10 Best Sights in Scotland

Standing uncompromisingly on top of a barren, rocky ridge in the hills south of Mellerstain, this 16th-century peel tower, characteristic of the Borders, was built solely for defense, and its unadorned stones contrast with the luxury of Mellerstain House. If you let your imagination wander at this windy spot, you can almost see the rising dust of an advancing raiding party. Sir Walter Scott found this spot inspiring, and he visited the tower often during his childhood. Anne Carrick's tableaux in the tower illustrate some of Scott's Borders ballads, and the ticket includes an audio tour of the building.

West of Falkirk, Bonnybridge is home to the most extensive remains of the Antonine Wall, a 37-mile-long Roman earthwork fortification that marked the northern limit of the Roman Empire. Built around AD 140 as a defense against the warlike Picts of the north, it was abandoned some 20 years later. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the wall was the site of a famous battle in 1298, when William Wallace was defeated by the English. Notable sections of the wall can also be seen in other towns, including Tamfourhill, Callendar Park, Kinneil Estate, and Bridgeness. To get to the Bonnybridge section from Falkirk, take the A803 west. You can download a walking map of the wall from  www.visitfalkirk.com.

This crossroads was the center of the medieval city. The Mercat Cross (mercat means "market"), topped by a unicorn, marks the spot where merchants met, where the market was held, and where criminals were executed. Here, too, was the tron, or weigh beam, installed in 1491 and used by merchants to check weights. The Tolbooth Steeple dates from 1626 and served as the civic center and the place where travelers paid tolls.

Poet Robert Burns spent quite a lot of time at the Globe Inn, where he frequently fell asleep in the tack room beside the stables; today it's still an active pub where you can eat and drink. Burns later graduated to the upstairs bedroom where he slept with Anna Park, and scratched some lines of poetry on the window. The room is preserved (or at least partly re-created), and there are now organized tours of the room that leave from the pub three times a day, Tuesday through Saturday. Just beware, if you choose to sit in Burns's chair in the bar, tradition has it that you have to buy a round for the whole pub.

The oldest building on the island, Burravoe's Old Haa is known for its crowstepped gables (the stepped effect on the ends of the roofs), typical of an early-18th-century Shetland merchant's house. There's an earnest memorial to Bobby Tulloch, the great Shetland naturalist and champion of Shetland's bird population (1929–96), and the displays in the upstairs museum tell the story of the wrecking of the German ship, the Bohus, in 1924. A copy of the ship's figurehead is displayed outside the building. The Old Haa serves light meals with home-baked bannocks, cakes, and other goodies, and also acts as a kind of unofficial information center. A crafts shop is on the premises, too.

Buried beneath the City Chambers, this narrow, cobbled close (alleyway) provides a glimpse into a very different Edinburgh. It was once a busy open-air thoroughfare with hundreds of residents and a lively market, but in 1753 it was sealed off when the Royal Exchange (now the City Chambers) was built on top. Today costumed guides take you around the claustrophobic remains of the shops and houses, describing life here for the residents from plague and quarantine to rivers of sewage, as well as the odd murder mystery and ghost story. But for all the (somewhat over-the-top) theatricality, the real highlights here are historical; the sealed-in street is a truly fascinating insight into 17th-century Edinburgh.

The ruling house of golf worldwide is the spiritual home of all who play or follow the game. Founded in 1754, its clubhouse on the dunes—open to members only, including women since September 2014—is a mix of classical, Victorian, and neoclassical styles; it's adjacent to the famous Old Course.

Moored on the waterfront at Leith is the Royal Yacht Britannia—launched in Scotland in 1953, retired in 1997, and now returned to her home country. A favorite of the late Queen Elizabeth II (she is reported to have shed a tear at its decommissioning ceremony), it is now open for the public to explore, from the royal apartments on the upper floors to the more functional engine room, bridge, galleys, and captain's cabin. The visitor center, based within the hulking onshore Ocean Terminal shopping mall, has a variety of fascinating exhibits and photographs relating to the yacht's history.

Here's your chance to travel back 2,500 years to a time when this region's inhabitants lived in circular homesteads known as crannogs. Standing on stilts in the middle of lochs, these dwellings were approachable only by narrow bridges that could be easily defended from intruders.

The historic courtroom where Sir Walter Scott presided as sheriff from 1804 to 1832 contains a display examining his life, writings, and time on the bench. It uses models to re-create the atmosphere of a 19th-century Scottish court and includes an audiovisual presentation. A statue of the famous writer overlooks the comings and goings outside the court.