theatrelover

We are driving from the Culloden area near Inverness heading to Ballathie House Hotel in Kinclaven Stanley Perthshire. What would be the best route to take and what should we see along the way? Thanks for any help.

janisj

The most direct route would be the A9 south through Blair Atholl to Dinkeld and over to Kinclaven. The main sites along the route would be mountain scenery and Blair Castle. Blair castle is really interesting - plan on about 1.5 hours there.

If you wanted to wander more you could go through Grantown on Spey, Glenlivet, Tomimtoul, the Dee, Braemar and down the A93 to Blairgowrie and on to Kinclaven. This route would have even more mountain scenery, and Corgarff, Balmoral and Braemar castles. With stops at many/any of these sites - it would take a full day for the drive.

Craigellachie

Unless time is a problem, take the full day and go by janisj's second route. The main A9 road is scenic but the driver will be too busy avoiding lunatics to see much of it. As well as castles and scenery, the longer route goes through the heart of one of our main malt whisky producing areas. There are also wildlife centres at Boat of Garten and Dunkeld where they have nesting ospreys.

janisj

And of course that was a typo in my post -- <u>Dunkeld</u>

I agree w/ Craigellachie - of the two routes the second one is much more scenic, if you have the time for it.

If you are in a rush then down the A9 is certainly OK. But the 2nd itinerary over Tomintoul and the Spittal of Glenshee would be my choice.

theatrelover

Thank you so much for the advice. If we go the second route, we see beautiful scenery but we would miss Blair Castle, Queens View, Aberfeldy. We do have all day to make the trip. Our hotel serves dinner until 9pm. The following day is our only full day in the area. I thought we would do St. Andrews and the villages nearby. The next day we drive to Edinburgh airport (again have all day to do this) and I thought we would do the Stirling area on the way. I would hate to miss Blair Castle and Queens View (if the weather permits). Any advice? Thank you all so very much.

janisj

Blair Castle is certainly worth a visit. But weighing the scenery differences I'd probably go the eastern route to the Dee/Braemar etc.

But, if you got an early start you actually could work in Blair castle too. If you only stop a couple of places heading south you could jog over from the A93 to Pitlochry and be at Blair Atholl by mid to late afternoon. That way you could have it all. And even if the Queen's View visitors center is closed by the time you got there - the VIEW itself doesn't close.

theatrelover

I can't thank all of you enough for your help with my two posts. We need to plan many, many more trips to Scotland! I'm also trying to figure out how to spend our one full day in the area. Would St. Andrews and the villages be too long a day trip? If not, could we (or should we) also try to fit in Falkland? Or should we spend the day at Scone Palace? Should we really try to see Glamis? I figured we could do Stirling on the way to Edinburgh airport to return the car.

janisj

tough decisions. You have about 4 days of things and one day to see them. juts some info to help you decide.

- Scone is nice, but doesn't require nearly a day. An hour or two would be more than enough.

- A loop through St Andrews, a couple of the fishing villages and Falkland would be a doable day trip. The gardens at Falkland are lovely.

- You really aren't staying that far from Glamis. Glamis is large but really desn't take more than a couple of hours.

I can see two ways you could work in Glamis --

1) Drop the idea of Blair Castle and when you get down the A93 to Blairgowrie, go east to Glamis. If you got there by 3:00 or 3:30p.m. or even 4:00-ish you would have enough time to visit the castle.

2) On your &quot;free&quot; day go to Glamis first off. Plan on getting there right at opening time and finish at or just after noon. Then drive down to St Andrews, have lunch in the town, walk around St Andrews for a couple of hours and then tour along the coast and through some of the villages.

theatrelover

Thank you so much for taking so much time to help. I will redo our itinerary and follow your suggestions.

theatrelover

I tried to post this as a new message but it only shows up on the &quot;Europe&quot; area. Has anyone visited the Secret Bunker and is it worth the time? It sounds like something my husband might really enjoy.

janisj

I've only been there once years ago right after it first opened. From the web site it looks like like there is much more there now. I remeber it as a bit hokey but interesting - sort of a guilty pleasure

But not sure if it is a good use of your sooooo very limited time. If you were in Fife or Perthshire for 5 or 6 days I'd say go for it. W/ only one day - not so sure.

sheila

You've a number of choices and, to some extent, it depends on how long you want to be in the car. The route that Janis recommended is the shortest and can be very nice.

The Speyside route is also fine, and the third option would be to come right along the coast to Banff, down to Aberdeen and south to Stanley.

Any one of the three would be very pleasant with really different types of scenery on each of them.

If it were me, I'd take the Speyside or coastal route, visit Blair from Ballathie and go south to Edinburgh through Fife, taking in St Andrews en route. I'd give Stirling a by.

You would certainly get Falkland in that Fife day.

You could pick up Glamis on the way south from either Speyide or Aberdeen. Personally, I'd do one of Blair or scone, and not both (and it would be Blair)


So. Another option for you to consider.

janisj

To clarify a bit - the route I recommended is what Sheila is calling the Speyside route.

&quot;<i>But the 2nd itinerary over Tomintoul and the Spittal of Glenshee would be my choice.</i>&quot; - that is the one through Speyside, across to the Dee, Braemar and down south from there. Also a way to work in Glamis.

Heading down the A9 was only one suggestion before we knew how much time you have. W/ a full day, I wouldn't recommend that route.

theatrelover

Thank you all so much. This is what I planned based on what I think you are recommending. We leave Culloden House and take A939 visiting Glenlivet Distillery, through Tomintoul, visit Corgarff Castle, through Ballater, Crathie, Braemar (visit the Castle?), to Blairgowrie. If we get to Blairgowrie area early enough, we could visit Glamis. Otherwise we can head to our hotel. On our free day we could either do Glamis and then on to St. Andrews and the fishing villages or skip Glamis entirely. Or we could spend that day going to Blair Castle, Queens View and see scenery in that area. On our way to Edinburgh airport we could either do the St. Andrews day or Stirling and Linllithgow. I hope I have this correct. It leaves us choices to make depending upon how we feel and what the weather looks like. Thanks so very much!

janisj

Yes - you nailed it

You have a good idea what's doable and can make adjustments on the fly. And remember - things like the Queen's view are &quot;open&quot; all the time. Maybe I missed it somewhere in your posts - when is your trip? If between now and August it will be daylight quite late (and especially so in June) so you can do a lot of sightseeing even at &quot;night&quot;.

theatrelover

We leave in four days!!!! I can't wait and you and Sheila and this board have been so very, very helpful. I feel really good about our itinerary. Now the big project is packing.

janisj

Pack light - oh, that's another thread

Have a great trip.