The fastest & easiest way in & out of Edinburgh is the train from Glasgow city centre.(Queen Street Station 45 mins - may be less these days)Driving & attempting to park in Edinburgh will not leave you in a good frame of mind.Also hotels are cheaper.

Thanks for the advice. I was afraid Edinburgh and Roslyn would be too much for one day. I'll re-examine the last few days of the trip and do some more tweaking. This might be one of the areas where we leave it flexible and just see how the time is going and what we're in the mood for. We might be "castled out" by then and decide to skip Stirling. We know we can't see everything, it's just a matter of what to see on this trip and what to save for the next time.

As for driving in Edinburgh, I agree that that's something I'd rather avoid if possible. Is there possibly a place on the outskirts of town where we can leave our car and take a bus or other public transportation into town? Or maybe we can find a B&B or small hotel that is outside of town but close to public transportation.

I'll go back to my maps/books/magazines/internet and do some more research........

I know I need help but...This might be an even more stupid question, but is that 18 different baskets or one basket placed in 18 different places?

There are loads of small B&B's and Guest Houses on the outskirts of Edinburgh check www.edinbugh.org and good luck with getting your handicap down!

I usually stay in the Edinburgh city centre just off Princes Street. But there are just loads of good B&Bs on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and the bus service is excellent. Most B&Bs will tell you how close they are to the nearest bus route (it is a big selling point so if they don't it probably isn't in a convenient location). And a benefit is most outlying B&Bs offer at least some free parking which is almost unheard of in the very centre.

One thought - Roslyn Chapel is amazing -- but Stirling Castle is in an entire different league. If I had to choose and had never been to either one, I would go to Stirling. I had heard there was restoration work going on at Roslyn - but I'm not sure. If so you might want to take that into account as well

The drive from Edinburgh to Stirling and on to Glasgow Airport is not bad at all. You would not have to go through Glasgow to get there, and the route takes you through some really lovely countryside. The A811 lets you avoid the congested motorway around Glasgow and takes you through Drymen and around the southern end of Loch Lomond.

You might even have time to visit Inchmahome Priory enroute. it is a gorgeous ruin on an island in the middle of the only "lake" in Scotland. It is not far from Stirling and you could easily fit in Stirling Castle and the boat trip/priory on your way to Glasgow.

For a delightful stay on the western part of Edinburgh, try the following:

http://www.aboutscotland.com/edin/arisaig.html

We stayed here last September and had a wonderful stay. Helen and Archie are excellent hosts, very laid back and very knowledgeable. Bus transportation is 100 yards up the road and takes about 15 minutes to Princes Street.

If you don't want to stay in central Edinburgh, I wholeheartedly recommend this B&B.

Have a nice trip.

later. iowan15

One additional thought. Logic dictates that on you go south via Blairgowrie to meigle, then east, past Glamis (if you want another castle) and south to Dundee.

If that's going to be your route, would you now like some small hotel recs?

Yes please, Sheila! I'm gathering all of the recommendations for accomodations and will check them all out. Even if I don't make reservations before we leave on our trip, I'll have a list of good places to call when we get close to that area.

I hope your holiday was relaxing, even if you did spend time reading Fodor's....

I would, frankly, skip Roslyn Chapel.

It was on my list long before Dan Brown's books became popular - I'd always wanted to see the 'Prentice Pillar and the amazing carving.

However, when we finally got there in September 2004, the entire Chapel was covered in scaffolding. I have no idea how long the renovations will be going one, but you literally couldn't see the outside of the Chapel because of the scaffolding.

In addition, the crowds were ridiculous. Couldn't get to the admissions desk, couldn't walk through the gift shop to get the entrance. Could barely get close to the 'Prentice Pillar. And so forth. People sitting on every bench (outside) and standing in every aisle and every corner of the relatively small chapel. Poor lighting (not helped by the scaffolding blocking the windows on this bright and sunny day).

It was one of the worst parts of our trip - fortunately only a very small portion of that day.

Stirling, as janis said, is magnificent and worth any time you can spend there.

We did OK with driving and parking in Edinburgh (except when the menfolk decided to "go around the block" instead of going back the way we knew...).

If you'd like more details about our trip a few months ago, just click on my name and you'll get a link to my trip report.

Gayle

Thanks, Gayle. It's starting to sound like we'll skip Roslyn and place it on The List Of Things To See Next Time.

I have read your trip report and actually printed out and saved parts of it, along with posts from Sheila, Janis, and others with knowledge and experience of Scotland. I've been using those posts for several months now, along with maps, books, magazines, and general Internet searching, to plot our trip. My husband teases me, but I do love the planning for a trip like this. Our den is currently decorated with a large map of Scotland that I mounted on a piece of cardboard with pushpins designating various places to go and stay. I'm having a great time and haven't even boarded the plane yet!

OK. Here goes nuthin'

Spend night in Kilmartin or Kilmelford area- try the Kilmartin Hotel or the Cuilfail Hotel in Kilmelford. I'm a sucker for the Cuilfail, but that's personal.
Spend two nights on Mull, probably in Fionnphort- don't really know. Stopped in the pub in Fhionphort for a late lunch in July and was very impressed.
Spend night in southern Skye- I have a bit of a problem with this. I LOVE the Eilean Iarmain and wouldn't want to stay anywhere else. It's a bit far from the rest of the island too. I'm pretty keen on the Sligachan too, but it's also off the beaten track. Nowhere else springs to mind as absolutely top except the House Over By, and it would be out of my financial league.

Spend night in or near Ullapool.- no real recs. The Summer Isles?

Spend night in Braemar or Ballater, depending on which way we decide to go the next day.- Gairnsheil Lodge maybe? Or the Inver Hotel on the A 93.

Spend two nights in Dundee area. - definitely reiterate Janis's advice. Try- the Craw's Nest in Anstruther, the Stag in Falkland, the Scores in St Andrews or anywhere else that's not in Dundee.
Spend night in Edinburgh area- If you're in Edinburgh, maybe the Apex in the Grassmarket?

Spend night in Glasgow.- Adelaide's in Bath Street


hope that helps.

re sheila's "Stopped in the pub in Fhionphort for a late lunch in July and
was very impressed."

That is the pub that is right next door to the B&B (seaview) I mentioned above. I once had a sea trout dinner there that was absolutely sublime. Surprising because it doesn't look like any sort of gourmet or gastro-type pub (the bartender was an absolute twin of Mark McGuire only bigger if you can believe it). . . . . . .

Another place you can try in the Fife area would be Caiplie Guest House in Crail. www.caipliehouse.com/ This not a fancy place but it is VERY comfortable and the food is great. They do a really nice evening meal if you tell them at breakfast. This one is a real bargain.

The suggestion of staying in a B&B on the outskirts of Edinburgh but on a good bus route is an excellent one. There are lots of B&Bs on Minto Street, Craigmillar Park, Dalkeith Road and Glasgow Road, all of which have frequent buses into the city centre. Driving & attempting to park in Glasgow is not much better than ditto in Edinburgh.

We visited the Rosslyn Chapel in early 1999 with a view to having our wedding there in 2000, and were assured that the scaffolding would be off by then !! So it's anyone's guess how long it will actually be up for. It wasn't crowded then but I gather 'The DaVinci Code' has caused it to be packed out.

Sounds like a great trip you're planning. I also have a B&B recommendation for Edinburgh outskirts. It's called Cameron Toll Guest House (http://www.edinburghguesthouse.co.uk). Hubby and I stayed there back in 1999 when we attended the Edinburgh festival. It's on Dalkeith Rd, Andrew & Mary were wonderful hosts, the room was really nice, food was great (+ they will cater to special diets if you have one), bus stop close by as well as a laundry/dry cleaners (who dropped our stuff off at the B&B when it was done...don't know if they still do that). Happy planning!

I'll probably be posting sometime in the next month or so myself, as we're heading back to Scotland again this summer. Some of what we're planning is actually covered in this thread, especially since we have similar ages and interests (thanks for doing part of my work for me!) but I'm sure I'll come up with things of my own to puzzle over.