Girvan is the value base for this coast. Rooms cost markedly less than in Ayr, Turnberry or Troon, and you are closer to Culzean, Turnberry and the Galloway hills than any of them — Culzean is twenty minutes, Turnberry twelve, Ayr half an hour by direct train. Almost everything here is small and family-run, which is the charm and also the catch: there are not many beds in total, so the town fills up fast for the folk festival weekend in May, through July and August, and whenever a big golf event is on in Ayrshire.
This page describes what kind of accommodation exists and where, rather than ranking places we have not stayed in. The names below are drawn from the GoGirvan community listings and Destination South Ayrshire, and the list is not exhaustive.
Hotels
- The Royal Hotel — family-run and fully licensed, in a residential street a few minutes from the town centre and about five minutes' walk from the station.
- The Westcliffe Hotel — a family business since 1967, with 17 en-suite rooms of which five are on the ground floor, which makes it one of the better options if stairs are a problem. It is the hotel on the seafront, looking out to Ailsa Craig.
- The Woodland Bay Hotel — two miles south on the shore, with its own restaurant and lounge bar, sunsets over Ailsa Craig and Arran, and a following among people catching the Cairnryan ferries to Northern Ireland. A few steps from the Ayrshire Coastal Path.
Other hotels and inns operate in and around the town from time to time; check current listings rather than assuming.
Somewhere special, nearby
- Glenapp Castle, Ballantrae — a five-star Victorian baronial castle hotel in its own gardens and woodland, fifteen miles south. One of the grandest stays in Scotland, and a serious destination restaurant.
- Trump Turnberry, Turnberry — the five-star resort above the Ailsa course, six miles north, with the hotel, cottages and the Lighthouse Suite. See our golf breaks page.
- Wildings, Maidens — a restaurant with rooms on the harbour, fourteen minutes north, and the best dinner on this stretch of coast.
B&Bs and guest houses
Girvan has a good choice of bed and breakfasts, several along the seafront with sea views and others on the quiet streets behind. Peel House, in a century-old former police station, is among the better known. Expect a full Scottish breakfast, hosts who know the boat operators and the tide times, and prices well below hotel rates.
Self-catering
This is where the most choice is, and for a week's stay it is usually the best value. In and around the town there are terraced cottages a short walk from the beach, flats and seafront houses, and a scatter of more distinctive places further out — cottages in the grounds of Killochan Castle, a converted railway signal box in the countryside, a cottage on the shore at Lendalfoot, and cottages in Colmonell and the Stinchar valley.
Culzean Country Park lets a group of National Trust for Scotland holiday properties within the estate, including apartments in the castle itself and cottages around the clock tower — expensive, and worth it once. At Dailly, six or seven miles inland, the Brunston estate has lodges with hot tubs and an indoor pool, gym and games room on site; it now trades under the Landal brand as well as through the usual cottage agencies, so you may see it listed under either name.
Caravans, camping and glamping
- Balkenna, Turnberry — a small touring and camping site with Ailsa Craig views, an all-day tearoom and a play park, five minutes' walk from Turnberry beach.
- Redgates, Maidens — touring and camping pitches in the village, a short walk from the beach and the shop.
- The Walled Garden Touring Park, in the Girvan valley about nine miles inland — caravans, motorhomes and tents in a quiet setting.
- Barrhill Holiday Park — touring, camping and glamping with hot tubs, twelve miles south-east.
- Queensland, on the edge of the Galloway Dark Sky Park — glamping pods with hot tubs, and some of the darkest skies in Europe overhead. See stargazing.
- Pirleyhill Pods — pods with private hot tubs on a working beef and sheep farm, with views to Arran, Kintyre and Ailsa Craig.
- Croyburnfoot and Culzean Bay at Croy Shore, plus sites at Bennane and Ballantrae, are caravan parks strung along the coast north and south.
Motorhomes and campervans
South Ayrshire Council runs a formal motorhome and campervan parking scheme, and in Girvan the site is the Knockcushan Street car park. This is not informal overnight parking — it is a marked, paid and enforced scheme, so it is worth knowing the rules before you arrive:
- Maximum three consecutive nights, with no return within 24 hours.
- A nightly fee paid through the cashless parking system, which includes use of the waste disposal facilities.
- The Girvan site also has toilet and washroom access during opening hours, for which charges apply.
- The bays are for motorhome and campervan-style vehicles only — caravans are not permitted.
- You cannot reserve a space in advance, so do not pay until you have arrived and found one free.
- Parking attendants patrol, including late evening and early morning. Vehicles that have not paid, or that park elsewhere in the car park or the surrounding streets, are ticketed.
Check the Ayrshire Roads Alliance parking pages for the current fee and for the other South Ayrshire locations before travelling. See also parking in Girvan.
When to book
The town is busiest, and tightest for beds, over the Girvan Folk Festival on the May bank holiday weekend, through July and August, and around major Ayrshire golf events. Late spring and September are the sweet spot: long days, lighter crowds and better rates. Winter is quiet and cheap, and a storm sea watched from a warm room is its own kind of holiday — but check what is open first, because several places close or cut their hours.
Girvan, or Ayr, or Turnberry?
Ayr has far more beds, more restaurants and a cinema, and is the obvious choice if you want a town with everything in it. Turnberry has the golf and the grandeur. Girvan's argument is different: it is cheaper, quieter, has a better beach than Ayr's, sits closer to Culzean, Galloway and the wild coast south, and has a direct train that puts Ayr half an hour away whenever you want it. Most people who choose Girvan do so for the price and the position — see getting here and things to do.
