Visiting Scotland: Edinburgh/St. Andrews - where else to go for day trips?

How many full days will you have?

As you will have a car then you can travel around the Fife coast and visit the numerous small towns and fishing villages.
There is a lot to do in and around St Andrews / Dundee so I am sure that you will have no problem finding places to see.
For slightly longer day trips you could include the likes of Perth / Scone and Pitlochry,
Perhaps Perth / Stirling / Linlithgow and then back to St Andrews.
Depending on the weather and road conditions an even longer trip would be to travel up the east coast to Stonehaven possibly Aberdeen, then travel inland via Banchory, Balmoral and Braemar before returning to Fife via Glenshee. I am sure that Sheila will be able to give you further ideas as to the Aberdeenshire area.

Susan

I have a Word oc with a heap of suggested day trips in it. Drop me an email and I'll fill in the blanks

A few in Fife and nearby: All the fishing villages, Falkland Palace/Gardens, Glamis Castle (not in Fife but an easy day trip), farther up the coast is Dunnottar Castle. Farther east you could easily visit Perth/Scone Palace and drive around the nearby lochs. Castle Campbell/Dollar Glen -- and a hundred other places, this is just a short list.

From Edinburgh there are lots of places you could go (The Borders, Tantallon/Dirleton castles, St Abbs Head, Stirling, Linlithgow, etc etc.) But w/ only 2 days I seriously doubt you'll have time for anything but the city.

Right now (although it is tentative) here is the plan:

MONDAY - arrive early morning in Edinburgh, pick up car and drive to St. Andrews.
TUESDAY - St. Andrews
WEDNESDAY - St. Andrews
THURSDAY - St. Andrews
FRIDAY - part of day or all day St. Andrews and then drive to Edinburgh. (drop off car)
SATURDAY - Edinburgh
SUNDAY - Edinburgh
MONDAY - leave for home.

So it looks to me as though we will be able to take some day trips while we are staying at St. Andrews and while our son is in classes.

Susan

Well, I do hope you're not subject to jetlag or your flight is short. Driving immediately after a long overnight flight is not usually a good idea. Especially if you have to adjust to the other side of the road and foreign road signs.

Definitely visit Glamis castle. We took a day trip down to Glamis from Aberdeen in the morning, and then headed to St. Andrews in the afternoon that day. I think it was a 45 min drive from Glamis to St. Andrews? So worth it.

ps. 3 days in Edinburgh would be better than 2!!

I wouldn't argue with any of the suggestions so far but here are some others.
Dunfermline, Fife - ancient capital of Scotland, the Abbey is awesome and has strong links to Margaret, 11th century queen and our "other" patron saint, it's also where most of Robert the Bruce is buried (for reasons we don't need to go into, his heart is many mile further south in Melrose), birthplace museum of Andrew Carnegie.
Falkland - as well as (or instead of?) the palace and gardens, Falkland Estate is right on the edge of the village and has some superb low level walks. Most of the estate is owned by a charity with strong environmental leanings. Two miles from the village by road, less if you walk through the woods, is the oddly named Pillars of Hercules, one of Scotland's best organic farm shops which also has an excellent cafe.
Superb beach and coastal walks along the West Sands in St Andrews, or further south almost anywhere between Elie and Leven. Wrap up well, the east wind is cold in March. If you're interested in bird life take your binoculars to the stretch between Largo (birthplace of Robinson Crusoe) and Leven where there are huge flocks of seabirds just offshore.
You now have far too many unmissable suggestions for a single trip so you'll just have to keep coming back, but after your first visit you'll want to do that anyway

Susann,
As a former student at St. Andrews I can tell you that when my parents came to visit it was awesome. We did day trips to Glamis, Stirling, and Perth. My parents spent two days in Edinburgh and two more days in Glasgow. They flew in and out of Glasgow as at that time fares were a bit less and more direct than for them to come into Edinburgh. I found it quite manageable to do the trips with my parents and very enjoyable, so I'd encourage your son to join you on one or two of them. It was awesome to spend that time with them. Good luck and enjoy!!