Starting in the Orkneys, Lynnfield Hotel & Restaurant is the best in the islands, a 4-star establishment with 10 bedrooms and an excellent restaurant. It is next door to the Highland Park distillery. Jumping off point for the Orkney ferry is Scrabster, near Thurso, where the excellent Forss House Hotel, one of the most northerly Hotels in the Highlands is situated.
It is near the Castle of Mey and has splendid river and beach walks. Working anti-clockwise around the north coast, we come first to the Tongue Hotel where David & Lorraine Hook have done a fantastic job modernising an old favourite. The exterior is unprepossessing and there is a bar downstairs, but the rooms and food are good. Next stop is Durness, where most things are owned by the Mackay family, including Mackay’s Rooms, a 7-bedroom contemporary inn (+ 3 cottages) open Easter until end-October.
Next stop is Scourie, where the Eddrachilles Hotel (open March-October) enjoys views over Badcall Bay. 30 miles south is Lochinver which has Inver Lodge and Chez Roux (closed Nov-March), a modern build overlooking the village and the Albannach Restaurant with (5) rooms, one of the most exclusive Hotels in the Highlands, closed Dec-March. A single track road off the A835 at Drumrunie takes you to the Summer Isles Hotel at Achiltibuie, a Michelin-listed foodie Hotel in the Highlands open April-October. 
After Ullapool on the scenic coastal road comes Pool House at Poolewe, closed January only, an exclusive 6-suite hotel near Inverewe Gardens, and one of the most romantic Hotels in the Highlands. The Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides has the modern 21-bedroom Hotel Hebrides in Tarbert and the 6-room Scarista House, closed Dec-Feb.