I'm trying to put some day trips together before our trip next Saturday. We will be staying in the Stirling area for 5 days. After much research and many answers to all of my questions on Fodors, I was thinking of the following iternary:

Stirling/Callander for a day
Edinburgh bus tour
Trossachs area
Loch Katrine or other lake suggested nearby
East Neuk for hiking/ glimpse at fishing villages

We have 3 kids, ages 5, 7,and 8 so we need to their into consideraion as well.

You need to take them to Doune Castle. Otherwise it's fine.

Would Doune Castle be a memorable activity for my kids? We were planning on visiting Stirling Castle. Why do you like this Doune Castle?

Neal, not all castles are the same. I guess much depends on if you have any interest in the history of the country you are visiting.

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...e/dounecastle/

Doune castle is only about 6-7 miles from Stirling castle, and Doune is midway between Stirling and Callander - so there is no reason at all that you can't do both. You would drive right past Doune. It is a totally different animal than Stirling and a great castle for kids to clamber about,

and it was the set in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Loch Lomond is beautiful as well, and in the area - and you can sit on the bonny, bonny banks and sing the song

Callander, the Trossachs and Loch Katrine are very close together. The name "Trossachs" originally only applied to the wooded area immediately east of Loch Katrine but has now come to be used for the whole area betwen Callendar, Aberfoyle and Loch Katrine.
Your children would probably enjoy visiting one or two of the east Neuk villages, picturesque old harbours, beaches (mostly stony). In Anstruther is the Scottish Fisheries Museum while a few miles inland is the Secret Bunker. This is now a tourist attraction but in the cold war it was one of the places that officially did not exist where the important people would hide while the rest of us got vapourized by nuclear bombs.