Thank you for time. I am a bit concerned I haven't left enough time for Aviemore region, but don't know what I can do about it? I know we can't see everything in 2weeks. We spent a week in Scotland straight out of Uni and loved it (even in deepths of winter) However, we realised that you'd need months to see it's gems. Unfortunately, time and money will not allow such luxuries. Below is our itinerary so far... any insights would be appreciated.
Arrive 24th August 2016 8am Heathrow Airport. Pick up car drive to Epping?? Train into London.
Spend day in London for our kids. Palace, Park, Westminster Abbey. Train back to Epping in PM. Stay??
25th- August- Quick look around Cambridge drive to York. Stay York Booked
26th August-Leave York. Drive through Durham to Peebles.(lots of little stops.)
27th Drive to Pentlandhills (2hrs to wander) drive to Falkirk and Blackness Castle. Stay?(Do we squeeze in Bannockburn?)
28, 29th Edinburgh- Accom Booked
30th Drive to Perth, then explore Crieff, Dunkeld, hike Hermitage.etc Stay Pitlockry?
1st of September-Pass of Killiecrankie & Queen’s view, Kinloch Rannoch. Stay Pitlochry again.
2nd of September-Drive through Braemar, Ballater, Grantown spey, Stay Nethy Bridge.
3rd of September- Aviemore, Tulloch Ghru, Cairn Gorm Mountain, Newtonmore Highland Folk Museum.(TOO MUCH?) Stay Nethy Bridge again.
4th of September- Drive to Inverness, Urghart Castle, Glen Affric. Stay Inverness.
5th September- Culloden in morning. Drive nth through Lairg, Durness, follow coat south to Stay Ullapool.
6th-8th September on The Outerhebrides-Lewis
9th of September- Ferry back to mainland arrive 4.30pm. Drive coast to Applecross. Arrive is sunset.
10th September-Look around Applecross. Drive to Strome Castle, Plockton, Eilean Donan Castle, Glenfinnan viaduct. Stay Kinlochleven.
11th of September- Glencoe. Stay Kinlochleven again.
12th-Drive through Loch Lomond to Stirling. See Bannockburn? (If haven’t). Stay Stirling.

Can anyone please tell me if there is a theatre near Edinburgh Zoo? If so is the Zoo and theatre far from the centre as i have been reading reviews that the Zoo is hard top find.
Regards,
Paddington!

After asking about castle hotels in the Dublin forum (for Dublin and Edinburgh) and having done some more research, we found out that a few of them were already fully booked, were too expensive or not as available as we would like them to be.

We have therefor decided that we would most likely stay in Edinburgh and make a day trip or two to visit a castle and maybe have lunch or afternoon tea and a walk in the area if possible. Any suggestions for this?

We are also interested in visiting an area were we can see and maybe take a hike in the "green hills of Scotland" and visit a smaller town. Does anyone have suggestions for this.

We would prefer to travel by public transportation.

hi me and my comrade are looking to move to Edinburgh around march 2016 , we would like to rent two bed apartment ,but would need to find somewhere to rest awhile ,while we search being we are both late 40s rather not do hostles or pay too much either as you can appreciate settling anew is already costly any suggestions would be great. I was in Edinburgh last year and fell in love with it ,maybe its my Scottish roots surname( mackay) apparently hale from the highlands where I hope to be skiing. many thanks

Will be traveling from Edinburgh to St. Andrew's in mid July, best option for getting there?
Car hire or rental? 4 adults, 4 bags, 2 sets of clubs. Suggestions? Thanks for your help.

I'll be in Edinburgh over the Christmas holiday and wondering what will be open on Boxing Day. I know the museums and castles are closed, but what about shops and restaurants? Will there be anything for me to do that day?

Also, on Christmas day I want to eat somewhere nice but not stuffy - kind of old school/traditional with a good, warm environment. I'm staying in New Town and will be alone. Any advice?

Thanks!

My boyfriend and I be in the Blair Atholl area for a wedding and am wondering if it's worth travelling afield, or whether there's enough to keep you entertained in Blair Atholl for 3 days. We are travelling from London, via Edinburgh and would love to visit a very remote, scenic village with good (mild) walking tours and small, local pubs. Any suggestions please??

Looking for a castle stay which has an historic feel not one remade into a five star hotel. We've stayed in Carbisdale in Southerland, Blackcraig in Perthshire, and Castle Leven in Inverclyde, they are no longer in business, but reflect what I'm looking for. Any location ok. Thanks for any input

I will be visiting daughter at University of Edinburgh in mid-December. Can anyone recommend a nice hotel walking distance from both university, sites, restaurants?

Our family of 5 including our senior citizen parents and 13 year old daughter plan to take a train from London on 21st May 2016 and travel around Scotland for a week before flying to Dublin. Is it recommended to get a hired car from Glasgow or Edinburgh? I read that Edinburgh is a larger city and thus more difficult to drive around.

Hi.. I need help and suggestions on a few things. I'll be travelling with my wife and 3 kids (4yrs,2yrs & 1yrs). We be driving up from Manchester Airport to either Glasgow or Edinburgh.

(1) Which route should I use coming from Manchester Airport. Prefer with scenic views

(2) Which area better for accommodation , Glasgow or Edinburgh. Planning to use AirBnB services for accommodation.

(3) Planning to do a scenic road trip Glasgow/Edinburgh - Glencoe - Fort William - Glenfinnan - Mallaig - Oban - Rest & Be Thankful Viewpoint -back to Glasgow/Edinburgh. Was wondering does this road trip can be done within one day or should i split it into 2 days? Or any other better particular route?

(4) Any advise for doing a road trip with kids around Scotland

(5) Any kids activities or farms that we can go along our road trip journey.

(6) Is there any rest point / small towns along the road trip journey

(7) How is the weather and terrain during April 2016

I appreciate your fine input and advise. Thank you in advance.

I'll likely never get a chance to go to Scotland again, but due to some recent events in my personal life, I'm going to try to plan a once in a lifetime trip. The trouble is, I want to get the most out of the trip (for my wants) as possible so that I don't look back on it later in life kicking myself for not having gone another time. A little about me, I'm not really crazy about crowded places or interested in the big cities or any of the shopping they have to offer. I would like to see the slower paced, more cultural parts of the country as well as take in the sights and beauty that is unique to Scotland. My maternal family lineage can be traced back to Scotland, so I just would like to explore the country a little and not feel like one more tourist following the pack around. So where do yall suggest I fly into/stay from the United States, and what time of year should I go?

I'm not a big skier, but the picture and things you find online of the castles draped in snow are breathtaking. But I know most of the highland games and such are mostly summer time activities. So again, what would yall suggest?

In 1969 I spent a few weeks in a large house with 30 kids from Glasgow schools, there was a boat house close by with canoes, and we walked for days and stayed in bothys! I was 14 and all I know was it was in Applecross. Does anyone know where or what house was used for this council run outward bound course?

We are a family of 5 including 2 senior citizens (my parents) and a 12 year old child. We plan to rent a car and tour Scotland. We prefer to set up base at 2 locations and travel around from these. Kindly suggest some itineraries for our tour

I am thinking of spending a few days just to experience Edinburgh for a bit and see/do some useful things. On a budget, obviously. Not planning on doing a lot of outdoor sightseeing or shopping. Perhaps would be nice to experience some real proper Scotch whiskey. :) :) :) How cold will it be during those times, any tips on winter wear? Also, is it safe for a female 30yo? Dates: Dec 17 - 19 Accomodation preference: hostel/community accomodation (anything lively and with other travellers, I like meeting people) 

I need some help figuring out a trip to scotland - I want to tour the more remote areas. anyone have a clue about Where to start in planning this?

I have heard that there are day tickets at 3.5 pounds that allow you to travel freely on public transport for 24 hours. Is this true and if so, where can we buy them? Would it be possible to get to Rosslyn Chapel, using such a ticket or is it not valid for that zone? And how to get to Rosslyn Chapel from Pollock Halls, Holyrood Park Road, Newington? And one more thing - what would (roughly) be the taxi fare from the airport to Pollock Halls? Thank you ever so much. :)

Over a fortnight ago we tried to book a room at a Travelodge in Edinburgh. We followed the procedure, filled in all the data, gave them our bank account number and clicked OK to complete the booking. We expected a confirmation of the booking but instead we got the information that our booking was unsuccessful. Strangely enough, Travelodge did not book a room for us but it ring fenced the amount on our bank account, which meant two weeks' waiting till the money was unblocked. I complained and got a reply which didn't solve the problem. Now today, over two weeks later, when the money was returned to us we tried to make the booking again. And guess what happened? Exactly the same. We now have quite a large sum of money ring fenced (i.e. inaccessible to us) and still no booking. I really don't know what to do. We have air tickets for 5 September and the money will not be accessible till then. Does anybody happen to know what we can do about this? And please don't suggest we phone them - we tried but waited and waited listening to the music till our phone account ran out. International phone calls from Poland are really expensive. For the time being, I sent them another complaint by e-mail and am waiting for a reply, but without much hope.

My boss is driving to Skye on Monday. He has asked me to gather some information with regards to things to do whilst he is up there. Baring in mind there are 4 adults and 5 children, are there any places you would suggest?
Thanks

We are going to be in Edinburgh in a couple of weeks and I've had to reorganize part of the trip and am now not sure what to do with one of the days. I have one full day at the end of the trip in early September to see Edinburgh sites (Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, etc), this is my 4th trip so I've seen most of it but my husband wants to spend a full day there. We enjoy history and castles, modern architecture not so much. I've been reading/watching "Outlander" and a few of the filming locations are on my list (Blackness, Doune, Linlithgow) and also the historical sites from the series, Ft. William and Culloden. We will be going further north when we leave Edinburgh on Monday morning (day 4) so we will see some of the Highlands and lochs. I think this is what the 1st few days will look like:

day 1 Friday arrive early morning into Edinburgh, pick up car, drive to Blackness, Linlithgow and then head to Loch Lomond, get some sleep

day 2 Saturday husband is going to swim in an organized race in Loch Lomond mid morning (he knows it will be cold and he's bringing a wetsuit!!!) and then we are heading back to Edinburgh for the Military Tattoo at 7:30pm, probably don't have a lot of spare time on this day.

day 3 Sunday this is the day that I don't have planned now, I was going to see Stirling and Doune Castles but that has been moved to a different day of the trip, we have tickets for the Fringe at 7:00pm. We are staying out near the Edinburgh Park train station at the Novotel so we don't have to drive into the city during the Fringe Festival so we'd need to be back by 4pm or so to get some dinner and make sure we get to the show on time.

One thought is Glasgow but I'm not sure that I'm eager to drive into Glasgow, we could take the train but we'll have a car that we will be using for the rest of the trip (and have to have on Friday to get out to Loch Lomond). My other thought was Rosslyn Chapel and whatever else is south or heading north to Dunfermline and Culross. Any thoughts on the best of the three?

Second unplanned bit, we are spending a night in Fort William (non cancellable hotel). We have to be in Stirling by 7:30pm, what can we do along the way? I'd like to see Glencoe but that's all I've got. We'll likely see Stirling Castle the following morning as well as Doune Castle. I took a trip last year that included Loch Awe and Kilchurn as well as a stop in Inveraray so probably don't want to repeat any of those.

Thanks.

We understand that McFadden may be a sept of the clan McLean. My name is Brad McFadden and my wife and I are trying to see if Mull might have been the birthplace of my tenth great grandfather (Andrew McFadden) in 1675. The only records we have say he was from The Highlands. he moved to Garvagh, Derry, NI for a short while and then emigrated to the New World (Merrymeeting Bay, Maine) in 1718. We are traveling to Scotland next month and would love to do a little family genealogy research. Are any old parish records available for visitors to research? Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you.

Looking for a large sash/scarf ring/brooch so that I can loop over a woollen scarf without pinning it - a large brooch might work if I could loop it over the pin. So far I've tried various branches of the Woollen Mill, Iona Shop Oban, Gem Box Oban & Chalmers Oban. Don't mind travelling. Not fussed what design or metal - just seems a shame to put a pin through the beautiful woollen scarves.

Many thanx

I need advice about hiring a car in Edinburgh. Is it necessary to make the arrangements in advance? We are going in September. We have had some bad experience connected with payments (for accommodation) on the net and would prefer to arrange the hire on our arrival at the airport. Do you think this is possible? What car hire firms would you recommend? We need a small car and don't want to pay a fortune. Thank you.

My husband and I will be spending 3 nights in Edinburgh. Never been there before. We will not have a card. Do we want to stay in Old Town? or New Town? We like to be able to walk out and be in the middle of everything. I have looked at some of the hotels. The Witchery looks interesting - well, very different, but maybe a little spooky. Comment? Also looked at The Glasshouse - then read a number of negative comments on TripAdvisor. Another I was looking at was GV Royal Mile. Any comments on hotels and whether or not to stay in Old Town? I just read above about restaurants - looks like the better restaurants are outside of the Royal Mile. Any suggestions will be very much appreciated. Oh, we'll be going the very end of September or first of October. Thanks!

I am traveling to Scotland for 2 weeks and would like to use my iPhone 6 just as I do in the US. I was told by Verizon that they have a $40 plan that would give me 100MB of data which is a little more than I use in a month. I am very skeptical of their service over there though. I was told by Verizon that all Iphone 6's are unlocked, so I could just purchase a sim card over there. What would be the best option? Thanks for the help.

Question as in the title

And would you start your Highland-tour clockwise or counter clockwise ?

Hi folks, I cannot wait to visit Scotland, arrive Glasgow 8/15 for one day then on to festivals in Edinbugh for 4 days! On to London for last three days. Will take a day tour to Highlands and maybe another to St. Andrew/Fife.

Okay so I have a million questions but one is...can I wear sandals, is there any semblance of summer? Or just boots, warm coats? I know I know, bring a raincoat and umbrella and layer (got it!)

As I said, I have been dreaming of Scotland, and this is a special birthday trip!

Thanks all!
Amy

We want to visit Scotland this September. We are going to spend 3 days in Edinburgh (I have been there before so just want to visit the places I missed then and take more pictures) and then we want to rent a car and travel for a week. I wonder if you could help me with planning an itinerary? We want to enjoy as much of the wonderful scenery as possible and visit a few castles and other attractions (not distilleries :) ). We would have to choose those castles where the access is not too hard - no steep stairs or slopes to climb etc. I have been to Stirling and Linlithgow. I wouldn't mind a day trip to one of the islands too but don't know which one to choose. I will be grateful for any advice you can give.

My family and I was holidaying in Callander recently and my daughter found a Barbour jacket at a clothing shop on the main street, the sleeves were a little short, but as we live near the Barbour factory we have asked them if they can make one specially. However they need the design ticket number. So I need to contact the shop. It was quite a large shop in the main street. Can anyone help?

AbbieT2