Early stages of planning family trip to Scotland for September 2027. 9 of us total. 2 very active seniors, 62, 5 mid 20 yr olds, and 2 children, 4 and 1 yrs old. Any suggestions from families that have traveled with a large group? We are mainly outdoor people, love history, hiking, nature, not shoppers at all! How did you find accommodations for a large group? Travel arrangements within Scotland? Any other tidbits of advice or insights? Any places or towns that you loved and would suggest as a must see? We plan to fly into Edinburgh to start. Probably stay 2 weeks total. Thank you for any positive, insightful, helpful comments. (Yes, we all have passports)
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
2150 posts
With so many people to wrangle, I would say move as little as possible. The trains go nearly everywhere, and the kids will travel for free (assuming the ages indicated are not their current ages but the ages they will be next year). Depending on how many train journeys you intend to take, you might want to get rail cards (probably two Friends and Family cards, but check here: https://www.railcard.co.uk
Will you stay in Edinburgh at all or just head out to the countryside? Either way, use your preferred site (mine is AirBnB) and filter for your group size, needs and budget, and see what you find. With young kids, I'd say you want a house or apartment, rather than a hotel. IME, AirBnB has made it harder to search without dates. Here's a great-looking place I found near Fort William, accessible by bus/taxi:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/740890537318912683?adults=7&children=1&infants=1&location=Scotland%2C%20United%20Kingdom&search_mode=regular_search&category_tag=Tag%3A7765&check_in=2026-12-11&check_out=2026-12-16&pets=0&photo_id=1511060498&source_impression_id=p3_1786124561_P352EWbaRidLs16E&previous_page_section_name=1001&federated_search_id=87952324-5d60-43a8-8b88-9505bb7da1a7
The price shown is for a December stay. It's too soon to check the price for September 2027.
Posted by
OP
49 posts
Yes! We want to stay in Edinburgh for a few days. And yes, children are with same parents. So very helpful comments and suggestions. Will rely on others throughout the year as I update plans. So excited! Probably will keep travel to a minimus. Go to one or two other areas and stay there for several days.
Posted by
Virginia
996 posts
Agree with above, and pick places and methods of transportation where you can easily make separate plans for the day, less ambitious for the children and at least one parent or other caretaker, rather than all 9 together. Active adults who like history and hiking, and children that young who like parks, playgrounds, naps and structured schedules can be a recipe for frustration on both sides without that kind of flexibility.
Posted by
Glasgow, Scotland
1856 posts
Given your party size and the young children, if Edinburgh is a key I'd look at somewhere on the main railway lines and rent a holiday cottage there. Out to Linlithgow in West Lothian or Haddington in East Lothian or somewhere in Fife or the Borders. I would then consider a two centre and do the same somewhere in the highlands if that was your interest
Posted by
Duluth🌲
12999 posts
One logistical issue: that’s good that you have passports, but keep in mind you will also need ETAs for Scotland. It stands for Electronic Travel Authorization. It’s easy to get online, but you don’t want to get it too early, since it’s only good for two years.
Keep this website in mind and sometime in the spring or early summer of next year, go ahead and get all your ETAs. Even the children need them. Do NOT go to any other site except the one below. There are a lot of scammers out there who will try and get you to come to theirs and charge a $100+ fee. The price as of today is £20 per person. It might go up a little bit before next year, but not much.