remote country, particularly through the Highlands and islands.
The Mountain Bothies Association currently maintains around 100 shelters across Great Britain, with most of them in Scotland.
They can be found in the Northern Highlands, North West Highlands and Islands, Western Highlands and Islands, Central Highlands and elsewhere, as well as a smaller number in England and Wales.
Many require a substantial walk to reach. Mobile reception may be poor or nonexistent, routes can cross rough terrain and conditions can change rapidly.
Knowing that a building exists somewhere in a glen is not a substitute for knowing how to navigate to it.
Who looks after Scotland’s bothies?
The Mountain Bothies Association has been maintaining remote shelters since 1965.
The organisation does not simply own a network of buildings and rent them out. In fact, almost all of the bothies it maintains belong to somebody else.
Landowners allow the shelters to remain available, while MBA volunteers carry out the work required to keep them usable — repairing roofs, doors, windows, stoves and stonework in places where simply transporting materials can be difficult.
That volunteer effort is a large part of why these old buildings have survived.
What were bothies originally used for?
The word bothy predates their modern use by walkers.
Bothies were historically simple accommodation for workers in rural Scotland — including people working on farms and estates, forestry workers, stalkers and others whose jobs took them into isolated country.
As working patterns changed and remote buildings fell out of everyday use, some were abandoned. Others found a second life as shelters for people travelling through the landscape on foot.
That history explains why modern bothies vary so much. They were not built to a common design as outdoor shelters. They are old buildings being used for a new purpose.
What is it actually like to spend a night in a bothy?
That depends almost entirely on the bothy, the weather and who happens to arrive.
You might spend the evening alone with rain hitting the roof and nothing outside the window but darkness. At another bothy, you may open the door to find several wet walkers already sitting around a fire.
There is no reception desk and very little insulation between you and the landscape outside. Boots collect by the door, headtorches replace electric lights and everyone makes space for whoever arrives next.
That uncertainty is part of bothying.
For some people, the absence of comfort is precisely the appeal. A bothy reduces an overnight stay to a few simple things: somewhere dry, something warm to eat, a sleeping bag and the knowledge that the nearest road may be several hours away.
A few things to know before your first bothy trip
- Check the current bothy information. Access arrangements and temporary closures can change.
- Do not rely on phone signal. Carry proper navigation equipment and know how to use it.
- Do not rely on the bothy being empty. Be prepared to share.
- Do not rely on the bothy for warmth. Carry clothing and sleeping equipment suitable for the conditions.
- Consider carrying a tent. It provides a useful fallback if circumstances change.
- Take everything out that you brought in. Remote does not mean somebody else will clean it up.
Why bothies still matter
There is something unusual about the idea of a building in a remote Scottish glen whose door is deliberately left unlocked for a stranger.
No reservation. No room key. No guarantee that anybody else will be there.
Just shelter, maintained largely by volunteers and made available through the goodwill of the people who own the land and buildings.
In a landscape where almost everything can now be searched, reviewed and booked before leaving home, a bothy remains refreshingly uncertain.
You walk there carrying what you need. You share it with whoever arrives. And when you leave, you shut the door behind you and leave it ready for the next person coming over the hill.
More from the Journal: explore the Minch, discover the legend of the Blue Men of the Minch, or visit Eilean Glas Lighthouse on Scalpay.
