Friends, I need advice on travel to Scotland

[Oddern]

Friends,
Some colleagues and I are planning a trip to Scotland next spring. We arrive at Prestwik airport Thursday evening and back home on Sunday. We would like to visit Ferintosh Dumfries, visit some distilleries, for example Laphroaig, maybe some old castles and many pubs.
Are there any of you who have tips and suggestions on how to squeeze this in on the day we have available?
Skål and thanks!

[ForresterModern]

Check in with one of our xmarks kilted breathren who runs a guest house Ferintosh in Dumfries. Info at the below link:

http://www.ferintosh.net/

He should be able to take good care of you. Others have raved.

[Chas]

Check in with one of our xmarks kilted breathren who runs a guest house in Ferintosh. Info at the below link:

http://www.ferintosh.net/

He should be able to take good care of you. Others have raved.

Cannot agree more. I am one of the ravers.

Definitely, 100%, contact Robertson at Ferintosh. He is the best kilted night/kilted pub crawl organiser the world has seen. He also happens the be an authority on whisky and distilleries. As to castles, well I don't know about castles.

Regards

Chas

[walkerk]

How many weeks are between that Wednesday you arrive and the Sunday when you leave? From the airport in Glasgow to the train station and then to Dumfries shouldn't present a problem. However, Islay is more than a day trip from Dumfries (or just about anywhere.) In Dumfries and the surrounding area there are plenty of pubs and castles to keep you occupied.

Pour1Malt (Robertson) will certainly make your stay at Ferintosh comfortable and memorable. (Discount for X-Markers!) Remember to arrive kilted at the doorstep to receive your welcoming dram.

[Phil]

I take it you have cheap flights with Ryanair if you are going into Prestwick. Prestwick is about halfway between Glasgow and Dumfries although the road link to Glasgow is much better than to Dumfries so the journey time is much less. Ferintosh in Dumfries is one option and there are plenty of pubs and castles in and around there. Don't know if there are any distilleries in that part of the world and as for seeing Scotland you are about as far south as you can get so I wouldn't think you could make it to Skye for the Laphroaig distillery in the time you have. Try this website for routes and journey times - http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp?database=B - (I take it you are hiring a car, otherwise you really don't have much chance of seeing anything?). Good luck.

[starbkjrus]

Well, in that time frame I'd certainly recommend Dumfries. Call or write Robertson (Pour1malt) and tell him what you want. He's excellent at putting together tour agendas and pub crawls and the Fertintosh is the best.

In the general Dumfries area you have several old castles, Sweetheart Abbey something like 52 pubs (and they all know Robertson), Bladnoch Distillery etc. Check the tourism info on the Ferintosh web site. (http://www.ferintosh.net)

Do it.

Go there.

You will not regret it. (I've been four times.)

PS. You'll need a car if you're going out into the countryside for the castles, abby, distillery etc. If you're renting at Prestwick you'll be good. If not then there is an Enterprise Rental Agent in the industrial estate behind the Dumfries Rail Station. They've always worked out for us.

[Colin]

I believe Prestwick airport has a train into Glasgow. The airport is a bit out of the city. From Glasgow you should be able to get into Dumfries from Buchanan station or by train.

Contact Pour1Malt. He'll help sort you out. He might even know a thing or two about distilleries and whisky

[Phil]

I believe Prestwick airport has a train into Glasgow. The airport is a bit out of the city. From Glasgow you should be able to get into Dumfries from Buchanan station or by train.

That's right. There is a train service to Glasgow from Prestwick and also to Dumfries. To say it is "a bit out of the city" is perhaps an understatement. It is actually nearly at Ayr and is about a 45 minute drive to Glasgow and something like 1 hour 30 minutes drive to Dumfries. For public transport, the train takes about the same time (once you catch it that is) and I would allow a bit longer for buses.

[Colin]

We were lucky enough to have a friend pick us up when we landed there from Brussels in April. We headed into Shotts to see friends so we didn't head into Glasgow. It certainly wa snot near the city, but it sure was closer than RyanAir's (the bus with wings) terminal in Brussels which was almost over an hour out of the city by coach.

[McClef]

Certainly you will have a good time at Ferintosh and they are used to Viking invasions!

I think Islay might be a problem with your time frame but there is a distillery an hour's drive west of Dumfries - the Bladnoch Distillery, and I did notice them looking after a few casks of Laphroaig when I visited it last year!