Scottish person here…. The places he’s visited are lovely, but they’re all quite north west and north focused. There are soooo many amazing places I could recommend to you that would be easier to get to for a 4 day trip based from Edinburgh. If you shared your planned itinerary then people could recommend places to see which would be doable in your trip. I feel this video has missed a lot of the obvious places to visit, maybe intentional. Also, he mispronounces most of the place names, so don’t copy him 😂
Agreed. There is loads to do near Edinburgh. You can go up the fife coast and get fish and chips from the famous Anstruther fish bar. Glasgow is so worth the short bus journey. The Trossachs, Stirling (castle better than Edinburgh) Perth and even Pitlochry is not to far to drive. If I was you guys I would try get in touch with people who know Edinburgh and it's surrounding areas
Ive lived in Skye/Highlands my whole life (im 28), I'm still exploring and finding new beautiful spots every day it's never ending with beautiful scenery. One trip is never enough.
About the crown jewels of Scotland: They are called The Honours of Scotland and they are the oldest surviving original crown jewels in the UK, therefore historically more important. They date from the 15th and 16th centuries. The crown jewels of England were lost or destroyed and the ones currently displayed in the Tower of London were made in 1660 for the Restoration of the monarchy. Also, the mountains in Scotland are geologically among the oldest in the world.
@@transponderful I believe the truth and there are records of the Honours from the early 16th century. What do the records show about the British crown jewels, since you are so knowlegable on the subject?
Loved the video , although the prounciations are questionable .As a Scottish person here are a few tips 1. Don't go to Edinburgh Castle , too crowded and costs £16 entry per person . Instead go to Chamber Street Museum and national museum of Scotland. Free entry . 2. Day trips from Edinburgh include Linlithgow - place where Mary Queen of Scots was born . Great wee place . East Nuek of Fife gorgeous fishing villages and not far from St. Andrews 3. Don't go to Skye . Too busy and suffers from overtourism . Go to Oban and get the ferry over to Mull , Iona and Staffa . Gorgeous islands full of history and amazing landscape s Any other tips ,, give me a shout Love your videos
I don't think a place being busy is a reason to put someone off going to one of their first castle experiences. Though I'm sure the museums you mention are lovely, They've got actual museums in the states too. Edinburgh Castle might be expensive for what it is but it has fantastic views of Edinburgh and I appreciate Arthur's seat is not far away and also free to climb. The American's I took to Edinburgh Castle six years ago still talk about it as their first castle Experience in Scotland.
It's worth going up to the castle for the views from the esplanade, but yeah no point paying to go in. Definitely Stirling instead. Good views from the roof of the museum too (you need to use the Terrace Lift [elevator] to reach the roof, ask for directions when you're in the museum). The Camera Obscura just down from the castle is worth a visit, and then walk down the Royal Mile looking for all the wee museums dotted about. Dynamic Earth is good, and then you're at Holyrood so you can visit Arthur's Seat. There's far too much to suggest just for a RUclips comment!
Admittedly I stayed something like 25kms away from Edinbra and have never been to the castle . Most folk from Edinburgh will tell you the same . I agree that Stirling Castle is awesome , great views over the town . If you go up that way I recommend Wallace Monument too . Full of History linked in with the Scottish Wars of independence . Any questions ,please don't hesitate to ask
As a Scot, its a major pity the narrator did not trouble himself to learn how to pronounce basic English words and more importantly the Scottish place names.
If you're short on time and you want to see amazing scenery, don't go all the way out to the islands (although they are amazing). Go to Fort William and take the Nevis Range cable car.
Yeah, take the road from Glasgow to Fort William. Glen etive and glencoe are on the way. Cable car Ben nevis and then on to oban and back to Glasgow. That is a day trip.
@@robertholmes809 Agreed, Glencoe is a must-see. Remote winding roads leading through incredibly impressive terrain, and you'll also pass by some of the mountains mentioned in this (Bidean Nam Bian) which is also a really nice winter climb for a range of climbing abilities. If you dedicate a day or two to travelling there from Edinburgh and back (with a stay overnight in Fort William or Oban), then you'll be able to drive past Stirling castle and Loch Lomond.
I live in Kent, in the south east of England. I have holidayed in Scotland since 1986 and there is nowhere else i would rather be. Beautiful country, lovely people and amazing history. Only downside are the midges. It hurts so bad that i haven't been since 2005. I hope i can get back someday as its the only place I've felt truly happy.
Last time I went back to Edinburgh was for a conference in 2017. However, I was so determined to spend some time there again after more than two decades away, I made sure I went to the Friday "session" (I told my boss I had to miss the Thursday stage because I had so many "commitments") with the firm intention of staying for the entire weekend. I ditched the yawnfest as soon I could, immediately went into town and walked everywhere. Edinburgh is one of my top five favourite cities. Next morning, I hopped on the tram, which was right next to my hotel, to the airport, hired a car there and then drove to Dundee, St Andrews and all sorts of other places I hadn't seen since the early 90s. Some raised eyebrows from my wife when I told her what I was up to ("and you really thought I wouldn't want to go? Hmm" - that kind of thing), but it was a perfect weekend even without her, and my university paid for virtually all of it - although they still don't know that :D Get back!
Scottish viewer here, grew up in the Highlands (Grantown on Spey near Aviemore, the Whisky trail along the Spey Valley takes in many distilleries), I now live in Stirling, have also lived in Edinburgh. His choices are all beautiful places but encompass only a part of the beauty. You can spend weeks exploring the country. The Cairngorms are majestic and have appeared in many films (since you love mountains), the islands are different again and in the north there are indeed the Orkney and Shetland isles with some of the oldest human structures in the world. The East has Aberdeen, Peterhead and many fine towns and rolling farmlands. The West coast has more islands with all the Hebrides. As a current Stirling resident we have Stirling Castle (often a film stand in for Edinburgh Castle), Church of the Holy Rude (Where James VI was crowned - he of the King James Bible and John Knox preached), the Wallace Monument and Perth with the Palace of scone not far away as well as many Lochs including Loch Lomond. Yeah the distances are deceptive, the roads tend to be very winding so trips take much longer than people expect. Also the roads go round the mountains so going East to West can be a long detour once you go more north than Stirling. He mentioned midges and for those you need bug spray designed to repel them, the wee devils can actually be attracted by many regular bug sprays - they are small mosquitos with the annoyance being they come in clouds of millions. End of the day you are gonna be time limited on any trip, it can't be helped so you can only plan carefully and expect weather to maybe get in the way at times (take clothes suitable for all four seasons as a warning on how variable it can get). There will likely be other people despite his photos but way less once you leave the main tourist hotspots. I used to walk and mountain bike around the cairngorms and spend hours without seeing anyone for instance but it can vary massively as the various coaches (fancy buses) take groups of tourists round the place - yup you are going to see an awful lot of coaches lol
I've been there and it is beautiful, also many places of interest around it. There are also some Knights Templar activities around there. You need to look it up beforehand otherwise you will miss it all, and it will just be a small place to you.
Rosslyn Chapel is also in a Glen, with a beautiful wee park. I live 2 miles from it, and it can be part of a tour around the city limits. (Midlothian county)
I grew up on the west coast of Scotland, partly on one of the Islands, and my top tip is EMBRACE THE WEATHER. The real beauty of Scotland isn't in how it looks on a sunny day - its in how it looks in misty rain, with the beautiful muted colour palette and the bleak landscape of the highlands stretching out in front of you. When I get the train home from England to visit my parents, the moments as you get towards the central lowlands when the colour shifts, the plants change a little and the grey skies stretch out give me the greatest sense of being at home. Also, no midges when it's raining! And don't pronounce any of the names of places like this. Edin-Bro?!?!?!
Sounds like heading home to Norfolk for me - the skies get larger, the views open up and the large fields of wheat, barley and oilseed rape come into view.
I've only been once, 5 years ago to the day, 2 days driving to the top, round a bit, and home.....I'll never forget the change from lowlands to highlands, felt like going through a portal into another land. I was lucky with cloudless skies and no midges the whole trip.
Hello from Sweden! If you would like to see a lovely castle I think you should visit Stirling castle. Many tourists but a lot of history. And it’s not in the north!
Definitely ! The views from the castle across the old town and down to the Forth really illustrate why this was the heart of Scotland - the first (or last) bridge from the Lowlands to the Highlands, the field of Bannockburn and the Wallace Monument encapsulate so much of Scottish history.
I'm Scottish and started touring my own country to get away from city during pandemic. I will never travel abroad again now I see what I have missed out of. 4 weeks time I'm away again for 3 months this time. You'll love Scotland
Its the age of the Scottish crown jewels that make them impressive. They managed to survive Cromwell, while the English Crown jewels were destroyed. Today the English/ UK crown jewels in the Tower of London have more jewels, so look more ornate because they are younger and were made when the country was much wealthier. Had the original Saxon crown survived it was also be a modest affair.
Highlander here. There are a lot of single track roads here with passing places. Please, please, please learn to use passing places correctly! We drive on the left, so if the passing place is on your left go into it. It it is on the opposite side, just wait on your side of the road across from it (no diving across the road to get into it). Finally allow locals to pass you, they might be heading to work. I hope you have a great trip and I hope you get lucky with the weather.
Great to hear you are visiting us in Scotland. A lot of the places in the video are in Skye which is a special place but Scotland is so much more than that. Edinburgh, Stirling, the Fife Coast, St Andrew’s, Glasgow, Loch Lomand, Oban etc if you are staying around central Scotland. Edinburgh Dungeons are a must. Scotland has such a rich (and violent) history so lots to learn. If you are heading further north, Braemar, Aviemore and the Cairngorms are well worth a visit. Scotland also has some of the best beaches in the world so check out any you are nearby (just don’t expect it to be hot haha). Scotland has magical light so definitely make the effort to get up early to see sunrise and twilight in the evening can be very special.
Loving you're going to be coming to my beautiful country. So many options, it's hard to suggest a few. Couple of tips when in Edinburgh we have a really good bus system so use them if you need to go around the city depending on where you're staying/where you're going. You can get a daysaver if you're going to use a lot of buses in 1 day that will save some money/looking for change. Wear comfortable shoes, Edinburgh's built on 7 hills, even for a local it can be tiring going up and down them. And bring a waterproof jacket and have layers - we get 4 seasons in 1 day here! From Edinburgh there are companies that do day trips so maybe have a look at them. Loch Lomond is do-able and there may organised trips there, or you could get the train or bus there (Balloch or Alexandria station?!). You could go north to Pitlochry, there are lovely walks around there and you could get the train into the town. It's beautiful up there. Other place is Fife, just a lovely place and you'd go over the famous Forth Rail Bridge to get there. North Berwick is a lovely day trip too, close by on the train if you're looking for a beach and place to wander round. In Edinburgh unfortunately the cafe where JK Rowling wrote some of HP is closed, there was a fire last year and it was really badly damaged, shame as it's a lovely cafe. You don't need to go in to Edinburgh Castle to appreciate the view, you can stand on the esplanade and take in the amazing view. I've not been into the castle since I was a child so can't comment on whether it's worth it. The thing up Calton Hill is sometimes called "Edinburgh's Disgrace/Shame" as it's meant to be a copy of the Parthenon in Athens and that's all they built. Museums are free to enter mostly - the main one in Edinburgh has lots of interactive stuff and a varied collection. It'll be starting to get busy around then, the Edinburgh schools don't finish until the end of June. It's the Queen's Jubilee on 3rd June so offices/schools will be shut but it won't impact you seeing things. Northern lights - there's an app called AuroraAlertsUK which lets you know if there is going to be any aurora, they have a Facebook page too. You'd need amber to see anything in Edinburgh. Sorry for such a long comment!
I'm Scottish and live in Ayr on the west coast home of Robert Burns Scotland's national poet and John macadam inventor of tarmac roads , Greenan castle on the cliff edge of the sea , Culzean castle etc etc almost anywhere in Scotland has something to see and loads of history and very often you will be the only people there.
If you are going to be near Edinburgh, then a double trip I can recommend is to the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel. The Kelpies are twin 50'+ sculptures of horses heads celebrating horse power on the canals and also mythical sea-beasts; the Falkirk Wheel is an iconic boat-lift on the canal, a modern engineering marvel and a beautiful sight. Look both up on RUclips and see if you can fit them in, they are close to each other. Enjoy the UK.
A trip to the Cairngorms (aviemore area) is a must. It’s a beautiful place to visit. Can be busy with tourists but won’t be too bad in June, before the English schools break up. Scottish schools break up end of June so depending when you’re going you might have some school holiday families
If you get time pop over to Stirling (about hour from Edinburgh), there's Stirling Castle ( I would argue better than Edinburgh), Wallace monument, Battle of Bannockburn experience, falkirk wheel, the kelpies, Doune Castle. The safari park, brianlands farm (the kids love that place) etc plenty to do!
Now you know why the science of geology was born in Scotland. Castle Rock, that Edinburgh Castle sits on, was the plug of an extinct volcano. The softer rock of the rest of the volcano eroded away over time. The reason that the valley floors are so low and flat, then rise so sharply up into the mountains, is that the landscape was carved by glaciers
There's a vast amount to see and a huge variety of scenery in Scotland. I've heard it said you could have two weeks holiday here every year for 40 years and still not have to visit the same things. In three or four days you will just get a taste of things here. But do see Edinburgh, (pronounced Edin-bruh), and do the very scenic train trip to the West Coast, (Mallaig or Kyle of Lochalsh, say) then get over to Skye and do a little day tour. Slow roads, ferries and and railways do stretch distances out here as does the hilly geography. It gets very busy in Summer, for sure, and accomodation gets pricy and hard to find, there is a huge range of accomodation possibilities, but best to book in advance in the May-September tourist season. But it is awesomely beautiful and historic (whatever the weather). Take waterproofs and warm clothes!
There were more people in the highlands before the clearances happened. Essentially in the 18th century the landowners realised that they could make more money by evicting all their tenants and replacing them with sheep.
Sad to say, it was not the intention of Sir John Sinclair who first introduced the North-Country Cheviot to the area. He hoped it would raise the living standards of poor folk, but it sadly backfired, due to the breeds ultimate success.
A lot of the tenants evicted were very poor 'crofters', living a basic subsistence life on small patches of land with a few animals and growing a few crops, fishing sometimes and catching rabbits, heating simple stone cottages with dried peat from bogs. A lifestyle and culture unchanged for centuries. The clearances by uncaring rich landowners were immoral and brutal, led to poverty, destitution and mass emigration, and is still bitterly remembered by Scots families 200 years on. The 1837 hilltop monument near Golspie to the first Duke of Sutherland, a leader in the Highland Clearances, has been bombed and vandalised many times, most recently in 2011, and many Scots wish to see it demolished.
Indeed so; ‘though it is important to note that “rich landowners” were, more often than not, clan leaders - so much for ancient ties of kinship! The ‘Clearances’ were the equivalent of the earlier ‘Enclosure Acts’ in England. Although the latter were arguably less hypocritical - a straightforward ‘land-grab’ etc.
@@MrPercy112 Yes, as in England, the 'Lowland Clearances' enclosed common lands and pushed the tenants into the burgeoning towns and cities of the Industrial Revolution. There are very few references to this in the history books - perhaps because the Lowlanders just got on with their lives.
Scottish girl here, if your going to pay to visit a castle i highly recommend Stirling Castle. Been a few times and took my kids too. They loved it. Also you have the Stirling Monument nearby too. Hope you have the best time xxx
The Highland Soap Company produces bog myrtle soaps, body lotion etc which "disguises" your smell and keeps the midges away. There is also a product called Smidge that works well
It's a shame they changed the formula on Avon So Soft. Everywhere up north had it in to sell as midge repellent. Didn't know the bog myrtle from HSC worked, will need to get myself some for this summer!
When you come to Scotland, if you're concerned about the midges (small biting insects), you can get Avon Skin So Soft moisturiser from camping shops. It keeps them from ruining your day. If you don't think you can make it as far north as Skye, you can drive to Glencoe in about three hours from Edinburgh. It's one if the most scenic areas in Scotland. You can also book a day tour there from Edinburgh. Chances of seeing the Northern lights is slim. Mainly because by mid June, the sun won't set until after 10pm, and the further north you go, the later it'll set. Hope you enjoy your visit.
If you ever do end up visiting the north east on the way to the Duncansby Stacks, about an hour, hour and a half before you get there you’ll pass through a village called Golspie. Immediately after you’ll find Dunrobin Castle, an 18th century French chateau-style castle with beautiful gardens and a hidden museum, well worth a visit!
Hope you enjoy your trip to UK - tiny word of advice. It may be better (IMHO) to meander between 5 destinations than rush between 10!. Also may be worth checking weather maps of your intended destinations & follow the good weather! -have a great time!
The mountains on Skye are lava columns from extinct volcanoes. The fairy pools are best avoided in summer. We went in October and it was still heaving with people. And they are on a single lane road not an easy drive or to park at. Eileen Donon castle was in Highlander and is a 20th century rebuild of the old one destroyed in the 1700s. Still a good day out even if just for the drive there.
I truly hope you have such a great time and you come home with some memories that last a life time, personally i'm half Scottish and unfortunatly i have only spent 1 week there, guy's have an amazing time.
4 days is barely enough time to explore Edinburgh nevermind Scotland! Edinburgh Castle is well worth visiting and you can easily sink half a day into it alone (it is quite expensive though). If you really want to see Skye there are day tours run by Rabbies Tours from Edinburgh (possibly also some other companies) that leave early in the morning and return in the evening that will take you around most of the sights in that list and probably stop off at some other places for photo ops on the way up/down. In and around Edinburgh I'd also highly recommend the National Museum of Scotland (free and you can spend hours there!) and the Palace of Holyrood House (Historic Royal residence, the current Queen still stays there when in town) and St Giles Cathedral is worth popping in to. Just wandering the streets of the Old Town and discovering things for yourself is a great way to spend a day. I've lived here my entire life and still find things I've never seen before! If the weather is nice a trip to the seaside is a must - Portobello is within Edinburgh (20 mins by bus from the centre) and has a huge beach and promenade with some lovely cafes and restaurants and some arcades. Slightly further afield the town of North Berwick in East Lothian (around 20 miles and easily accessible by bus or train) has some great beaches and a little harbour where you can take a boat ride out around Bass Rock (a huge seabird colony). You could also head to Queensferry which is just West of Edinburgh (again easy access by bus or taking a train to Dalmeny) for a view of the Forth Bridges, an abundance of nice pubs and cafes and a boat trip under the bridges to Incholm Island which has a historic Abbey. You could also take the train one stop over the bridge from Dalmeny to North Queensferry and visit the aquarium there. Further along the coast from North Queensferry there's some lovely old fishing villages (Anstruther, Crail, St Monan's) which are very picturesque although may be harder to reach from Edinburgh without a car. Back in the city the Royal Yacht Britannia, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh Zoo, walking in Holyrood Park or the Braid/Blackford Hills, Camera Obscura and the Museum of Edinburgh are all excellent ways to spend some time. Also the Chocolatetarium on Cranston Street is often overlooked! Any questions or need more recommendations feel free to ask!
When in Edinburgh, take a few hours to walk the Water of Leith. The river runs through the heart of the city, from the pentland hills to the north sea at Leith. I grew up next to it and I love the river so much.
Greetings! I am really glad that you and the little ones are popping over and really happy to know that Scotland is on your itinerary. I live in the North of Scotland but on the East side, not far from the Cairngorm range. The weather, midges and countryside does change quite a lot once you are East of the Great Glen. That said, there is a lot of Scotland south of the Edinburgh/ Glasgow central belt. The stunning forests of Galloway and the beautiful border country that sweeps down toward Northumberland. Honestly, you will struggle to see more than the tiniest snippet in four days and will miss out on soooooo much. I do hope you will come back and spend a couple of weeks on a road trip. The Isle of Skye that was mentioned at the beginning, is a really incredible place like no other but you will struggle to get there with so little time. Oh, and the pronunciation issues? As Scots, it can grate on our gears somewhat but I dare say locals in all parts of the world feel the same with international visitors! We are just happy to have you journey over and visit our wonderful country of Scotland. Alba gu Brath!!
Shameless plug for where I live/work. If you go to the East Neuk of Fife, there's lots of lovely little coastal towns and villages and awesome scenery. Also, from April - September I work on a tourist boat that takes people out to the Isle of May which is a nature reserve. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds. Brilliant day out. I love it so much.
Glad you're visiting Edinburgh, it's beautiful, I used to go there at least once a year, pre-covid. I've visited both Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle a couple of times, and they're well worth it, not sure what people that told you otherwise were talking about.
@@sandersson2813 I think when someone lives in a place, their opinion of that place is very warped from what you see as a tourist. I grew up in Lisbon, and if you ask me it's a shithole and the only thing I want from it is distance. Meanwhile, tourists seem to love it.
Edinburgh Castle is definitely worth doing. You get a great view of the city and you get to learn about the fascinating history of the Stone of Destiny/Stone of Scone (pronounced Scoone). It's around 15-20 pounds for an admission ticket. If you go around 1pm then be on your toes 👀
I think that as a tourist the castle shouldn't be on your list, but there are better value for money tourist sites. Like if Edinburgh is your only stop in Scotland then it is worth paying to see a castle but if not there are better priced or free castles to visit.
Just some helpful hints: Glasgow - Glas-go (w is silent) Edinburgh - Edin-bruh or Edin-burrah (variation even in Scotland) Loch Lomond - Loch Low-mund Regardless of pronunciation you'll find them all wonderful, if you're travelling with a family and basing from Edinburgh for a few days you're not likely to see much of the unspoiled beauty shown here but things like Arthur's Seat are amazing plus can add on a day trip to see some Glens and/or Mountains. Have a safe trip!
I visited the Isle of Skye 3 years ago, in June 2019. It truly is a fantastic place to visit, but can be very busy, at the popular tourist spots, at that time of year. A hire car will be essential.
He said pretty much every place name wrong 😂😂 also if you want mountains and are in Edinburgh the Cairngorms or the trossachs are probably your best bet!
For Edinburgh check out Camera Obscura for family fun. For Glasgow (45 min train journey from Edinburgh) Kelvingrove museum (free) has lots in it and is very photogenic.
Love watching Americans react to my country! You’ll love it here! The Highlands of Scotland were actually part of the same mountain chain as the Appalachian mountains way back in earths prehistory! Be careful if you are going hiking up there though and keep a check on the weather. It can change very quickly out of season and get very misty. If you’re sticking to trails it’s generally okay but if you go wandering off it’s easy to get disorientated and lost! And we might not have wolves and bears but the faeries up there aren’t all that friendly and can lead you a merry dance! 😅
it's difficult to recommend anywhere, without knowing where you will be, and what transport you will have, and what floats your boat in scenery (we have something for all tastes) Edinburgh castle is fine (but not really worth the price to get inside) Dunfermline (especially the Abbey) is worth a look around the Forth bridges - go the South Queensferry and have a wander. Blackness Castle (still on the Forth) Stirling Castle - and if you are in Stirling, you have to go to the Wallace Monument and climb the stairs if you do go up to Loch Ness, then take the little detour and visit the Glenfinnan Viaduct - try and time it so you are there when the steam train goes over it - or even better, book tickets for the steam train ride between Fort William and Mallaig - you do need to book in advance, and tickets sell out pretty quickly. If you get as far north as Eilean Donan, then I recommend going around sunset - the castle is spectacular when lit at night - and there is a lookout point in the hills above it - breathtaking. Callander (north of Stirling) is really pretty to walk around on a nice sunny day.
I've visited Edinburgh Castle before, although I believe it was the 90s and I'd have been 10 or something, and it was quite nice as far as I remember. Visiting Holyrood Palace (pronounced as if it's spelled Hollyrood) was good too. Edinburgh is quite touristy (near the centre) compared to other places in Scotland though so expect it to feel a little bit like that and embrace that aspect. This might be a biased view because I grew up in Ayrshire, which is not very far southwest of Glasgow (pronunciation reminder: Glaz-go [or Glezga if you want to fit in with the us locals]) but the west of the country is pretty good for a first visit of a few days. Glasgow itself is definitely worth a trip but places like Loch Lomond and the Trosachs are great if you want to be outdoors. Stirling in central Scotland is also really nice and there's a very famous castle there too, aptly named Stirling Castle, which I think is even nicer looking than Edinburgh Castle. These places are all roughly each an hour from Edinburgh if you're dead set on visiting there. But no matter where you go I'm sure it'll be really nice. And you're there before all the schools take summer holidays so it shouldn't be *too* busy (during the week at least). June will be hard for the northern lights. Even up north it'll be difficult. We don't have "night" in Scotland in June. The sun doesn't dip too far below the horizon so we only reach astronomical twilight at best. That issue is more pronounced the further north you go.
If you have time (perhaps on your next trip), the west coast train line from Glasgow to Mallaig is beautiful. Thats the one that goes over the Glenfinnan viaduct. Beautiful scenery. Might be difficult with only 4 days in Scotland though. The journey is about 5.5 hours, If you had more time you could get the boat to Knoydart which has the remotest pub in britain (only accessible by boat or a 18 mile hike through the mountains). Alternatively you could go from Glasgow to Oban on the same trainline and visit Isle of Mull, another of my favourite islands (lots of golden eagles/sea eagles, otters, seals, even dolphins and whales if you are lucky). The village of Tobermory on Mull is so lovely (look it up). The Isle of Iona (a tiny island off mull's south west coast) has an abbey and is the birth place of Scotland's Christianity. A boat trip to Fingal's Cave is recommended (You can get these direct from Oban)
The Folly on Carlton Hill, Edinburgh has an interesting history. What happened was this guy had a great idea to build a replica of the Greek Parthenon to commemorate the Scottish soldiers who died in the Napoleonic wars...but after three years and about ten giant columns of frontage the money ran out and it's been left unfinished for 200 years.
You’ll have a fantastic welcome in our beautiful country A fantastic blend of vibrant cities and communities mixed with breathtaking rural scenery. Given the remote relocation of most of these I’ll be honest I’ve never been here in 42 years of living here 🤣 I really should
there are loads of tour guides in edinburgh, use them, some are around known attractions, but my favourites are the walking tours, eg, ghost tours history tours, harry potter tours etc, some are free and you only pay what you think the guide is worth, usually £10
Don't underestimate the midges! They are in the millions! If you have a reaction to their bites, a lot of people do, you will only want to escape them immediately and ruin your day!
You can Google them & get maps of their main locations. The problem is the females need blood to fertilise their eggs & the bites ( in their scores ! ) itch forever. They tend to swarm where there's low wind. So if attacked, seek an open space with a breeze e.g. a loch side ( BTW Canada also has that problem ! )
I spent a few days based in a small town at the bottom of Loch Ness called Fort Augustus. There was nothing particularly special in the town (except that the hotel's restaurant served the best fish, venison and beer that I have ever tasted) but you could walk in any direction out of the town and you were in a beautiful, secluded area. We flew to Inverness and drove 1 hour through spectacular scenery to get to Ft Augustus. It was wonderful.
In the last couple of weeks we have had the Northern Lights and wild fires in the highlands. You never know what you’re gunna get. An amazing and magical place.
They get worse the further north you go. I'm from Edinburgh and they're not too bad round here and in the Borders, but the ones in Orkney would have your leg off! We tried to walk round the harbour into the old town, but had to turn back because the midges were so bad!
I used to Live in Edinburgh and the Castle is really cool. They use it when they put on fire work shows, and the royal mile, a cobbled street filled with unique shops that runs from the castle gates down to Holyrood palace which is also stunning, which is located in the park below Arthur’s Seat. The Camera Obscura is just outside the castle gates also. Princess street gardens sit below the castle and run along the Main High Street in Edinburgh called Princess Street. There’s even a little beach on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Stirling is also lovely, and has a castle, it’s kind of half way and north between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Glasgow city centre is also pretty spectacular. You can drive all the way around Loch Lomand (Low Mond) which is stunning. St. Andrew’s on the east coast is also small but beautiful with some impressive ruins. If you are driving up to Scotland and passing Carlisle, which is just on the border between England and Scotland just on the M6/M74 motorway, nip in (it’s literally just off the motorway) and it has an impressive castle in the centre of the town. Hadrians Wall is also not far from there which is what’s left of the ancient wall that used to separate the two countries. Off the M6 motorway heading up the west side of England is the Lake District, and not far from the motorway are places like Keswick and Kendal and Ambleside and Lake Windermere, and you will drive through the Howgills, my fave part of any motorway, massive beautiful green hills. The highlands of Scotland are gorgeous, but you really need to take some time to explore up there, and if Edinburgh is your stop then it’s not going to be too possible. But Glasgow is just across the M8, takes about an hour to drive from one city to the other directly. You are gonna LOVE it :)
im in Edinburgh and my most favourite place to visit ever is Arthurs Seat from the video , the views are impressive and the whole feel of the place can give you chills . the father of geology got his ideas from there walking along the paths of the volcano .
@@betterhalf6868 definitely go to Dynamic Earth before going up Arthur's Seat (it's at the bottom of it) - it's a fantastic place with loads of family-friendly information on geology and the landscape of Scotland, with interactive exhibits including an iceberg, and there's a 4D cinema with a film about biomes and how plant and animal life have adapted to different environments.
Wester Ross National Scenic Area, as stunning as anything on Skye with, 10% of the tourists, always missed out in this kind of promotional video. Torridan Mts., Flowerdale hills, the Great Wilderness, An Teallach, The Fannichs, amazing beaches, Applecross/Ben Damph, Gairloch, Ullapool, best part of the North Coast 500 etc. It's just a thought.
Scotland is beautiful. I 've never seen loads of people out on the moors when I have been. On my honeymoon, my husband was standing on an edge looking at the view when he heard a scraping sound behind him, He turned and was able to just avoid being butted off the edge by a sheep. I've never trusted them since! Also as a child I remember going to see an ancient building called a Pictish Broch.
Britain has the most diverse landscapes for such a tiny island. It will blow your mind. It goes from lush Mediterranean down in Cornwall to gorgeous little windy lands and bursting greenery in the South through sloping rolling Downland, the flat wetlands of the East, the archetypal Englishness of the Home counties, the majesty of the Lake and the Peak Districts, Wales with it's lush valleys and Mountains, the glorious Dales and Moors and then up to the stark breathtaking beauty of Scotland. Plus we have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, usually in the coldest places though😂 When I was little we used to drive up from London to Scotland for holidays because my mum is Scottish and I loved seeing the landscape change through the drive. That first glimpse of the mountains as you get towards Aviemore is magical. I am so proud to live here. I bloody love it!
Loch Lomond is a 43 minute drive from Glasgow, South West Scotland, Loch Ness is a 25 minute drive from Inverness, North East Scotland, With a 3 hour 33 minute drive between the two Lochs, 👍🏼
Scotland is amazing, I'm there at least once a year and I still haven't seen everything. There are tourist seasons (usually school holidays) where it will be busier and you may see other tourists depending on where you're going and what time you go. Edinburgh castle is lovely but I would skip it in favour of Lilithgow Palace which is probably my favourite historical site in Scotland. Glencoe is also beautiful and not that far from Loch Ness and Glenfinnan. I could probably give you 4 days worth of activities just for Edinburgh though! Might be worth checking out Mary King's Close to see if that's your sort of things and the Graveyard Ghost Tour which runs from outside of St Giles Cathedral is awesome if you want a spook.
Love how you picked up on, "huge tracks of land". Doune castle, where part of the movie was filmed is close to Sterling, if you are indeed a Holy Grail fan. Enjoy your trip, hope you get decent weather.
Be careful, I visited once and ended up moving to Edinburgh!! It gets under your skin! Edit: in Edinburgh, visit dynamic earth if you want to know about the rock formations around Scotland. Landscape is heavily old volcanic form and glacial erosion.
If you visit Edinburgh, you have to check out the Edinburgh Vaults...a very historic underground city underneath the actual city and carved out of solid rock..so amazing!
Loch Lomond is pretty near Edinburgh compared to Loch Ness, but if you're dead set on Loch Ness this trip, the drive from Loch Lomond and the Trossachs (in the Lowlands) to Glencoe in the Highlands is an amazing journey. The land just steps up, changes within a few miles, the colours change, the feel changes, the plants and trees change...it's magical. The A82, past the Bridge of Orchy and then Achallader...then a switchback piece of road climbing round and up a hill and suddenly you're in a new land, the Highlands. I drove up the lochs to Inverness, and took the north side of Loch Ness, but I wonder if the south road is better.
Just so you know we have a law in Scotland called "the right to roam" so you can pretty much walk anywhere on someone else's land without having to worry about being on it illegally. Your only responsibility is to leave the beautiful place you have seen as you found it.
The right to roam law has a little condition, you have to respect the right of privacy, so no going into peoples personal spaces...i think you can roam upto 100 meters of the land owners home (radius)
@@penname5766 No it isn't, Scotland is the only country in the world so far that has the right to roam. In the rest of the UK you have to stick to allocated roaming routes, stray off those routes and the land owners can have you prosecuted.
@@traceythompson3162 I know, that is why i said allocated roaming routes. However that is not the same as the right to roam in Scotland where you have full access to 100% of the land (taking into consideration the right to privacy law that accompanies the right to roam)
at 6:27 the shot where you see the hills behind the bridge is where hogwarts is put onto the side of the hill on the right and Loch shiel is the "black lake" and few miles down the road to there is also where dumbledores "grave" is
I am a Kiwi living in London, but my Nana is from Glasgow. It is a country I love dearly. You two are going to love It. If you are visiting the area up around Inverness (Loch Ness etc) and if you are into history, then I highly recommend a visit to Culloden. It is at this final brutal battle led and lost by ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ that Scottish history changed forever. I highly recommend you check out it out and visit the site. I found it profound and emotional when I visited, especially as I know my ancestors fought at that final battle.
Scotland is definitely one of the most beautiful countries in the world but it is small and you could easily do a lot of it if your there for 4 days. His pronunciation is quite bad lol Loch Lomond is pronounced loch low-mnd haha I’m sure you will hear it when your there. I lived in Scotland for 26 years and regrettably I didn’t explore anywhere near as much as I should of. I’m sure you will love it 😊🏴🇦🇺
Really pleased to hear that you guys are coming to the UK - can't wait to see the resulting videos : ) TOP TIP - the number one thing that tourists and visitors MISS is Hampton Court Palace. It's a 40 minute train ride from central London and is , without doubt, the best preserved mediaeval palace in Europe. It's where Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn - please don't miss it !
If you are in Edinburgh I would recommend grabbing a sandwich and heading to the Dean Village for lunch. It's 10 minutes walk from the city centre West End, down Bell's Brae, a small steep cobbled hill and you leave the city sounds behind you in a place that looks as though it was designed by Disney. It nestles underneath an enormous road bridge designed by Thomas Telford and you can see the traffic cross it but not hear it. A river runs through it and you can sit by it, eat your lunch then go back to the West End up the hill or walk about half a mile by the river to quaint Stockbridge where you can find small shops and cafes if you didn't bring lunch. From there it's another 10 minute walk or short bus journey back to Princes Street through the impressive New Town architecture and all in about an hour and a half to 2 hours, depending on how enchanted you are by it all. I lived there for 36 years.
Highlander here, tourist season Easter to end of September. Skye is very busy now days. It is stunning but unless you go out very earlier it won't be quiet like in the video. NC500 is fantastic but unless your comfortable on single track roads and can reverse a car around corners or up down hills, might be better on a organised trip with like Rabbies. Smidge is a must for midges if going to the west coast, warm days with little to no breeze and they do swarm. Loch lomond is not really near Loch Ness (home to the monster). Northern lights is more winter time, in the summer we dont get dark skies but then in winter we get like 8 hours of day light. Nairn/orkney is a good place to see them. Arran is fantastic, it's called little Scotland if you only have a few days here to explore
Edinburgh Castle is okay but very busy. Stirling Castle is better in my opinion and has the Wallace Monument nearby, dedicated to William Wallace (Braveheart movie). Head up to Inverness and go down Loch Ness (home to the Loch Ness monster). There's lots to see in Edinburgh bar the castle.
Driving from Glasgow along the main North road, the A82, there's Dumbarton Castle, Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, Rannoch Moor, Glen Etive (Skyfall), Glencoe, Fort William, Fort Augustus and Loch Ness, Inverness, then follow the A9 South, to Edinburgh, through the Cairngorms National Park. You can also turn West at Fort William, to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the Glenfinnan Monument at the head of Loch Sheil, and the beaches at Arisaig and Morar, made famous in the movie Local Hero. You won't be disappointed. And that's just a tiny part of what to see and do on that route.
Another Scottish person here. If you're only coming for 4 days...forget going to the Isle of Skye. Drive from Edinburgh (pronounced Eddinbru') to Loch Lomond (pronounced Loam-ond) circa 90 minute journey. Then carry on up the A82 road for one of the most amazingly scenic drives in the World, through Glencoe, to Fort William, circa 2 hour drive. Jump on the train at Fort William to Mallaig (pronounced Mal-ague)This will take you over the Harry Potter viaduct and is voted one of the top rail journeys in the World for scenery. At Mallaig there are some wonderful seafood restaurants for lunch, then back on the train to Fort William, back in the car, keep on heading North up the A82 to Loch Ness, circa 60-90 minute drive and the city of Inverness. At this point you are only a 3.5 hour drive back down the A9 to Glasgow (pronounced Glazgo) or Edinburgh. You could comfortably do all of this in 4 days...and see the very best that Scotland has to offer. Loads of mountains, loads of lochs.
We are a small island but with so much to see and so much history and architecture. Every area of Britain has tons to see. It will take months to see everything worth seeing. Best to see the main parts and decide if you want to come back to view more specific areas. Scotland, north Wales, lake district are areas of mountains and high points. Parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire have plenty of valleys.
at 04:20 I paused - As I live and have travelled across all of Scotland for fun and adventure let me sum it up, there are places where there are no houses and some there are no roads and if there are roads they are true single tracks for miles. Anytime there are public or school holidays lots of the places will potentiall be busy with tourists both from UK and abroad. The south of the country would be more advisable for you to visit this time and then plan to come to Scotland only in the future to go further, lots of it is rather exposed and the public transport becomes rather poor, if there is any at all. You'd want to find a base in Scotland, like near Inverness and rent a car so you can go where you want, Isle of Skye for instance is just 2 hours west of Inverness. Inverness is like the heart of the North, it has decent road links in every direction and its a big enough place to have everything you need while being close enough to all the exposed places that its a couple of hours in the car max.
You should deffo check out poundshop Florida as well! (Cornwall). It's the peninsula at the bottom left, we get the warm gulf stream from the Caribbean (but it's cooled a little by the time it gets here), we have many hundreds of golden sandy beaches, palm trees, pensioners, rich people and wealth disparity. It's very similar to Scotland but without mountains or having to walk for hours to get anywhere.
As an Edinburgher, born and bred, it pains me to say this but (on a short visit) go to Glasgow instead. The City Centre has a wide range of attractions and most of the 'tourist buses' will be elsewhere. It's a walkable attractive city and (because the whole of Scotland lies on a SW - NE axis) the _ludicrously scenic_ Highlands are much nearer on the Western side of the Central Belt.
As a Glaswegian I’d disagree- I think Glasgow is ok looks wise and the citizens are nicer than their east coast counterparts but Edinburgh is just beautiful.
I agree with the above, as a tourist destination Edinburgh has it… it’s a lovely place to visit, but a shit place to work or navigate… On the whole though, the West coast wins hands down
First shot - is skye Weather is often “cloudy” to say least. If you want to go there it’s a long day but ideally stay up that area and hire a car There won’t be 1000 people Other things in skye - the cullins and sligachan old bridge are nearer to bridge crossing I’d suggest you need more than 4 days Getting around is easy but main thing is (good) accommodation pre covid get booked up esp at weekend Pronounced- It’s edin”buh-rah “Glen Finn naan” Def go to castle Pay for a historic scotland pass to save money Stirling castle is good, not free If you want a climb and best view climb Arthur’s seat It’s pronounced holly-rude Eileen donan is fun As it’s small could get busy
You need to come to Dumfries and Galloway. Stunning scenery and lovely, friendly people. Very rural. I am Scottish and love my country. Out of the big cities you will not find areas busy. No Harry Potter is not big for Scots anymore. You are better going to Stirling Castle. You can actually buy a pass to see many of the Scottish Castles. It covers all Historic Scotland's properties. If you would like any help/information. Please just let me know. We have lochs not lakes. Loch Ness is the home to Nessie. Not Loch Lomond. He spent most time in the Highlands. Try and get down south west to Dumfries and Galloway (sorry already said that 😅).
Hope yous have a fantastic time in Scotland, I would 100% say you haven't had the proper experience until you spend time in the Highlands and Islands. I'm in the northern city of Inverness and there are so many places spread across the highlands it would defiantly take at least a weeks dedicated trip up here. So many historical areas like culloden battle field to loch Ness to isle of Harris, to many places to list on here. Also the scenery of the cairngorm mountain range is a must see.
The Tower of London is where the crown jewels are. It's definitely worth a visit, and the quantity of jewels is mind blowing! Plus the Tower is just a fascinating place.
Scottish person here..the north is lovely and if you had a longer I'd do the whole thing but if you are based in Edinburgh and depending on the month there is so much to do nearby! I would take a day trip on a train (first class is unlimited food and drink and if it's of peak it can be surprising cheap) And yes don't I repeat DON'T copy his pronunciation! Rosslyn chapel is amazing but you can take a city bus (around £4.00 for an entire day off and on (takes a while) though the countryside and visit the chapel. Go to the info at Waverly Station they will put a whole itinerary together and they know where to go! If you have limited time and budget...they can help you too. The east coast is phenomenal too!!!
One of the most beautiful scenery I have seen is from the Stoorie viewpoint overlooking Ross and Cromarty, the colours couldn't be replicated by the finest artists, the Trossachs are the same, I live in a small town in Fife but no matter where you go in Scotland there is beauty to be found, its pronounce Edinburaa
A mountain in Scotland is called a Munro. There’s 282 in total and many folks set a goal to climb them all. I’ve done 3 🤪 Unfortunately much of Scotland, like everywhere else has become a tourist trap. Skye being no exception. Quiraing, Old man of Storr tend to be pretty busy and you have to pay to park virtually everywhere. That’s not to say the places aren’t stunning as they truly are. If you’re staying local to Edinburgh I’d recommend Arthur’s seat, Calton Hill, walk the royal mile, walk around the grassmarket, old town cobbled streets and the Edinburgh closes. If you do venture west to Loch Lomond (pronounced low-mond) then take a boat tour up the loch and if you’re fit enough climb Ben Lomond (a Munro) the views of the islands on Loch Lomond below are beautiful 😍 Have fun guys and hope the weather stays good for you.
@@ayeready6050 I’m Scottish. I was under the impression that anything below 3000ft isn’t classed as a mountain/munro. My understanding is that ben is a Scottish term for a big hill which may or may not be as tall as a Munro. I could be wrong though… it has been known 😉
@@colacube73 Ben is a general Gaelic term for mountain so any mountain might be called a Ben, regardless of whether it's over or under 3000ft. It has be over 3000ft to be classed as a Munro though. Named after Hugh Munro who compiled a list of them all. Brae is the Scots word for a big hill
I recommend Stirling which is only 30 miles from Edinburgh on the Motorway. We have Stirling Castle (you can wander all over Stirling Castle but it's not free), the old town jail and Wallace monument and on your way you can stop off at Linlithgow Palace. If you are going in the Summer, watch out for the mighty midge and take lots of midge repellent. After Stirling, head to Perthshire and explore.
You should definitely do the North Lanarkshire tour visiting some amazing places like Wishaw, Motherwell, Airdrie & the amazing Cumbernauld you will not regret it.
Scottish person here…. The places he’s visited are lovely, but they’re all quite north west and north focused. There are soooo many amazing places I could recommend to you that would be easier to get to for a 4 day trip based from Edinburgh. If you shared your planned itinerary then people could recommend places to see which would be doable in your trip. I feel this video has missed a lot of the obvious places to visit, maybe intentional. Also, he mispronounces most of the place names, so don’t copy him 😂
The way he pronounces Holyrood park ground my gears
@@williebauld1007 ... and all the rest! :-D
Edinbro ... LOL
Agreed. There is loads to do near Edinburgh. You can go up the fife coast and get fish and chips from the famous Anstruther fish bar. Glasgow is so worth the short bus journey.
The Trossachs, Stirling (castle better than Edinburgh) Perth and even Pitlochry is not to far to drive.
If I was you guys I would try get in touch with people who know Edinburgh and it's surrounding areas
@@neilonaniet That had me actually saying please stop with the bro!!
Ive lived in Skye/Highlands my whole life (im 28), I'm still exploring and finding new beautiful spots every day it's never ending with beautiful scenery. One trip is never enough.
About the crown jewels of Scotland: They are called The Honours of Scotland and they are the oldest surviving original crown jewels in the UK, therefore historically more important. They date from the 15th and 16th centuries. The crown jewels of England were lost or destroyed and the ones currently displayed in the Tower of London were made in 1660 for the Restoration of the monarchy.
Also, the mountains in Scotland are geologically among the oldest in the world.
you believe anything don't you..nationalist i guess.
@@transponderful I believe what historians, archeologists and geologists throughout the UK say, yes. This is not a question of political persuasion.
@@transponderful I believe the truth and there are records of the Honours from the early 16th century. What do the records show about the British crown jewels, since you are so knowlegable on the subject?
@@transponderfulI found the actual nationalist 😆
Loved the video , although the prounciations are questionable .As a Scottish person here are a few tips
1. Don't go to Edinburgh Castle , too crowded and costs £16 entry per person . Instead go to Chamber Street Museum and national museum of Scotland. Free entry .
2. Day trips from Edinburgh include Linlithgow - place where Mary Queen of Scots was born . Great wee place .
East Nuek of Fife gorgeous fishing villages and not far from St. Andrews
3. Don't go to Skye . Too busy and suffers from overtourism . Go to Oban and get the ferry over to Mull , Iona and Staffa . Gorgeous islands full of history and amazing landscape s
Any other tips ,, give me a shout
Love your videos
thanks so much! very helpful in planning our trip 😁
Good advice 👍
I don't think a place being busy is a reason to put someone off going to one of their first castle experiences. Though I'm sure the museums you mention are lovely, They've got actual museums in the states too.
Edinburgh Castle might be expensive for what it is but it has fantastic views of Edinburgh and I appreciate Arthur's seat is not far away and also free to climb. The American's I took to Edinburgh Castle six years ago still talk about it as their first castle Experience in Scotland.
It's worth going up to the castle for the views from the esplanade, but yeah no point paying to go in. Definitely Stirling instead. Good views from the roof of the museum too (you need to use the Terrace Lift [elevator] to reach the roof, ask for directions when you're in the museum). The Camera Obscura just down from the castle is worth a visit, and then walk down the Royal Mile looking for all the wee museums dotted about. Dynamic Earth is good, and then you're at Holyrood so you can visit Arthur's Seat. There's far too much to suggest just for a RUclips comment!
Admittedly I stayed something like 25kms away from Edinbra and have never been to the castle . Most folk from Edinburgh will tell you the same .
I agree that Stirling Castle is awesome , great views over the town . If you go up that way I recommend Wallace Monument too . Full of History linked in with the Scottish Wars of independence .
Any questions ,please don't hesitate to ask
As a Scot, its a major pity the narrator did not trouble himself to learn how to pronounce basic English words and more importantly the Scottish place names.
It kind of sounded like he was doing it on purpose, how did he manage to butcher even Glasgow, or Edinburgh specially after having been there.
Don’t be too harsh. I’m sure if we went to china or somewhere like that we would butcher their place names
@sara Sara: that’s not a particularly apt comparison; now is it? 😉
@@MrPercy112 I was trying to be nice!!!
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If you're short on time and you want to see amazing scenery, don't go all the way out to the islands (although they are amazing). Go to Fort William and take the Nevis Range cable car.
My sister's partner is from Fort William 💙
Yeah, take the road from Glasgow to Fort William. Glen etive and glencoe are on the way. Cable car Ben nevis and then on to oban and back to Glasgow. That is a day trip.
@@robertholmes809 Agreed, Glencoe is a must-see. Remote winding roads leading through incredibly impressive terrain, and you'll also pass by some of the mountains mentioned in this (Bidean Nam Bian) which is also a really nice winter climb for a range of climbing abilities. If you dedicate a day or two to travelling there from Edinburgh and back (with a stay overnight in Fort William or Oban), then you'll be able to drive past Stirling castle and Loch Lomond.
I live in Kent, in the south east of England. I have holidayed in Scotland since 1986 and there is nowhere else i would rather be.
Beautiful country, lovely people and amazing history. Only downside are the midges.
It hurts so bad that i haven't been since 2005. I hope i can get back someday as its the only place I've felt truly happy.
Last time I went back to Edinburgh was for a conference in 2017. However, I was so determined to spend some time there again after more than two decades away, I made sure I went to the Friday "session" (I told my boss I had to miss the Thursday stage because I had so many "commitments") with the firm intention of staying for the entire weekend. I ditched the yawnfest as soon I could, immediately went into town and walked everywhere. Edinburgh is one of my top five favourite cities.
Next morning, I hopped on the tram, which was right next to my hotel, to the airport, hired a car there and then drove to Dundee, St Andrews and all sorts of other places I hadn't seen since the early 90s.
Some raised eyebrows from my wife when I told her what I was up to ("and you really thought I wouldn't want to go? Hmm" - that kind of thing), but it was a perfect weekend even without her, and my university paid for virtually all of it - although they still don't know that :D
Get back!
Did no one tell you they only attack English people? 😆😆😆 only joking.
Scottish viewer here, grew up in the Highlands (Grantown on Spey near Aviemore, the Whisky trail along the Spey Valley takes in many distilleries), I now live in Stirling, have also lived in Edinburgh. His choices are all beautiful places but encompass only a part of the beauty. You can spend weeks exploring the country. The Cairngorms are majestic and have appeared in many films (since you love mountains), the islands are different again and in the north there are indeed the Orkney and Shetland isles with some of the oldest human structures in the world. The East has Aberdeen, Peterhead and many fine towns and rolling farmlands. The West coast has more islands with all the Hebrides. As a current Stirling resident we have Stirling Castle (often a film stand in for Edinburgh Castle), Church of the Holy Rude (Where James VI was crowned - he of the King James Bible and John Knox preached), the Wallace Monument and Perth with the Palace of scone not far away as well as many Lochs including Loch Lomond. Yeah the distances are deceptive, the roads tend to be very winding so trips take much longer than people expect. Also the roads go round the mountains so going East to West can be a long detour once you go more north than Stirling. He mentioned midges and for those you need bug spray designed to repel them, the wee devils can actually be attracted by many regular bug sprays - they are small mosquitos with the annoyance being they come in clouds of millions. End of the day you are gonna be time limited on any trip, it can't be helped so you can only plan carefully and expect weather to maybe get in the way at times (take clothes suitable for all four seasons as a warning on how variable it can get). There will likely be other people despite his photos but way less once you leave the main tourist hotspots. I used to walk and mountain bike around the cairngorms and spend hours without seeing anyone for instance but it can vary massively as the various coaches (fancy buses) take groups of tourists round the place - yup you are going to see an awful lot of coaches lol
Whilst in Edinburgh I suggest a trip to the Roslyn Chapel as featured in The Da Vinci Code film it is stunningly beautiful
Me too. Love the place
I've been there and it is beautiful, also many places of interest around it. There are also some Knights Templar activities around there. You need to look it up beforehand otherwise you will miss it all, and it will just be a small place to you.
Also roslyn glen us beautiful to walk after visiting chapel beautiful location
This is a go too , my auntie got married there beautiful 😍
Rosslyn Chapel is also in a Glen, with a beautiful wee park. I live 2 miles from it, and it can be part of a tour around the city limits. (Midlothian county)
I grew up on the west coast of Scotland, partly on one of the Islands, and my top tip is EMBRACE THE WEATHER. The real beauty of Scotland isn't in how it looks on a sunny day - its in how it looks in misty rain, with the beautiful muted colour palette and the bleak landscape of the highlands stretching out in front of you. When I get the train home from England to visit my parents, the moments as you get towards the central lowlands when the colour shifts, the plants change a little and the grey skies stretch out give me the greatest sense of being at home.
Also, no midges when it's raining! And don't pronounce any of the names of places like this. Edin-Bro?!?!?!
Dumfrieshire, ("Dum~freeze~sher") the first and only place I ever encounted horizontal rain. Seriously!
@@baylessnow haha, I genuinely miss the rain, I'd have brought it all down South if I could :p
Sounds like heading home to Norfolk for me - the skies get larger, the views open up and the large fields of wheat, barley and oilseed rape come into view.
I've only been once, 5 years ago to the day, 2 days driving to the top, round a bit, and home.....I'll never forget the change from lowlands to highlands, felt like going through a portal into another land. I was lucky with cloudless skies and no midges the whole trip.
Ed-in-burra -glas-GO it's no hard
Hello from Sweden! If you would like to see a lovely castle I think you should visit Stirling castle. Many tourists but a lot of history. And it’s not in the north!
Agreed, went there in Mar 2019, Stirling ideally suited for Glasgow (Amazing -didn't expect that), Edinburgh, Inverness etc.
Absolutely! 👍
I live in Stirling it’s beautiful. I would recommend going to the trossachs if you ever come for a visit :)
Definitely ! The views from the castle across the old town and down to the Forth really illustrate why this was the heart of Scotland - the first (or last) bridge from the Lowlands to the Highlands, the field of Bannockburn and the Wallace Monument encapsulate so much of Scottish history.
I'm Scottish and started touring my own country to get away from city during pandemic. I will never travel abroad again now I see what I have missed out of. 4 weeks time I'm away again for 3 months this time. You'll love Scotland
Its the age of the Scottish crown jewels that make them impressive. They managed to survive Cromwell, while the English Crown jewels were destroyed. Today the English/ UK crown jewels in the Tower of London have more jewels, so look more ornate because they are younger and were made when the country was much wealthier. Had the original Saxon crown survived it was also be a modest affair.
Highlander here. There are a lot of single track roads here with passing places. Please, please, please learn to use passing places correctly! We drive on the left, so if the passing place is on your left go into it. It it is on the opposite side, just wait on your side of the road across from it (no diving across the road to get into it). Finally allow locals to pass you, they might be heading to work. I hope you have a great trip and I hope you get lucky with the weather.
Great to hear you are visiting us in Scotland. A lot of the places in the video are in Skye which is a special place but Scotland is so much more than that. Edinburgh, Stirling, the Fife Coast, St Andrew’s, Glasgow, Loch Lomand, Oban etc if you are staying around central Scotland. Edinburgh Dungeons are a must. Scotland has such a rich (and violent) history so lots to learn. If you are heading further north, Braemar, Aviemore and the Cairngorms are well worth a visit. Scotland also has some of the best beaches in the world so check out any you are nearby (just don’t expect it to be hot haha). Scotland has magical light so definitely make the effort to get up early to see sunrise and twilight in the evening can be very special.
those are awesome ideas! thanks so much for sharing. we will definitely make the effort to see those if possible 👍
You've got to be up very early to see sunrise in Edinburgh in June! 🤣 Sunrise is before 4.30am most of the month
Edinburgh dungeons was rank rotten, a poor pantomime in an old Wine cellar
As Al Murray said, our mountains aren't particularly tall or remote, but perfect for practise before going on to conquer everyone else's 🤣
Loving you're going to be coming to my beautiful country. So many options, it's hard to suggest a few.
Couple of tips when in Edinburgh we have a really good bus system so use them if you need to go around the city depending on where you're staying/where you're going. You can get a daysaver if you're going to use a lot of buses in 1 day that will save some money/looking for change. Wear comfortable shoes, Edinburgh's built on 7 hills, even for a local it can be tiring going up and down them. And bring a waterproof jacket and have layers - we get 4 seasons in 1 day here!
From Edinburgh there are companies that do day trips so maybe have a look at them. Loch Lomond is do-able and there may organised trips there, or you could get the train or bus there (Balloch or Alexandria station?!). You could go north to Pitlochry, there are lovely walks around there and you could get the train into the town. It's beautiful up there. Other place is Fife, just a lovely place and you'd go over the famous Forth Rail Bridge to get there. North Berwick is a lovely day trip too, close by on the train if you're looking for a beach and place to wander round.
In Edinburgh unfortunately the cafe where JK Rowling wrote some of HP is closed, there was a fire last year and it was really badly damaged, shame as it's a lovely cafe.
You don't need to go in to Edinburgh Castle to appreciate the view, you can stand on the esplanade and take in the amazing view. I've not been into the castle since I was a child so can't comment on whether it's worth it. The thing up Calton Hill is sometimes called "Edinburgh's Disgrace/Shame" as it's meant to be a copy of the Parthenon in Athens and that's all they built.
Museums are free to enter mostly - the main one in Edinburgh has lots of interactive stuff and a varied collection.
It'll be starting to get busy around then, the Edinburgh schools don't finish until the end of June. It's the Queen's Jubilee on 3rd June so offices/schools will be shut but it won't impact you seeing things.
Northern lights - there's an app called AuroraAlertsUK which lets you know if there is going to be any aurora, they have a Facebook page too. You'd need amber to see anything in Edinburgh.
Sorry for such a long comment!
Before the Atlantic Ocean opened up those mountains were part of the same range as the Appalachians.
And the Anti-Atlas in North Africa 😂
I'm Scottish and live in Ayr on the west coast home of Robert Burns Scotland's national poet and John macadam inventor of tarmac roads , Greenan castle on the cliff edge of the sea , Culzean castle etc etc almost anywhere in Scotland has something to see and loads of history and very often you will be the only people there.
If you are going to be near Edinburgh, then a double trip I can recommend is to the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel. The Kelpies are twin 50'+ sculptures of horses heads celebrating horse power on the canals and also mythical sea-beasts; the Falkirk Wheel is an iconic boat-lift on the canal, a modern engineering marvel and a beautiful sight. Look both up on RUclips and see if you can fit them in, they are close to each other. Enjoy the UK.
Great suggestion - the Kelpies are stunning
A trip to the Cairngorms (aviemore area) is a must. It’s a beautiful place to visit. Can be busy with tourists but won’t be too bad in June, before the English schools break up. Scottish schools break up end of June so depending when you’re going you might have some school holiday families
There is no way they have the time to visit there.
@@SMlFFY85 If they want to visit Loch Ness, they have to pass through the Cairngorms or go up the west coast, which is a much longer route.
@@SMlFFY85 it’s less than a 3 hour drive from Edinburgh. They’re going for 4 days. How do they not have time to visit aviemore?
It's too far for a 4 day trip, let alone from London. Especially if they're driving.
If you get time pop over to Stirling (about hour from Edinburgh), there's Stirling Castle ( I would argue better than Edinburgh), Wallace monument, Battle of Bannockburn experience, falkirk wheel, the kelpies, Doune Castle. The safari park, brianlands farm (the kids love that place) etc plenty to do!
Good call !
Now you know why the science of geology was born in Scotland.
Castle Rock, that Edinburgh Castle sits on, was the plug of an extinct volcano. The softer rock of the rest of the volcano eroded away over time.
The reason that the valley floors are so low and flat, then rise so sharply up into the mountains, is that the landscape was carved by glaciers
There's a vast amount to see and a huge variety of scenery in Scotland. I've heard it said you could have two weeks holiday here every year for 40 years and still not have to visit the same things. In three or four days you will just get a taste of things here. But do see Edinburgh, (pronounced Edin-bruh), and do the very scenic train trip to the West Coast, (Mallaig or Kyle of Lochalsh, say) then get over to Skye and do a little day tour. Slow roads, ferries and and railways do stretch distances out here as does the hilly geography. It gets very busy in Summer, for sure, and accomodation gets pricy and hard to find, there is a huge range of accomodation possibilities, but best to book in advance in the May-September tourist season. But it is awesomely beautiful and historic (whatever the weather). Take waterproofs and warm clothes!
There were more people in the highlands before the clearances happened. Essentially in the 18th century the landowners realised that they could make more money by evicting all their tenants and replacing them with sheep.
Sad to say, it was not the intention of Sir John Sinclair who first introduced the North-Country Cheviot to the area. He hoped it would raise the living standards of poor folk, but it sadly backfired, due to the breeds ultimate success.
A lot of the tenants evicted were very poor 'crofters', living a basic subsistence life on small patches of land with a few animals and growing a few crops, fishing sometimes and catching rabbits, heating simple stone cottages with dried peat from bogs. A lifestyle and culture unchanged for centuries. The clearances by uncaring rich landowners were immoral and brutal, led to poverty, destitution and mass emigration, and is still bitterly remembered by Scots families 200 years on. The 1837 hilltop monument near Golspie to the first Duke of Sutherland, a leader in the Highland Clearances, has been bombed and vandalised many times, most recently in 2011, and many Scots wish to see it demolished.
Indeed so; ‘though it is important to note that “rich landowners” were, more often than not, clan leaders - so much for ancient ties of kinship! The ‘Clearances’ were the equivalent of the earlier ‘Enclosure Acts’ in England. Although the latter were arguably less hypocritical - a straightforward ‘land-grab’ etc.
@@MrPercy112 Yes, as in England, the 'Lowland Clearances' enclosed common lands and pushed the tenants into the burgeoning towns and cities of the Industrial Revolution. There are very few references to this in the history books - perhaps because the Lowlanders just got on with their lives.
@Kuma Senlac: yes indeed, and a very interesting subject it is too. 👍
Scottish girl here, if your going to pay to visit a castle i highly recommend Stirling Castle. Been a few times and took my kids too. They loved it. Also you have the Stirling Monument nearby too. Hope you have the best time xxx
The Highland Soap Company produces bog myrtle soaps, body lotion etc which "disguises" your smell and keeps the midges away. There is also a product called Smidge that works well
my grans farm cat was called smidge.....it was good at keeping rats away!
It's a shame they changed the formula on Avon So Soft. Everywhere up north had it in to sell as midge repellent. Didn't know the bog myrtle from HSC worked, will need to get myself some for this summer!
When you come to Scotland, if you're concerned about the midges (small biting insects), you can get Avon Skin So Soft moisturiser from camping shops. It keeps them from ruining your day.
If you don't think you can make it as far north as Skye, you can drive to Glencoe in about three hours from Edinburgh. It's one if the most scenic areas in Scotland. You can also book a day tour there from Edinburgh.
Chances of seeing the Northern lights is slim. Mainly because by mid June, the sun won't set until after 10pm, and the further north you go, the later it'll set.
Hope you enjoy your visit.
If you ever do end up visiting the north east on the way to the Duncansby Stacks, about an hour, hour and a half before you get there you’ll pass through a village called Golspie. Immediately after you’ll find Dunrobin Castle, an 18th century French chateau-style castle with beautiful gardens and a hidden museum, well worth a visit!
Hope you enjoy your trip to UK - tiny word of advice. It may be better (IMHO) to meander between 5 destinations than rush between 10!. Also may be worth checking weather maps of your intended destinations & follow the good weather! -have a great time!
The mountains on Skye are lava columns from extinct volcanoes. The fairy pools are best avoided in summer. We went in October and it was still heaving with people. And they are on a single lane road not an easy drive or to park at. Eileen Donon castle was in Highlander and is a 20th century rebuild of the old one destroyed in the 1700s. Still a good day out even if just for the drive there.
I truly hope you have such a great time and you come home with some memories that last a life time, personally i'm half Scottish and unfortunatly i have only spent 1 week there, guy's have an amazing time.
4 days is barely enough time to explore Edinburgh nevermind Scotland!
Edinburgh Castle is well worth visiting and you can easily sink half a day into it alone (it is quite expensive though).
If you really want to see Skye there are day tours run by Rabbies Tours from Edinburgh (possibly also some other companies) that leave early in the morning and return in the evening that will take you around most of the sights in that list and probably stop off at some other places for photo ops on the way up/down.
In and around Edinburgh I'd also highly recommend the National Museum of Scotland (free and you can spend hours there!) and the Palace of Holyrood House (Historic Royal residence, the current Queen still stays there when in town) and St Giles Cathedral is worth popping in to. Just wandering the streets of the Old Town and discovering things for yourself is a great way to spend a day. I've lived here my entire life and still find things I've never seen before!
If the weather is nice a trip to the seaside is a must - Portobello is within Edinburgh (20 mins by bus from the centre) and has a huge beach and promenade with some lovely cafes and restaurants and some arcades. Slightly further afield the town of North Berwick in East Lothian (around 20 miles and easily accessible by bus or train) has some great beaches and a little harbour where you can take a boat ride out around Bass Rock (a huge seabird colony). You could also head to Queensferry which is just West of Edinburgh (again easy access by bus or taking a train to Dalmeny) for a view of the Forth Bridges, an abundance of nice pubs and cafes and a boat trip under the bridges to Incholm Island which has a historic Abbey. You could also take the train one stop over the bridge from Dalmeny to North Queensferry and visit the aquarium there. Further along the coast from North Queensferry there's some lovely old fishing villages (Anstruther, Crail, St Monan's) which are very picturesque although may be harder to reach from Edinburgh without a car.
Back in the city the Royal Yacht Britannia, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh Zoo, walking in Holyrood Park or the Braid/Blackford Hills, Camera Obscura and the Museum of Edinburgh are all excellent ways to spend some time. Also the Chocolatetarium on Cranston Street is often overlooked!
Any questions or need more recommendations feel free to ask!
Best not to bother with Edinburgh, just get up the north west.
When in Edinburgh, take a few hours to walk the Water of Leith. The river runs through the heart of the city, from the pentland hills to the north sea at Leith. I grew up next to it and I love the river so much.
Greetings! I am really glad that you and the little ones are popping over and really happy to know that Scotland is on your itinerary. I live in the North of Scotland but on the East side, not far from the Cairngorm range. The weather, midges and countryside does change quite a lot once you are East of the Great Glen. That said, there is a lot of Scotland south of the Edinburgh/ Glasgow central belt. The stunning forests of Galloway and the beautiful border country that sweeps down toward Northumberland. Honestly, you will struggle to see more than the tiniest snippet in four days and will miss out on soooooo much. I do hope you will come back and spend a couple of weeks on a road trip. The Isle of Skye that was mentioned at the beginning, is a really incredible place like no other but you will struggle to get there with so little time. Oh, and the pronunciation issues? As Scots, it can grate on our gears somewhat but I dare say locals in all parts of the world feel the same with international visitors! We are just happy to have you journey over and visit our wonderful country of Scotland. Alba gu Brath!!
Shameless plug for where I live/work.
If you go to the East Neuk of Fife, there's lots of lovely little coastal towns and villages and awesome scenery.
Also, from April - September I work on a tourist boat that takes people out to the Isle of May which is a nature reserve. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds. Brilliant day out. I love it so much.
Glad you're visiting Edinburgh, it's beautiful, I used to go there at least once a year, pre-covid.
I've visited both Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle a couple of times, and they're well worth it, not sure what people that told you otherwise were talking about.
I live in Edinburgh, its average.
@@sandersson2813 I think when someone lives in a place, their opinion of that place is very warped from what you see as a tourist. I grew up in Lisbon, and if you ask me it's a shithole and the only thing I want from it is distance. Meanwhile, tourists seem to love it.
@@mpmlopes Its a fair point.
I like how happy and giddy you are to be going on this holiday 😃👍
Edinburgh Castle is definitely worth doing. You get a great view of the city and you get to learn about the fascinating history of the Stone of Destiny/Stone of Scone (pronounced Scoone). It's around 15-20 pounds for an admission ticket. If you go around 1pm then be on your toes 👀
I think that as a tourist the castle shouldn't be on your list, but there are better value for money tourist sites. Like if Edinburgh is your only stop in Scotland then it is worth paying to see a castle but if not there are better priced or free castles to visit.
You mean Twinny Poonds (£20)
Just some helpful hints:
Glasgow - Glas-go (w is silent)
Edinburgh - Edin-bruh or Edin-burrah (variation even in Scotland)
Loch Lomond - Loch Low-mund
Regardless of pronunciation you'll find them all wonderful, if you're travelling with a family and basing from Edinburgh for a few days you're not likely to see much of the unspoiled beauty shown here but things like Arthur's Seat are amazing plus can add on a day trip to see some Glens and/or Mountains. Have a safe trip!
I visited the Isle of Skye 3 years ago, in June 2019. It truly is a fantastic place to visit, but can be very busy, at the popular tourist spots, at that time of year. A hire car will be essential.
4:31 The main spots on Skye will be crazy-busy in June. Fortunately, there are lots of other magical bits that will be quieter.
He said pretty much every place name wrong 😂😂 also if you want mountains and are in Edinburgh the Cairngorms or the trossachs are probably your best bet!
I was laughing at all the place names he butchered lol bless him 😊
@@ladykaycey Tell them how it is pronounced then.
Edinburgh is pronounced Edinbra. Holyrood is pronounced Holyrude
@@nigelparsons2104 And its Loch Lomond pronounced Low mand.
@@andrewlaw Low mond. It depends what area youre from I suppose
For Edinburgh check out Camera Obscura for family fun. For Glasgow (45 min train journey from Edinburgh) Kelvingrove museum (free) has lots in it and is very photogenic.
Love watching Americans react to my country! You’ll love it here! The Highlands of Scotland were actually part of the same mountain chain as the Appalachian mountains way back in earths prehistory! Be careful if you are going hiking up there though and keep a check on the weather. It can change very quickly out of season and get very misty. If you’re sticking to trails it’s generally okay but if you go wandering off it’s easy to get disorientated and lost! And we might not have wolves and bears but the faeries up there aren’t all that friendly and can lead you a merry dance! 😅
it's difficult to recommend anywhere, without knowing where you will be, and what transport you will have, and what floats your boat in scenery (we have something for all tastes)
Edinburgh castle is fine (but not really worth the price to get inside)
Dunfermline (especially the Abbey) is worth a look around
the Forth bridges - go the South Queensferry and have a wander.
Blackness Castle (still on the Forth)
Stirling Castle - and if you are in Stirling, you have to go to the Wallace Monument and climb the stairs
if you do go up to Loch Ness, then take the little detour and visit the Glenfinnan Viaduct - try and time it so you are there when the steam train goes over it - or even better, book tickets for the steam train ride between Fort William and Mallaig - you do need to book in advance, and tickets sell out pretty quickly.
If you get as far north as Eilean Donan, then I recommend going around sunset - the castle is spectacular when lit at night - and there is a lookout point in the hills above it - breathtaking.
Callander (north of Stirling) is really pretty to walk around on a nice sunny day.
I've visited Edinburgh Castle before, although I believe it was the 90s and I'd have been 10 or something, and it was quite nice as far as I remember. Visiting Holyrood Palace (pronounced as if it's spelled Hollyrood) was good too.
Edinburgh is quite touristy (near the centre) compared to other places in Scotland though so expect it to feel a little bit like that and embrace that aspect.
This might be a biased view because I grew up in Ayrshire, which is not very far southwest of Glasgow (pronunciation reminder: Glaz-go [or Glezga if you want to fit in with the us locals]) but the west of the country is pretty good for a first visit of a few days. Glasgow itself is definitely worth a trip but places like Loch Lomond and the Trosachs are great if you want to be outdoors. Stirling in central Scotland is also really nice and there's a very famous castle there too, aptly named Stirling Castle, which I think is even nicer looking than Edinburgh Castle. These places are all roughly each an hour from Edinburgh if you're dead set on visiting there. But no matter where you go I'm sure it'll be really nice. And you're there before all the schools take summer holidays so it shouldn't be *too* busy (during the week at least).
June will be hard for the northern lights. Even up north it'll be difficult. We don't have "night" in Scotland in June. The sun doesn't dip too far below the horizon so we only reach astronomical twilight at best. That issue is more pronounced the further north you go.
The west highlands are absolutely gorgeous. You could spend 2 weeks just in that one spot. Oban and the surrounding areas are just lovely
If you have time (perhaps on your next trip), the west coast train line from Glasgow to Mallaig is beautiful. Thats the one that goes over the Glenfinnan viaduct. Beautiful scenery. Might be difficult with only 4 days in Scotland though. The journey is about 5.5 hours, If you had more time you could get the boat to Knoydart which has the remotest pub in britain (only accessible by boat or a 18 mile hike through the mountains). Alternatively you could go from Glasgow to Oban on the same trainline and visit Isle of Mull, another of my favourite islands (lots of golden eagles/sea eagles, otters, seals, even dolphins and whales if you are lucky). The village of Tobermory on Mull is so lovely (look it up). The Isle of Iona (a tiny island off mull's south west coast) has an abbey and is the birth place of Scotland's Christianity. A boat trip to Fingal's Cave is recommended (You can get these direct from Oban)
Brilliant video, you're going to love it here in Scotland, plenty of things to see, places to visit and eat.
You need to take a boat trip through the Falkirk Wheel. You can get on one at the nearby Visitor Centre.
Also visit the Kelpies while your there.
The Folly on Carlton Hill, Edinburgh has an interesting history. What happened was this guy had a great idea to build a replica of the Greek Parthenon to commemorate the Scottish soldiers who died in the Napoleonic wars...but after three years and about ten giant columns of frontage the money ran out and it's been left unfinished for 200 years.
Also known as Edinburgh's Disgrace
You’ll have a fantastic welcome in our beautiful country
A fantastic blend of vibrant cities and communities mixed with breathtaking rural scenery.
Given the remote relocation of most of these I’ll be honest I’ve never been here in 42 years of living here 🤣 I really should
there are loads of tour guides in edinburgh, use them, some are around known attractions, but my favourites are the walking tours, eg, ghost tours history tours, harry potter tours etc, some are free and you only pay what you think the guide is worth, usually £10
Don't underestimate the midges! They are in the millions! If you have a reaction to their bites, a lot of people do, you will only want to escape them immediately and ruin your day!
You can Google them & get maps of their main locations. The problem is the females need blood to fertilise their eggs & the bites ( in their scores ! ) itch forever. They tend to swarm where there's low wind. So if attacked, seek an open space with a breeze e.g. a loch side ( BTW Canada also has that problem ! )
@@jimlyon7276 Everyone goes on about the midges in Scotland. It was the horseflies that drove me crazy in Scotland.
I spent a few days based in a small town at the bottom of Loch Ness called Fort Augustus. There was nothing particularly special in the town (except that the hotel's restaurant served the best fish, venison and beer that I have ever tasted) but you could walk in any direction out of the town and you were in a beautiful, secluded area. We flew to Inverness and drove 1 hour through spectacular scenery to get to Ft Augustus. It was wonderful.
In the last couple of weeks we have had the Northern Lights and wild fires in the highlands. You never know what you’re gunna get. An amazing and magical place.
Scotland has great places, we are very friendly especially in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Isle of skye, Loch Lomond, Trossachs, Highlands, Isle of Arran
Make sure to bring bug spray! Scottish midges can be awful near water. They bite a lot and they can be really itchy.
Your schedule is at the start of midge season.
Cheap skin moisturiser works just as well as expensive bug sprays. Covering up helps. Midges are not so bad near the coast or in towns.
They get worse the further north you go. I'm from Edinburgh and they're not too bad round here and in the Borders, but the ones in Orkney would have your leg off! We tried to walk round the harbour into the old town, but had to turn back because the midges were so bad!
I used to Live in Edinburgh and the Castle is really cool. They use it when they put on fire work shows, and the royal mile, a cobbled street filled with unique shops that runs from the castle gates down to Holyrood palace which is also stunning, which is located in the park below Arthur’s Seat. The Camera Obscura is just outside the castle gates also. Princess street gardens sit below the castle and run along the Main High Street in Edinburgh called Princess Street. There’s even a little beach on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Stirling is also lovely, and has a castle, it’s kind of half way and north between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Glasgow city centre is also pretty spectacular.
You can drive all the way around Loch Lomand (Low Mond) which is stunning. St. Andrew’s on the east coast is also small but beautiful with some impressive ruins.
If you are driving up to Scotland and passing Carlisle, which is just on the border between England and Scotland just on the M6/M74 motorway, nip in (it’s literally just off the motorway) and it has an impressive castle in the centre of the town.
Hadrians Wall is also not far from there which is what’s left of the ancient wall that used to separate the two countries. Off the M6 motorway heading up the west side of England is the Lake District, and not far from the motorway are places like Keswick and Kendal and Ambleside and Lake Windermere, and you will drive through the Howgills, my fave part of any motorway, massive beautiful green hills. The highlands of Scotland are gorgeous, but you really need to take some time to explore up there, and if Edinburgh is your stop then it’s not going to be too possible. But Glasgow is just across the M8, takes about an hour to drive from one city to the other directly. You are gonna LOVE it :)
im in Edinburgh and my most favourite place to visit ever is Arthurs Seat from the video , the views are impressive and the whole feel of the place can give you chills . the father of geology got his ideas from there walking along the paths of the volcano .
thanks for the input! it helps so much👍
@@betterhalf6868 definitely go to Dynamic Earth before going up Arthur's Seat (it's at the bottom of it) - it's a fantastic place with loads of family-friendly information on geology and the landscape of Scotland, with interactive exhibits including an iceberg, and there's a 4D cinema with a film about biomes and how plant and animal life have adapted to different environments.
@@vikkispence I agree. I went to Dynamic Earth about 20 years ago.
Wester Ross National Scenic Area, as stunning as anything on Skye with, 10% of the tourists, always missed out in this kind of promotional video. Torridan Mts., Flowerdale hills, the Great Wilderness, An Teallach, The Fannichs, amazing beaches, Applecross/Ben Damph, Gairloch, Ullapool, best part of the North Coast 500 etc. It's just a thought.
Scotland is beautiful. I 've never seen loads of people out on the moors when I have been. On my honeymoon, my husband was standing on an edge looking at the view when he heard a scraping sound behind him, He turned and was able to just avoid being butted off the edge by a sheep. I've never trusted them since! Also as a child I remember going to see an ancient building called a Pictish Broch.
Britain has the most diverse landscapes for such a tiny island. It will blow your mind. It goes from lush Mediterranean down in Cornwall to gorgeous little windy lands and bursting greenery in the South through sloping rolling Downland, the flat wetlands of the East, the archetypal Englishness of the Home counties, the majesty of the Lake and the Peak Districts, Wales with it's lush valleys and Mountains, the glorious Dales and Moors and then up to the stark breathtaking beauty of Scotland. Plus we have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, usually in the coldest places though😂
When I was little we used to drive up from London to Scotland for holidays because my mum is Scottish and I loved seeing the landscape change through the drive. That first glimpse of the mountains as you get towards Aviemore is magical.
I am so proud to live here. I bloody love it!
Greetings from Glasgow, Scotland you'll both love it oh and he is mispronouncing some place names
Loch Lomond is a 43 minute drive from Glasgow, South West Scotland,
Loch Ness is a 25 minute drive from Inverness, North East Scotland,
With a 3 hour 33 minute drive between the two Lochs,
👍🏼
Glas
Scotland is amazing, I'm there at least once a year and I still haven't seen everything. There are tourist seasons (usually school holidays) where it will be busier and you may see other tourists depending on where you're going and what time you go. Edinburgh castle is lovely but I would skip it in favour of Lilithgow Palace which is probably my favourite historical site in Scotland. Glencoe is also beautiful and not that far from Loch Ness and Glenfinnan. I could probably give you 4 days worth of activities just for Edinburgh though! Might be worth checking out Mary King's Close to see if that's your sort of things and the Graveyard Ghost Tour which runs from outside of St Giles Cathedral is awesome if you want a spook.
Love how you picked up on, "huge tracks of land". Doune castle, where part of the movie was filmed is close to Sterling, if you are indeed a Holy Grail fan. Enjoy your trip, hope you get decent weather.
Be careful, I visited once and ended up moving to Edinburgh!! It gets under your skin!
Edit: in Edinburgh, visit dynamic earth if you want to know about the rock formations around Scotland.
Landscape is heavily old volcanic form and glacial erosion.
Us too!
Yeah I love dynamic earth it's well worth a visit.
If you visit Edinburgh, you have to check out the Edinburgh Vaults...a very historic underground city underneath the actual city and carved out of solid rock..so amazing!
Loch Lomond isn't near Loch Ness. There's about a 4 hour drive between them
Loch Lomond is pretty near Edinburgh compared to Loch Ness, but if you're dead set on Loch Ness this trip, the drive from Loch Lomond and the Trossachs (in the Lowlands) to Glencoe in the Highlands is an amazing journey. The land just steps up, changes within a few miles, the colours change, the feel changes, the plants and trees change...it's magical. The A82, past the Bridge of Orchy and then Achallader...then a switchback piece of road climbing round and up a hill and suddenly you're in a new land, the Highlands.
I drove up the lochs to Inverness, and took the north side of Loch Ness, but I wonder if the south road is better.
Just so you know we have a law in Scotland called "the right to roam" so you can pretty much walk anywhere on someone else's land without having to worry about being on it illegally. Your only responsibility is to leave the beautiful place you have seen as you found it.
The right to roam law has a little condition, you have to respect the right of privacy, so no going into peoples personal spaces...i think you can roam upto 100 meters of the land owners home (radius)
no way! that's awesome! you do that on private property here and you can legally get shot!
@@penname5766 No it isn't, Scotland is the only country in the world so far that has the right to roam.
In the rest of the UK you have to stick to allocated roaming routes, stray off those routes and the land owners can have you prosecuted.
@@garymcatear822 you have the right to roam law in England too well about 8 percent of England
@@traceythompson3162 I know, that is why i said allocated roaming routes. However that is not the same as the right to roam in Scotland where you have full access to 100% of the land (taking into consideration the right to privacy law that accompanies the right to roam)
at 6:27 the shot where you see the hills behind the bridge is where hogwarts is put onto the side of the hill on the right and Loch shiel is the "black lake" and few miles down the road to there is also where dumbledores "grave" is
Oh my, his pronunciation
Glen-fee-nan! lol
I am a Kiwi living in London, but my Nana is from Glasgow. It is a country I love dearly. You two are going to love It. If you are visiting the area up around Inverness (Loch Ness etc) and if you are into history, then I highly recommend a visit to Culloden. It is at this final brutal battle led and lost by ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ that Scottish history changed forever. I highly recommend you check out it out and visit the site. I found it profound and emotional when I visited, especially as I know my ancestors fought at that final battle.
Scotland is definitely one of the most beautiful countries in the world but it is small and you could easily do a lot of it if your there for 4 days. His pronunciation is quite bad lol Loch Lomond is pronounced loch low-mnd haha I’m sure you will hear it when your there. I lived in Scotland for 26 years and regrettably I didn’t explore anywhere near as much as I should of. I’m sure you will love it 😊🏴🇦🇺
I'd love to know how you could see a lot in 4 days,to visit all the interesting places in Edinburgh would take 2 or 3 days by itself.
Scotland is mind blowing , the scenery, the tropical looking beaches you could never expect to see there,and the heritage
Really pleased to hear that you guys are coming to the UK - can't wait to see the resulting videos : ) TOP TIP - the number one thing that tourists and visitors MISS is Hampton Court Palace. It's a 40 minute train ride from central London and is , without doubt, the best preserved mediaeval palace in Europe. It's where Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn - please don't miss it !
If you are in Edinburgh I would recommend grabbing a sandwich and heading to the Dean Village for lunch. It's 10 minutes walk from the city centre West End, down Bell's Brae, a small steep cobbled hill and you leave the city sounds behind you in a place that looks as though it was designed by Disney. It nestles underneath an enormous road bridge designed by Thomas Telford and you can see the traffic cross it but not hear it. A river runs through it and you can sit by it, eat your lunch then go back to the West End up the hill or walk about half a mile by the river to quaint Stockbridge where you can find small shops and cafes if you didn't bring lunch. From there it's another 10 minute walk or short bus journey back to Princes Street through the impressive New Town architecture and all in about an hour and a half to 2 hours, depending on how enchanted you are by it all. I lived there for 36 years.
Highlander here, tourist season Easter to end of September. Skye is very busy now days. It is stunning but unless you go out very earlier it won't be quiet like in the video. NC500 is fantastic but unless your comfortable on single track roads and can reverse a car around corners or up down hills, might be better on a organised trip with like Rabbies. Smidge is a must for midges if going to the west coast, warm days with little to no breeze and they do swarm. Loch lomond is not really near Loch Ness (home to the monster). Northern lights is more winter time, in the summer we dont get dark skies but then in winter we get like 8 hours of day light. Nairn/orkney is a good place to see them. Arran is fantastic, it's called little Scotland if you only have a few days here to explore
Edinburgh Castle is okay but very busy. Stirling Castle is better in my opinion and has the Wallace Monument nearby, dedicated to William Wallace (Braveheart movie).
Head up to Inverness and go down Loch Ness (home to the Loch Ness monster).
There's lots to see in Edinburgh bar the castle.
Driving from Glasgow along the main North road, the A82, there's Dumbarton Castle, Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, Rannoch Moor, Glen Etive (Skyfall), Glencoe, Fort William, Fort Augustus and Loch Ness, Inverness, then follow the A9 South, to Edinburgh, through the Cairngorms National Park. You can also turn West at Fort William, to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the Glenfinnan Monument at the head of Loch Sheil, and the beaches at Arisaig and Morar, made famous in the movie Local Hero. You won't be disappointed. And that's just a tiny part of what to see and do on that route.
Another Scottish person here. If you're only coming for 4 days...forget going to the Isle of Skye. Drive from Edinburgh (pronounced Eddinbru') to Loch Lomond (pronounced Loam-ond) circa 90 minute journey. Then carry on up the A82 road for one of the most amazingly scenic drives in the World, through Glencoe, to Fort William, circa 2 hour drive. Jump on the train at Fort William to Mallaig (pronounced Mal-ague)This will take you over the Harry Potter viaduct and is voted one of the top rail journeys in the World for scenery. At Mallaig there are some wonderful seafood restaurants for lunch, then back on the train to Fort William, back in the car, keep on heading North up the A82 to Loch Ness, circa 60-90 minute drive and the city of Inverness. At this point you are only a 3.5 hour drive back down the A9 to Glasgow (pronounced Glazgo) or Edinburgh.
You could comfortably do all of this in 4 days...and see the very best that Scotland has to offer. Loads of mountains, loads of lochs.
I live in Scotland and I would definitely recommend going to Glenfinnon Viaduct its really cool. You should plan an entire trip to Scotland.
We are a small island but with so much to see and so much history and architecture. Every area of Britain has tons to see. It will take months to see everything worth seeing. Best to see the main parts and decide if you want to come back to view more specific areas. Scotland, north Wales, lake district are areas of mountains and high points. Parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire have plenty of valleys.
I went to Scotlabd in June / July 2010. A lot of these places are isolated and tourist free as many.people stick to the bigger cities.
at 04:20 I paused - As I live and have travelled across all of Scotland for fun and adventure let me sum it up, there are places where there are no houses and some there are no roads and if there are roads they are true single tracks for miles. Anytime there are public or school holidays lots of the places will potentiall be busy with tourists both from UK and abroad.
The south of the country would be more advisable for you to visit this time and then plan to come to Scotland only in the future to go further, lots of it is rather exposed and the public transport becomes rather poor, if there is any at all.
You'd want to find a base in Scotland, like near Inverness and rent a car so you can go where you want, Isle of Skye for instance is just 2 hours west of Inverness. Inverness is like the heart of the North, it has decent road links in every direction and its a big enough place to have everything you need while being close enough to all the exposed places that its a couple of hours in the car max.
You should deffo check out poundshop Florida as well!
(Cornwall).
It's the peninsula at the bottom left, we get the warm gulf stream from the Caribbean (but it's cooled a little by the time it gets here), we have many hundreds of golden sandy beaches, palm trees, pensioners, rich people and wealth disparity.
It's very similar to Scotland but without mountains or having to walk for hours to get anywhere.
As an Edinburgher, born and bred, it pains me to say this but (on a short visit) go to Glasgow instead. The City Centre has a wide range of attractions and most of the 'tourist buses' will be elsewhere. It's a walkable attractive city and (because the whole of Scotland lies on a SW - NE axis) the _ludicrously scenic_ Highlands are much nearer on the Western side of the Central Belt.
As a Glaswegian I’d disagree- I think Glasgow is ok looks wise and the citizens are nicer than their east coast counterparts but Edinburgh is just beautiful.
I agree with the above, as a tourist destination Edinburgh has it… it’s a lovely place to visit, but a shit place to work or navigate…
On the whole though, the West coast wins hands down
First shot - is skye
Weather is often “cloudy” to say least. If you want to go there it’s a long day but ideally stay up that area and hire a car
There won’t be 1000 people
Other things in skye - the cullins and sligachan old bridge are nearer to bridge crossing
I’d suggest you need more than 4 days
Getting around is easy but main thing is (good) accommodation pre covid get booked up esp at weekend
Pronounced- It’s edin”buh-rah
“Glen Finn naan”
Def go to castle
Pay for a historic scotland pass to save money
Stirling castle is good, not free
If you want a climb and best view climb Arthur’s seat
It’s pronounced holly-rude
Eileen donan is fun As it’s small could get busy
You need to come to Dumfries and Galloway. Stunning scenery and lovely, friendly people. Very rural. I am Scottish and love my country. Out of the big cities you will not find areas busy. No Harry Potter is not big for Scots anymore. You are better going to Stirling Castle. You can actually buy a pass to see many of the Scottish Castles. It covers all Historic Scotland's properties. If you would like any help/information. Please just let me know.
We have lochs not lakes. Loch Ness is the home to Nessie. Not Loch Lomond.
He spent most time in the Highlands. Try and get down south west to Dumfries and Galloway (sorry already said that 😅).
Hope yous have a fantastic time in Scotland, I would 100% say you haven't had the proper experience until you spend time in the Highlands and Islands. I'm in the northern city of Inverness and there are so many places spread across the highlands it would defiantly take at least a weeks dedicated trip up here. So many historical areas like culloden battle field to loch Ness to isle of Harris, to many places to list on here. Also the scenery of the cairngorm mountain range is a must see.
The Tower of London is where the crown jewels are. It's definitely worth a visit, and the quantity of jewels is mind blowing! Plus the Tower is just a fascinating place.
Scottish person here..the north is lovely and if you had a longer I'd do the whole thing but if you are based in Edinburgh and depending on the month there is so much to do nearby! I would take a day trip on a train (first class is unlimited food and drink and if it's of peak it can be surprising cheap) And yes don't I repeat DON'T copy his pronunciation! Rosslyn chapel is amazing but you can take a city bus (around £4.00 for an entire day off and on (takes a while) though the countryside and visit the chapel. Go to the info at Waverly Station they will put a whole itinerary together and they know where to go! If you have limited time and budget...they can help you too. The east coast is phenomenal too!!!
One of the most beautiful scenery I have seen is from the Stoorie viewpoint overlooking Ross and Cromarty, the colours couldn't be replicated by the finest artists, the Trossachs are the same, I live in a small town in Fife but no matter where you go in Scotland there is beauty to be found, its pronounce Edinburaa
Glad you guys are going to Loch Lomond. I know i recommended that to you before. I visited there 10 years ago and it was beautiful.
A mountain in Scotland is called a Munro. There’s 282 in total and many folks set a goal to climb them all. I’ve done 3 🤪 Unfortunately much of Scotland, like everywhere else has become a tourist trap. Skye being no exception. Quiraing, Old man of Storr tend to be pretty busy and you have to pay to park virtually everywhere. That’s not to say the places aren’t stunning as they truly are.
If you’re staying local to Edinburgh I’d recommend Arthur’s seat, Calton Hill, walk the royal mile, walk around the grassmarket, old town cobbled streets and the Edinburgh closes. If you do venture west to Loch Lomond (pronounced low-mond) then take a boat tour up the loch and if you’re fit enough climb Ben Lomond (a Munro) the views of the islands on Loch Lomond below are beautiful 😍 Have fun guys and hope the weather stays good for you.
Munro only refers to mountains over 3000 feet (almost a 1000m). 'Ben' is the Gaelic word for mountain and is what most mountains are called.
@@ayeready6050 I’m Scottish. I was under the impression that anything below 3000ft isn’t classed as a mountain/munro. My understanding is that ben is a Scottish term for a big hill which may or may not be as tall as a Munro. I could be wrong though… it has been known 😉
@@colacube73 Ben is a general Gaelic term for mountain so any mountain might be called a Ben, regardless of whether it's over or under 3000ft. It has be over 3000ft to be classed as a Munro though. Named after Hugh Munro who compiled a list of them all. Brae is the Scots word for a big hill
I recommend Stirling which is only 30 miles from Edinburgh on the Motorway. We have Stirling Castle (you can wander all over Stirling Castle but it's not free), the old town jail and Wallace monument and on your way you can stop off at Linlithgow Palace. If you are going in the Summer, watch out for the mighty midge and take lots of midge repellent. After Stirling, head to Perthshire and explore.
You should definitely do the North Lanarkshire tour visiting some amazing places like Wishaw, Motherwell, Airdrie & the amazing Cumbernauld you will not regret it.
🤣🤣🤣
Hope they know this a joke 😂
He's having you on, they're horrible
Nearly spat my tea out there. lol