Scotland -- Suggestions, please.

Going to Scotland in May. Have been once before, in 1995, and I have read what’s available here. I am looking for suggestions on sights, dining, places to stay, and highlights not to miss.

Thanks very much in advance!
Andrew

Andrew, any idea where you want to go, or for how long? We were there in 2001, for several days, I’ll try and reconstruct a few of the highlights and pass them along.

We spent a week last summer in Scotland. Visited Edinburgh, Isle of Skye and Inverness. We are outdoor oriented, so Isle of Skye was our favorite by a fair margin. It’s far tho and you have to love hiking. inverness was a nice launching point for golf and Speyside malt trail. Edinburgh is well Edinburgh and awesome.

I have been a number of times. Skye is very cool, very outdoorsy as per below. Lots of wild beauty. And Portree is a good place to stay although not high end resorts. The Quiraing hike is excellent as is the Old Man of Storr although that’s more like a staircase. A nice trip is driving from Glasgow up to Oban, stay a night, then through up to Skye. And back through Glencoe. If you are considering that route I have more specific information.

If you like Islay whiskey a trip to Islay is worthwhile, not that easy to get to except for the short flight from Glasgow but when you step out at Laphroiag the lite bay smells just like the whiskey.

Lots of recommendations in Glasgow West End.

Edinburgh is also very cool but sort of more European than Scottish really. Have recs there as well.

One consideration is to buy Peter Irvine’s book Scotland the Best now, it lists an amazing number of good things to do and places to go and you can just go to places that appeal to you.

There’s a ferry to Islay — out of Campbeltown, or thereabouts, iirc.

While in Scotland:

1. Enjoy the intensely beautiful scenery (the Highlands region is particularly breathtaking);
2. drink whisky;
3. talk to the locals — tied with the Irish as the nicest folks I’ve met while travelling;
4. eat haggis, and lots of it
5. drink whisky while talking to the locals … perhaps over some haggis.

Agree with #1-3. Haggis and black pudding are nasty…

One thing re: Skye is you should try to stay towards the middle if possible (Portree for instance). We stayed last time at a cottage @ Eileen Donnan Castle (just off the island itself) - and the drives to go anywhere ON Skye were terrible. For instance, it was nearly 1.75hrs to get to the northwest side of the island.

In Edinburgh The Kitchin was worth the hype, and the Witchery was nice for “classics”

If you’re going to Edinburgh there’s no better place to stay than the Balmoral Hotel.

I enjoyed Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and Dunnottar Castle is beautiful!

black pudding, too!?! You’re crazy. Black pudding is fantastic! (especially when mixed with ground beef in a burger)

I’ll echo Joe Kim’s recommendation of the Isle of Skye. It’s gorgeous.

Andrew; We loved Skye as well. In addition, Oban is a cool city with excellent seafood plus ferries to Fingal’s Cave and islands full of puffins.

Cheers!
Marshall

Sorry for being absent! Planning is sketchy at present, but basically involves the ideas of starting and staying a few days in Edinburgh, driving to Stirling for a short stay, heading west towards Oban for a short stay, on to Skye, perhaps staying for a few days on the northwest side near Dunvegan, then on and up towards Inverness or Elgin, and then back around to Edinburgh. Lots of unknowns at present, such as how long to stay in any of these places, and whether and where to stop for a night or two between these places. Only have ten days, so I do not want to over do (which already may be a problem), but I enjoy driving, even there. No golf, some whisky tasting, hiking and wandering often, especially in scenic areas, old towns, and ruins, and much seafood eating (for my wife; I’ll eat lamb and beef). Thanks so much for the input thus far!

Andrew

Andrew, I just transferred a video of our 2001 trip around Scotland (then south through England to London) to DVD. It’s not very exciting, but if you’re interested I could let you have a watch to see what the countryside looks like, and some of the places we went (and you’re considering).

We only spend four days in Scotland before heading south, but covered a lot of ground. I think you will be able to see quite a lot, more leisurely, in 10 days.

Our route was:

Glasgow
Fort William
Skye
Loch Torridon Hotel (spectacular location and scenery)
Inverness
St Andrews
Edinburgh

With stops at various castles and sights along the way. I don’t think you can go wrong heading in pretty much any direction, it’s all pretty fantastic. Skye is wonderfully barren and remote, all the hills/mountains are pretty much bare from deforestation, but amazing red/brown colors from the underlying soil. That’s the case in many areas of the country, except for some forested reserves.

Wow, Scotland is popular at that time of year! Reserving accommodations was tougher than anticipated. Anyway, the new and improved plan is to head directly to Stirling, then to Oban, then Portree, and then several days later to Edinburgh. Looking for suggestions on where to stay between Portree and Edinburgh; presently thinking of spending a few days in the Cairngorms National Park. Thoughts?

Thanks!
Andrew

We spend a week in Edinburgh in July, booked at Martin Wishart and Kitchin, any others must visit?

My apologies for the delay in posting our dining notes … still a work in process.

Andrew

I’ll be reading when you post, Andrew.

Would you recommend making reservations? Going there is about three weeks.

Yep