Planning a trip to Scotland

@Robert99 what does your wife enjoy? You need to find a hook. Does she like walking / hiking, historical sites, wild open places or busy cities, is she a foodie? Lots of possible things to see and do. The islands would be a must for me! So many pretty little villages etc.

@Robert99 - I agree with Hewie. There is so much beautiful scenery that you are spoilt for choice, especially in the Highlands. Starting on the west coast would be my pick so you can island hop, see Dumfries and Galloway in the south, Campbeltown and then head up to Fort William and Ben Nevis in the HLs. From there you can cut across to Speyside and then down to Edinburgh to finish perhaps?

Never been but Ralfy's old haunt ' The Bon Accord' in Glasgow is a pub I'd like to visit when I'm next north of the border. From memory, most pubs/bars will have a pretty decent selection available; especially in the tourist areas - but you may pay a little more.

I'm never a fan of tour packages but they serve a purpose and can be useful. I'd recommend hiring a car and booking B&Bs or similar.

All depends on your wife - does she like outdoors/camping or more of a city girl? As for castles - take your pick!

We're hoping to go next year and that would be my ideal trip and my partner is not a fan of the nectar either!

If I had gone to Cuba on my own I would have gone in search of high quality rums and cigar factories (to pick up for people who cannot - I know, but I never actually swore the hippocratic oath). Instead I swam with dolphins. And I got to taste Vat 69 and a 5 YO rum.

My point, as I have always been told...happy wife, happy life.

@Robert99

I've never traveled to Scotland so I cannot provide first-hand experience, I can recommend if you haven't read it yet, the "My annoying opinions" blog. myannoyingopinions.com/2017/06/…

The author did a Scotland trip last summer with his wife (also not a whisky drinker) and young children.

I think you will be able to relate as he planned this primarily as a family trip with the whisky related visits coming second, although he did manage quite a few.

As for your wife I can only +1 on what others have said, if you find things that will make her happy on such a trip, I think you'll have a great time too.

@Robert99, I did three weeks there in 2010 with an ex who had no interest in whisky. I can try to give you a fuller answer here sometime when I'm not rushed, but here's my short answer for now:

•Spectacular castle ruins, especially Dunnottar Castle

•Beautiful hikes, especially on Skye

•Whisky stops that are easy to tag along to or skip, especially shops like Cadenhead's in Edinburgh

•If you go at the right time, baby sheep!

Thank you all. My wife will enjoy a castle but will prefer some archeologic sites and she also loves special geological formation. She likes to walk but she is not in hiking or camping. I forgot to mention that I would like something like a 17 days vacation with maybe 3 days in London.

I was planning about splitting my time in two. First the Islands then the Highland and was wondering if it is too ambitious if I allow a 6 day period for each and a day to travel in the middle. So If you have more specific attractions to point out, be my guess. If you know of a great archeologic site near a distillery that would be fantastic.

For the moment, Thanks @Hewie and @Nozinan for the wisdom. Thanks @cricklewood for the site, I will have a look at it and thanks @RianC and Madsinglemalt for the input.

I only made it to the Borders and Edinburgh. A personal highlight for me was visiting Hadrian's Wall. It was amazing to walk along the wall which was built so long ago and is still in such great condition. How about some stone circles? visitscotland.com/about/history/… Top of my list would be the Isle of Skye - plenty to do and see. Beautiful scenery and geological rock formations. Google some pictures from Skye. Have fun planning!

@Robert99 - 6 - 7 days should be plenty time. N Americans have to remember to scale down I've never spent more than a week at a time in Scotland and with a car you can really get around. You may not be able to see absolutely everything of course; but a week or so based at Ayr, Oban, Glencoe or even Kintyre peninsula would give you access to the Isles and some amazing scenery, beaches and points of historic interest.

From Glencoe (Fort William) you can see Ben Nevis (with a distillery not too far . . .) and are pretty much in a great spot to explore the west highlands. Not a long hop across to the eastern side from there (with some stunning views along the way).

I'd have to echo @Hewie's suggestion of seeing Hadrian's wall, especially the western side near Carlisle. I say this as it is amazingly preserved in places and you're free to walk on it etc but you're a stone throw away from the Lake district which I'm sure your wife would find worthwhile. Castle Rigg stone circle is, in my opinion, the most spectacular on the Isles - for the views, if not the stones themselves!

Don't forget sun cream and (seriously now) midge repellent!

On Skye and close to a distillery I believe that I forget the name of . . .

isleofskye.com/skye-guide/…

@Robert99 went there last summer. I would recommend what some others have said. Fly into Glasgow. Travel up the west coast for islands and eventually to Skye. Stay in Skye a few days. It is the most stunning place I have ever been. Take a tour of the island from one of the amazing companies there. It’s stunning. Travel east to Speyside. Your wife has to be on board for some touring I would think. Stay at the Craigellechie Hotel (book now). Don’t get a guide. Waaaaay overpriced. Book Tawse Taxi for pickups and drop offs. Highly recommend the Balvenie Tour followed by lunch at Glenfiddich and an afternoon tasting elsewhere. The new Macallan distillery might be done by then. Could be worth visiting. Travel south to Edinburgh. Great spot for a few nights. Amazing city. Then to london from there.

My 2 cents on what is a great problem to have.

In my planning I found the following site useful for ideas re: scheduled, stops, and itineraries:

www.traveling-savage.com

I second @Hewie: Stone cirlces!

@nooch, you used the Traveling Savage site??? Get out of here! The guy who writes that is in my whisky club. I've known him for years. We used to work together, share an office—he was even my manager for a stretch.

@MadSingleMalt small world. I found his tips very helpful. Scotland is an amazing place to visit.

@MadSingleMalt - ha ha! What are the odds?!

@nooch, @RianC: Yeah, that's pretty cool. I expect to see him on Monday for our March club shindig—I'll be sure to tell him I ran into one of his fans. :)

@nooch: For a bit of context, where are you?

@MadSingleMalt Niagara region. Canada. Cool stuff!

@nooch Thanks for the infos. Travelling brings people together. As you have said to @MadSingleMalt "Small world".

We've done over a half-dozen trips to Scotland and my wife also does not drink Whisky. But she loves Scotland; great scenery, great fresh seafood, great people. I'd recommend the west coast as it is the most stunning (being from Ontario, you won't find Speyside that different). Remember distances on a map of Scotland are deceptive ... it always takes much longer to drive somewhere than you thought. For a starter trip, I'd suggest the following itinerary: Arran-Campbeltown-Islay-Oban-Glencoe which will keep you busy for 7-10 days.

@Olivier Thanks for the advise. I have problems with my knees and I am wondering how much walk (how many hours a day) can I expect on a trip like that? We were ready to cancel our plan, but now my wife is the one pushing to go.

@olivier How many days would you allow to Skye?

The most walking you'd need to do would be inside the distilleries ;-) For that reason, I'd suggest doing tours of only a few distilleries, tastings at others, and just visiting the Visitors' Center at others.

Arran's tours are excellent (try to get on a tour with Campbell), but they also have a great guided tasting session, which is easier on the knees.

In Campbeltown you can also have a guided tasting at Springbank and I would really recommend their "Scottish Lunch Plate" which will fill you up for the day (see photos of the "plate" for the 4 of us and great setting).

On Islay, i'd recommend the warehouse tasting at Lagavulin (lots of fun) and lunch at Ardbeg (make sure to book in advance at least 3-4 days before). I'm not a big fan of bowmore Whisky, but the distillery and village are worth visiting. The Bruichladdich, Bunnahabain and Laphroaig visitors centers are nice.

Oban distillery is nice, in the middle of town (go to Ee-usk for lunch, also need to book in advance), but their tours are not worth it (in my experience). From Oban, if you have time to go to Mull for the day, it is a quaint distillery and Tobermory is a lovely village.

What happened to my "Scottish Plate" photos ?

@Robert99 Skye is hard to combine with other regions as the drive to Skye is really long and then, once on Skye, the drive to Portree is an additional long drive, and Talisker is on the other side of the Island, also a very long drive. Moving around on Skye always takes much much longer than one thought.

What you could combine with a Skye visit would be, leaving from Edinburgh, Dalwhinnie, then Ben Nevis. The roads follow the topography of the land and most run from south-west to northeast, meaning that once in Skye, you have to go up to Inverness or down to Oban to be able to go back to the center of Scotland (unless you are willing to use 3 and 4-digit roads, which I do not recommend).

I'd recommend Skye as a second or even third trip to Scotland; not as a first trip. you'll just end-up spending too much time driving.

@olivier Wow! Great input! I like the scenery that goes with your Scottish Plate, particularly the background.

@olivier - I see no deep fried Mars Bars on that table . . . standards are slipping north of the border

Joking aside, that looks amazing. I know they were for @Robert99 but those are some great tips. We're hoping to get up there in a year or two (Kintyre peninsula) but with a little one distillery tours and such aren't going to be the best option. Might have to wait a bit longer!

@Robert99 @olivier has given you plenty of excellent information to chew on. Will you be renting a car or doing trains and busses? If you have a car you could get to Orkney. It's a 90 minute ferry ride. There are fabulous standing stone circles, the remains of ancient villages, tons of Viking history, and of course Highland Park distillery.

If you were thinking of a tour, McKinlay Kidd will arrange all your accommodation and all your transportation for one of their set tours or they will custom build a tour to suit your itinerary. They charge little more than you could do it for yourself and take all the worry out of finding accommodation and arranging transport. Friends of ours used them last year and are using them again this year for a tour of Ireland. They were very pleased with the service and highly recommend them. You might want to Google them.

Keep us posted on your plans and get your knees rested up. My brother in law rubs cannabis cream on his knees and swears by it.

@olivier what a fantastic setting for your "Scottish Lunch Plate" - the mis matched furniture reminds me of one of my favourite restaurants.

@BlueNote Thank you for the input, I will check that McKinlay Kidd agency. We still have to decide which region we want to visit. My wife loves archeology and special geological formation. Orkney and Skye seem to offer wonders, but I am not sure it is easy to combine thse regions in one trip; I am also not sure I want to ignore Islay.

@olivier I concur, these pictures are great!

@Robert99, I sense a wonderful review forthcoming of your recent trip to Scotland. I would much prefer to hear it firsthand; however, It would also bring me much pleasure to learn of your adventure here, on Connosr.