7 Days: 2 Locations

Hi George. What a lovely trip. :) So, it sounds like one of your places should be Edinburgh. I have stayed at the Inverleith Hotel (although it's been a few years now) and it might be a good choice for a place to stay. It has a four-poster room which looks wonderful. I've always been a small single. :( But I like the Inverleith because of it's location--away from the tourist traffic. It's quite close to the Royal Botanic Gardens. You can, of course, quickly get to the tourist sites by taking the bus or walking up the hill. Of course, if you don't mind being near the tourists, another place to consider is The Witchery. It's pricey. Also, my parents honeymooned at The George--pricey again though.

Now, where else should you go? I'm going to make a few suggestions for you to check on.

• Trossachs get-away: I pick this simply because I loved the look of this place when I stopped off for lunch one day. Balqhidder is a beautiful Glen. Also, the Trossachs are beautiful with lots of lochs. You can get up to Loch Tay and over to Loch Lomond. It wouldn't be a far drive to Doune Castle either. Loch Katrine has a steamboat ride that is fun and you can bike back from the far end of the Loch. The hotel is pricey--but check out the special stay rates, maybe there is something in your budget.
  
• Castles in Aberdeenshire: If you want to check out castles and maybe get up to Speyside, then think about Aberdeenshire. Ballater is good base. There are so many castles! You can find stone circles next to farm fields. And there are galleries, here and here. This last one has a beautiful garden and a great view of Balmoral.
  
• Central base in the Highlands: There are lots of choices here. If you go north of Inverness or in Inverness, you can easily do day trips to the west, north or into the Cairngorms and make decisions based on weather. I've stayed on the Black Isle at The Anderson. It's in Fortrose has a whiskey bar, a pub and a good restaurant, but is small. I also like Strathpeffer, a Victorian spa village. It looks like The Richmond is back. I really loved staying there. You're closer to west here, but you can still get north and south. Dunrobin, Dornoch are interesting places to the north.
  

I have a few more places to think about, but here's at least one more for now.

Perthshire: I really love this area. I would stay in either Aberfeldy or Dunked. From Aberfeldy it's easy to explore Loch Tay going down to Killen, seeing the Cranog Centre, drive out Glen Lyon, or go over the mountain to Lochs Tummel and Rannoch and up to the Queen's View for a gorgeous view of said lochs. :) I loved this hotel. I like Dunked too. It's a bit easier to get up and down the A9 to places like Blair Castle, or Scone Palace. I like it for the walks. I really like the Taybank. It usually has great music. I've stayed in a B&B, The Bridge. Lovely host and good breakfast. If you want something posher Hilton actually has a hotel just outside of town! Or stay in town at the Atholl Arms Hotel. I fell ill on one visit and the staff at the Atholl Arms were wonderful to me and I wasn't even staying there!

Pam

WOW.. thanks!!! Very thoughtful.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to treat her to a Castle accommodation for a couple nights IF possible.

Any suggestions??

George

Certainly there are castle hotels you can stay in, and a few owned by the NTS such as Culzean near Ayr. My suggestion would be to check on the VisitScotland website.

I stayed at Stonefield Castle near Tarbert in Argyle. The rates are often American Plan--some meals includes besides breakfast. There are also some websites to help you browse. Here is one. Look here as well.

I didn't include any western bases in my initial emails. That's because I usually get rained on more there. :) But the west is beautiful and I spent three wonderful days on Mull. It's a little closer than Skye. From Stonefield I explored Argyle and south. There's a good whisky from Campbelltown.

Pam