We had a two night stay at Ben Cruachan. We arrived very early in the morning off a cruise ship and caught our hostess Jackie right in the middle of her breakfast service. Nonetheless, she was very gracious. She allowed us to leave our bags in the lounge and to make ourselves at home for as long as we wanted.
As other reviewers have said, the breakfasts were just amazing. All ingredients are sourced from local artisanal providers and the quality shone through. We loved the special sausages, the bacon and the smoked salmon. A huge bowl of porridge is served before the cooked breakfast. We did not need to eat again until dinner time.
The location of the B&B is OK, about twenty minutes walk to the main attractions of Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the streets surrounding the B&B are torn up for construction so walking about was not as pleasant as it might have been. On our second day, we decided to get a bus pass which was really handy. The bus stop is only a few minutes from the B&B and it is a main line which allows easy access to many of the city attractions. Jackie admitted she was not much of a walker and that she preferred to cab it everywhere. We on the other hand like to take transit and mingle with the locals. We also enjoy walking. I would highly recommend purchasing a day ticket (4 pounds) which will pay for itself once you have made three trips. We found it very easy to figure out which buses to use to get from place to place - the drivers were always helpful and friendly.
I would love to have given Ben Cruachan a 5 start rating but could not bring myself to do it because of the noise levels that we encountered. As mentioned earlier, there is heavy construction near the B&B and they are using huge machines to tear up the streets. the incessant pounding noise was very annoying - we were in room 5 and the noise was particularly bad there. Strangely, we did not hear it in other parts of the B&B such as the dining room which is downstairs. This problem might not have been an issue under normal weather conditions, but it was quite warm during our stay and we needed to keep the window wide open. The other noise factor that we encountered in our room was the sound of water running in another part of the building which was VERY loud and even woke us up on two occasions. There is obviously nothing that the owners can do about the construction noise and probably even the water noise - however, you should take this into account if you are a light sleeper or want to get some rest in your room during the day.