©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd
Scotland Orkney & Shetland p408
Northern Highlands & Islands p356
Inverness & the Central Highlands
Northeast Scotland p212
p299
Southern Central Highlands & Scotland Islands p178 p244 # Edinburgh _ # ^ p42 Glasgow p102 Southern Scotland p138
THIS EDITION WRITTEN AND RESEARCHED BY
Neil Wilson Andy Symington
PLAN YOUR TRIP
ON THE ROAD
Welcome to Scotland. . . . . 4
EDINBURGH . . . . . . . . 42
Scotland Map . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Midlothian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 East Lothian . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 West Lothian. . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Scotland’s Top 16. . . . . . . . 8 Need to Know. . . . . . . . . . 16 First Time Scotland. . . . . 18 What’s New . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 If You Like…. . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Month by Month. . . . . . . . 25 Itineraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Walking in Scotland. . . . . 31 Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Regions at a Glance. . . . . 38
STEFANO PEDRONI / LONELY PLANET ©
LEWIS P398
GLASGOW. . . . . . . . . 102 Inverclyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Blantyre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 The Campsies & Strathblane. . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
SOUTHERN SCOTLAND . . . . . . . . 138
JUSTIN FOULKES / LONELY PLANET ©
Peebles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Melrose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Selkirk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Hawick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Jedburgh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Kelso. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Coldstream . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Eyemouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Coldingham & St Abbs . . . 153 Lanark & New Lanark . . . . 154 Biggar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Ayrshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Dumfries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Annandale & Eskdale. . . . . 167 Castle Douglas . . . . . . . . . 169 Kirkcudbright . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Gatehouse of Fleet. . . . . . 172 Galloway Forest Park. . . . . 172 Dalry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Newton Stewart . . . . . . . . . 173 The Machars. . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Stranraer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Portpatrick . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
CENTRAL SCOTLAND . . . . . . . . 178 RING OF BRODGAR, ORKNEY P419
Stirling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Fife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Culross. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Dunfermline . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Aberdour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Kirkcaldy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Falkland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 St Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 East Neuk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Lowland Perthshire & Kinross. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Perth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Kinross & Loch Leven . . . 206 Strathearn. . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Blairgowrie & Around . . . 208
NORTHEAST SCOTLAND . . . . . . . . 212 Dundee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Broughty Ferry. . . . . . . . . 220 Glamis Castle . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Arbroath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Kirriemuir . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Edzell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Brechin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Aberdeen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Strathdon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Northern Aberdeenshire. . 235 Moray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS . . . . . . . . 244 Loch Lomond . . . . . . . . . . 246 Crianlarich & Tyndrum . . . 251 Helensburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Arrochar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Aberfoyle & Around. . . . . 252 Lochs Katrine & Achray . . 254 Callander. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Balquhidder & Around. . . . 257 Killin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Cowal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Isle of Bute . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Inveraray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Contents UNDERSTAND Crinan Canal. . . . . . . . . . . 264 Kilmartin Glen. . . . . . . . . . 264 Kintyre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Isle of Arran. . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Isle of Islay . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Isle of Jura. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 Isle of Colonsay . . . . . . . . 279 Oban. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Isle of Mull. . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 Isle of Iona. . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Isle of Tiree. . . . . . . . . . . . 294 Isle of Coll . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 Loch Awe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Connel & Taynuilt. . . . . . . 297 Appin & Around . . . . . . . . 298 Lismore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
INVERNESS & THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS . . . . . . . 299 Inverness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Black Isle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Loch Ness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Aviemore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 Grantown-on-Spey. . . . . . . 321 Kingussie & Newtonmore. . . . . . . . . . . . 321 Highland Perthshire. . . . 327 Dunkeld to Blair Atholl . . 327 Lochs Tummel & Rannoch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 Strathtay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Glen Coe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Kinlochleven . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Fort William. . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Ardnamurchan . . . . . . . . . 344 Road to the Isles . . . . . . . 346 Knoydart Peninsula. . . . . 349 Isle of Rum . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 Isle of Eigg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 Isle of Muck. . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Isle of Canna. . . . . . . . . . . 353
NORTHERN HIGHLANDS Scotland Today. . . . . . . . 440 & ISLANDS . . . . . . . . 356 History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 East Coast. . . . . . . . . . . . 357 Strathpeffer. . . . . . . . . . . . 357 Tain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Portmahomack. . . . . . . . . 360 Bonar Bridge & Around. . . 361 Lairg & Around. . . . . . . . . . 361 Dornoch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 Golspie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Helmsdale. . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 Caithness. . . . . . . . . . . . 364 Lybster & Around. . . . . . . 365 Wick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 John O’Groats. . . . . . . . . . 366 Mey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 Dunnet Head. . . . . . . . . . . 367 Thurso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Durness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 Ullapool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 Kyle of Lochalsh. . . . . . . . 383 Kyle to the Great Glen. . . 383 Isle of Skye . . . . . . . . . . 384 Kyleakin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 Portree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 Isle of Raasay . . . . . . . . . . 396 Outer Hebrides. . . . . . . 396 Lewis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .398 Harris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
ORKNEY & SHETLAND . . . . . . . 408
Orkney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 Kirkwall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 Stromness. . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 Hoy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 Northern Islands . . . . . . . 422 Shetland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 Lerwick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 Bressay & Noss . . . . . . . . . 431 North Isles. . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
The Scottish Larder. . . . 450 Scottish Culture. . . . . . . 456 Natural Scotland . . . . . . 463
SURVIVAL GUIDE Directory A–Z . . . . . . . . . 468 Transport. . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 Map Legend. . . . . . . . . . . 495
SPECIAL FEATURES Walking in Scotland. . . . . 31 Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Royal Mile 3D Illustration . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Rosslyn Chapel 3D Illustration . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Scotland’s Museums . . . 100 Stirling Castle 3D Illustration . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Scotland’s Castles. . . . . 210 Scotland’s Islands. . . . . 242 Lochs & Mountains . . . . 354
©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd
Itineraries Kyle of Inverness Lochalsh # • # • Isle of • # Culloden Plockton Skye • # • # • # Loch • # Ness Glen Shiel • # Invergarry É
É
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R • # Pitlochry Ben Nevis (1344m) The Trossachs É
É # Stirling •
_ EDINBURGH #
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A Highland Fling
No trip to Scotland would be complete without a visit to Edinburgh, and even if your Scottish trip lasts only a week, the capital is worth two days of your time. On day three, head northwest to Stirling to see Scotland’s other great castle, then on to the Trossachs for your first taste of Highland scenery (overnight in Callander). Day four starts with a scenic drive north via Crianlarich, Glen Coe and Fort William, then along the Great Glen to Loch Ness in time for an afternoon visiting Urquhart Castle and the Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition. An evening cruise on Loch Ness rounds off the day before spending the night in Inverness, on picturesque River Ness. On day five, spend the morning visiting Culloden Battlefield, then drive west via Achnasheen and Plockton to Kyle of Lochalsh and cross the bridge to the Isle of Skye. Devote day six to exploring Skye – there will be time for a visit to Dunvegan Castle and a tour of the Trotternish peninsula. Day seven is the long drive back south – the scenic route goes via Glen Shiel, Invergarry, Spean Bridge (pause at the Commando Monument), Laggan and then south on the A9 to Edinburgh, with a stop in Pitlochry.
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28 Fort George
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# Applecross •
• # Dufftown
Culloden
Castle Fraser
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Loch Ness
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Balmoral Crathes Castle Castle
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2 KS Best of Scotland
WEE
From Edinburgh head north across the Forth Road Bridge to Fife and turn east along the coastal road through the delightful fishing villages of the East Neuk (pause for a seafood lunch at Anstruther or St Monans) to the home of golf, St Andrews. Stay a night or two – heck, play a round of golf – before continuing north across the Tay Bridge to Dundee and Glamis Castle. From here the A93 leads through the Grampian Mountains to reach Braemar, a good place to spend the night. A feast of castles lies ahead as you make your way east along Royal Deeside – take your time and visit (at the very least) the royal residence of Balmoral Castle and the fairy tale Crathes Castle. Then overnight at the granite city of Aberdeen. Now strike west again along the A944, making small detours to visit Castle Fraser and Craigievar Castle before turning north to Dufftown in the heart of Speyside. Base yourself here for at least a day while you explore the many whisky distilleries nearby – also try the Quaich whisky bar at the nearby Craigellachie Hotel. Head northwest to Elgin and its magnificent ruined cathedral, then west on the A96 visiting Fort George and Culloden on the way to Inverness (with maybe a stopover in Nairn). Inverness itself is worth a night or two and there’s the opportunity for a side trip to Loch Ness (Drumnadrochit for monster spotters, Dores Inn for foodies). Now for a glorious drive from Inverness to Torridon via Kinlochewe through some of the country’s finest mountain scenery; try to spend a night at the Torridon hotel. Then head south via Applecross and the pretty village of Plockton to Kyle of Lochalsh and the bridge to Skye. Spend two days exploring Scotland’s most famous island before taking the ferry from Armadale to Mallaig, and follow the Road to the Isles in reverse, stopping to visit Glenfinnan, where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his Highland army in 1745. Overnight at Fort William, and drive back to Edinburgh via the scenic road through Glen Coe and and along the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
29
PL A N YO U R TRI P I t i n e r a r i e s
MIKE POWLES / GETTY IMAGES ©
Bottom: Loch Torridon (p380)
BILLY CURRIE PHOTOGRAPHY / GETTY IMAGES ©
Top: South Uist (p404)
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Duncansby Head SINCLAIR'S B AY NORTH SEA
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Ullapool
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Cairngorms National Park Grampian Mountains
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CAITHNESS FLOW COUNTRY
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Callanish Standing • # Stones
Dunnet Head
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Arnol Blackhouse Museum
FIRTH Earn O F T A Y
• #Oban
FIRTH OF FORTH Lammermuir
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Island Hopscotch
This route is usually done by car, but it also makes a brilliant cycling tour (270 miles, including the 60 miles from Ullapool to Inverness train station, making both start and finish accessible by rail). From Oban it’s a five-hour ferry crossing to Barra; book a night’s stay here. Then, after a visit to Kisimul Castle and a tour around the island, take the ferry to South Uist. Walk the wild beaches of the west coast, sample the local seafood and perhaps go fishing on the island’s trout lochs. Continue through Benbecula and North Uist, prime birdwatching country. Overnight at Lochmaddy on North Uist (if you’re camping or hostelling, a night at Berneray is a must) before taking the ferry to Harris, whose west coast has some of the most spectacular beaches in Scotland. The road continues north from Tarbert (good hotels) through rugged hills to Lewis. Loop west via the Callanish Standing Stones and Arnol Blackhouse museum. Spend your final night in Stornoway (eat at Digby Chick), then take the ferry to Ullapool for a scenic drive to Inverness.
5
S DAY
Border Raid
From Edinburgh your first objective should be a visit to Sir Walter Scott’s former home at Abbotsford, followed by a traipse around the beautiful Border abbeys of Melrose and nearby Dryburgh; Melrose is a charming place to stay the night, with a choice of good hotels and eating places. Next morning head west along the A708 to Moffat, passing through glorious scenery around St Mary’s Loch. Continue to Dumfries (and stop for the night), where you can visit the first of several sights related to Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns, and make a short side trip to see spectacular Caerlaverock Castle. Take the A76 northwest towards Ayr, and spend the rest of day three in Alloway visiting the birthplace of Robert Burns (and other Burns-related sites); nearby Ayr has plenty of accommodation options. North now to Wemyss Bay and the ferry to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, where you can visit stunning Mount Stuart, one of Scotland’s most impressive stately homes. Spend the night on the island, then return to the mainland and head east to Glasgow.
©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd
OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies. Lonely Planet was born. Today, Lonely Planet has offices in Franklin, London, Melbourne, Oakland, Beijing and Delhi, with more than 600 staff and writers. We share Tony’s belief that ‘a great guidebook should do three things: inform, educate and amuse’.
OUR WRITERS
Neil Wilson Coordinating Author, Edinburgh, Central Scotland, Northeast Scotland, Inverness & the Central Highlands, Northern Highlands & Islands Neil was born in Scotland and, save for a few years spent abroad, has lived here most of his life. A lifelong enthusiasm for the great outdoors has inspired hiking, biking and sailing expeditions to every corner of the country. Researching this edition took him from the country’s most westerly point at Ardnamurchan Lighthouse to its most easterly at Fraserburgh, and to every corner of beautiful Perthshire where he now lives. Neil has been a full-time author since 1988 and has written around 65 guidebooks for various publishers, including the Lonely Planet guides to Edinburgh and Scotland’s Highlands & Islands. Neil also wrote most of Plan Your Trip and the Scotland Today, Scottish Larder and Scottish Culture essays. Andy Symington Glasgow, Southern Scotland, Southern Highlands & Islands, Northern Highlands & Islands, Orkney & Shetland Andy’s Scottish forebears make their presence felt in a love of malt, a debatable ginger colour to his facial hair and a love of wild places. From childhood treks up the M1 he graduated to making dubious road-trips around the firths in a disintegrating Mini Metro and thence to peddling whisky in darkest Leith. Whilst living there, he travelled widely around the country in search of the perfect dram, and, now resident in Spain, continues to visit very regularly. Andy also wrote the Golf planning feature, the History and Natural Scotland essays and the Survival Guide.
Published by Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd
ABN 36 005 607 983 Although the authors and Lonely Planet have taken all reasonable care in preparing this book, we make no warranty about the 8th edition – Feb 2015 accuracy or completeness of its content and, to the maximum ISBN 978 1 74321 570 8 extent permitted, disclaim all liability arising from its use. © Lonely Planet 2015 Photographs © as indicated 2015 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in China All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, and no part of this publication may be sold or hired, without the written permission of the publisher. Lonely Planet and the Lonely Planet logo are trademarks of Lonely Planet and are registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Lonely Planet does not allow its name or logo to be appropriated by commercial establishments, such as retailers, restaurants or hotels. Please let us know of any misuses: lonelyplanet.com/ip.
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