One Week Road Trip Through Scotland
From Spain, we flew to Scotland for a week holiday before moving onto our next Workaway assignment. We were excited to be joined with family from Kentucky- Susan and Maddie! It made for a fun week!
Having a car is essential to explore Scotland. It allowed us to stop along the way and move at our own pace. We really packed a lot into our one-week road trip. There are many other parts of Scotland we want to see, but that will require another trip (one day!).
Here is a breakdown of our itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive to Inverness
Day 2: Inverness: Loch Ness & Battlefield of Culloden
Day 3: Drive from Inverness to Aberdeen: Elgin Cathedral, Glenrinnes Distillery, & Balmedie Beach
Day 4: Drive from Aberdeen to Edinburgh: Dunnottar Castle & St. Andrews
Day 5: Edinburgh: Royal Mile Tour
Day 6: Drive from Edinburgh to Glasgow: Stirling
Day 7: Glasgow: University of Glasgow & Kelvingrove Art Gallery/Museum
Day 8: Fly to Belfast
Inverness
AirBNB
After meeting at the airport and getting the rental car, we went straight to the airBNB. It was quite tiny for the 4 of us, but it was ok for just 2 nights of sleeping. It was in the beautiful countryside, with just a short drive into town.
We kicked off the trip by having warm tea outside, enjoying the fall-like weather. Greg and I were so happy for this cooler weather! We had just come from 110F weather in Spain. We weren’t sure the last time we had seen clouds or had worn pants. It was refreshing for sure!
Exploring Inverness
We loved walking around this cute town! The buildings were beautiful, there were lots of shops and eateries, and it was small enough which made it easy to explore on foot. Maddie’s must-do item was visiting Leaky’s Book Shop. If you’re a book lover, you could easily spend a few hours admiring all of the old books. Check out the bridge from 1881 for a wobbly walk across the river. For dinner, we went with warm, hearty options… lasagna, sausage, and potatoes.
Hootenanny’s is the place to be for live traditional music. Just be sure to get there early so you can get a seat! Also be prepared that the music may start an hour late. Even with those ‘issues,’ we had a great time and loved watching people dance. They were doing sorts of choreographed, folk, partner dances. Maddie and I even joined for 1 (maybe 2), even though we completely didn’t know what we were doing. It felt really special to see this happening!
Inverness Sunsets and Countryside
Landscape is one of the best things about Scotland. Greg timed it just right to where we were able to watch the sunset at the Inverness Firth. I took advantage of the cool weather in the morning to run alongside the beautiful countryside. I know many will disagree (including Greg) but running is one of the best ways to explore!
Battlefield of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was fought on this site April 16th, 1746. Flags on each side indicate the battle lines. Memorial stones are placed around the field where men died. This is a free spot to visit.
Loch Ness
When in the Scottish Highlands, you must visit Loch Ness and try to spy the ‘monster.’ We parked in a small lot next to a neighborhood and followed a handwritten '“path to beach” sign. The beach was full of interesting rocks and spectacular views. We saw a tree that with an imaginative eye looked like the Loch Ness Monster, but once closer, we confirmed it was a tree. As a fortune for safe and happy travels, we each threw a rock into the lake.
Castle Tavern
Castle Tavern is a cozy stop for food or drinks. It has an outdoor patio along the river, but we opted for the indoor seating on this chilly day. Greg and I shared the soup of the day which was cream cheese and cauliflower. There is something fun and special about sitting in a pub! Side note… Did you know that there is alcoholic ginger beer? It’s great!
Drive from Inverness to Aberdeen
Elgin Cathedral
We booked tickets for this in advance. Waiting to open, we walked around its’ biblical garden, which is free to visit. It had gorgeous flowers! Elgin Cathedral was fascinating to explore, including climbing the medieval tower. It was built in 1224 and is known as ‘The Lantern of the North.’ The wall’s purpose was to keep violence and disease to the outside.
Glenrinnes Distillery
Of course Scotland is famous for its’ scotch! However, we opted to taste gin instead because most of us don’t like whiskey. Plus, the location and price were more ideal for us. If you like whiskey, you should definitely do a scotch tour, but if you’re like me and don’t, well hey, there are plenty of gin options too!
We chose to go to Glenrinnes Distillery for a tour and gin tasting. This was a neat experience! It was interesting to learn about the many botanicals used for their award-winning gin and to see the distillation and bottling areas. All is done on property. We also tasted their vodka and were each given a mini bottle to take home. For just 15 pounds each, this was a great value!
Look out for the Eight Lands gin and vodka! It is available in the USA too :)
Tip: Make sure to book a tour in advance. Most distilleries do not accept walk-ins.
Check out the Glenrinnes Distillery website here.
Interested in scotch instead? Book a whiskey tour!
Balmedie Beach
Balmedie Beach was amazing! We almost chose to visit a cliff instead of coming here, but I am so happy we decided on Balmedie instead! Massive sand dunes lined the beach like nothing we have seen before. People were even sledding down them! It is very hard to tell in the pictures, but they were huge. There was an offshore wind farm in the distance. We loved this spot! It’s a must-visit.
Aberdeen
AirBNB
The accommodation was spacious, funky, and modern. It had uplighting on the walls in the evening. Compared to the last spot, it felt like we were in a mansion! We were just here for one night, basically as a stop over from Inverness to Edinburgh.
Exploring Aberdeen
Aberdeen is an urban college town. It had many eateries and would be a fun place to hop around eating and drinking all day, but overall, it is too big of a city. It lacked the quaint vibe that we wanted. Besides the airbnb, our highlight was the Italian dinner at Ristorante Pizzeria. We were craving some fresh food and it did not disappoint.
We would suggest skipping Aberdeen and staying along the coast instead!
Driving from Aberdeen to Edinburgh
Dunnottar Castle
Dunnottar Castle was home to many powerful families and even Mary Queen of Scots for a short time. It was challenging for us to get to, as there was a road closure, and involved navigating through tiny farm roads. This is a spot that you can quickly look at and move on, or what I suggest- stay longer, walk along the paths, enjoy the views, and like us, even do some yoga/stretching along the cliffside. This was a gorgeous morning to explore!
Tip: There are bathrooms next to the bus parking.
St. Andrews
This was bucket list item for Greg! St. Andrew’s is home to the world famous golf course and hosted the 150th Open Championship 2 weeks prior to our visit. It was crazy that we could walk on the course and even across the bridge on the 18th hole. Greg’s overview of the experience: “I thought it was wild that it was so open to the public and we could walk across the fairway. I thought it would be a very private experience for the golfers, but it is not. I liked seeing the course. Holes 1 and 18 appeared easy, 17 looked hard.” Sue compared it to Hilton Head: “beach, golf, wealth.”
Besides walking along the golf course, we explored the town as well. It felt upscale and had many beautiful hotels. We ate lunch at Playfair’s, which we highly recommend. It was delicous! We shared a roasted veggie and goat cheese sandwich and a chimichurri steak salad. I wish I could eat it every day!
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is a big city filled with tons of history. Besides the driving, it never felt too overwhelming. It is a tough city to drive around. Once we hit city limits, it took us an hour and a half to drive 9 miles! Once we found the parking garage, we didn’t touch the car until we left 2 days later.
AirBNB
Ideally located in Old Town, we really enjoyed this accommodation. It was such a spacious, cozy, and comfy spot! We used this as an opportunity to catch up on laundry. We have realized that finding a place with a washer is crucial during these long travels.
Dean Village
This is a preserved medieval hamlet inside of Edinburgh and used to be the home of mill workers. It is a picturesque spot right along the Water of Leith.
Edinburgh Food and Drinks
Most of the eateries stopped serving food by 9pm. Luckily, we came across an outdoor venue in New Town which had food booths and live music. Sadly, it all closed at 10pm. We were able to enjoy a spicy goat cheese pizza before it all shut down. Too bad we couldn’t stay longer!
If you are a meat eater, OINK is a place you’ve got to go! It is a quick service restaurant serving pulled pork sandwiches and platters. There is literally a pig in the window that they serve you the pork from.
A gelato stuffed donut? Well, of course, we had to try that! SMOOV was right next to our airBNB. It was good to try once, but I’d prefer the gelato and donut separately.
For good ambience and good food, check out The World’s End. The steak and ale pie was hearty and delicious. Try a Scotch egg if you haven’t.
Royal Mile Tour
This was a fantastic tour of the Royal Mile, which also included entrance to the castle. Our guide, Linda, was AMAZING. If you are in Edinburgh, this tour is a must! Starting in Parliament Court, our guide took us around the royal areas and dropped us off inside of the castle. It was a large group, but we were given headphones so we could always hear Linda. We never missed out on any information.
I took lots of notes during this tour, so here are some things we learned!
3 criteria to be called a burgh is to have a church, tolbooth, and market cross
The unicorn statue symbolizes that the king is so powerful that he could tame even a wild animal
John Knox is buried under parking space 23 in Parliament Square
Shoogly is a Scottish way of saying wobbly/uneven (like the cobblestone streets)
The closes are named after people and occupations. These are small alleys in between buildings. They each have their close name above it. Ex: Fleshmarket Close used to be the location of the butcher market… Butchers were called fleshers
The Royal Mile is like a gutted haddock. The head is the castle, the spine is the street, the ribs are the closes, and the tail is the palace
The first fire brigade was developed in Edinburgh after a bad fire in 1824
3800 people were tried for being witches. 2/3 were killed. Signs of a witch include being left handed, having a cat, good with herbs, helping with childbirth, and/or having a birth mark
JK Rowling wrote the final Harry Potter book in the hotel above the Waverley train station. It has a suite named after her.
Book this Royal Mile tour HERE!
St. Giles Church
In order to be called a cathedral, it must have bishops, so this is not technically a cathedral (something else Linda taught us). It is free to enter, but a donation of 5 pounds per person is expected.
Stirling
Day trip
Ah this was such a cute town! On our way from Edinburgh to Glasgow, we stopped here for a few hours. Sue and Maddie did a castle tour while Greg and I explored town. The Thistles Shopping Center holds the remains of a 16th century jail, The Bastions and Thieves Pot. We were checking out the mall and happened to find it! It is free to visit.
The town is very walkable and even has plaques all around to give you quick history facts. We walked along the “Back Walk” to the castle, which was uphill, scenic, and not too difficult. Beside the church is a huge cemetery. Part of it was really eery and reminded me of Gothic’s Hollow Cemetery in Harry Potter.
We had lunch at Valentinos and warmed up with coffee and tea on this gray, rainy day.
Glasgow
Glasgow was more urban than we were expecting. We recommend staying on the outskirts versus city center. We enjoyed it much more once we got near the university.
Hotel: “Easy Hotel”
This was a funny experience. I walked into the room and burst into laughter because of how tiny it was. There was barely enough room for us both to stand with our bags. It had the essentials (bed, shower, toilet, sink), but nothing more. That’s all we really needed anyway.
Kelvingrove Museum
We love free things to do! As this was another rainy day, it was a perfect day to visit a museum. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is free and has many exhibits to explore. We saw Van Gogh artwork, fish fossils, armory, Egyptian artifacts, floating heads, and so much more.
University of Glasgow
It reminded me of Hogwarts so much and I absolutely loved it. There were towers with classes such as midwifery and geography. The architecture was amazing. I would have loved to explore inside, but I think that was frowned upon, so we stayed to the grounds. Afterwards, we walked through the nearby park.
I will leave you with Scottish weather tips by a local:
Nobody comes to Scotland for the weather
If you don’t like it, just wait 5 minutes and it will change
There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing
Today’s rain is tomorrow’s whiskey!