ChristineAnn

Hello-my husband and I are planning a trip to Scotland in May/June with our daughter who will be 3. We are needing advice on where to go. We want to see life as the locals do. We are more interested in seeing the countryside/quaint villages of the Highlands and possibly Cairngorms area. Any advice on which villages, where to stay (we are thinking of hostels or B/B's) would be greatly appreciated...

nikorami

The east coast and central are your best bet. Starting in a trip Edinburgh is best and from there you can go up the coast to St Andrews or to the Central to the Highlands. Loughlomen is fabulous. destinationscotland.com is a site I recommend you view.

janisj

Not quite sure what nikorami is talking about. Loughlomen? By <b>any</b> chance do you mean Loch Lomond?? If so, it is not near the east coast nor the highlands.

Anyway ChristineAnn, you can get a lot of help here but we need a bit more info from you -

How many days total in Scotland? Do you plan on driving or taking public transport? What is your nightly budget for accomodations?

&quot;<i>We want to see life as the locals do.</i>&quot; Scotland isn't a theme park. Anywhere you go you will find locals doing what they do . . . .

ChristineAnn

We will be there for 12 days, planning on renting a car probably the majority of the time. When I mentioned the part about locals, although we will be tourists, we really are not interested in getting caught in the &quot;tourist&quot; traps such as Loch Ness. We really want to see the countryside rather than the cities/museums. We just want to focus on 1 or 2 areas that locals would consider not to be missed (right now we are thinking of the Highlands). As for budget, we are in the early planning stage and considering staying in hostels. Probably no more than $70.00-$80.00 a night. Clean, no frills. Any suggestions/advice we appreciate.

janisj

Don't give &quot;tourist traps&quot; a second thought. Except for the Nessie exhibition and a couple of other sites, I can barely think of a single tourist trap anywhere in the country.

As for your budget, B&amp;Bs in Scotland are inexpensive - but your idea of finding family/triple rooms for &pound;35 to &pound;42 per night isn't very realistic. There are places where you can get a room for &pound;20 pp, but you will likely be paying more. There are hostels - but if you want a private room for just the three of you you will pay about as much as in a B&amp;B.

And in Edinburgh (I know you said you aren't really interested in cities - but Edinburgh is very special) plan on about &pound;55-&pound;60 for a decent B&amp;B.

TuckH

&gt;right now we are thinking of the Highlands&lt;

Absolutely! Skye and Mull too...

sheila

Hostels here tend to be very much the place to find outdoor types. And they vary hugely in quality.

I guess you should not travel too much or your daughter will hate it.

I think the Western Highlands and maybe Islay or Mull would be good. In fact, when I think of it, introduce her to Balamory now and she will LOVE Mull

teacher33

When I was in Scotland a few years ago with my nephews (10 and 14), we stayed several days near Fort Augustus. One of our favorite days was at the Scottish Wildlife Park near Kinggussie. We wandered around on our own and also had a walk about with one of the rangers who told us lots of little known (at least to us) facts about the animals.

Some of the animals are being bred to be reintroduced into the wild. there was a large wold enclosure and from a viewing platform we saw them being fed, a rather elaborate procedure to avoid having the wolves associate food with humans.

I know you have said you aren't crazy about cities, but as others have said, Edinburgh is special.

We enjoyed the zoo and the walk with the penguins which happens each day at 2 pm. Also we visited a butterfly farm just outside Edinburgh (on the Dalkeith Road, if I remember correctly.) and the boys were fascinated (more than I thought lads of their age would be.

We also enjoyed Mull, Iona, and Staffa where we watched puffins close up.

Also went to Lindisfarne (not really Scotland, actually Northumberland) bu they were fascinated with the island which is connected to the mainland at low tide. We hiked out to castle ruins, not a far hike, saw lots of families on the path.

We went down to Hadrian's Wall from the area.

We loved Scotland (even the &quot;tourist trap&quot; at the Nessie exhibit. Sorry!)



I realize I have been all over the place with this post, but hope it will give you some ideas. I hope that you will enjoy your trip as much as we did.

LeighTravelClub

I would say that you must visit The Trossachs, one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland. Try to make a trip on The West Highland Railway Line, said to be one of the fine train journeys in the world. Take a look at
www.incallander.co.uk

laverendrye

If you want to &quot;see life as the locals do&quot; here are a couple of quintessential Scottish experiences. Try tramping (hiking) in the scenic Gorbals, and if you can at all manage it, take in a Rangers Celtic football match.

sheila

What got into you, lavenderdye? How did ChristineAnn upset you? Those are fates worse than death!!

carioca4ed

I have lived in Scotland all my life....One of the most memorable experiences was going up Ben Lomond....I thought that I was fit till I tackled this.There was a terrific achievement in having reached the top...The odd thing was that after having reached the top,we stopped for about two minutes...To take a photograph....Then someone said that they had to get straight back down,as someone was coming up to their house for tea!!!!At times the views were like some of the breathtaking mountain views from films like Braveheart(although I have heard that Braveheart was filmed in Ireland....possibly due to cost)......I would definitely prefer Bed and Breakfasts to hostels....This is because in my experience the hostels have a lot of young persons who may like to stay up late,be noisy,etc.If you are not in a private room,then you may not get much sleep....I have had this kind of experience,where you can wake up in morning feeling exhausted.....I personally would recommend the holy island of Iona....Many ancient Kings were buried there...Also my ancestors came from there....We still have a photograph of my great granny outside her house .......It is also interesting due to the fact that &quot;American Pie&quot; singer and composer,Don Maclean traced his ancestors to this holy island......Because I have some Maclean blood in me too,I am sure that somewhere along the line we are very very distant relatives.....

ChristineAnn

A huge thanks to all of you for your suggestions and advice. I cannot wait to visit your beautiful country. Also: has anyone been to Newtonmore?

laverendrye

ChristineAnn: In case you missed it, in my previous post my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek. Those are two experiences that one would want to avoid at all costs.

ChristineAnn

HA! Yes, I understood it to be a joke. I think you all had a chuckle at my saying, &quot;we want to see life as the locals do!&quot; I guess I am fantasizing about how much more wonderful the Scottish have it than I do!

sheila

This may well be a case of &quot;the grass in greener...&quot; ChristineAnn.

What would you liek to know about Newtonmore? Are we in Monarch of the Glen territory here?

JJBhoy

laverendrye,

Just out of curiosity, when were you last in the Gorbals?

Jim

laverendrye

Jim; I haven't been to Glasgow in the past ten years, and at the time the Gorbals' reputation certainly discouraged me from venturing there. Perhaps since then things have changed and I've been a wee bit hasty in my judgment.

In that case, what would you suggest that I (or any other tourist) should come to see in the Gorbals?

caroline_edinburgh

We regularly go over to visit the excellent Citizens Theatre which is in the Gorbals. As, I think, is the Tramway where we are going next Saturday.

GoAway

ChristineAnn, one thing you might want to consider is finding a self-catering cottage, particularly if you can find one in an area that you can day-trip from easily. We stayed in Dalwhinnie, which (for us) wasn't too badly situated, although it wasn't ideal and did add a few miles onto each day's jaunt. I like B&amp;B's, but I prefer the s/c option because it comes with its own private place to just kick back and relax in the evenings, and gives the option of cooking in for some meals.

We also tend to spend our time in the countryside, but really did find Edinburgh fascinating, even if we only had one day there.