Lonely Planet Scotland

by Kay Gillespie, Laurie Goodlad, Mike MacEacheran

Lonely Planet's Scotland is our most comprehensive guide that extensively covers all the country has to offer, with recommendations for both popular and lesser-known experiences. Get your culture fix in Edinburgh, take in astounding views from the top of Ben Nevis and sample mouth-watering whisky on Islay; all with your trusted travel companion.

Inside Lonely Planet's Scotland Travel:
* Lonely Planet's Top Picks - a visually inspiring collection of the destination's best experiences and where to have them
* Itineraries - help you build the ultimate trip based on your personal needs and interests
* Local insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - whether it's history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, politics
* Eating and drinking - get the most out of your gastronomic experience as we reveal the regional dishes and drinks you have to try
* Toolkit - all of the planning tools for solo travellers, LGBTQIA+ travellers, family travellers and accessible travel Colour maps and images throughout
* Language - essential phrases and language tips Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots

Covers Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Angus, Aberdeen, Moray, Loch Lomond, the Hebrides, Inverness, Orkney, Shetland and more!

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Scotland, British Literature, Guides

408 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m planning a first trip to Scotland (yay!) and this was generally a helpful overview of the major cities and areas to visit. I particularly liked having the distance and transportation options between areas all in one place, since doing this in Google maps involved inputting multiple destinations and then having to puzzle over different routes. However, unlike the days when travelers lived and died by their Baedeker’s, today there are so many other sources of info that are more current or useful.

I glanced at the Lonely Planet hotel recommendations as a starting point, but TripAdvisor was more detailed and helpful. For restaurants, the Guardian, NYT, and foodie magazines were my preferred guide to find new places. Personal recommendations (thank you Campbell!) and IG travel stories (A Lady in London, HandLuggageOnly) gave me many of the highlights from the Lonely Planet Guide in a shorter format and with better photos. Plus, they were just more fun to read.

I don’t think guidebooks are totally obsolete quite yet, but even the digital versions with clickable links are probably going the way of BluRay. Now I just need an app that can translate my American English into a Scottish brogue...

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough and informative.

[Virginia B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even more fun to read travel books about where you’ve already been. This is a pretty good one, nicely arranged, easy to find stuff, good lists, but was surprised to see in it’s catalog of Scottish authors, past and present, Alexander McCall Smith was not mentioned. Good pictures, too.

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book gives a good overview of places to go, things to see, how to get there, and where to eat/sleep/drink. There isn't much of a "voice" here, and other than the generally excellent "Worth a Trip" sidebars, this book seems to deal in the standard tourist locations. And if you're anything like me, you'll need Google Maps up to see where things are: the maps in this book are sorely lacking in detail and usefulness.

Next up: The Rough Guide to Scotland

Actionable ideas:
Dundee: V&A Museum of Design, Discovery Point (with Scott's Discovery! )
Edinburgh: the Georgian House; the Scottish National Portrait Gallery; Royal Botanic Garden + glasshouses; walking the Pentland Hills, Water of Leith Walkway, and the Union Canal towpath (and peruse the Scottish Rights of Way & Access Society's website)
Falkirk: the Falkirk Wheel!
Glasgow: Glasgow School of Art, Willow Tea Rooms, Mackintosh House (I blame The Cat Who series for my interest in Charles Rennie Mackintosh…)

Ideas better suited to another trip (need more time and money…)
Central Scotland: Loch Leven Heritage Trail
Highlands: Cairngorm Mountain Railway, Strathspey Steam Railway, and Jacobite Steam Train (I didn't quite realize how much I enjoy trains, apparently.); Cape Wrath; Arnol Blackhouse
The Islands: ALL OF THEM. Highlights: St. Kilda; the Orkney Islands: Skara Brae, Scapa Flow, the Italian Chapel; the Shetland Islands: the Shetland Museum, the Shetland Bus Memorial
Northeast Scotland: the Scottish Lighthouse Museum (I blame my enjoyment of The Light Between Oceans for this)

Books to read:
The Poor Had No Lawyers: Who Owns Scotland
Mary Queen of Scots (ah, the truth, not the glorious mess that is Reign…)
The Highland Clearances

[Aaron Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gillespie, K., Goodlad, L., MacEacheran, M., Reaney, J., & Wilson, N. (2023). Scotland (12th ed.). Singapore: Lonely Planet Global.

📆Daily itineraries
• Royal Mile: Edinburgh Castle, Gladstone’s Land, St Giles Cathedral’s bagpipe👼🏼, Edinburgh Larder
• Holyroodhouse Palace, Scottish Parliament Building, Arthur’s Seat🥾
• Wedgwood Restaurant, Holyrood 9A🍺, Stramash🎶
• Lovecrumbs☕️🥐, Grassmarket, Greyfriars Kirkyard🪦, Scotland National Museum🍽️
• The Meadows🥾, Summerhall’s Pickering’s Gin Distillery’s Royal Dock Bar🥃
• Queen’s Hall🎭, David’s Bar🥃
• 🥾Princes Street Gardens, Scottish National Gallery🖼️, Scott Monument🗽, George Street🛍️, Dean Village🏘️, Stockbridge via Water of Leith
• 🍴Herbie of Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden🧺, Royal Yacht Britannia🛥️, Shore’s seafood
• Panda & Sons🍸
- p. 52-53

Different side to Edinburgh🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
• ⚽️Football derby: Hearts of Midlothian, Hibernian
• Portobello beach🏖️
• 🥃gin distilleries: Pickering’s, Edinburgh, Lind & Lime
• 🥾Meadows, Corstorphine Hill, Pentland Hills
• Ceilidh Club🕺
• 🎭Royal Lyceum, Playhouse
• 🛥️🏨Royal Yacht Britannia, Fingal, Ocean Mist
- p. 52-53

Old Town
• comfy shoes needed for cobbles
• Gladstone’s Land: museum, ice cream
• Whiski Rooms: Scottish whisky & meals
• Edinburgh Castle: St Margaret’s Chapel (oldest building), Crown Room, Mons Megs (15c gun @1pm)
• Camera Obscura
• Greyfriars Kirkyard🪦: Bobby🐕, Harry Potter names (Potter, McGonagall, Moodie, Thomas Riddell)
• quick eats: Lovecrumbs, Edinburgh Larder (smoked salmon, poached egg, potato hash), Mary’s Milk Bar, Baked Potato’s vegan haggis tattie
• drinking: Three Sisters, Bow Bar(ale/whisky/gin), Wee Red Bar’s live music
• High St: David Hume statue, Heart of Midlothian mosaic, St Giles Cathedral’s Thistle Chapel, Mercat Cross, Scottish Design Exchange’s crafts, 🇮🇹Civernos Hunter Square, John Knox House, Scottish Storytelling Centre, World’s End whisky, Maggie Dickson pub, 🇻🇳Saboteur, Cold Town House🍺🍸
• National Museum: Dolly🐑
• South Bridge: 300m overpass with 19 stone arches
• underground bars: Whistle Binkies’ rock/blues, Under the Stairs’ seasonal cocktails & bistro food, Jazz Bar
• eats: Makars Mash Bar’s lamb/sausage/mushroom/haggis, Wings’ sauces, Howies Victoria St lunch, 🇮🇹Cannonball, Angels with Bagpipes, Ondine oysters
- p. 54-61

Holyrood
• Dynamic Earth
• Parliament Building: guided tour
• Holyroodhouse Palace: Mary Queen of Scots
• Arthur’s Seat: 45min climb
• Whisky: Jeffrey St, Cadenhead’s, Kilderkin, Holyrood Distillery
• Eats: Oink Canongate’s hog roast rolls, Pakora Bar’s haggis pakora wraps & veggie samosas, Moo Pie’s milk stout & brown toast gelato, David Bann’s vegetarian, Piggs’ tapas, Wedgwood value lunches, White Horse oyster & seafood bar
• Beer: Canons’ Gait ale, BrewDog Doghouse craft beer, Tolbooth Tavern 200y beer, Cocktail Geeks
• Church: Holyrood Abbey
• Duddingston Village: Sheep Heid Inn’s oldest skittle alley, Kirk’s 12c graves, Bizzy Lizzy sandwich/pie, Dr Neil’s Garden’s Duddingston Loch
- p. 62-67

New Town:
• Strolling: Princes St Gardens, Calton Hill
• Shopping streets: Princes, Dundas🏺, Rose/Thistle🤪, St James Quarter🏬’s Scottish Marketplace🍴, George💸
• National Portrait Gallery
• Moray Place🏘️
• monuments: Dr Thomas Chalmers (1st moderator of Free Church), Nelson (time ball drops 1pm), National Monument (Parthenon folly), Catherine Sinclair (19c novelist & philanthropist)
• bars: Guildford Arms (wood panels, plasterwork, beer), Juniper (peaty whisky & iced peach tea), Joseph Pearce (Scandi cocktails & beers), Café Royal Circle Bar (Victorian whisky & bar food), Kay’s Bar whisky
• restaurants: Greenwoods’ eggs Benedict, Fortitude coffee, Noto butter crab, organic deli Urban Angel, mezze Baba, Dusit soup & seafood, Dishoom tapas, Scandi-Scot Fhior, theatrical 21212
- p. 69-74

Princes St Gardens
• Scott Monument
• Scottish National Gallery
• Floral Clock
• Wojtek the Soldier Bear
• Ross Fountain +café
• Bum the Dog
- p. 71-72

West End
• main entrance is Shandwick Place
• base for Murrayfield Stadium, Corstorphine Hill, Edinburgh Zoo
• Lothian Road
• tallest St Mary’s Cathedral
• National Gallery of Modern Art: bus to Princes St National Gallery
1. Matisse, Picasso, Warhol
2. Dali, Magritte
• Edinburgh Gin Distillery: Seaside, Rhubarb & Ginger, Heads & Tales Bar
• Dean Village: 19c viaduct Dean Bridge, St Bernard’s Well’s mosaic ceiling & natural spring, Hawthornbank Lane’s stone buildings & bright flowerboxes
• coffee: Dr Who’s Constable, Laura’s Kitchen’s coffee & breakfast, Vietnam House Café’s coffee & art gallery
• live music: Rat Pack piano bar, Usher Hall concerts, Ghillie Dhu’s Scottish music & ceilidh dance
• Edinburgh Zoo’s penguin parade & pandas
• Murrayfield Stadium’s 11am Mon-Sat tour
• bars: Hanging Bat craft beers, Jolly Botanist’s 70 global gins, Teuchters Bar & Bunker whisky, Athletic Arms gravedigger decor
• eats: Painted Rooster’s soup/bagel/cake, Bread Meats Bread pastrami burger, Grazing by Mark Greenaway bistro
- p. 75-79

Stockbridge
• Raeburn Place to Comely Bank Road
• Sunday farmers’ market
• Inverleith Park
• Colonies’ stone terraced houses with gabled windows
• eats: Stockbridge Tap ales & spirits, Pantry eggs Benedict & Belgian waffles, Scran & Scallie gastropub, RadiCibus’ 19c Georgian-Italian, Street Box’s Thai street food, Bross Bagels, Italian bistro Café Gallo, Kilted Donut coffee, Artisan Roast coffee
• wine: Smith & Gertrude cheese & charcuterie, British-French Whiskers, Bacco’s Italian
• shopping:
Designer fashion: George St, William St, Morningside Road to Bruntsfield Place
Charity shops: Bethany, British Red Cross, Oxfam, Shelter
- p. 80-83

Royal Botanic Garden
1. Spring: Alpine House’s snowdrops & Chinese witch hazels, pink magnolias & pastel winter roses, Terrace Café
2. Summer: Woodland Gdn’s Himalayan blue poppies, Queen Mother Golden Jubilee roses, Inverleith Hse lawn picnic
3. Autumn: pink Guernsey & crimson flag lilies, purple crocuses, katsura’s caramel
4. Winter: scarlet willow, temperate/tropical greenhouses, yellow catkins
- p. 82-83

Leith
• Leith Links’ golf rules
• Port distillery rooftop bar
• Royal Yacht Britannia: Ocean Terminal mall photos, Burmese teak decks, 50s royal apartments, lower engine room
- p. 84-85

Leith
• Shore to Stockbridge: Georgian building Custom House, shipbuilding’s Coalie Park, St Marks Park’s gunpowder factory
• high-end dining: nose-to-tail Kitchin, French waterfront Martin Wishart, Little Chartroom’s open kitchen, organ farm-to-table Heron, modern European Aurora
• Shore tastes: Ship on the Shore oysters, King’s Wark (salt-pepper squid, seafood chowder, baked camembert), Fishers’ garlic butter Anstruther lobster, Crolla’s (ice cream, waffles, churros), Toast (wine, cocktail, coffee)
• brunch: Mimi’s Bakehouse’s Scottish breakfast & French toast, Pitt street food, Roseleaf’s eggs Benedict & Stornoway black pudding
• Portobello beach: soft-serve 99-flake ice cream, red sandstone Swim Centre, Town Hall’s neoclassical Georgian crescents
• drinks: Nobles Bar’s Victorian stained glass, Teuchters Lansing’s waterfront whisky, leafy veggie/vegan Woodland Creatures, Malt & Hops’ waterside cask ales
- p. 86-88

South Edinburgh
• Mary Queen of Scots’ Craigmillar Castle
• National Mining Museum ex-miner tour
• 15c Da Vinci Code’s Rosslyn Chapel
• Golf courses: Prestonfield parkland, gorse Braid Hills, 1927 Swanston
• The Meadows: mini golf, Chapel of St Albert the Great
• Union Canal towpath: Lochrin Basin, 16c Niddry Castle, Mary Queen of Scots’ Linlithgow Palace, Falkirk Wheel
• Bruntsfield & Morningside: Barclay Viewforth Church, Dominion Cinema’s 1930s art deco carpets & chairs, Wild West Town, Canny Man’s whisky
• pubs: greasy 32 Below, Dagda Bar ceiling emboss, Royal Dick Bar’s Pickering gin, Southern craft beer, Leslie’s Bar mahogany island, Cloisters Bar ale & whisky church
• live: King’s Theatre panto, Queen’s Hall music, Church Hill Theatre fringe drama
• eats: Kalpna baingnan achari🍆, Kora’s Scot meat & fish, Michelin Condita, Nile Valley Café’s Africa wrap, Mosque Kitchen aubergine curry, Sister Bao oil spill noodles & smacked cucumber
• Royal Observatory night-sky tour
- p. 89-95

Plans
• Day trip: St Andrew’s Cathedral & Castle’s Balgove Larder via Queensferry & East Neuk, Scone Palace’s booked 1h tour via Tay Bridge, Kinross’ Loch Leven
• Stirling: Mote Hill via Back Walk, Stirling Castle, Hermann’s Cullen skink & schnitzel
• Anstruther: Scottish Fisheries Museum, Cellar lunch, harbour fish & chips
• St Andrew’s: Fife Coastal Trail, beach, golf
• Perth: Tay riverbank walk/kayak
- p. 162-163

Stirling
• Old Town: 16c cobblestone, Argyll’s Lodging & Cowane’s Hospital’s architecture, 15c Old Bridge stone arches, Old Town Jail
• Back Walk: reformation’s Star Pyramid, 17c octagonal earthwork garden King’s Knot, Beheading Stone
• Castle: exhibition, Great Kitchens, Chapel Royal, Great Hall, Royal tapestries’ unicorn hunt, Heads Gallery
• Wallace Monument
• Battle of Bannockburn
• drinks: BrewDog’s 15 craft beers, oldest Settle Inn, Curly Coo’s 130 single-malt whiskys
• eats: Bréa (seafood, haggis, burgers), Birds & Bees pub food
- p. 164-167

Beyond Stirling
• Doune Castle: Monty Python
• Culross: Abbey, Palace painted chamber & garden
• Falkirk Wheel
• Castle Campbell 30min circular walk
• Dunfermline: Abbey, Palace, Pittencrieff Park, Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum
- p. 169-170

St Andrew’s
• Chariots of Fire’s West Sands Beach
• Old Course’s Sunday footpath walks & British Golf Museum
• eats: Seafood Ristorante’s panoramic glass walls, Tailend’s Arbroath fish & chips, Mitchell’s Deli eggs Benedict, Eat Walk St Andrew’s
• Cathedral’s St Rule’s Tower & 8c museum sarcophagus
• Castle
• University’s Wardlaw Museum
• Toppings bookstore
- p. 178-181

Beyond St Andrew’s
• East Neuk
• Fife Coastal Path
• Elie Chainwalk
• St Monan’s fisherfolk church
• Craig Millar seafood (16 West End)
• Pittenweem cave chapel & antique shops
• photographable Crail Harbour
• Reilly Shellfish lobster & dressed crab
• Scotland’s Secret Bunker nuclear shelter
• Isle of May seabird colony cruise
• Cambo Gardens local café
• Kingsbarns Distillery 1h Dream to Dram tour
• restaurants: Haar Asian seafood, Newport, Cellar’s Scot seafood/lamb/pork/beef, Anstruther Fish Bar (deep-fried haddock, dressed crab, battered prawns), Ship Inn seafood/steak
• farm markets: Balgove Larder barbecue lunch, Bowhouse art/craft, Pillars of Hercules vegetarian
- p. 182-185

[Sue Russo Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the Lonely Planet travel guides, especially on the Kindle, where I'm able to highlight sections for a quick return later. Scotland is an expansive country and I appreciate Lonely Planet's suggested trips that focus on extended stays in the various regions. This is not a country you can reasonably see on a two-week holiday. I know that when I do visit Scotland, I will take my time and take advantage of the guide's insight.

What I would love to see is an update for digital book buyers once there's information on how travel in Scotland is affected (if at all) by the UK's withdrawal from the EU in March of 2019. It would be nice not to have to purchase an updated-but-largely-unchanged travel guide.

There is no mention whatsoever of travelers using Airbnb or Uber, which I find interesting since they do provide a service (and revenue for locals) and should get the occasional nod. As an American driver, I wonder how difficult it would be to rewire the brain to drive on the left side of the road and also use left hand to shift gears on a rental...which makes Uber all the more appealing for short, local drives.

[Viva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always feel that travel books are a kind of anachronism because of smart phones and tablets that can travel but there's something about physically holding a book in the hands which makes it different. I much prefer holding a guide than looking at a small screen but of course each has its place and I wouldn't want to travel without either.

I really like this guide. You can't really fit a guide for an entire country in a small book but this guide fits a lot in this small paperback. Looking at it, you wouldn't think it has 480 pages but it does due to thin paper and it has small print. Still it manages to fit quite a few maps and photos in there. I think it's pretty well organized and hits all the high points.

It's got places to visit, things to see, all organized by area. Of course I would also call these places and look them up for the most updated opening hours and prices. There are also suggested walking and driving tours. Some of the fact sheets and info are interesting enough to read on their own. I highly recommend this guide!

I got this book as a free ARC.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lonely planet is my go to for travel books whenever I have a plan forming to hit the road. Maybe it's the fault of the book, or maybe it's the fault of Scotland, but this one has left me completely overwhelmed and unable to prioritize the five unplanned days I have in Scotland in April! There's a vast quantity of information,And I am suffering from serious fear of missing out. I should just open the book to a random page and go. Orkneys? Inverness? Saint Andrews? Glasgow? Yes! All of the above!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did I read every review of every restaurant/lodging/activity for the whole country of Scotland? No, no I did not. However, I read just about all of those pertaining to the many areas we were going to visit, and like usual Lonely Planet came through again and again with solid recommendations and helpful tips. Especially love all the history they supply both in the beginning and end of the book. If you've never used one, change that and give one a try. You won't be disappointed.

[Mell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done, and it covers everything. Helped me realize that some of the places I want to go are too far apart to be practical/affordable to do in one trip.

Good overview, but I think I'll need to also look at regional and city guides to get really specific detail on the ins and outs of my interests.

[Erica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this guide is not useful for peolpe who want to plan a trip to Scotland because it is not clear about the must-seeing things/places: for the guide everything is beautiful and must-seeing. I went to so some places that the guide marked as "stunning, wonderful, incredible": what a waste of time!!!
I suggest to use another guide to help you choosing where to go and what to see.

[Sarah Terrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good book to get you started. Great for learning the money, courtesies, and driving expectations. There were still a lot of great opportunities and places to visit that weren't included. The walking/hiking suggestions were good. There's a lot more there than what the book gives you but it's a great tool to get started.

[Donald Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you sure this bridge is from Scotland, not Sri Lanka? Anyway, I haven't been to Scotland, though I plan to bring my family there soon. My boss shared Scottish Jeep Tours information with me and he said I should look no further. Because the company will arrange everything for us to feel special and pampered even during a car trip.

[Patti K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Fodor's guide better. I did not care for Loney Planet's Kindel version, no matter how much I messed with the formatting I could not get this to look right and it was hard to read. The photos and images that matched with the text were just off making it hard to read.

[Lora J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource

Stuffed with great information, easily navigated and well organized. I am preparing to travel with my family for a few days and this book made my decisions more informed.

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of information. Might be good to read before deciding on where in Scotland one wants to go. Since I already knew what places I was interested in, I could only get a few pages about these locations. But well written.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual with Lonely Planet, an accurate and informative guide to places to see and things to do.
The usual flaw: they should cut off the info about accommodation and restaurants in their guides for Western countries, as the online tools (e.g. TripAdvisor) nowadays are more accurate and reliable.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I could only explore 2-3% of Scotland (and for most of the time I had a real-life guide with me), this was a great thing to hold onto while I did it. In a couple of years I'll probably go back, so it will be put to use again.

[Ishtar · Rating 3 out of 5]

quite a nice companion for the planning.
The worst thing was to find out the location of a place due to plan the roadmap.
I also wondered that there was nothing about the inner northern highlands (f.e. between Ullapool and Tain)

[Tiffany Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed. There wasn't one thing that I couldn't find that was needed for our trip to Scotland. I read it before we went and put tabs in the places I wanted to easily get back to and this was a HUGE help when we were on our road trip around Scotland!

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great companion on a highland road trip and a weekend in Edinburgh.

[Mrs. Melaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super helpful if you will be visiting Scotland!

[Brenda Kellow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative

I loved reading about your beautiful country. How very fortunate Scottish people are to live in such a paradise! Thanks for the journey. 😊

[Larry Hoyt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful general tourist guide.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the layout and content of the Lonely Planet series, but Fodor's was more useful for details about getting around in the cities.

[Joeri Dassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. I would love to visit this beautiful country.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

One star knocked off because it doesn’t mention Jarlshof near Lerwick, where I’m going.

[Andreu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ha quedat una mica antic, però encara és útil.

[Mike Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing guide by Lonely Planet. I recently used this on a 2-week stay(ish)-cation for my first time in Scotland, and found it incredibly useful, as I have every other Lonely Planet I've used. Unfortunately with Corona most things inside were shut or very limited, but we still made ample use of the recommendations for walking, viewpoints, sights and restaurants. Possibly useful would have been a "recommended Wild Camping spot" section, but as that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, it's understandable that it wasn't included, although to be fair they do mention it's a possibility in Scotland. I'm sure I'll use it again when I inevitably go back to visit again

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Lonely Planet Scotland which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. This book is a comprehensive travel guide to Scotland & I found it very interesting. Scotland has some of the best wild spots in Europe as well as the metropolitan cities Edinburgh & Glasgow. Edinburgh has the fringe festival which started out of there being a mainstream arts festival that some theatres weren't invited to so they started there own. Many of the acts are comedy but there is a wide variety of entertainment. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and has the parliament but Glasgow is bigger and has many museums and art galleries. If you journey into Perthshire there are many giant trees & Perth used to be the capital of Scotland. Stirling has a very well preserved castle. Many people journey around the highlands and islands and Inverness is the ideal base. There are flights from Inverness & Aberdeen airports to many of the islands. The Orkney Islands have the Old Man Of Hoy which is an unusual rock feature that experienced climbs often climb. Kirkwall has an ancient cathedral. On the Shetland Islands Lerwick is the most northerly town in Britain. If you are on a budget you can camp in any wild part for free. Also many of the museums and art galleries are free.