What are your must-dos in Scotland (especially with kids)

[gardengal]

I know we have a few posters on here that live in Scotland (I think?) and a few Scotland aficionados. I'm at info gathering stage. We'd spend most of our summer in Scotland in a few years so I have loads of time to plan...and save. Max. 6wks. 

Right now, the basic areas to base ourselves are something like: Edinburgh, Loch Lomand (Maybe? I found a few hikes that look like would be great for the kids. doing Stirling Castle on way), Oban, Isle of Skye (but where exactly?), and Ft. Williams/Glencoe.

Because of plane ticket prices, we'd probably fly into LHR and do a bit of a road trip stopping a few days in Cambridge (my husband loves it there) and a few days in Whitby (my kids loved fossil hunting in Dorset so do it again in Yorkshire? Maybe stop in York for Jorvik Viking Center?) before making our way to Edinburgh (stopping at Alnwick Castle on the way?). 


Important info:
-Family of 4; 2 kids in late elementary
-Interests: Castles, not-too-peaty scotch (husband really like Oban 14), history, hiking, mountain biking, nature stuff, Harry Potter
-We're more small town/small city people than big city people on vacation (b/c we live in an urban area). We also live in a place with lotsa museums & such so we don't visit museums on vacation unless it's about the culture of that specific place or very different from what we have.
-We usually stay in Airbnb/cottage rentals.
-I can be really cheap. Partly why I love UK vacations (though it's only be England x5) is that our activities are often inexpensive because it's either hiking or buying something like National Trust/Royal Oak pass & hitting as many as we can.

Advice I'd like:
-Places you've been or found that you think would appeal to us
-Any stand out foods (either places to eat or things you must try generally. Yes, we've already tried haggis at various Highland Games in the US! It ranged from OK to iron-y tasting)
-Any guide or tour experiences that were worth the cost
-Any unique Airbnb-type lodging options you've stayed in/found
-How many days you spent in Loch Lomand, Oban, Isle of Skye, and greater Ft. Williams/Glencoe area and whether you felt that was too much, too little, etc. Because my husband will be working remote half the time so I need to make sure the kids aren't getting bored!

I appreciate any advice!

[mrsukyankee]

Definitely stop in York. It's fabulous. I'd also suggest a side trip at some point to the Lake District (England) as it's fun for hiking and swimming (if the weather is good).

One of my favourite little towns in Scotland (and they have the smallest distillery in Scotland) is Pitlochry.

I would try haggis again - it's very much better in Scotland (from my experience).

Edinburgh is one of my favourite places, but I tend toward the beer locations, so not sure that will help you with little ones.

[mcsangel2]

Well, I've only been to Edinburgh, but our next trip to the UK I think will be York and Inverness. Inverness' population is only 46k, so it definitely has that small town feel you want. My H has loved everywhere we've gone outside of London, because he says the rest of the UK reminds him of what it was like in the 80s (he traveled there frequently growing up).

[jamaicam]

In Edinburgh, the Botanical Gardens are great for kids. Also walking up Arthurs Peak.

Not sure I'd base myself in Oban - I'd rather go over to Mull. And do a day trip to Iona from there. Iona is one of my favourite places!

[dutchgirl678]

We went a few years ago. Bigger group with our two kids, MIL, SIL and my parents. Kids were 6 and 9 at the time. We only had a week so we decided to base ourselves in Ft Augustus and visit places from there. We rented a cabin which was great. Ft Augustus is a really cute little town with a couple of wonderful low-key restaurants. Great fish and chips. It is at the south end of Loch Ness. We visited Urquhart Castle which was great. The walk at Invermoriston Falls was also really good. Flat but with some spectacular views of the falls. We drove to Isle of Skye only for one day. I had been there before but it would have been nice to spend more time there. Stopped at Eilean Donan castle on the way there and did a hike at Faerie Falls on Skye and tasted Talisker whiskey (probably too peaty for your taste). We went to Oban for a day. Great whiskey . On the way to Oban we stopped at Glenfinnan to see the viaduct where the Harry Potter train crosses and the lake (Loch Shiel) which they used as a backdrop for Hogwarts and for the dragon fighting scenes in HP and a short visit to Ft William for lunch. We also went to Aviemore and to a local folk museum up there (They filmed some Outlander scenes there and it was fun to see the different houses and people dressed up in traditional clothing). And we went to Inverness and visited Ft George and Culloden.

[tres3]

In Edinburgh my kids really liked the National Museum of Scotland. We could have spent all day there. We love Cambridge (we go about twice a year). Go punting and also walk to Grantchester for tea at the Orchard.

[Bad Dingo]

We spent part of our trip on the Isle of Bute at this Airbnb: www.airbnb.com/rooms/11205708?source_impression_id=p3_1574086033_45Lwjw5%2FG5hgWeSc. The owners were a really sweet young couple.

It is right on a beach with tons of seals and cows just roaming around.

Mount Stuart House was absolutely stunning:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Stuart_House

We really enjoyed going to this Fernery as well: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascog_Hall_Fernery_and_Gardens

[erbear]

My kids loved the hike to the top of Arthur's Seat. We also really enjoyed Glencoe and the Highlands, as well as Stirling Castle.

[woowoo]

Not sure if kids are permitted, but our absolutely favorite stop in our Scotland itinerary was a tour of Castle Stalker. Check it out, it's on an island, the tours are conducted by members of the family that currently owns it, and it's been the site of several different movies. It truly was fascinating.

[marytini]

We stayed at this place in Fort Augustus. They have 4 apartments. We stayed in Apartment 3 with our teenage nephew, but there might be a better one for your family. Fort Augustus is a small town at the very southern end of Loch Ness.
We actually booked it via Homeaway, I think. It might be on AirBnB or VRBO too.
theoldconventholidayapartments.co.uk/index.html

[dutchgirl678]

Nov 18, 2019 14:53:42 GMT -5 marytini said:

We stayed at this place in Fort Augustus. They have 4 apartments. We stayed in Apartment 3 with our teenage nephew, but there might be a better one for your family. Fort Augustus is a small town at the very southern end of Loch Ness.
We actually booked it via Homeaway, I think. It might be on AirBnB or VRBO too.
theoldconventholidayapartments.co.uk/index.html

What a lovely place. We also rented a place just outside of Fort Augustus. It was a super cute town and the perfect base for driving around. We found the place on VRBO but then found the owner's own website where we could book it for a cheaper rate.

www.wildwoodlogcabin.co.uk/

[lolo]

Nov 13, 2019 7:16:20 GMT -5 tres3 said:

In Edinburgh my kids really liked the National Museum of Scotland. We could have spent all day there.

Definitely recommend this for kids as well. It's fascinating and very interactive. You'll enjoy it as an adult as well; I've been with 3 other adults and everyone felt that it was a worthwhile venture.

[cajunmom]

Scotland is my very favorite place. I'm actually leaving this Saturday to go for a week with my mom and one of my sisters. It's my third trip there, but the first for them.

If you look back under my profile in the summer of 2017 I'm pretty sure I posted a trip recap...that was our first trip there, 2 adults and 2 kids ages 11 and 14. I don't think I did a recap of our second trip, which was May 2018 and was 4 adults.

Anyway, you've gotten some good advice and I'm super jealous of how much time you will get to spend there. I definitely recommend some time on Skye...we only got to do a day out there but would have loved maybe 3 days. We loved Oban but only had one night there. The Glenfiddich distillery tour was nice. Our favorite castles are ruins...Ardvreck (way up on the northwest coast), and Sinclair-Girnigo (east coast). We also loved Dunottar, and went there on both trips...it's not far from Aberdeen. Dumbarton is pretty cool, too. Near Glascow. It has TONS of stairs.

I recommend getting an Explorer pass...we definitely saved money getting that vs paying separately for admission to a number of castles.

How far north do you plan on going? We did the NC 500 our first trip so if you're doing that I could give you a few recs for Applecross, Ullapool, Gairloch, etc.

[pittpurple]

I live in Scotland - am in Edinburgh with my two kids (6 and 3).

Amusingly, since we live here I actually don't know a lot about how to be a tourist here! And restaurants come and go so for anything super specific like that you'd be better of tagging me nearer the time so I don't give bad information.

Museums are free here in Edinburgh and the weather is... challenging. So it's good to have those in your back pocket for bad days. The zoo is nice too and I don't actually like zoos.

this is our favourite site for browsing around - www.visitscotland.com/ - we are historic scotland members so we go on there as well whenever we're going to be in a new part. They have shorter term memberships so if you're planning on a few castles it would likely be worth it.

Will you rent a car? Or public transport? My recs will be very different!

A thing we really love around here (with a car) is the number of adventure playparks around. There are tons of places within half an hour of Edinburgh that have huge playgrounds / gorgeous woods to hike around and a cute little cafe. Our current favourite is Beecraigs - there are tons of hiking trails and a lake to explore and they even have a bunch of highland coos in the pastures. (https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/beecraigs) There are lots of things like this. We prefer to be outdoors whenever we can and Scotland is great for that - much harder for indoors options. Bring waterproofs for sure - our kids love stomping around the woods in wellies in any weather.

So great you have so much time, you'll be able to see a lot! The islands are particularly lovely - I've only been to Aran and Skye but I really want to make it to Lewis one day, it looks gorgeous.