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Help, 5 day itinerary with babies and grandparents

We will be in Scotland for 5 days in July. At the time of the trip I'll have a 2.5 year old and 1 year old. Also my parents and my wifes parents will be with us.

Since it is only 5 days I don't really want to be driving a lot every day. Which town/city would you recommend for this short time where we could ideally see some scenic areas and visit some cool castles? We wouldn't be doing much hiking with the large party we have so more so exploring the city/town, finding cool stores/pubs/restaurants to frequent, and visiting some historic sites/castles on day trips.

So ideally we wouldn't stay in more than 2 places during this trip, maybe one city for 3 days and the other for 2 days.

And i am not against renting a car, but with how many people we have it would also be ideal if we could spend our time in places that wouldn't require us to rent a car. I don't mind hiring a driver or taking a day tour that picks us up.

We don't want to jam too much into the trip, but would at least like to hit a few tops spots as well as some castles which would be a priority if possible.

Thanks for any help!

Posted by
2609 posts

Stay in Edinburgh. Day trips to Stirling and North Berwick by train.

Posted by
32 posts

I definitely concur to stay in Edinburgh- you can easily do day trips to Stirling (big castle) and St Andrews (historic ruins and beautiful seaside location in Fife). You can get to Stirling on the train and St Andrews by bus. If you want to see another city, Glasgow is also a wonderful place with great museums/pubs/restaurants and is only about 45 mins by train. You definitely wouldn't need a car for any of that.

If you want a place where small children can run around, I also recommend Jupiter Artland on the outskirts of Edinburgh- huge outdoor art installations, a lot like Storm King in the Hudson Valley in NY- really fun! You may be able to get a bus there but if not a taxi shouldn't be too expensive. Enjoy your time in Scotland!