Scotland
 

Next September-October I will be in Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull, Isle of Skye and Edinburgh.

Would love to hear some good advice on places to see and good places to eat.

I suggest you re-title your question to give (and request) more info. ie. "Autumn in Mull, Skye and Edinburgh Scotland food and lodging recommendations."

Having said that, I can only recommend Stac Polly in Edinburgh for a wonderful Scottish restaurant. Make reservations. We lucked into eating there because we arrived so early, but still were treated like special guests and the food was grand!

Drago, I would be very happy to help; but could I suggest a couple of things first, please?

You see the box on the top right, labelled "search". Put Mull, Skye and Edinburgh into that box, with or without United Kingdom in the right hand box and see what you can see.

Ten come back, narrow down the question, and tell us a bit about your likes and dislikes and your mode of transport. I don't mean to sound narky, but it would help to focus more.

My recommendations for the Isle of Skye: give yourself a couple days at least. We only gave ourselves one day, and didn't even get to Portree -- we stayed in Broadford :)

The place has an incredibly serene stark beauty to it, and you can see forests, mountains and seaside in a very short time. The roads are suicidal, but a fun adventure, nonetheless!

If you visit the Isle of Mull, be sure to take the short ferry ride from the western port to the island of Iona. Rich in history, with an ancient Abbey among other sites.

Don't mean to be rude in contradicting GreenDragon, but to offer another opinion, we drove all over Skye and didn't find the roads at all suicidal - lots of single track roads but otherwise very pokey.

Driving in LA - THAT'S suicidal.

We stayed on Oban for a few days last year and went to Mull and Iona. For us it was interesting to see where the book of Kells came from and the church was lovely on Iona. Its a long day out from Oban though and next time I would stay in Mull for a night. If the weather is nice rent a motor oat. We went out for an hour in Oban with a rented boat and it was beautiful.

What sort of food do you like ?

Here are some of my favourites places to eat in Edinburgh.

If you want gourmet, there are two restaurants with one Michelin star. Martin Wishart's in Leith is fantastic, especially if you have the six course tasting menu (which will all be cooked by the man himself). It's very high class but friendly and unstuffy. Book 2-3 months in advance for dinner; probably less for lunch but I've not tried.

The other starred restaurant is Number One in the Balmoral : food not as good as MW, ambience is more formal & traditional.

For Italian, La Partenope on Dalry Road is wonderful. The chef-proprietor & his food are Neapolitan & it's the best Italian food (especially seafood) I've had outside southern Italy. Unusually for an Italian restaurant, in the UK at any rate, even the desserts are home made & very good. They also have a very interesting list of southern Italian wines largely based on little known grape varieties. The ambience is very relaxed.

La Garrigue on Jeffrey Street is a small French restaurant specialising in cooking of the Languedoc where the chef-proprietor is from, as are all the wines. The food & the chef are both lovely and the ambience is correct but relaxed. If you sit near the window there is a view of Calton Hill & its monuments.

Both Black Bo's and David Bann's do very interesting & innovative vegetarian cusine. BB's is very casual, studenty even, & DB's is smart casual & v. modern.

Centotre on George Street is a busy, buzzy Italian caffe-bar offering everything from a coffee to the full works. Particularly good pizza & pasta.

If you want 'modern Scottish', Stac Polly on Grindlay Street is good.

When we have vistors we usually take them for Sunday lunch in Leith (the old docks area). There are lots of nice waterfront places, notably the Shore, where you can eat in the restaurant (non-smoking) or in the pub; Fisher's (the best for fish) & the Waterfront.

I've never had good fish & chips in Edinburgh.

If you want recommendations for any other specific types of cuisine, please ask.

LAWoman -- perhaps I should eliducate.

The roads themselves are ok, as long as you are the only one traveling on them.

The larger roads are fine even if someone is coming the other way.

The roads that are unpaved, muddy in the rain, and large enough for one car only are suicidal when there are hedgerows or forest up to the edge of the road and there is a lorry barreling down coming towards you at twice the speed you are willing to travel! :)

This happened to me several times on our trip down to the Gaelic college (Sabhail ag Mor) from Broadford. We got REALLY scared a couple times!!

Suicide aside, I would do it again, and again. Skye is a gorgeous place!

Our full trip report on our Scottish holiday in Edinburgh, Skye and elsewhere can be found here:

http://www.onelittleworld.com/scotland_1.html

It includes pix and everything. I hope this helps.