Due to the incredible generosity of my future in-laws, who are throwing a wedding celebration bash for us in England immediately after our wedding, RickQ and I will be honeymooning in the UK in July. We are thinking of going to Scotland, as neither of us have been.
Ok, so that narrows it down to one whole country. A small one, but still…
Any advice on specific places to go? What we have in mind is something like our April trip…nice little out of the way B + Bs, nice scenery, friendly people, etc. We will prolly settle on two or three locations and spend two to three days at each.
Edinburgh is a possiblity, but if we go there, I want one of the other locations to be a small village. We have also thought of stayng a night or two in a castle, as there are some that rent out rooms.
So, fellow dopers, help out the hapless honeymooners. You have always wanted to tell someone where to go and here is your chance.
Brynda: Ah, congratulations again! My ex-wife and I honeymooned in western Scotland. (I hope this isn’t bad luck for the marriage then…!)
We spent the first night (after a train journey from Oxford) in Glasgow, then took the train to Inverness. The journey, like all the train travel we took, had breathtaking scenery. While in Inverness we took day trips to Culloden, last stand of the Jacobite rebels, and Loch Ness, home of the cheesy Nessie tourist industry. We travelled from there to Kyle of Lochalsh, took the ferry over to Skye, then took a bus over Skye, eventually ending up in Mallaig. We travelled on to Fort William the next day, and spent about three days there, wandering around the little village.
The best part of our honeymoon, though, was our five-day stay in and around Oban. Oban itself is a charming little town with nice restaurants and shops, but the main draw is its proximity to the islands of Mull, Staffa and Iona. My ex-wife is a medieval scholar, and she really enjoyed visiting the monastery on Iona. Since she can read Old Norse runes, she served as “tour guide” to a group of students while she was there and deciphered some inscriptions there! We also took a very bumpy boat ride to Staffa and saw the puffins there. On our last day we took a very memorable walking tour of Lismore…memorable because we got lost and almost missed the last boat back to Oban.
One word of warning if you decide to go to the west of Scotland. We went in July too, and, I’m telling you, it’s going to rain, I guarantee. And it will be cold, and windy. Of course, it’s like that the rest of the year there too. Pack a couple of raincoats, but buy sweaters when you get there–the wool sweaters they sell there are beautiful (but not cheap).
If you want any more details (and pictures!) just drop me a line, Brynda. I’m so excited for you two! Can I go along–strictly as a “tour guide,” of course?
Well, I can tell you some of the places my wife and I will be going in August…
Dunnottar Castle near Aberdeen - beautiful ruins of a castle that played its part in Scottish history from William Wallace’s early campaigns through the Jacobite Rebellion.
The Speyside area, and its Scotch Whisky distilleries (my favorite is the Glenlivet, and I wish their distillery was on the itenerary…)
Inverness and Urquart Castle on Loch Ness.
Culloden.
Glencoe.
Edinburgh Castle.
And some places we plan on returning to visit “some day” that we won’t be seeing this year:
Dunvegan Castle in the Hebrides - seat of the Clan MacLeod, and a popular destination. They have vacation cottages you can rent near the castle.
When I was traveling in Scotland, I visited most of the places mentioned above and found them nice (somehow I missed the distilleries, not certain how), but be sure to stay at bed and breakfasts, the hosts are so wonderful. Oh, by the way, one place that I found incredibly romantic was Loch Lomand (sp?).
I have also been to many of the places mentioned earlier in this thread and I can but agree with all nice words. Just too bad the country is inhabited by Scotsmen (no, just kidding, If I’m allowed to generalise I’d like to say that the Scots as a group are the most generous and nice people I know).
If you come to the Isle of Skye you must visit the Tallisker distillery, which I preferred walking through much more than Glenfiddich (in Dufftown, Speyside), which had many features of a tourist trap.
I toured through some of Scotland when I was a bug-eyed 18 year old from New Jersey hitching rides through the UK.
Glencoe had incredible scenery, lots of history centering on a massacre of the Macdonalds by the Campbells. Treeless rocky heather covered mountains, weeping skies. The approach from the south (roughly) is truly spectacular. I took an afternoon and hiked up the Pap of Glencoe. It wasn’t too hard, and the views were wonderful.
Fort William is the closest ‘big’ town to Ben Nevis (highest point in British isles). I had only one day to climb it, it was rainy, windy, and cold but I did it anyway even though any significant visibility was lost a quarter of the way up. I met a bunch of people from different countries and we all piled into a rescue hut at the summit. Very special. I also developed a fondness for Chinese food in Fort William because I was so sick of everything else. There’s a train station there. Sorry for that little detour down memory lane.
If I had to pick one place to return to it would be Glencoe.
I’d really like to see the Isle of Skye and the Cairngorms.
Well, it’s not Scotland, but I highly recommend Portmeirion, a bizarre little town in Wales, on the coast of the Irish Sea. It was cobbled together by some insane guy, out of the bits and pieces of great mansions and estates being torn down. It was used as a setting in the 1960s TV show “The Prisoner,” and is very romantic, in an hallucinogenic kind of way.
If you are any sort of a history nut you have to go to Inverness and Culloden, to stand on the ground where the aspirations of the House of Stuart were crushed and the Clan System strangled. Read John Peebles’s book on the Willamette subjugation of the Highlands (Glencoe), “The 45” (Culloden) and the transformation of the Highlands (The Highland Clearances) first. Sterling is a neat town with its castle and the battlefield of Bannock burn. Edinburgh is something you should not miss.
I spent only a few hours in Edinburgh, but wow, what a rich, cultured city. Highlights I can recall include:
The Walter Scott Memorial: a fun 6-stories of steps, but you get a fantastic view of the city at the top.
The Castle, of course. Get there before 1 pm for the afternoon cannot firing.
Hector Russel Kiltmakers. You can find these all over Scotland (and elsewhere worldwide), but they’re nonetheless reputable as one of the best kiltmakers out there. Be warned–kilts are costly enough, and British prices tend to be twice as much as American.
Oh, yeah, and Loch Ness. Let me make it quite clear that there AIN’T NO MONSTER IN THAT LOCH…but it’s one of those things you just gotta see anyway.
Applecross, on the western coast, where someone puts up a sign in the pub/general store/post office, saying they’re having a 21st birthday party, and everyone is invited.
What a sweet village it must be, where all the denizens (even the interlopers) are welcome to sit in your front parlour…
Portree, the Isle of Skye. The Isle is one of the pretties places I’ve ever seen in Europe. Very rugged, and rainy.
Portree is a tiny town where the bars stay open until 4 am because the local policeman is drinking right alongside you.
Oh, and Eilean Donan castle, just off Skye on the west coast. Highlander was filmed there, and it’s not a ruin at all (it’s been restored), but it’s pretty nonetheless.
I’d echo Duke’s endorsement of Oban. I only spent a day there back when I was 19. But even at that young age and for such a short stay, I felt a true sense of regret at having to leave so soon. It was, at least back in the mid 80’s, a lovely town with what I recall many friendly locals.
And to reiterate a number of other points–what would a trip to Scotland be without a visit to at least one Scotch Whisky (no “e” in the proper Scottish spelling) distillery?
Applecross is a fantastic place, the pubs are even decent - (Scottish pubs are almost uniformly dreadful - but not as bad as Welsh pubs) ( This isn’t a troll, they really are dreadfully puritan places)
The whole west coast of scotland is beautiful
Edinburgh is amazing and must be seen.
Glasgow is a must for fans of Charles Rennie Macintosh
The Great Glen is spectacular if you get to see it on a clear day.
This brings me to the two moast important points about Scotland:
It will rain - and by rain, I mean rain, rain, rain.
I can’t believe that no-one has mentioned midges yet. Midges are the millions of tiny flying teeth that come out after sunset all over Scotland. Sometimes there are so many that you get a noseful of them if you take a deep breath. You will see fishermen wearing what looks like a cross between a nuclear containment suit and a bee-keeping outfit. This is to keep out the midges.
Thanks, everyone!!! We really appreciate the recommendations. We are in the process of looking for places to stay, etc. I will let you know what the plans are when we are further along.
I have visited Scotland for both Hogmanay and the Edinburgh Festival, and have been awfully lucky with the weather.
For our summertime visit, rain greeted us when we got off the plane, then stayed away for the ten days we were there, including the West coast. No midges either.
Charming village:
Plockton is an adorable harbor town complete with palm trees.(North Atlantic Drift keeps things warm.)
The Manse in Plockton was a lovely B&B. Nearby Inverewe Gardens has all kinds of subtropical plants.
fun and scary drive: the Applecross peninsula
Worth a splurge:
Spending the night in a castle. We spent the night in Borthwick Castle outside of Edinburgh. Delightful ghost stories, delicious dinner, lots of Mary Queen of Scots atmosphere.
I have to echo the sentiments expressed by my fellow Dandy, Duke.
Somehow Hibs (Hibs!) managed to remain unoverawed by their surroundings and win 2-1 at Tannadice today.
The last few posts probably indicate that however curious you may be, Brynda, it’s not worth asking Scottish people about sport. You’ll find yourself putting your hands up and walking away from some raging argument over the Scottish Cup semi final scores of 1957.
Regarding the OP, I don’t think you’ll go wrong following the advice of the posters in this thread (even Niobium Knight’s.) Some other places for your consideration: the Orkney Islands, Melrose and the Borders, Galloway, and the Western Isles (AKA the Outer Hebrides, may require a flight if time is limited.)
