Travel through Scotland’s ranging, magisterial landscapes and you’ll inevitably come across the rustic cottages and historic crofts known to locals as “bothies.” They’re typically the most basic of shelters—offering a roof overhead and a hearth to keep warm by. Traditionally, they’re available free of charge or by reservation, but require skill and a keen eye to find.

In centuries past, bothies were home to gamekeepers, shepherds, farmers, and fishermen. Now they provide a welcome refuge to intrepid hikers and travelers enjoying the Scottish “right to roam” and seeking a measure of tranquillity amid remote glens, on craggy cliffs, or by beautiful lakes.

KEARVAIG

In Cape Wrath, at Scotland’s northwesterly edge, cormorants, puffins, and kittiwakes breed on the same cliffs that Vikings used for navigation more than a thousand years ago. A short walk from there is a secluded cove with its own whitewashed bothy and pristine beach. This is Kearvaig bothy, a former hunting lodge built in the late 1800s when the area was home to crofting communities, shepherds, and fishermen—now all long gone.

The living quarters of the cottage are generous, with an old parlor, adjoining apartment, and attic rooms. Seasonal visits offer vastly different experiences: rise early in summer to let the waves slowly lap at your feet, or venture here in autumn to find solitude by the granite hearth.

GLENCOUL

Not many vistas compare with the one enjoyed from rocky Glencoul, where a bothy sits at the heart of a dramatic geological thrust and on the banks of its own private glacier-carved loch. To reach it you’ll follow faint trails or sidle up to a river crossing, but venture north with a kayak or canoe and you might opt to paddle across the quiet loch instead.

The bothy itself is a simple two-room cottage built in the 1880s as a family home for the Duke of Westminster’s estate keeper, John Elliot. Here and on the surrounding green pastures John’s wife Margaret tended a flock of sheep and a sty of pigs for meat, churned the family’s butter, and prepared cheese from cow’s milk; meanwhile John, a deer stalker, roamed the path leading to Glendhu (“Black Glen”) which was—and still is—abundant with red deer and roe deer.

THE ARTIST BOTHY, INSHRIACH

This tiny, well-appointed bothy is tucked away on Inshriach, a quirky woodland farm with its own gin distillery and general store. The Artist Bothy was built in 2012 as a retreat for creatives in the heart of Cairngorms National Park, and can now be rented by the public during parts of the year.

After you arrive on the property, Inshriach farm attendees drive you across several sheep paddocks before reaching the remote edge of this 200-acre woodland estate. The bothy is the picture of rustic calm with tall windows, a wood-fired stove, a curated bookcase, and a cozy lofted bed dressed with fresh linen.