Family Trip to Scotland suggestions
 

Hi, I'm new to the forum and looking for advice. I'm planning a surprise trip for my family next June to Scotland. The main part of the trip is golf in St. Andrews for my husband and 7 (will be 8 next year) son. I'm not sure what else to plan as we will likely only be there for about 7 days. Here are some of my "must" haves based on our last european vacation:

Open to flying in one location and traveling across the country to fly out elsewhere
Looking to have 2 central points/hotels for the trip. Ideally central location where we can plan day trips. this makes it easier than checking in and out of hotels along the way.
St. Andrews is a must for golf, so ideally we would stay there for one of our two locations. Any recommended high end hotels that are kid friendly? Is the Old Course Hotel a good choice?

what else would make for a good itinerary and another good location to stay. Edinborough is one place I've been looking, but not sure all the geography yet.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

For context, we were in Ireland a few years back and stayed at The Europe and absolutely loved it there. I'm not sure if there are places similar in Scotland.
thanks.

>>Open to flying in one location and traveling across the country to fly out elsewhere<<

If you are just going to Scotland there is no need for open jaw flights -- either GLA, EDI or both would work equally well. The two airports are barely an hour apart. Fly in/out of which ever one(s) gets you the best fare/schedule. But EDI would be the most convenient for this plan. You don't want a car IN Edinburgh so just rent one for the 3-ish days you'll be in Fife.

W/ just 7 days (if this includes your travel days that is less than 5 full days on the ground) and St Andrews being a must, to make it easy stay 3 nights in St Andrews and 3 nights in Edinburgh (note the spelling).

>> Is the Old Course Hotel a good choice?<<

If it fits in your budget it is a wonderful choice.

There are several upscale hotels in Edinburgh -- I'd maybe try the Scotsman first. Really terrific location.

There is a TON of things to see/do in Fife besides St Andrews so splitting the time 50/50 between St Andrews and Edinburgh would be terrific.

Thanks so much...and for the spelling tip too :)
Scotsman was one hotel I had read about, so will look into that further.

Is Loch Ness in the vicinity of either and a good day trip? Any suggetions on another day trip or two from either Edinburgh or Fife/St. Andrews?

We took our boys to Scotland and Ireland a few summers ago....


http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-ireland.cfm

>>Is Loch Ness in the vicinity of either and a good day trip? Any suggetions on another day trip or two from either Edinburgh or Fife/St. Andrews?<<

You need a map :) Loch Ness is a looooong way from Edinburgh. I personally don't think you have enough time for a day trip - but if you do want one either 1) take the train to Stirling, or 2) book a day trip w/ Rabbies

https://www.rabbies.com/en/tour-scot...from-edinburgh

(They even do one to Loch Ness . . . ;) )

As for St Andrews -- things you can see/do in the immediate area include St Andrews Cathedral and Castle, the fishing villages (Crail, Anstruther, Pittenweem), a boat trip out to the Isle of May (fabulous!)

http://m0.i.pbase.com/o9/60/842160/1...May_Banner.jpg

Crail http://www.welcometoscotland.com/img...a23d9f98a3.jpg

Anstruther https://thedrunkbirder.files.wordpre...105-074114.jpg

The Scottish Deer Centre near Cupar

Falkland Palace

Loch Ness is too far for a day trip and to be honest isn't worth it in the time you have available. Two ideas you might like to consider instead which are in the area are Loch Leven, which is about an hours drive from St Andrews or Edinburgh. Get the boat from Kinross to Loch Leven Castle on a small island in the middle of the lake.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...chlevencastle/
https://www.historicenvironment.scot...hleven-castle/

The other, Lake of Monteith, is a bit further. Again use the boat to visit the ruins of Inchmahome Abbey.
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...hmahomepriory/
https://www.historicenvironment.scot...mahome-priory/

Inchmahome Priory in the Lake of M<B>e</B>nteith is my favorite picnic site in all of Scotland - I've been there countless times and four years ago traveled to Scotland to scatter my mom's and dad's ashes in the Lake --- it is VERY special to me. But IMO you really don't have the time. You'd need a car and could visit the Priory, Doune Castle and Stirling . . . but you'd end up w/ very little time for Edinburgh which needs two or 3 full days itself.

Now -- In your OP you said 'only <i>about 7 days</i>'. If you could extend things to 10-ish days (netting you 7.5 days on the ground) -- then absolutely 2.5 days in Edinburgh, 2 days for the Trossachs/Stirling/Inchmahome/Doune, and 2-3 days for St Andrews would be a great trip.

There is a very nice hotel right on the lake http://www.lake-hotel.com

thanks everyone for the suggestions above. It looks like i have a good bit of options and lot's of homework to start planning!

While in Fife, we found the secret bunker hidden under a farm house from which Scotland was to be governed in the event of nuclear war very interesting.

http://www.secretbunker.co.uk/