Scotland destinations

Scotland divides naturally into three kinds of trip. The cities and the Central Belt are where most journeys begin: compact, well connected and full of castles and museums. The Highlands start barely an hour north of Glasgow and stretch to the north coast, with the famous glens and lochs strung along a few main roads. The islands need a ferry or a bridge and reward anyone who gives them more than a day.

Each destination below has six pages. If you are still deciding on a route, start with our itineraries; if you already know where you are going, jump straight to the tours or the getting-there page.

Also worth knowing about

Scotland has more good places than any site can give a full guide to. Four that fit easily into the itineraries above:

• Aberdeen and the castle country of Aberdeenshire — a granite city with direct trains from Edinburgh (about 2½ hours), the cliff-top ruin of Dunnottar Castle near Stonehaven and a string of tower houses inland. Royal Deeside and Balmoral are covered in our Speyside & Cairngorms guide.
• The Isle of Arran — often called “Scotland in miniature”: a granite mountain, a castle, a distillery and a coast road, about an hour by ferry from the Ayrshire coast and a feasible day trip from Glasgow. Check which mainland port the ferry is using before you travel.
• The Borders and Rosslyn Chapel — rolling hills, the ruined abbeys of Melrose, Jedburgh and Dryburgh, and the intricately carved chapel at Roslin, all within an hour or so of Edinburgh. The Borders Railway runs from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, near Melrose.
• Shetland — more than 100 miles north of the mainland, reached by overnight ferry from Aberdeen or by air; a separate trip in itself, with seabird cliffs and the Up Helly Aa fire festival each January.

The far north-west — Torridon, Assynt and the north coast — is covered in our road trips guide.