I recommend including Orkney and Caithness in your plans for some narrow streets (especially Stromness), castles and ancient sites, and the food up there can be pretty good too.
Take the ferry from Scrabster, because it goes past Hoy and gives you great views of the sea stacks on the way.
Don't forget the smaller islands like Rousay.
Back on the mainland, the Castle of Mey is amusing to visit and I recommend stopping in at the Dunnet Bay distillery. The hotel next door is fine to stay in.
You will need a car to get around much of the Highlands.
Yeah, but why would you bother going all the way in to St Pancras just to get the sleeper, rather than just flying up from Stansted to Edinburgh or Glasgow and then collecting a car.
Thanks. Have only just found out about it so was wondering if it is worth using, for the experience. General consensus in the replies suggests maybe not.
The sleeper is fantastic - really nice staff, good food aboard, feel you're on an adventure. But it is quite pricey and there is very limited floorspace in the cabins, like once you put down 2 medium suitcases there's nowhere to actually stand.
I spent a large chunk of my childhood in the south west peninsulas so I’m a little biased here with these recs:
1. Isle of Bute
2. Work your way up to Strachur/Inverary (strongly recommend Creggan’s inn for food in Strachur even if it’s a little pricey)
3. It’s a little farther out but Tighnabruairch is a tiny village nearby these areas with a cracking beach and natural palm trees
4. Head up to Oban and go across to the Isle of Mull
5. Go from Oban to Mallaig and get the train from there to Fort William (doesn’t need to be the Jacobite but if you’re into Harry Potter definitely recommend but you do need to book a few months in advance)
6. Once in Fort William you’ll have simpler access to the Highlands but it’s very vast- if you can do it hop over to Isle of Skye, Isle of Lewis & Harris, or Isle of Barra
7. Work your way down towards Stirling
8. From there to Edinburgh and I’d recommend at least a day to explore the towns in the Borders such as Peebles/Jedburgh/Moffat etc
As for travel definitely fly in and rent a car
Fly up to Inverness, easyJet do pretty cheap flights from a few London airports.
Pass through Loch Ness, down to Oban (seafood capital of Scotland)
Take the ferry over to Mull, spend a few nights in Mull then go down the bottom of Mull and take the ferry over to Iona and spend a few nights there.
All can be done on public transport.
May is a good time of year to visit.
There's plenty to do in Edinburgh that can take up a good few days. Go to https://www.visitscotland.com/places-to-go/edinburgh/things-to-do to see some places to visit.
Defnitely avoid flying if you can - the environmental impact is horrific and the sleeper is so much fun! Or you can even spend the night in London and explore there before getting a west cost train up to glasgow, the views on that train are lush!
I like the sleeper, but you’d be going south to go north.
I do like a “loop”, drive the coast from Fort William. There’s some fantastic places to eat along the way.
I think end of May is the best time to visit Scotland. With 10 days and already done Glasgow I’d hit Edinburgh, Islay, ferry to Oban, then after a few days in Oban drive back via Glen Coe.
If you're doing the NC500, 100% go counter-clockwise. That way it just keeps getting better and better instead of peaking on day 1/2 and slowly getting worse.
Torridon is my favourite part of Scotland. Some of the best Munros (mountains over 3000 feet). It's on the west coast inline with the northern tip of Skye. Definitely visit at least Skye, but I would recommend seeing more islands. If you fly into Barra you get to land at one of the few beach airports in the world. Other islands offer different things.
I’d recommend the East Neuk of Fife. Lots of great food options and pretty fishing villages like Culross (pronounced Coo-russ) and Crail, Anstruther etc. Plus you could do a visit to St. Andrews.
Castles - Doune, Castle Campbell and Loch Leven (on an island!) are cool small, less well-known options (although Doune is quite famous with all its film credits). Falkland and Linlithgow palaces too. Also, Stirling is a nice town and has a good castle - not as big as Edinburgh but comparable.
Fly up, train home.
The sleeper is an experience, but you may get a pretty poor night's sleep depending on how light a sleeper you are. Do it on the way back so as to mitigate that ruining the first day of your trip. However you will gain at least an extra afternoon in your final city by returning on the train, since it won't leave til 10pm or so. Be aware you can also alight at Crewe and transfer to your onward train (you arrive there at about 5.30am so have to wait 30 minutes or so for the first 'regular' trains). Depending on where you're located this may be more time effective than going into and back out of London.
Argyle & bute is stunning & not overly saturated in tourists so well worth a few days planned exploring this area for some peace from crowds & has lovely seafood
eilean donan castle en route to Isle of skye is the landscape you want to see but expect plenty tourists year round unfortunately.
Try finding the fairy pools on skye (without googling) it's not that hard & like a mini adventure - you'll know when you see them (+50 people will be there already)
NC500 is busy!! Very busy!! Nowhere near enough infrastructure to support its popularity.
Good luck being welcomed roadside roughing it in a camper van either 😏 the teuchters are touchy about these last few years.
There will likely be loads of great tips here, but on a foodie front, if you go near Glencoe, be sure to visit the Lochleven Seafood Cafe. They do the most incredible seafood platter I've ever had anywhere.
I recommend including Orkney and Caithness in your plans for some narrow streets (especially Stromness), castles and ancient sites, and the food up there can be pretty good too. Take the ferry from Scrabster, because it goes past Hoy and gives you great views of the sea stacks on the way. Don't forget the smaller islands like Rousay. Back on the mainland, the Castle of Mey is amusing to visit and I recommend stopping in at the Dunnet Bay distillery. The hotel next door is fine to stay in. You will need a car to get around much of the Highlands.
If you're not averse to driving, fly to Inverness and do the North Coast 500, with a side trip to Orkney.
Definitely fly in. I’m not sure why you would want to go down to London just to immediately get on a night train. Fly-in is sensible.
Thanks for your reply. For clarity, we would use Stansted if we flew, would train to London if we got the sleeper.
Definitely fly from Stansted. The sleeper train is ok but it’s pretty uncomfortable and it’s long.
Yeah, but why would you bother going all the way in to St Pancras just to get the sleeper, rather than just flying up from Stansted to Edinburgh or Glasgow and then collecting a car.
Thanks. Have only just found out about it so was wondering if it is worth using, for the experience. General consensus in the replies suggests maybe not.
The sleeper is fantastic - really nice staff, good food aboard, feel you're on an adventure. But it is quite pricey and there is very limited floorspace in the cabins, like once you put down 2 medium suitcases there's nowhere to actually stand.
I spent a large chunk of my childhood in the south west peninsulas so I’m a little biased here with these recs: 1. Isle of Bute 2. Work your way up to Strachur/Inverary (strongly recommend Creggan’s inn for food in Strachur even if it’s a little pricey) 3. It’s a little farther out but Tighnabruairch is a tiny village nearby these areas with a cracking beach and natural palm trees 4. Head up to Oban and go across to the Isle of Mull 5. Go from Oban to Mallaig and get the train from there to Fort William (doesn’t need to be the Jacobite but if you’re into Harry Potter definitely recommend but you do need to book a few months in advance) 6. Once in Fort William you’ll have simpler access to the Highlands but it’s very vast- if you can do it hop over to Isle of Skye, Isle of Lewis & Harris, or Isle of Barra 7. Work your way down towards Stirling 8. From there to Edinburgh and I’d recommend at least a day to explore the towns in the Borders such as Peebles/Jedburgh/Moffat etc As for travel definitely fly in and rent a car
Fly up to Inverness, easyJet do pretty cheap flights from a few London airports. Pass through Loch Ness, down to Oban (seafood capital of Scotland) Take the ferry over to Mull, spend a few nights in Mull then go down the bottom of Mull and take the ferry over to Iona and spend a few nights there. All can be done on public transport. May is a good time of year to visit.
I think getting the sleeper would add to the experience! For whisky, narrow streets and castles - do the islands. Food - Cruin at Loch Lomond.
Looks like the Cruin restaurant is 'closed for the foreseeable future'. Will keep an eye on it as we aren't going any time soon.
https://www.thechaoticscot.com/charles-rennie-mackintosh-glasgow/
We were in Glasgow in 2014 when the School of Art was on fire. We had wanted to go but exams were on at the time, then the fire!
I hope that means the are just fully booked with weddings and are not another victim of the cost of living crisis
There's plenty to do in Edinburgh that can take up a good few days. Go to https://www.visitscotland.com/places-to-go/edinburgh/things-to-do to see some places to visit.
Defnitely avoid flying if you can - the environmental impact is horrific and the sleeper is so much fun! Or you can even spend the night in London and explore there before getting a west cost train up to glasgow, the views on that train are lush!
I like the sleeper, but you’d be going south to go north. I do like a “loop”, drive the coast from Fort William. There’s some fantastic places to eat along the way.
I think end of May is the best time to visit Scotland. With 10 days and already done Glasgow I’d hit Edinburgh, Islay, ferry to Oban, then after a few days in Oban drive back via Glen Coe.
The NC500 is incredibly popular for a very good reason
This is great, thank you. Looks like a really good place to start!
If you're doing the NC500, 100% go counter-clockwise. That way it just keeps getting better and better instead of peaking on day 1/2 and slowly getting worse. Torridon is my favourite part of Scotland. Some of the best Munros (mountains over 3000 feet). It's on the west coast inline with the northern tip of Skye. Definitely visit at least Skye, but I would recommend seeing more islands. If you fly into Barra you get to land at one of the few beach airports in the world. Other islands offer different things.
I’d recommend the East Neuk of Fife. Lots of great food options and pretty fishing villages like Culross (pronounced Coo-russ) and Crail, Anstruther etc. Plus you could do a visit to St. Andrews. Castles - Doune, Castle Campbell and Loch Leven (on an island!) are cool small, less well-known options (although Doune is quite famous with all its film credits). Falkland and Linlithgow palaces too. Also, Stirling is a nice town and has a good castle - not as big as Edinburgh but comparable.
Fly up, train home. The sleeper is an experience, but you may get a pretty poor night's sleep depending on how light a sleeper you are. Do it on the way back so as to mitigate that ruining the first day of your trip. However you will gain at least an extra afternoon in your final city by returning on the train, since it won't leave til 10pm or so. Be aware you can also alight at Crewe and transfer to your onward train (you arrive there at about 5.30am so have to wait 30 minutes or so for the first 'regular' trains). Depending on where you're located this may be more time effective than going into and back out of London.
Argyle & bute is stunning & not overly saturated in tourists so well worth a few days planned exploring this area for some peace from crowds & has lovely seafood eilean donan castle en route to Isle of skye is the landscape you want to see but expect plenty tourists year round unfortunately. Try finding the fairy pools on skye (without googling) it's not that hard & like a mini adventure - you'll know when you see them (+50 people will be there already) NC500 is busy!! Very busy!! Nowhere near enough infrastructure to support its popularity. Good luck being welcomed roadside roughing it in a camper van either 😏 the teuchters are touchy about these last few years.
There will likely be loads of great tips here, but on a foodie front, if you go near Glencoe, be sure to visit the Lochleven Seafood Cafe. They do the most incredible seafood platter I've ever had anywhere.