Our distinctive inn is located in historic Annapolis Royal minutes from one of the oldest European settlements in the New World, Port Royal. Built as an Inn in 1859 the Hillsdale House has catered to many famous persons, including George V of England in 1884. The Inn has a long standing tradition of providing gracious accommodations set in idyllic surroundings. Our 13 guest rooms are all individually decorated with antiques and all have private en-suite baths. The property offers an estate setting on 12 acres of land with mature trees, manicured lawns, and fine gardens. Hillsdale House Inn is just a short walk to a number of shops, restaurants and attractions, such as the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, Fort Anne National Historic Site and the O'Dell Museum. We are also just a short drive to the Habitation at Port Royal, a national historic site, and the shores of the Bay of Fundy.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Classic
Historic Hotel
Location
519 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia B0S 1A0 Canada
Hillsdale House Inn
609 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travelers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
We have visited Hillsdale House so many times over the last three decades. We were warmly welcomed by Julia and Suzannah, our room (#10, with the King George V bed) was as lovely as ever and our breakfast, eaten on the patio at our request, was as delicious as ever. Covid has had some effects in Annapolis Royal, but not as many as we had feared, you need to make advance reservations at restaurants in the town, but the Saturday farmer's market is almost as lively as before, you can enjoy the sweeping ocean views from Fort Anne, and the Public Garden's Rose Garden and Victorian Garden are magnificent. There was a free concert on the waterfront on Friday night. The rich heritage of Annapolis Royal, its beautiful gardens and natural setting make it the all-around best weekend destination in Canada!
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Date of stay: July 2020
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Â Rooms 10 and 1 are our favourites
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We had the pleasure of staying at the Hillsdale House Inn this weekend. The staff couldn’t do enough to make us comfortable. The breakfast was amazing, starting with warm fresh muffins while we waited for our French toast and fruit. We will go back soon.
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Date of stay: September 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed two nights participating in a bike tour (which BTW is phenomenal—E-bike recommended). Hillsdale has the feel of a country inn in the typical Nova Scotia Victoria architectural style, somewhat larger than the typical B &B. It has charm and feel/smell of a house built in the early 1900s, somewhat dilapidated, with a very large back yard containing beautiful trees and flowers (even a magnolia!), unmanicured. The rooms were small but adequate, clean and well supplied, with window AC and musically creaking hardwood floors. Nice location for touring, the beautiful Royal Annapolis Gardens two doors down.
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Date of stay: July 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled with friends
Room Tip:Â Dress warmly even in late July as weather is unpredictable
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We just spent 2 nights at HHI and I will write a very honest review here. The check in with Teresa was good. She showed us to our room and gave us some basic details. After some fiddling by husband, we managed to get the TINY t.v. working. The bathroom was tiny featuring a shower with rickety doors that wouldn't close properly and a sink you could barely wash your face in. The entire set up of the room was terrible. Nowhere to put your luggage. The chair by the dressing table was very uncomfortable. The lighting was pretty much non existent. I realize it is an old building but it definitely could use some updates. The breakfasts were cold and I believe were cooked ahead of time. We only ate 1/4 of the food. The one positive thing was the set up of the dining room with tables all set quite nicely with tablecloths, silverware and lovely tea cups. Since there are no refrigerators in the rooms, I had requested one of the servers place a couple of canned beverages in their fridge for the next day when we would be returning from an excursion. She said she would and that if we were not back by 4 p.m. she would put them on ice and leave them in the common area. Upon returning from our outing and craving our cold beverages, they were nowhere to be found. The kitchen area was locked and of course no one answered the phone calls we made to guest services. The next morning we requested the beverages and she went to retrieve them, with no apologies for not making them accessible to us. WE left them on a desk in the hallway for just a few minuted while we went to our room to grab some things. Upon our return, they were gone! Someone just took them! The service staff didn't seem to care one iota! No help offered to us in hopefully finding our drinks. Just so uncaring and "ohh well, too bad". The entire service staff left a lot to be desired. One service person named Stacey was exremely rude to us (and to everyone). She just seemed to be so inconvenienced by the entire procedure. I would highly recommend if she can not be pleasant to guests, she should seek more suitable employment. I have never encountered such unpleasantness in the hospitality industry ever! I would not stay at this establishment again and I urge anyone considering it to look elsewhere.
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Date of stay: September 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This inn is quite beautiful inside. It’s super clean and has many nicely appointed rooms. A delicious breakfast is served each day in the large dining room. We were unfortunate in our room choice, ending up in a small space on the third floor….our mistake. We arrived early and were able to walk through and see numerous other rooms that looked just beautiful. Unfortunately , the property seemed to lack gardening staff and could have used some mowing, weeding and a few flowering pots to spruce up the promising outside space. The staff were phenomenal.
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Date of stay: September 2021
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Â Choose a room on the first or second floor.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed in the King Suite on the second floor in early October. The Inn is beautiful (furniture and decorations were very charming) and located only a short walk from the main area of Annapolis Royal. The owner was friendly and very helpful, but unfortunately, her serving staff need some improvement. They spent too much time chatting in the kitchen- instead of serving breakfast. Making guests (not us) wait more than 5 minutes to be greeted in the dining room was unfortunate. We seemed like a distraction.
I was going to give this place a 3 /5, but the owner was so nice and helpful, she earns the 4.
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Date of stay: October 2021
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Hillsdale House Inn is just a few blocks from the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens, Harborwalk and Farmers Market (Saturday & Wednesday AM). The B&B has been an Inn since built in the 19th century. The living areas accessible to guests are beautiful. It has a new owner since March 2022, the second in 4 years. Outside work is being done now, paused on the weekend. Perhaps the guest rooms will be upgraded also, so keep your eyes on this lovely Inn. We were in Room 3. It is spacious (twin beds). It was clean, but the air smelled musty from the old air conditioning unit which was too noisy & unhealthy to use. The old windows had storm windows over the screens so we were unable to open them for cross ventilation. The small bathroom was just adequate with its difficult to use quaint tub/shower & sink unit that is ready to be replaced. The summer staff are sincere and charming. The room was clean. We enjoyed our full, hot breakfast served in the pretty dining room or outside. Our table outside was set with table linens & our breakfast accommodated our vegetarian request. This Inn was once a grand spot. Under the new ownership, hopefully it will be again.
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Date of stay: July 2022Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Tip: Travel light if your room is on the second or third floor.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Inn is a beautiful historic building with period furniture for an authentic experience. It needs a little work ( shower door did not close properly in our room) but the big disappointment was breakfast. There was no choice and the scrambled eggs and sausage were cold one morning and the French toast and bacon were cold the next morning. A food warmer like the kind used in hot buffets would be a great investment. A few green grapes were served with the yogourt but they were rotten. They were brown and should not be served to guests as I would not eat brown green grapes at home. Skip the fruit if you do not have good fruit on hand and use other food items like a muffin or croissant etc. The owners are not on site and the employee that serves breakfast need some equipment to help her manage the meal service.
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Date of stay: June 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip:Â There was an unexpected gratuity requested at checkout when I already left my tip in the room so...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We really enjoyed our stay. The rooms are decorated with old antique furniture, and were really clean. Breakfast was really nice with a fruit/yogurt starter followed by a hot breakfast. Central to the markets and historical sites.
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Date of stay: August 2022
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Average stay, Beds were comfy, room was nice but the wifi was very sporadic which made it hard to do work. And breakfast was unenjoyable. It was served to us cold, and seemed like it had been sitting out. We were told we could get free breakfast down the street, and then it ended up being closed so they said we could have a 15% discount. Stacy was not very wonderful to deal with, and interrupted me several times. However, Ava was a delight to deal with. She was running around trying to find ways to help. She apologized more than once and helped us check out and chatted with us. Ava truly knows what customer service is about and we appreciated it very much!
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Date of stay: July 2023Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Annapolis Royal area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
hillsdale house hotel annapolis royal
LOCATION
CanadaNova ScotiaSouthwest Nova ScotiaAnnapolis Royal
NUMBER OF ROOMS
13
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Hillsdale House Inn
Which popular attractions are close to Hillsdale House Inn?
Nearby attractions include Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens (0.1 miles), Fort Anne National Historic Site (0.4 miles), and Annapolis Tidal Generating Station (0.6 miles).
Are there any historical sites close to Hillsdale House Inn?
Many travelers enjoy visiting Fort Anne National Historic Site (0.4 miles), Annapolis Royal Wharf (0.5 miles), and Melanson Settlement National Historic Site (4.5 miles).
