j000545

Hello, We would like to take our 9 year old boy to Scotland next Summer. He loves Harry Potter and we have not been to Scotland yet (We have been to London a few years ago). I need help putting a viable itinerary with the items highlighted below. Also, we only have about a week or so to spend in Scotland:

Day 1: Visit the Edinburgh castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse
Day 2: The Royal Mile
Day 3: Side trip to visit the Alnwick Castle by car.
Day 4: Drive to Glencoe
Day 5: Stay over night in Glencoe
Day 6: Drive to Fort William and take the Jacobite train to Mallaig - not sure what to do after we arrive to Mallaig.... ?
Then head back to Edinburgh and head home the next day.

Thank you in advance

janisj

OK -- days 1 and 2 are the same thing. The Castle is at the top of the Royal Mile and Holyrood is at the bottom . . . So you'd do the castle first, explore the Royal Mile, and finish up at Holyrood.

The rest of your plan is all over the place -- it doesn't take 2 days to see Glencoe. And what to do in Mallaig -- you simply wait for the train trip back to Ft William. There is only about 90 minutes so eating or just walking around a bit will fill the time.

As for Alnwick - I love the place (was last there just 4 weeks ago) - but that is hardly a 'side trip' It is about a 2.5 hour drive each way so you'd be spending 5 hours in the car to see Alnwick . . . I know I know -- quidditch and all.

How is you 9 yo w/ all these long car/train trips?

j000545

He does very well with long drives. He actually has more patience than I do

j000545

I guess since it won't take as long to see the places I posted on my original itinerary, I could probably also spare sometime to go see the Glamis castle. Right?

How would you rearrange my itinerary?

janisj

Oh - no, you really don'y have time to visit Glamis as well. Do you have a decent map of Scotland/Northern England? Edinburgh/Alnwick/Glamis/Ft William are all in very different directions and you only have 6 days (5.5 if day 1 is your arrival day)

cathies

Plus Glamis castle offers a guided tour, it isn't possible to just wander from room to room at your own pace. Not that the tour is rushed, but it's different from other castles.

You'll have seen Edinburgh and Holyrood, plus Alnwick. That's probably plenty in the time you have.

cathies

I forgot to say, we are just back from Edinburgh and did 2 very good walking tours. Another person in our group booked them so I don't know the name of the company. However, their meeting point is just outside Starbucks on The Royal Mile, I'm pretty sure you could turn up and book on the spot. Ours were a tour of Edinburgh itself and then the next day we did a tour of Edinburgh castle. Both started at the Starbucks meeting point.

Dickie_Gr

Normally I would say that the trips are too much but with a 9 year old, it is well and truly worth the 80 mile drive to Alnwick. The A1 is anything but a country road and once you are out of south Edinburgh is is very easy driving. I would spend the night down in Northumbria as their are many historical sites and epic castles.

For a nine year old it may be worth skipping the highlands, it could be worth seeing Hadrian's wall and the many castles of the borders. With maybe a loop round to Arran and the Clyde coast which is beautiful, spend a night in Glasgow then back to Edinburgh.

j000545

Dickie,

I really like your suggestion of staying over a night at Northumbria. I found a wonderful hotel castle there, Langley castle.

We just came back from Costa Rica where we had to drive 4-5hrs to navigate from the different towns. Thankfully my son did very well and really enjoyed the trip.

Cathie, thank you for your suggestion, I am glad to hear you had a great trip. While I was browsing online yesterday I think I found the walking your you used. I don't remember the name but I wrote it down at home.

Any suggestions on what we could do in Glascow?

tylerdonna

I was in Edinburgh last Sat-Mon, Glasgow Mon-Wed and now in Loch Lomond. Don't have kids with me but the Kelvingrove Art Museum in Glasgow was great for kids -- lots of exhibits aimed at kids, encouraging children to engage with the art. And it's eclectic -- there is a dinosaur bone and other similar animal exhibits, all sorts of art, design, etc. The tranport or transportation museum on the river gets very highly rated as top museum in Europe and the concierge encouraged us to go as it was their favorite but we didn't make it there. Ox & Finch is near the Kelvingrove and was a good place to eat -- they serve "small" plates but they filled us up. We did the literary walk -- meet in front of Writer's museum at 1:30 and I think 11:30, on the royal mile (down a close not far down from the castle) and loved it though it's not aimed at kids. They take you buy the pub/restaurant JK Rowlings did lots of writing in (not the Elephant Room but another) as well as lots of stuff on Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson. We did the evening "Witches" tour but didn't like it. The free tours at the castle were well-done. We are staying at Cameron House in Loch Lomond and there is lots of kids here -- a pool with huge water slide, mini golf, some other games as well as beautiful places to walk, canoe, ride bikes, take seaplane, etc. It's only 45 minutes from Glasgow. Have a wonderful trip!

tylerdonna

Sorry just read my post and there isn't just a dinosaur bone but the entire skeleton, like a little prehistoric part of the museum. Sorry for the typo!

janisj

Re Dickie_Gr's post -- It is full of good ideas - but I assume the Jacobite/Mallaig/Glencoe is a 'must' due to the 9yo and Harry Potter. So Arran and the Clyde coast and even Glasgow would be too much too far in the 'wrong' direction. If you want to see Alnwick, Edinburgh and the Jacobite you can but it will be a rush.

tylerdonna: Yes, Cameron House is wonderful - I've stayed there 3 times for 5 to 7 days each time. Unfortunately the OP doesn't have the time to go in that direction unless they drop one or more of their 'musts'.

Dickie_Gr

Janis is right.

And in all honesty I think your original plan is pretty good.