Planning Scotland Trip and Need INFO!

[davedove]

As others have said, it would probably be a better idea to just fly directly to Scotland. I know you probably want to see all you can on the trip, but you have to be careful not to spend your whole time traveling.

I would prioritize the sites you want to visit and choose your locations based on that. The truth is that you will not be able to see all of them.

[graham_s]

I'd recommended a visit to the crannog centre if you're anywhere near Loch Tay
http://www.crannog.co.uk/

[Pleater]

If you can extend your stay another two weeks then I'd say your plans were feasable, but in seven days you're just not going to have the time to catch your breath before you're back on the plane heading home.

If you chose the longest days of the year and plan your journeys with military precision, flying into and out of Scotland - (I'd say try to find a chauffeur driven car so you dan be dropped off right outside major attractions and then picked up again, preferably with refreshments provided so you can eat in or beside the car) - and wear comfortable shoes/trainers and be sure to train up for the walking beforehand, then you might have a chance to cover all the mileage you envisage.

[Beertigger]

I'd fly into Glasgow and take the train north through the Highlands to Inverness (as we've just done that very thing). Beautiful, with a lovely stop in Pitlochry for a hike to Edradour distillery.

And be sure to venture to Dumfries and avail yourself of the wonderful hospitality at Ferintosh!

[Oldhiker]

I am in the middle of planing my third trip to Scotland. I would suggest picking the areas you want to see and then plot a route to move each day to a new area and a new B&B. I think staying in one central location you will miss a lot of wonderful places.

PS my other two trips the plan got changed frequently because we took so many side trips as we found things that were even better than the plan.

here are some website I am using to plan my trip

Best site for overall Scotland tourism I hav found

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/index.html



Dunoon Area

Cowal games

http://www.cowalgathering.com/

Aug 28,29,30


Dunoon

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...uno/index.html


Kilmun

http://www.rosslyntemplars.org.uk/kilmun.htm


Benmore

http://www.rbge.org.uk/the-gardens/benmore



Kilfinan.

Lamont burial vault, Ardlamont, Ascog, Otter Ferry,

Powder factory

http://www.gunpowder-in-argyll.com/index.htm





Oban area

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...ban/index.html

Iona – home of St Columba

http://www.isle-of-iona.com/

Kilmartin

http://www.kilmartin.info/homepage1.htm

Dunstaffnage

http://www.castles.org/Chatelaine/DUNSTAFF.HTM





Inveraray Area

http://www.inveraray-castle.com/Page...t.asp?PageID=1

Campbell home



Sterling Area

Sterling Castle

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...tir/index.html

Wallace Monument

http://www.nationalwallacemonument.com/



Church of Holy Rude

http://www.holyrude.org/

Battle of Bannockburn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bannockburn



Trossachs

http://www.visitscottishheartlands.c...achs/index.cfm

Inchmahome Priory, Inchmahome is located in the middle of Scotland's only lake, Lake of Menteith.

http://www.ancient-scotland.co.uk/site.php?a=95



Edinburgh Area

Edinburgh Castle

http://www.edinburghcastle.biz/

Scottish parliament Holyrood,

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/home.htm

National Museum of Scotland

http://www.nms.ac.uk/nationalmuseumhomepage.aspx

Royal Mile

http://www.edinburgh-royalmile.com/

Rosslyn chapel – made famous modern times in Dan Brown – Davinci Code

Knights Templar

http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/



General Register Office for Scotland (GROS

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/

New Register House
3 West Register Street
Edinburgh
Scotland
EH1 3YT



Isle of Skye area

http://www.isleofskye.com/


Eilean Donan

http://www.eileandonancastle.co.uk/

Glencoe

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/glencoe/glencoe/

Glenelg & Arnisdale

http://www.lochalsh.com/glenelg.html



Inverness Area

Culloden

http://www.nts.org.uk/Culloden/Home/

Loch Ness

http://www.nessie.co.uk/

Rose castle

http://www.kilravockcastle.com/index.html

Clava Cairns

http://www.darkisle.com/c/clava/clava.html

Corrimony in Glen Urquhart

http://www.stonesofwonder.com/corrimon.htm



Ancient Scotland

http://www.stonesofwonder.com/index.html

http://www.stonepages.com/ancient_scotland/home.htm

http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/index.html

[Darkislander]

As nice as it is, being based in Stirling is giving yourself a lot of travelling as Jock Scot describes. Look up the visitscotland website or scottish tourist board and plan your trip that way. However the UK will appear small compared to what you're used to. Enjoy.

[cessna152towser]

I'd have to strongly recommend flying direct to Glasgow or Edinburgh. Surface journey times between Scotland and London are very unpredictable as there can often be engineering works on the railways and serious traffic gridlock on the motorways if there are roadworks or an accident. After my last experience of driving on a Friday from Chichester in the south of England when it took until early evening just to get as far north as Birmingham I would allow two days to get from the Scottish Borders with a stopover en route if I need to take the car to London or the south coast. Nowadays, when I go to London I normally use a budget airline to Stansted Airport near Cambridge and rail the last fifty miles or so into London from there - and yes the train ticket often costs more than the flight. This is an option you might like to consider - Easyjet fly from Stansted to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and Ryanair fly from Stansted to Prestwick which would be convenient if you want to see the Ayrshire coast, Burns Country and stay at Dumfries with Pour1Malt, and your wife could see a little bit of England on the shorter rail journey from London to Stansted.

[richardljohnson]

Thanks to everyone for their idea and suggestions. I will direct my wife to the comments and we will plan from there. When you don't know where to start...ask someone thats done it!

Thanks again...

Richard-

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

We used to travel up and back from London to Edinburgh on the sleeper, but this has now become as expensive as a decent hotel! I second flying into Glasgow Intl or Glasgow Prestwick or Edinburgh. You can pick up a rental car and easily make Stirling in two hours, check into your B&B or hotel, and be more-or-less fresh as a daisy in the morning. Book your rental car in advance and pre-pay the rental as this will result in a significant savings. Likewise buy your gas/petrol up front and you won't have to worry about returning the car with a full tank.

As far as driving up from London goes, I have never made the journey in much under nine hours. London to Edinburgh is about 450 miles and even though you can do a theoretical 70 miles per hour the whole way, my experience has been that it's really hard to average 50-60mph, and that's sticking to the motorway.

If you fly into London, allow 2-2 1/2 hours to get from the airport to your train station; I've done it in less, but inevitably it takes at least an hour and often more. Time of day, day of week, and possible strikes, can seriously delay things.

Other than that, enjoy your trip.

[AcuteEnigma]

Last summer we went to Scotland via London. Few into London Heathrow arriving in the afternoon. Spent the night near airport.
Took taxi to that other London airport.
Took RyanAir (or BMI?) flight up to Inverness. Rented car at Inverness.

The flight from London to Inverness was about the same cost as the train.

(Flew into London cuz I had a REALLY cool lunch date with a REALLY cool Scot.)

My advice is to choose the top 3 or 4 sites you want to see and plan from there. For us, there was no way we would not go to Caithness, home of Clan Sinclair.

Hope this helps!

Julie