100 of the best day trips in Scotland

Full guide to St Abbs Directions

St Abbs

From Edinburgh

Explore this lovely fishing village, famous for being New Asgard in the Avengers movies. Walk up to St Abb's Head for cliffs holding 60,000 seabirds in summer and a freshwater loch behind them before heading to one of the village cafes for a crab sandwich, fresh off the boats.

Edinburgh 1 hr by car, or Borders Buses from the city

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Full guide to Culross Directions

Culross

From Edinburgh & Perth

Famous for its role in Outlander, Culross is a a brilliantly well preserved village with a 1597 merchant's palace that still has its original painted ceilings. Head to The Mercat cafe for great coffee, lunches and an interiors shop out the back.

Edinburgh 50 min by car, or the train to Dunfermline and a Stagecoach busPerth 45 min by car, or buses from Dunfermline

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Full guide to St Andrews Directions

St Andrews

From Edinburgh & Perth

The home of golf and a university town since 1413, walk the two miles of West Sands where they filmed the opening of Chariots of Fire, wander the ruins of what was once Scotland's largest church, or potter round the harbour and the old streets behind it.

Edinburgh 1 hr 30 by car, or 1 hr by train to Leuchars and a 10 min busPerth 55 min by car, or 40 min by train to Leuchars and a 10 min bus

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Full guide to Anstruther Directions

Anstruther

From Edinburgh

A working harbour in the East Neuk with one of the best known chip shops in Scotland on the quayside, eat them looking at the boats, go next door to the Scottish Fisheries Museum for the herring drifter Reaper and a yard of old wooden boats, or take the May Princess out to the Isle of May. The boat runs April to September and gives you three hours ashore among the puffins.

Edinburgh 1 hr 45 by car, or about 2 hr on the X60 direct

By bus or coachCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Linlithgow

From Edinburgh

A gorgeous ruined Renaissance palace on the edge of its own loch, where Mary, Queen of Scots was born in 1542, look for the carved fountain in the courtyard, climb to Queen Margaret's Bower for the view out to the Forth bridges, or walk the path right round the loch.

Edinburgh 45 min by car, or 15 minutes direct from Waverley

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Stirling

From Edinburgh & Glasgow & Perth

The old gateway between the Lowlands and the Highlands, with the castle on its crag above the town, go in for the Great Hall and the Royal Palace, its interiors put back the way James V's craftsmen left them, climb the Wallace Monument across the valley, or walk out to the battlefield at Bannockburn.

Edinburgh 50 min by car, or about 50 min direct by trainGlasgow 40 min by car, or 30 min by train from Queen StreetPerth 35 min by car, or 30 min direct by train

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Full guide to the Kelpies and Falkirk Directions

The Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel

From Edinburgh & Glasgow

Two thirty metre horse heads in steel at the end of the Forth and Clyde Canal, free to walk up to, go inside them on the tour, let the children loose in the Helix park around them, or head five kilometres west to the Falkirk Wheel. Andy Scott modelled them on Clydesdales and they went up in 2014; the Wheel lifts boats twenty four metres between two canals and you can ride it.

Edinburgh 45 min by car, or 35 min to Falkirk High and a short taxiGlasgow 35 min by car, or 25 min by train to Falkirk and a short taxi

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritage

Full guide to Glasgow Directions

Glasgow

From Edinburgh

Scotland's largest city, visit Kelvingrove Gallery and the Riverside Museum, both free, climb the Necropolis behind the cathedral for a view back over the rooftops, or spend the afternoon eating and drinking in the West End or Finnieston. Most of Glasgow's twenty nine museums and galleries cost nothing.

Edinburgh 1 hr 15 by car, or 50 min direct by train every 15 minutes

By trainTowns and villages

Full guide to Loch Lomond Directions

Loch Lomond

From Edinburgh & Glasgow

The biggest stretch of fresh water in Britain, twenty four miles long with thirty islands in it, take a cruise from Balloch at the southern end, ride the traffic free path up the west shore to Luss and its beach, or cross to Balmaha for the climb up Conic Hill and the waterbus out to Inchcailloch. Ben Lomond rises over the east side, the most southerly of the Munros.

Edinburgh 1 hr 15 by car, or about 2 hr by train via Glasgow to BallochGlasgow 45 min by car, or 45 min by train to Balloch

An hour or lessBy trainLochs, glens and mountains

Pitlochry

From Edinburgh & Perth

A Victorian resort town that has kept its hotels and its theatre, which plays in repertory all year, walk down to the dam to watch the salmon ladder, where over five thousand fish climb every year, tour Blair Athol distillery, or take on Ben Vrackie behind the town.

Edinburgh 1 hr 30 by car, or about 1 hr 50 direct by trainPerth 35 min by car, or 25 min direct by train

An hour or lessBy trainLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Full guide to Dunkeld Directions

Dunkeld, Birnam and the Hermitage

From Edinburgh & Perth

Gorgeous in autumn, walk the mile and a half up the Braan to Ossian's Hall, a folly built right over the Black Linn Falls, cross the Tay to the cathedral for the musket holes left in the east gable in 1689, or find the Birnam Oak. Then head to a riverside bar for a drink on the river.

Edinburgh 1 hr 30 by car, or 1 hr 35 to Dunkeld and Birnam and a 5 min walkPerth 20 min by car, or 12 minutes direct by train

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageLochs, glens and mountains

Rosslyn Chapel

From Edinburgh

The most heavily carved interior in Scotland, every surface worked from the pillars to the vaulted roof, find the Apprentice Pillar and the green men hidden in the stonework, then walk down into Roslin Glen afterwards. The Da Vinci Code made Rosslyn Chapel famous and it has been busy ever since, so book ahead.

Edinburgh 30 min by car, or 45 min on the Lothian 37 direct

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Melrose

From Edinburgh

A handsome Borders town built around an abbey where a lead casket thought to hold Robert the Bruce's heart, wander the cloister, eat well on the square, or carry on three miles to Abbotsford, Walter Scott's house above the Tweed.

Edinburgh 1 hr by car, or 1 hr to Tweedbank and the X62 bus

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Glenkinchie Distillery

From Edinburgh

The closest lowland malt to Edinburgh, out in the barley country of East Lothian, draw your own whisky from the cask in the maturation room, work through the flavour tasting, or look round the old malting floors, a museum of malt whisky since 1969. It is open Tuesday to Saturday.

Edinburgh 30 min by car, or the Lothian X7 to Haddington and the East Coast 123, which stops at the distillery gate

An hour or lessBy bus or coach

Full guide to the Firth of Forth Directions

South Queensferry and the Forth Bridges

From Edinburgh

Three bridges across the Forth side by side, the 1890 railway bridge, the 1964 road bridge and the 2017 crossing, take a boat from Hawes Pier to run under all three and out to Inchcolm for the abbey and the seals, look into the free Queensferry Museum for the story of the Briggers who built the first one, or walk the old High Street along the shore.

Edinburgh Twenty minutes by train to Dalmeny and a fifteen minute walk down, or the Lothian Country 43 from Princes Street

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Tantallon Castle and Dirleton

From Edinburgh

A great red curtain wall on a cliff edge looking straight out at the Bass Rock, built by the Douglases in the 1300s, walk the wall head and the grounds, watch the gannets going back and forth, or carry on six miles west to Dirleton, whose castle gardens hold the longest herbaceous border in the world.

Edinburgh Train to North Berwick, then the East Coast Buses 120 which runs past the castle

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageCoast and beaches

Full guide to Blackness Castle Directions

Blackness Castle

From Edinburgh

The ship that never sailed, a 15th century castle jutting out into the Forth, long and narrow as a hull, great for Outlander fans, climb the tower for the view up and down the firth, or walk in along the shore on the John Muir Way, which runs right past the door. It has been a garrison, a state prison and a Victorian ammunition depot in its time.

Edinburgh Train to Linlithgow, then about fourteen minutes on the F49 bus to Blackness Square

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageCoast and beaches

Full guide to Dunfermline Directions

Dunfermline

From Edinburgh

Scotland's newest city, with Robert the Bruce buried in the Abbey and his name carved in giant letters round the tower, walk through Pittencrieff Park next door, Andrew Carnegie's gift to the town he was born in, go on to his birthplace cottage and the Carnegie Library and Galleries, or look for the peacocks in the glen. All of it is free.

Edinburgh Train to Dunfermline City, half a mile from the abbey, with the bus station a little closer

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Full guide to Edinburgh Directions

Edinburgh

From Glasgow

Scotland's capital and fifty minutes from Glasgow Queen Street, climb Arthur's Seat to see the whole city laid out below, wander the Old Town down to Holyrood, or spend the afternoon in the national galleries. The castle has over two million visitors a year, so book ahead if you want to go in.

Glasgow 1 hr 15 by car, or about 50 min by train every 15 minutes

By trainTowns and villages

Helensburgh and the Hill House

From Glasgow

Mackintosh's 1900 house designed for a Glasgow publisher, now standing inside a steel box clad in chainmail mesh while its walls dry out. You can walk round and over the house on raised walkways, go up to the roof terrace for the view across the Clyde to Arran, or drop into Helensburgh for the free Outdoor Museum.

Glasgow 45 min by car, or 45 min by train to Helensburgh Central and 20 min uphill

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageTowns and villages

The Isle of Bute

From Glasgow

A Clyde holiday island, with a circular castle and a water filled moat at Rothesay, Mount Stuart, Victorian gothic at full volume with a marble hall under an eighty foot dome and a First Folio in the library, or visit the red sand and the seal colony at Scalpsie Bay. The train runs right onto the pier at Wemyss Bay for the ferry.

Glasgow 55 min by train to Wemyss Bay, then 35 min on the CalMac ferry

By trainCastles and heritageCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Largs and the Isle of Cumbrae

From Glasgow

A proper old seaside day out, ten minutes on the ferry from Largs, hire a bike in Millport and ride the eleven mile road that rings the island, flat and quiet the whole way, find the painted Crocodile Rock on the beach, or look into the Cathedral of the Isles, the smallest in Britain. Largs itself has the Vikingar centre and the battle of 1263 behind it.

Glasgow About 1 hr by train to Largs, then 10 min on the ferry to Cumbrae

By trainCoast and beachesTowns and villages

The Isle of Arran

From Glasgow

Scotland in miniature, with the Highland Boundary Fault running right across the middle of the island, climb Goat Fell for the whole Firth of Clyde laid out below, walk up to Glenashdale Falls behind Whiting Bay, or spend the day in the gardens at Brodick Castle. The ferry from Ardrossan takes under an hour.

Glasgow 45 min by train to Ardrossan Harbour, then about 55 min on the ferry

By trainCastles and heritageLochs, glens and mountainsCoast and beaches

Full guide to walks in the Trossachs Directions

The Trossachs and Loch Katrine

From Glasgow

Cruise one way and cycle back – take the 126 year old Steamship Sir Walter Scott up to Stronachlachar, hire a bike or an e-bike at Trossachs Pier, then ride the fourteen miles back along a shore road closed to traffic. Sailings run all year, and bikes go on the steamship if you book them.

Glasgow About 1 hr by car, or the X10A to Aberfoyle and the Trossachs Explorer on to the pier, which runs all year

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountains

Full guide to Inveraray Directions

Inveraray

From Glasgow

A whitewashed town on the shore of Loch Fyne, visit the Duke of Argyll's castle, seat of Clan Campbell, climb the bell tower for the view down the loch, or spend an hour in Inveraray Jail, the Georgian courthouse and prison on the front. The castle opens Thursday to Monday.

Glasgow 1 hr 30 by car, or about 1 hr 45 on Citylink from Buchanan Street

By bus or coachCastles and heritageTowns and villages

The Campsie Fells

From Glasgow

Walk up through Campsie Glen from the Clachan of Campsie, under a kilometre past picnic spots in old trees, carry on up the steeper path to the waterfalls, or take the full round over Dumgoyne and Earl's Seat from near Killearn.

Glasgow 30 min by car, or First's X85 and 88C out to Campsie Glen

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountains

Doune Castle

From Glasgow

Doune has played Camelot in Monty Python, Castle Leoch in Outlander and Winterfell in Game of Thrones, so come for the film trail and stay for the great hall, the best preserved in Scotland, with a minstrels' gallery and a hearth in the middle of the floor. The audio guide is narrated by Terry Jones or Sam Heughan.

Glasgow 45 min by car, or the train to Stirling and a bus

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

New Lanark and the Falls of Clyde

From Glasgow

A cotton mill village in a gorge on the Clyde, now a World Heritage Site, where Robert Owen ran his experiment in treating mill workers decently, see the mills, the school and Owen's own house, go up to the roof garden, or walk out of the back gate and up the river to the Falls of Clyde. The ticket lasts a year and the falls are free.

Glasgow 45 min by car, or about 50 min by train to Lanark and a short bus

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Full guide to Ayrshire Directions

Ayr and Alloway

From Glasgow

Robert Burns was born in a thatched cottage here in Alloway, and the museum beside it holds five thousand of his things, including manuscripts, follow the village trail along the route of Tam o' Shanter, past Alloway Auld Kirk and over the Brig o' Doon, or find the giant mouse on the Poet's Path. The Burns Monument and its gardens date the start of Burns tourism to 1823.

Glasgow 45 min by car, or about 50 min by train to Ayr and a short bus

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Full guide to Ayrshire Directions

Culzean Castle

From Glasgow

Robert Adam's cliff top house on the Ayrshire coast, wander 260 hectares of beaches, woods, deer park and walled garden, or turn the children loose in Adventure Cove and the Wild Woodland. The country park stays open all year, even once the castle shuts on 1 November.

Glasgow 1 hr by car, or the train to Maybole and a taxi, or a bus from Ayr

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageCoast and beaches

Full guide to Puck's Glen and Cowal Directions

Dunoon and the Cowal peninsula

From Glasgow

Take the ferry across the water to Dunoon and climb Castle Hill behind the town for the view back across to Gourock, or head to Benmore Botanic Garden for a 160 year old avenue of giant redwoods, three hundred rhododendron species and a restored Victorian fernery. Benmore closes from 31 October until March.

Glasgow About 45 minutes by train to Gourock, then 25 minutes on the CalMac foot ferry or 20 on the car ferry to Hunter's Quay

By trainCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Dumbarton Castle

From Glasgow

A volcanic plug 340 million years old where the Leven meets the Clyde, and the centre of the kingdom of Strathclyde long before it was ever a royal castle, climb the steps to White Tower Crag for the view up the firth, find the French Prison and the gun batteries, or look at part of a thousand year old Viking sword in the Rock of Ages exhibition.

Glasgow Thirty minutes by train from Queen Street to Dumbarton East, then a walk of about three quarters of a mile, or an hour by bus

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Mugdock Country Park

From Glasgow

270 hectares of wood, moor and loch on the edge of Glasgow, free to walk and free to park, find the ruins of two castles, Mugdock from the 1300s and Craigend, follow the Toadstool Trail with children, or look for the wartime gunsites at Khyber Field. You can walk in from Milngavie station along the first stretch of the West Highland Way.

Glasgow About ten miles out, and you can take the train to Milngavie and walk in along the start of the West Highland Way

An hour or lessBy trainLochs, glens and mountains

Paisley

From Glasgow

A 1163 abbey that is still the parish church, free to walk into, with a leaning west gable and a cloister garden planted with roses, take the guided tour to get further into the building, or wander the Victorian streets around Abbey Close. Tours run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at two.

Glasgow Eleven minutes by train from Glasgow Central to Gilmour Street, with up to 129 trains a day, and the station is a short walk from the abbey

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Full guide to Falkland and Maspie Den Directions

Falkland and Maspie Den

From Perth

James V's hunting palace, with the oldest tennis court still in use anywhere, built for him in 1541, see the Chapel Royal and the royal apartments, wander the formal garden and the orchard, or walk Maspie Den behind the village, up a narrow glen, through a tunnel cut in the hillside and out behind the Yad waterfall.

Perth 35 min by car, or the train to Markinch and a bus

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageLochs, glens and mountains

Full guide to the East Neuk Directions

The East Neuk of Fife

From Perth

A string of fishing villages along the Fife coast, each one with its own a harbour, go to Pittenweem for the fish market every morning and the boats still landing, find St Fillan's Cave behind the shore, 7th century and fitted out as a chapel, or walk the coast path between the villages. The arts festival takes over Pittenweem in early August.

Perth 1 hr by car, or the train to Leuchars, the 99 into St Andrews and the 95 along the coast

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Loch Leven and Kinross

From Perth

Mary, Queen of Scots was held on the island here and escaped by boat, and you cross the same way on the ferry out from Kinross pier, walk or cycle the Heritage Trail, thirteen traffic free miles right round the loch, or come in autumn when the pink footed geese arrive in their thousands. Seats on the castle boat are limited, so book ahead.

Perth 20 min by car, or a bus from Perth; there is no station at Kinross

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritageLochs, glens and mountains

Full guide to Dundee Directions

Dundee

From Perth & Aberdeen

Home of the V and A, Kengo Kuma's first building in Britain, go on to Captain Scott's Discovery moored alongside it, the ship that carried him to Antarctica and was built here in 1901, or climb Dundee Law for the view over the Tay and both bridges. Mackintosh's Oak Room has been rebuilt inside the V and A and is free to walk into.

Perth 25 min by car, or 25 min direct by trainAberdeen 1 hr 15 by car, or 1 hr 10 by train

An hour or lessBy trainTowns and villages

Braemar and the Linn of Dee

From Perth & Aberdeen

The Linn of Dee sees the river forced through a slot in the rock, a favourite picnic spot of Queen Victoria, follow the waymarked trails up the river through regenerating pinewood towards Glen Lui and the high Cairngorms behind it, or go six miles east to Braemar for the castle, community run and reopened in 2024. The Braemar Gathering is held on the first Saturday in September.

Perth 1 hr 15 by car to Braemar over the Cairnwell. No public transportAberdeen 1 hr 30 by car, or Stagecoach to Braemar

By bus or coachNeeds a carLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Blair Atholl

From Perth

A white castle with thirty rooms open to walk through, wander the Hercules Garden, or find the Grand Fir in Diana's Grove, 62.7 metres and the second tallest tree in Britain. The Atholl Highlanders are garrisoned here, the only legal private army in Europe.

Perth 45 min by car, or 35 min by train, though only a few trains a day stop

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Full guide to Scotland’s gorge walks Directions

Aberfeldy and the Birks

From Perth

A gorge walk that starts in the town square and climbs 3.5 kilometres up the Moness burn past a run of waterfalls, cross the footbridge above the highest of them, sit at Burns' Seat, where he rested in 1787 and got a poem out of the glen, in town there are independent shops and the watermill with its bookshop and gallery.

Perth 40 min by car, and buses run from Perth and Pitlochry

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Glenshee and the Snow Roads

From Perth

The A93 over the Cairnwell is the highest public road in Britain, and the drive over the Snow Roads is the day out in itself, ride the chairlift to the top of the ski area in summer, sit on the Glenshee Bench near the top, built out of recycled skis, or walk one of the three Munros that start at the car park. In winter it all depends on the snow.

Perth 50 min by car to Glenshee, 1 hr 15 to Braemar. Ember's E11 runs the Snow Road and stops at the ski centre, but from Perth it means changing at Blairgowrie

An hour or lessNeeds a carLochs, glens and mountains

Crieff and Comrie

From Perth

Tour Glenturret distillery, take the waters at the Crieff Hydro or go two miles south to Drummond Castle Gardens, formal and enormous, with ancient yew hedges, topiary and a beech planted by Queen Victoria in 1842. The gardens open May to October.

Perth 25 min by car to Crieff, 30 to Comrie, and buses run from Perth

An hour or lessBy bus or coachTowns and villages

Full guide to Ben Lawers Directions

Loch Tay and Kenmore

From Perth

Kenmore is a square of white cottages at the head of the loch, planned and built in 1760, with Ben Lawers rising straight out of the north shore behind it, cross the 1774 bridge, eat at the Kenmore Hotel, which traces back to a tavern of 1572, or go round to Dalerb for the Scottish Crannog Centre. Its new crannog opened in May 2026, fifteen metres across at the end of a fifty metre walkway.

Perth 45 min by car, and buses run from Aberfeldy

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Loch Earn and St Fillans

From Perth

Ten kilometres of water with the watersports at the Lochearnhead end and St Fillans quiet at the other, get on the water skis, or walk up Dundurn, the Pictish hill fort south of the river where the Irish missionary Saint Fillan is thought to have lived.

Perth 45 min by car by way of Crieff and Comrie, or the Stagecoach 15, which runs the same road to St Fillans

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Scone Palace

From Perth

Moot Hill beside the palace is where the Stone of Destiny stood and where Scottish kings were made, walk the hundred acre park laid out by J C Loudon, get lost in the maze, or find the garden planted for David Douglas, who came from Scone and gave the fir his name. The Stone itself is now in Perth Museum on its own ticket.

Perth Two miles north of Perth on the A93, with Stagecoach 3 and 58 from South Street

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Killiecrankie

From Perth

A wooded gorge above the River Garry where the first shots of the 1689 rising were fired, find the Soldier's Leap, where a government soldier is said to have jumped eighteen feet across the river to get away, walk the paths down through the Pass, or look out for red squirrels, woodpeckers and pine martens in the trees. Free, and open all year.

Perth Three miles north of Pitlochry, so the train to Pitlochry and the 87 bus, or a short drive on from there

An hour or lessBy trainBy bus or coachCastles and heritageLochs, glens and mountains

Glen Lyon

From Perth

Twenty five miles of single track running west from Fortingall to the head of Loch Lyon. Start at the Fortingall Yew, railed off in the churchyard with age estimates running into thousands of years, stop at Bridge of Balgie for the post office and the tea room, or climb from there over the shoulder of Ben Lawers and down to Loch Tay.

Perth Single track for twenty five miles once you are past Fortingall, and the bus stops at Fortingall

Needs a carLochs, glens and mountains

Full guide to Speyside Directions

Elgin and Speyside

From Aberdeen & Inverness

Elgin Cathedral is a majestic ruin with twin towers on the west front, look into the octagonal chapter house, which still has its carved lectern, beasts and faces, then carry on into Speyside for the densest collection of distilleries in Scotland. The cathedral closes on Thursdays and Fridays from October to March.

Aberdeen 1 hr 15 by car, or the train to Keith or Elgin and a bus or taxiInverness 1 hr by car, or 40 min by train to Elgin

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Full guide to Dunnottar Castle Directions

Dunnottar Castle and Stonehaven

From Aberdeen

An incredible ruin spread across its own sea stack with the North Sea on three sides, walk down the cliff steps and round the ruins, where the Crown Jewels were hidden during the Wars of Independence, then carry on into Stonehaven for the harbour and the Tolbooth museum, the oldest building in the town. The open air pool runs cold water sessions right through the winter.

Aberdeen 20 min by car, or 15 min by train to Stonehaven

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Full guide to Angus Directions

Montrose Basin and Lunan Bay

From Aberdeen

A 750 hectare tidal basin where over 100,000 migratory birds stop in autumn, pink footed geese peaking above 80,000, get on the telescopes at the visitor centre, look for ospreys from May to September and kingfishers from September on, or go ten miles south to Lunan Bay, four kilometres of sand with a ruined castle above the dunes.

Aberdeen 45 min by car, or 35 min by train

An hour or lessBy trainCoast and beaches

Full guide to Angus Directions

Arbroath

From Aberdeen

Home of the smokie, which can only be made here, eat one hot at the harbour, visit the abbey where the Declaration of Arbroath was adopted in 1320 and the Stone of Destiny turned up on the altar site in 1951, or walk the Seaton cliffs a mile north of the harbour.

Aberdeen 1 hr by car, or 50 min by train

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Full guide to Angus Directions

The Angus Glens and Corrie Fee

From Aberdeen

A glacial bowl at the head of Glen Clova holding alpine plants that grow almost nowhere else in Scotland, walk up from the Glen Doll car park, watch for golden eagles and peregrines over the crags, or go on up Mayar and Driesh above the corrie. Storm damage has shut most of the waymarked trails, leaving Corrie Fee and Kilbo open.

Aberdeen 1 hr 15 by car. No public transport into the glens

Needs a carLochs, glens and mountains

Crathes Castle and Banchory

From Aberdeen

A 16th century tower house with its Jacobean painted ceilings still in place, find the Chamber of the Muses and the Nine Worthies, see the Horn of Leys that Robert the Bruce gave the Burnetts, or wander the walled garden, eight sections divided by Irish yew hedges planted in 1702. Six waymarked trails cross the 240 hectare estate.

Aberdeen 30 min by car, or Stagecoach from Aberdeen

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Ballater and Balmoral

From Aberdeen

Explore this royal estate on Deeside, all 53,680 acres of it, walk the grounds and gardens to find the Balmoral Pyramids, or visit Ballater to see the Old Royal Station, burnt out in 2015 and reopened with a tearoom and the royal carriage inside.

Aberdeen 1 hr by car, or the Stagecoach Deeside service

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Bennachie

From Aberdeen

The hill that stands over the Garioch, with an Iron Age fort on the Mither Tap summit, take the Discovery Trail for half an hour on smooth ground, climb the Timeline Trail to the fort itself, or set off along the Gordon Way, 11.5 miles across the range. Free to walk, with the car park open all year.

Aberdeen 45 min by car, or 20 min by train to Inverurie and a taxi

An hour or lessBy trainLochs, glens and mountains

Fyvie Castle

From Aberdeen

Five towers, each raised by a different family across five centuries, inside are some incredible portraits, with Raeburn, Gainsborough and Romney among them, find the death mask of a hanged murderer in the library, or walk out to the loch with its bird hide and ice house. The walled garden grows old Scottish fruit varieties.

Aberdeen 45 min by car, or the hourly Stagecoach 35, which stops at the castle road end in the village

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Bullers of Buchan and Slains Castle

From Aberdeen

A sea cave that collapsed into a thirty metre pit, with the sea still coming in through an arch at the bottom and a narrow path running right round the lip of it, come in spring or summer for puffins, kittiwakes and razorbills packed onto the cliffs, look for grey seals in the bay below, or walk a kilometre along the clifftop to Slains Castle, the roofless ruin Bram Stoker is said to have borrowed for Dracula.

Aberdeen 40 min by car up the A90, or the hourly Stagecoach X63, which has a stop at the Bullers of Buchan itself

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritageCoast and beaches

Full guide to the Moray Firth Directions

Crovie, Gardenstown and Pennan

From Aberdeen

A single row of houses on a ledge below the cliff, gable ends to the sea, the smallest of the Buchan fishing villages, leave the car at the signed viewpoint and walk down, take the shore path west to Gardenstown, 4.5 kilometres there and back, or carry on along the coast to Pennan, which was Ferness in Local Hero, red phone box and all.

Aberdeen 1 hr by car. Watermill Coaches reach Gardenstown from Banff, but from Aberdeen that is two buses and a long day

An hour or lessNeeds a carCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Full guide to the Moray Firth Directions

The Moray coast

From Aberdeen

A run of sandy beaches and old fishing villages along the southern shore of the Moray Firth, swim or sail in Findhorn Bay, where seals haul out and ospreys fish off the piers, go east to the Bow Fiddle Rock arch at Portknockie, eat Cullen skink in the town that gave it its name, or walk any stretch of the Moray Coast Trail, 72 kilometres from Forres to Cullen through Burghead, Hopeman and Lossiemouth.

Aberdeen 1 hr 30 by car to Findhorn, 1 hr 15 to Cullen, or 1 hr 20 by train to Elgin and coastal buses

By trainBy bus or coachCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Fraserburgh and Peterhead

From Aberdeen

Scotland's first mainland lighthouse, built straight up through the top of a castle and first lit in 1787, take the guided tour up it at the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, find the 16th century Wine Tower fifty metres away, or walk the long beach. Peterhead, eighteen miles south, lands more fish than any other port in the UK.

Aberdeen 50 min by car to Fraserburgh, 45 to Peterhead, or Stagecoach buses

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritageCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Craigievar Castle

From Aberdeen

The pink tower house, finished around 1626 and barely altered outside since, back open after eighteen months of work on the harling, go in on the guided tour, ten people at a time, or walk the woodland and grounds around it, which are free all year. Tours are first come first served, with no booking.

Aberdeen Twenty six miles west of Aberdeen off the A980, with no bus to the castle. The nearest are Alford, Lumphanan and Aboyne, and a taxi from there

Needs a carCastles and heritage

Drum Castle

From Aberdeen

One of the oldest tower houses in Scotland, given to the Irvines by Robert the Bruce in 1323 and held by them ever since, walk through the Jacobean mansion built onto the medieval tower, find the Victorian library and its four thousand books, or wander the walled garden, laid out in quadrants showing rose growing from the 17th century to the 20th. The Old Wood next door has oaks dating from the 1700s.

Aberdeen Ten miles west of Aberdeen, half a mile off the A93, with buses along that road every half hour and a twenty minute walk from the stop

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Haddo House and Pitmedden Garden

From Aberdeen

Georgian outside and Victorian within, designed by William Adam in 1732 and remodelled in the 1880s for the Gordons, Earls of Aberdeen, take the guided tour for the James Giles paintings of Aberdeenshire castles, walk the lime avenue into the country park, or pair it with Pitmedden, a recreated Renaissance walled garden a few miles off. More than 1,200 babies were born here when it was a maternity hospital in the war.

Aberdeen Twenty miles north of Aberdeen off the B999. The Stagecoach 64 and 64A reach Pitmedden, but nothing runs to Haddo itself

An hour or lessNeeds a carCastles and heritage

Full guide to Loch Ness Directions

Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle

From Inverness

Urquhart Castle gives you the long view down the loch, climb the Grant Tower, find the prison cell, or look at the full sized working trebuchet out on the lawn. An audio guide comes with the ticket.

Inverness 30 min by car to Drumnadrochit, and buses run from Inverness

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritageLochs, glens and mountains

Full guide to Loch Ness and Fort Augustus Directions

Fort Augustus

From Inverness & Fort William

Watch the boats travel down the flight of locks running down the middle of the village into the foot of Loch Ness, look into the Caledonian Canal Centre for the story of the canal and the Great Glen, or walk the towpath in either direction. Free.

Inverness 1 hr by car, or Citylink from InvernessFort William 45 min by car up the A82, and Citylink buses run

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Full guide to Glen Affric Directions

Glen Affric

From Inverness

Old Caledonian pine, birch and lichen covered oaks, with still black pools below the rapids, start at the Dog Falls car park four miles up from Cannich, walk the six kilometre circuit over a long wooden footbridge and back past the viewpoint, or picnic under the pines by Coire Loch.

Inverness 1 hr by car. No public transport into the glen

An hour or lessNeeds a carLochs, glens and mountains

Eilean Donan Castle

From Inverness

One of the most famous castles in Scotland, sitting on a tidal island where three sea lochs meet. It lay a ruin for two hundred years until a rebuild was finished in 1932, and it is on the road to Skye.

Inverness 1 hr 45 by car, or Citylink to Dornie

By bus or coachCastles and heritage

Plockton

From Inverness

Palm trees along the main street, Gulf Stream comes right into Loch Carron, take a boat out for seals and mackerel, eat by the harbour, or sit and look at the islands in the bay. The train from Inverness runs along the coast so you can leave the car behind.

Inverness 2 hr 20 by train, along the coast for the last stretch

By trainCoast and beachesTowns and villages

The Black Isle and Chanonry Point

From Inverness

The best place in Britain to watch bottlenose dolphins from the shore, time it for about an hour after low tide, when they come in close to feed in the race off the point, make a morning of it with the beach at Rosemarkie, or walk out past Alan Stevenson's 1846 lighthouse and its Egyptian style cottages.

Inverness 25 min by car, or Stagecoach to Fortrose and Rosemarkie

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCoast and beaches

Cromarty

From Inverness

An 18th century town at the end of the Black Isle, visit Hugh Miller's thatched birthplace, a museum to the stonemason who became Scotland's best known geologist, see the East Church, one of the best preserved Presbyterian interiors in the country, or take the tiny two car ferry across to Nigg.

Inverness 40 min by car, or Stagecoach from Inverness

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Strathpeffer and Rogie Falls

From Inverness

A short walk through the forest brings you out on a suspension bridge high above the Black Water, watch salmon throwing themselves up the falls between June and October, take the 1.5 kilometre circuit round by Raven's Crag, or go on four miles to Strathpeffer, a Victorian spa village with a restored pavilion and a museum of childhood in the old station.

Inverness 30 min by car. Strathpeffer has frequent buses from Inverness, but the Rogie Falls car park is further up the A835 with no stop at it

An hour or lessNeeds a carLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Dornoch

From Inverness

A small cathedral town with the most northerly championship golf links in the world on its edge, play the Royal Dornoch if you can get on, walk the big empty beaches beyond it, or find the Witch's Stone in a garden on the way out of town, where the last woman in Scotland to be burned as a witch died in 1722.

Inverness 1 hr by car, or a bus; there is no station in Dornoch

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Full guide to Golspie Directions

Dunrobin Castle

From Inverness

A hundred and eighty nine roomed castle which looks more like a French chateau than the home of the Sutherland clan. Explore the formal gardens dropping towards the sea, watch the falconer fly his birds over the lawns and walk down to the shore below. The Far North Line stops outside on request. The Big Burn Walk at Golspie is atmospheric.

Inverness 1 hr by car, or the Far North Line, which stops outside on request

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritage

Culloden and Clava Cairns

From Inverness

The site of the last pitched battle fought on British soil, where sixteen hundred men died in under an hour. Walk out across the field to Leanach Cottage and the memorial cairn, watch the 360 degree battle film at the visitor centre, and then visit Clava Cairns, a 4,000 year old burial ground standing among old trees. Sixteen hundred men died here in under an hour, and Clava is free.

Inverness 15 min by car, or Stagecoach from Inverness

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Cawdor Castle and Nairn

From Inverness

A medieval tower built around a holly tree, lived in by the Cawdor family for more than six hundred years, walk the three gardens, each altered by a different generation, go into Cawdor Big Wood, an ancient oakwood included in the grounds ticket, or carry on to Nairn for two beaches and an old fishertown of narrow streets. The castle opens late April to early October.

Inverness 25 min by car. Nairn is 15 min by train

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Fort George

From Inverness

A fortress for the British Army built after Culloden, walk the ramparts which stretch for over a kilometre around a parade ground the size of five football pitches, and watch for dolphins off the point. The Highlanders' Museum is the largest regimental museum in Scotland outside Edinburgh.

Inverness 25 min by car, or the Stagecoach 1 from Inverness, which stops outside the visitor centre three times a day

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Full guide to Aviemore and the Cairngorms Directions

Aviemore and the Cairngorms

From Inverness

The gateway to the Cairngorms National Park, take the funicular up Cairn Gorm, walk round Loch an Eilein at Rothiemurchus, with its ruined castle on its island and the old pines along the shore, or head for water sports at Scotland's highest beach at Loch Morlich. The Strathspey Railway runs steam trains from the station down to the Boat of Garten.

Inverness 40 min by car, or 40 min by train

An hour or lessBy trainLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Full guide to Ullapool Directions

Ullapool

From Inverness

A line of whitewashed cottages along the edge of Loch Broom with the fishing boats pulled in front of them, watch the Stornoway ferry come and go from the pier, look round the museum in the old Telford church, or take the hill path up behind the village for the view back down the loch. The seafood comes off the boats in front of you.

Inverness Fifty five miles west on the A835, with Citylink, D and E Coaches and Ember all running out to the ferry terminal

By bus or coachCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Corrieshalloch Gorge

From Inverness

A gorge a mile and a half long and sixty metres deep, cut by the River Droma, and the smallest of Scotland's national nature reserves, walk out onto the Victorian suspension bridge above the Falls of Measach, designed by Sir John Fowler of Forth Bridge fame, or carry on down to the viewing platform below it.

Inverness Forty six miles from Inverness off the A832, with the Ullapool coaches stopping at Braemore Junction, half a mile from the gorge

By bus or coachLochs, glens and mountains

Applecross and the Bealach na Ba

From Inverness

The Bealach na Ba climbs to a little over two thousand feet in hairpin bends at gradients around one in five, single track the whole way, stop at the top for the view out to Skye, drop down to the row of houses along the shore with the Applecross Inn among them.

Inverness Single track with hairpins over the pass, or the coast road round by Shieldaig, which is also single track. The one bus runs Mondays and Saturdays and leaves you overnight

Needs a carLochs, glens and mountainsCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Beauly and Glen Ord

From Inverness

A priory founded about 1230 for Valliscaulian monks, an order so rare it only ever had three houses in Scotland, inside find the monuments to two Mackenzies, one still with its effigy, wander the village square, and then go on to Glen Ord at Muir of Ord, the only Singleton distillery open to visitors.

Inverness Beauly and Muir of Ord both have stations on the line north, and Glen Ord is about half an hour by road from Inverness

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageTowns and villages

Oban

From Fort William

Famous for seafood on the pier and ferries heading out to Mull and the Hebrides, I recommend the green shack by the terminal, then climb to McCaig's Tower above the bay for a view whole harbour laid out below, or tour the distillery, which dates from 1794.

Fort William 1 hr 30 by car, or Citylink

By bus or coachCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Castle Stalker and Port Appin

From Fort William

A castle on its own tidal islet in Loch Laich, between Oban and Glencoe, stop at the Castle Stalker View cafe above it for the photograph, walk the shore at Port Appin, or take the little ferry across to Lismore. It was Castle Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh in Monty Python, and tours onto the island run on a handful of pre-booked days a year.

Fort William 40 min by car south on the A828, or the West Coast Motors 918 to Portnacroish twice a day, which gives about three hours at the castle

An hour or lessBy bus or coachCastles and heritage

Full guide to Glencoe Directions

Glencoe

From Fort William

The most famous glen in Scotland, drive past the Three Sisters, visit Glencoe Lochan (especially for autumn colours), the visitor centre to see turf house and the view down the glen. Aonach Eagach along the north side is the narrowest ridge on the British mainland.

Fort William 30 min by car, and Citylink buses run through the glen

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountains

Glen Etive

From Fort William

Fourteen miles of single track running down to the head of Loch Etive, then fourteen miles back, because there is no through road. Passing places are for passing rather than parkin – even for the famous James Bond shot.

Fort William 45 min by car, single track all the way

An hour or lessNeeds a carLochs, glens and mountains

Kinlochleven and the Grey Mare's Tail

From Fort William

A fifty metre waterfall ten minutes from the village, dropping straight off a cliff, worth the walk up for the falls alone, take the full circuit by Mamore Lodge, 3.5 kilometres with the Mamores above you the whole way, or step onto the West Highland Way, which comes through the village.

Fort William 25 min by car round the loch, and buses run from Fort William

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Full guide to the Jacobite Steam Train Directions

Glenfinnan

From Fort William

The monument at the head of Loch Shiel, where Prince Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard in 1745, climb it for the view straight down the loch, walk up to the viewpoint for the viaduct behind it, or wait for the steam train to cross. The car park is small and fills early, so the train or the bus is the easier arrival.

Fort William 25 min by car, or about 30 min by train

An hour or lessBy trainCastles and heritageLochs, glens and mountains

Full guide to the Road to the Isles Directions

Arisaig and Morar

From Fort William

White sand, turquoise water and Rum and Eigg out on the horizon, walk the beach at Camusdarach, which starred in Local Hero, come at low tide when the sands run right out, or carry on to the Silver Sands at the mouth of the River Morar. Loch Morar behind them is the deepest freshwater in the British Isles.

Fort William 1 hr by car, or about 1 hr by train

An hour or lessBy trainCoast and beaches

Full guide to the Road to the Isles Directions

Mallaig

From Fort William

The end of the line and still a working fishing port, eat fish on the quay, take a ferry out to Skye, the Small Isles or Knoydart, or look into the heritage centre for the story of the port and the railway. The train from Fort William to Mallaig is one of the best journeys in Britain.

Fort William 1 hr 15 by car, or about 1 hr 25 by train

By trainCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Full guide to Knoydart Directions

Knoydart

From Fort William

There is no road to Knoydart, so you take the half hour boat from Mallaig or walk seventeen miles over the hills. Have a pint in the Old Forge, the remotest pub on the British mainland and community owned since 2022, walk out along the shore, hire bikes, or sit and look back across the Sound.

Fort William No road in. The passenger ferry from Mallaig, or a two day walk

Lochs, glens and mountainsTowns and villages

Full guide to Ardnamurchan Directions

Ardnamurchan

From Fort William

The most westerly point of mainland Britian, visit Stevenson's lighthouse at the far western end of the peninsula, then head to Sanna Bay, one of the best beaches in Scotland, before a tour and a dram at Ardnamurchan Distillery.

Fort William The Corran Ferry, 5 minutes, then a long single track drive. Shiel Buses run once a day, but the only return leaves Kilchoan at ten to eight in the morning

Needs a carCastles and heritageCoast and beaches

Full guide to climbing Ben Nevis Directions

Glen Nevis and Steall Falls

From Fort William

A proper Highland walk fifteen minutes from Fort William, climb through the Nevis Gorge, rocky and steep in places, out into a hanging valley with Steall Falls at the head of it, or stay low and picnic by the river at the Lower Falls.

Fort William 15 min by car. A seasonal bus runs up the glen in summer, but it stops at the Lower Falls rather than the gorge path

An hour or lessNeeds a carLochs, glens and mountains

Loch Arkaig and Achnacarry

From Fort William

One of the last fragments of real Caledonian pinewood, with granny pines, rare mosses and lichens, watch the ospreys on the live nest camera from March to September, look for pine marten, red squirrel and red deer in the wood, or drive the Dark Mile, the shaded stretch of road near Clunes.

Fort William 30 min by car. The only bus along the road is a school service

An hour or lessNeeds a carCastles and heritageLochs, glens and mountains

Corrour and Rannoch Moor

From Fort William

The highest station on the mainline at 1,340 feet, with no road to it at all, so the train is the only way in, walk the mile to Loch Ossian and its hostel, strike out across the moor in any direction, or eat at the Station House. It does food and rooms from late March to the end of October.

Fort William No public road at all. About 45 min by train

By trainLochs, glens and mountains

Full guide to the Isle of Skye Directions

The Isle of Skye

From Fort William

A day trip from Fort William only if you pick one thing and do it properly, take the Mallaig to Armadale ferry, half an hour and into the quiet south end, drive the bridge road in an hour and three quarters, or head north from Portree on the A855 for the Storr and the Quiraing.

Fort William About 1 hr 45 by car to the Skye Bridge, or 30 min on the Mallaig to Armadale ferry

Lochs, glens and mountainsCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Full guide to island ferry day trips Directions

The Isle of Mull and Iona

From Fort William

Two crossings make this work, forty five minutes from Oban to Craignure, worth booking, then west across the island to Fionnphort and ten minutes over to Iona on a turn up and go ferry that runs hourly all year.

Fort William Down to Oban first, then forty five minutes on the ferry to Craignure, and a drive across Mull for the ten minute hop to Iona

By bus or coachLochs, glens and mountainsCoast and beachesTowns and villages

Castle Tioram and Loch Moidart

From Fort William

A Clanranald castle on a tidal island in Loch Moidart, reached on foot across a sandbar at low water, walk out and round the outside, stand where the chief burned it himself in the 1715 rising to keep it from Hanoverian hands, or carry on along the loch.

Fort William Out on the A830 then south on the A861 to Acharacle and a dead end road past Dorlin, narrow and partly single track. The one bus a day would leave you overnight

Needs a carCastles and heritageCoast and beaches

Nevis Range and Aonach Mor

From Fort William

The gondola runs all year, fifteen minutes up to 650 metres on Aonach Mor in enclosed six seat cabins, eat at the restaurant at the top, take a mountain bike down, or come in winter for the snowsports when conditions allow. Seven miles north of the town.

Fort William Seven miles north of Fort William off the A82, with the Shiel Bus 41 running out from the town

An hour or lessBy bus or coachLochs, glens and mountains