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Experiencing Scotland in the Winters

Hi!

We are a group of 4 adults travelling from India to experience for ourselves the fabled beauty of Scotland!

We plan to travel either at the end of November, around Thanksgiving, or at the end of December, during Christmas and New Year. We know while it is going to be cold and wet especially in the highlands (and we plan to drive ourselves), we really want to put up either a walk / a trek / or a land rover safari on our itinerary.

It will be really helpful if you could help us choose:
1) When would be a better time to come to Scotland to truly be able to appreciate the beauty of the highlands; end of Nov vs end of Dec ?
2) If there are certain packages you would recommend over the others for exploring the highlands.

You see, coming from a tropical country, (despite having trekked on the Himalayas) , we would like an expert to guide us on the weather. We neither want to miss the Highland Safari(s), nor do we want to miss witnessing the Scottish Culture & its Traditions.

Thank you!

Posted by
1518 posts

Look at the Visit Scotland web site for some great videos on traveling throughout the Highlands in the winter. Friends of mine rented a house near Spey for a family reunion for the Holidays. It was cold but the sky was bright blue and maybe just frost not much snow. Historic Scotland has some photos of cross country skiing by some castles. Remember that the days will be short at that latitude but then evening is the time to snuggle in a pub. Visit the Scottish National Trust web site for events that they sponsor during the this season.
Remember that some country venues are closed in the winter. The cities of course have many wonderful museums to see and great theatre in the winter.

Posted by
2681 posts

One of the problems you have going later in the year is lack of daylight in late December it might be as little as 6 or 7 hours and if the weather is bad it can seem quite dark all day.