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Hey guys, me and my dad are planning on going to Scotland in the Spring and I'm interested in seeing if anyone here has been, and if they have what they would suggest we stop by and see.

Right now we're planning on spending a few nights in the south, then in the north near Edinburgh, and then back down towards Argyll to see some of the Clan Campbell holdings. Unfortunately, no Highlands at the moment, but that might change!

Any and all contributions are appreciated!

John o Groats. I would like to say Giants Causeway. But I think thats elsewhere.

Never been myself, but if a Scotch distillery has tours, I'd take one LOOOOVEE me some scotch whisky.

InquisitorVaron wrote:John o Groats. I would like to say Giants Causeway. But I think thats elsewhere.

Yes, Giant's Causeway is famously in Northern Ireland.

I have the good fortune of living here! If you're in Edinburgh then the castle is a must! Just beware of the tram works!

It depends entirely on what you want to see.
Glencoe is worth a look, although you might not be that welcome, being a Campbell...
(there is a hotel around there that has a sign up at reception that says "No Hawkers or Campbells")
Stirling castle, Edinburgh Castle, The Crannog Centre at Lock Tay is worth a look too.
If it's Whisky, Speyside is a place you need to visit, if you want to find a distillery, throw a rock. There are plenty and most of them give tours.
Dundee is good too, with the Discovery (Shackleton's ship).

Go to the Anstruther fish and chip shop.

They do the best fish and chips in the world!

You could go to Edinburgh and climb the Scots monument (unless you are clostraphobic/acrophobic) you can visit the Elephant Cafe where JK Rowling wrote harry potter if you care about such things.

Theres a seaworld type place just outside Edinburgh which is something to do.

You could have look round stirling castle?


You could go see the Falkirk wheel if you're bored or maybe go to pitlochry and see the salmon ladder.

marv335 wrote:
Glencoe is worth a look, although you might not be that welcome, being a Campbell...
(there is a hotel around there that has a sign up at reception that says "No Hawkers or Campbells")

That's the Clachaig, and now I miss home!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, if you do go to the Highlands, take a trip by train from Fort William to Mallaig, there is no better scenery anywhere!

Thanks for all the awesome suggestions (and warnings, what did the Campbells ever do except poison some people and then drown their women in a lake?).

I'm making a huge list, thanks for the contributions!

Albatross wrote:

InquisitorVaron wrote:John o Groats. I would like to say Giants Causeway. But I think thats elsewhere.

Yes, Giant's Causeway is famously in Northern Ireland.

Having and IQ of 145 means you don't need geography...

Avoid John O'Groats, it's a grim place, nothing there, and it takes ages to get to.

Glencoe and Rannoch Moore are worth a look.
The west-highland railway from Glasgow to Inverness is one of the best train journeys in the world - well worth a look.

Edinburgh for tourist stuff and Glasgow for the best nightlife. Glasgow has a reputation for violence, but that is mostly centered in the housing estates/ghettoes (for want of a better word) Would highly recommend Glasgow night life.

Edinburgh castle is a bit of a tourist trap. £25 or $50 dollars to get in and you have an Australian offering to tell you the history of scotland!....

Bring waterproofs. Cannot stress this enough. Watch out for midgies up the highlands. Vicious little b******s!

Campbell1004 wrote:Thanks for all the awesome suggestions (and warnings, what did the Campbells ever do except poison some people and then drown their women in a lake?)

It's not that they did it, that sort of thing is fair enough, it's that they did it while they were guests.
That's the unforgivable sin.

You got to check out something in the highlands.

Why not come to England if you have a spare day or two? Being American, you probably wouldn't consider it a particularly long drive! The north of England is lovely - the Lake District/Cumbria wouldn't be TOO far.

Hell, you could even go down to York. William Wallace did it on foot!

England is a nice place, though I can't imagine northerners being too welcoming when it comes to american tourists...

Nor southerners actually.

corpsesarefun wrote:England is a nice place, though I can't imagine northerners being too welcoming when it comes to american tourists...

Hey! We're lovely people. Anyone who disagrees, we kick their teeth in.


Anyhow, we love Americans! Just look at our very own mattyrm - he likes them so much he kept one.

Albatross wrote:

corpsesarefun wrote:England is a nice place, though I can't imagine northerners being too welcoming when it comes to american tourists...

Hey! We're lovely people. Anyone who disagrees, we kick their teeth in.


Anyhow, we love Americans! Just look at our very own mattyrm - he likes them so much he kept one.

You just reminded me of that part on Eurotrip, where the guys wander into that soccer bar

Glasgow has the Kelvin Grove Art Gallery and the Newly Opened Museum of Transport, amongst various other tourist locations.

More Glasgow related tourist stuff. Also Edinburgh is more touristy...

I would suggest taking the train if you are going down south, it may take a while but you get a great view going down the East Coast.

Yeah me and my dad were wondering how we were going to get around, I'm going to mention we can probably take a train to get almost anywhere. We can also take in the scenery a lot better.

Unfortunately we're pretty solidly going to Scotland, it's kind of a "Back to the Homeland to see castles and medieval stuff."

You can get pretty much anywhere in the central belt and a little way into the highlands via the train, and anywhere else via citylink busses. The Isle of Skye's a pretty neat place to go if your into scenery (The Black Cuillin mountain range are one of our best and if your willing you can get escorted climbs up many of its peaks), but I should mention that once you get into the highlands the roads become single track in everywhere but the major routes as are potholes found on pretty much every road in the country (...just a warning). Glasgow's great if your a tourist with no sence of direction as everywhere important can be reached within a few stops of the underground or train. Edinburgh's got a lot of tourist attractions along the Edinburgh mile or a few streets from it, but at that time of year these are usually choked full of tourists and charge an arm and a leg for entry unless your part of the Historic Scotland group. I'd stay away from Dundee as really its just a glorified University Campus, as does Aberdeen come off a little second best compared to the larger cities as I guess there's just not as much to do for tourists there, though not to put down their merits. When your going about Glasgow you'll notice that the tourist population is nowhere near that of Edinburgh, but the locals aren't nearly as bad as their stereotypes (lest you've heard about our ginger problem, which is at epidemic levels) and that the city centre is full of students due to the major University and College campusses being situated within it. Citytour busses operate in all of the major cities, and their generally pretty cheap nor require booking (they're the garrish red or blue double deckers full of people with cameras and winter clothing, so their difficult to miss). On the climate btw, in Spring the weather's usually not so terrible (we keep the rain for the summer), but if yourused to temperatures in the double didgits you may want to wrap up (though I think eleven degrees is pretty mild). Oh and if your terrible at understanding accents you really may want to stay in Edinburgh (or the little England of the north), as they can become pretty horrific as you go further west or north (though even in the Gaelic speaking towns you'll still find most people have English as a language too). ^^

A bit speilish?

Campbell1004 wrote:Yeah me and my dad were wondering how we were going to get around, I'm going to mention we can probably take a train to get almost anywhere. We can also take in the scenery a lot better.

Unfortunately we're pretty solidly going to Scotland, it's kind of a "Back to the Homeland to see castles and medieval stuff."

Your missing out then, York is just 2 hours from Scotland and has better medieval gak than anything in Scotland, It has the best preserved Roman Walls in the UK, probably in Europe. Makes no sense to fly all the way over to the UK and only see Scotland, my missus family visited and well, they seemed to think it was nuts to fly 11 hours to just see one country. gak, they even went to Wales, and who wants to go there?!

Plus its 1.60 a pint in my local, its 3.50 in Edinburgh.

Here Ill prove my point.

York






Scotland



All the proof you need!

*This message was brought to you by the Yorkshire Tourist Board and visityork.com

Heh, we don't have as much medieval archiecture in Scotland because the locals stole it to build their houses. Thus why we have so many Victorian buildings. Case in point Glasgow Castle. ^^

Though York is lovely (though it is terrible to get around in when all the cobbles frost up. =)

(Btw second picture is a tad culturally incensitive ¬¬)

Ive been to scotland for a few weeks. I liked it, thou it was in 2009, when they had all this rain. Even the scots aid it was a lot!
But it was nice anyway, especially that place where you could watch dolphins feed on salmon from the beach. They were jumping around only 20m from the onlookers. Ill try to find the name of that spot later!

I wouldn't advise the new museum of transport it looks like somekind of concentration facility, maybe i just dont get the "modern style", Edinburgh is pretty great depending on what you like although there is more tourists than residents. The trams works did feth everything up a bit but i'm sure you would enjoy it. The thing i love about living in Edinburgh is the fact that you can drive for like 10 minutes and fell like your in the countryside when in truth your still within Edinburgh itself, Theres lots of great walks and view (very hilly here). Hope you enjoy yourself.

Have you even been into the new museum of transport?

Your talking absolute gak imho. It may not be as good as the old one, but concentration camp? I think not.

Matty, how insensitive. You know Scottish people can be shot by arrow in York at certain times of the day?

The fact that you would say it is better is a double insult. Although it is quite good and I do recommend it.

mattyrm wrote:

Campbell1004 wrote:Yeah me and my dad were wondering how we were going to get around, I'm going to mention we can probably take a train to get almost anywhere. We can also take in the scenery a lot better.

Unfortunately we're pretty solidly going to Scotland, it's kind of a "Back to the Homeland to see castles and medieval stuff."

Your missing out then, York is just 2 hours from Scotland and has better medieval gak than anything in Scotland, It has the best preserved Roman Walls in the UK, probably in Europe.

Apart from, presumably, Italy...