Sirnesto

We're off for our first visit to Scotland next week, and are still working out a final itinerary.

We fly into Edinburgh where we will spend the first three nights, then will rent a car for our week long timeshare stay at the Duchally Country Estate near Gleneagles in Perthshire.

We plan to tour our "local area" - Perth, Stirling, St Andrews, probably Loch Lomond, and spend a full day in Glasgow, but the rest of our itinerary is "open."

We don't golf, but we do love history, culture, food, old cities and architecture, scenery, & natural beauty etc. We'd like to plan some day trips - even long ones - so we can see as much of the area as is reasonable and still use Duchally as our base. (This is assuming we can "adjust" to driving in the UK).

We had been thinking about Inverness (feel like have to see Loch Ness, just to say we've been there), but see that the latter is about a 3-4 hour drive and other posts on this board have been lukewarm about both Inverness and Fort William.

Is Aberdeen worth a look? Looks like most of the "islands" are too far to visit without planning an overnight stay.

I'd appreciate any suggestions for other locations and areas we might visit.

Thanks

janis

Auchterader (near Gleneagles) is a great base for touring because you are almost in the middle of the country.

Loch Ness is probably the LEAST scenic loch in Scotland - but for most visitors is is a "must" so go ahead and go there but just to see Urquhart castle and drive along the lochside. You can safely skip Inverness. You can travel through Glencoe up the A82 to Loch Ness, and then either back down the east side of the loch, or down the A9 through Blair Atholl and back to your condo.

Things to see near your timeshare include Drummond Castle Gardens (a MUST), Dunblane cathedral, Doune Castle, Stirling, Scone Palace in Perth, Loch Earn/Falls of Dochart, Loch Tay/Ben Lawers, the Trossachs, Balquuhidder (where Rob Roy is buried), Culross and a ton of other places.

You could do a day trip (a loooong day trip) to either Skye or Mull.

Aberdeen is certainly an interesting city - but instead of that I'd drive up through Glen Shee and along the Dee. Lovely country and convenient to several great castles -- especially Crathes and and Craigevar. This would be a long drive but certainly doable as a day trip if you get an early start.

LaurenSKahn

In addition to the places mentioned, I would add Falkland Castle.

There are plenty of things to do within 1-2 hours of where you are staying. Doing a day trip to Skye would mean you would spend most of your day driving there and back. For some folks that is entertaining, but it would not be my cup of tea. I have been to Scotland 3 times and, alas, Skye is still on the list. I usually get pretty well occupied in Edinburgh in August for the festivals when I go. The only island I have ever been to is Aran. I did that as a side trip when I stayed in Troon with a friend.

sheila

Very near Duchally (south west) is a village called Braco which has a fantastic Roman fort at Ardoch. Make that a stop. As you drive down the main road between Blackford and Braco you will see little humps of land. The local refer to this area as the "riddlings" (That big garden sieve you use to get rid of stones is called a riddle, round here). This area is meant to be where God emptied his riddle when he finished making the Earth.

Just up the road from Duchally is the Tormaukin Hotel which is well worth a stop for supper one night.

I have a "Fife" doc, a Perth doc and a "Glasgow" doc if you want to email me for them?

The restaurant at Gleneagles is meant to be stunning and Let's Eat in Perth is pretty good.

Cross over from Stirling to Balquhidder and back towards your base down Loch Earn. Stop at Innerpeffry Library as well as Drummond Castle Gardens.

And at Fowlis Wester there are some great Pictish stones in the church and churchyard.

You might want to think about a meander up the east coast to Aberdeen, via Glamis, and Stonehaven, and then a run along the Moray Firth as you aim for Skye or Mull to pick up an island. YOu could even push it and go to the mainland of Orkeny for a day.

Sirnesto

Thank you all for the quick responses. Since the chances of actually sighting the Loch Ness monster are probably "slim," we could willingly forego that experience and make better use of our time elsewhere.

Admittedly one temptation for visiting the area is that we are reading Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series of novels and we want to see some of the areas mentioned in the books - but that's not really a "must."

We'll definitely take your advice for local sights into account.

Sheila - I sent you a message and will gladly accept your offer of supplying trip "docs."

If we want to make an "island" visit and still do it in a day trip (admittedly a long one) - would any be worth trying - Skye?), or should we skip that attempt for this trip and concentrate on visiting what's around us?

Ernest Lao

sheila

You're effectively stuck with Skye. It's the only one you can drive to.