Scotland! If we vacation there, what should we avoid, and what is a must see or must do?

Question

And, has the Government messed the country up as I heard?

Answer 1

The government has definitely made some bad decisions but Scotland is still an amazing place to visit.

Definitely take the trip north to Oban--- it is a beautiful seaside town with many charming restaurants on the water serving the best seafood in the country. Tour the Oban distillery and enjoy the beautiful countryside. In Edinburgh, definitely see Edinburgh Castle. Spend some time in the pubs on Grassmarket while you are in Edinburgh, too; avoid doing a lot of shopping on Castle Walk as many of the shops overcharge and only sell touristy junk; that is just like any other major tourist attraction--- don't shop right near it unless you want to spend a ton of money!

Don't count on stocking your liquor cabinet, either, as liquor taxes for whisky sold within Scotland are sky-high. Cheaper to buy it at home, especially if you are coming from the States (exchange rate is horrid now!). Save your whisky-buying money for the truly unique whiskys you can't find at home.

We took the Literary Pub Tour in Edinburgh and loved it. It is a walking tour that lasts about 2-3 hours and goes to some of the oldest pubs in the city, with a good dose of history. Search for it on your search engine. IIRC it starts at the Beehive pub on Grassmarket.

I was a little underwhelmed with Glasgow--- definitely spend some time there but focus on the rest of the country more.

If you can be there for the Summer Arts Festival (Edinburgh) and/or the Tattoo (one in Edinburgh, one in Glasgow) do not miss it, even though it is the most expensive time to travel to Scotland.

Answer 2

We just got back from our honeymoon in Scotland this past week. It was an amazing time. We actually stayed in the town of Aviemore, which is a popular ski area in the Highlands. There is also a huge park in that area to visit as well. If you have access to a car it will most likely be your best bet. We were not too far from Inverness, which is the only major city in the Highland region of Scotland. Since we had a car we were able to drive around and check out several of the distilleries in the area as well. Also a lot of neat little towns to drop by. Several castles in the area, and ruins too. All very neat. I recommend going to Loch Ness, and the Loch Ness Monster 2000 exhibit. If nothing but to say you were there. I hear the Loch Ness 2000 exhibit is better than the orginal one they had. They have a few neat shops directly following the museum with several Nessie toys, kilts and other scottish treats. Check out Ft. George which is still a working military base. On a good day you can see dolphins there too. They also have a museum inside there as well. My husband loved it, and I did too even though I'm not a real history/military fanatic. As far as the government messing things up? I don't know about that. From what we saw and did I would say they didn't. Also, if you can check out at least one castle, and try some local whiskey!!! Enjoy.

Agree with the other commenter about saving your money to buy local whiskey that you can't get back home if you are from the US. We brought two back that you'd never find in the US, and they were still at a steep price. To approximately find out how much the GBP is to the dollar, double the GBP price and it will be roughly the USD price.