Hello! My family (myself and husband plus 18, 15 and 13 year old sons) will be visiting Scotland in August/September for approximately 4 weeks. What is a good spot to settle in for that amount of time? We love to be outside and aren't afraid of getting dirty, messy or wet. We do want to see some of the main sights... Edinburgh, for example, but would love to just hunker down in a smaller town for at least a couple of weeks. Not sure about car rental for the entire time we are in Scotland, but not opposed to renting for some of the time in order to maximize opportunities. I'd love any suggestions you have. Thanks!
Posted by
Rockville, MD, USA
595 posts
I'm not sure if you could fill more than a week, but we enjoyed Inverary when my boys were 8 and 11. Highlights included a picnic at Dunadd and row-boating on Loch Awe.
Posted by
Isle of Skye, Scotland
1111 posts
How about 2 weeks on Skye and 2 weeks somewhere in the Outer Hebrides? There are lots of wonderful cottages to rent through agencies like Unique Cottages, Wilderness Cottages, and my personal favourite LHH Scotland. https://www.lhhscotland.com. In fact the LHH site has some beautiful properties, which might attract you to other parts of Scotland too.
Posted by
3122 posts
Another vote for Inveraray. If you don't want to rent a car, Inveraray has good bus connections to most places you'd want to visit. Right in town there's the castle, with walking trails on its property and a darling herd of black sheep. Argyll Adventure, a few miles south of town on the shore of Loch Fyne, has horseback riding and paintball. The Auchindrain Township open-air museum has miles of walking trails and fascinating history exhibits. Less than an hour away on the road to Oban, on the shore of Loch Awe, is the Ben Cruachan "hollow mountain" hydropower plant visitor centre where you can take a tour inside the mountain.
In Inveraray I can recommend Brambles B&B. They have a lovely chalet-like split-level apartment that would work great for a family. If you're staying for weeks I would guess they could give you a good rate. I believe there are also holiday cottages for rent just outside the town center. See https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentals-g186500-Reviews-Inveraray_Argyll_and_Bute_Scotland-Vacation_Rentals.html
Posted by
Washington DC
27063 posts
If you aren't planning to keep a rental car for the entire trip, check rail/bus routes from your proposed car-less bases very carefully. Edinburgh and Glasgow would work for a long stay. Some other locations may have service infrequent enough that out-and-back trips will be quite difficult. And tiny places won't have a lot of attractions of their own other than walking opportunities.
I write this as a result of having tried (unsuccessfully so far) to figure out a way to see Inveraray en route from Glasgow to Oban. Day-trips from Glasgow looked OK, as I recall, but onward transportation was thin enough to create difficulties. I researched this back in February, though, and something may be different in August/September.
Just as a general rule, I am not a fan of very long stays in small towns when I anticipate making a lot of day-trips. On a first trip to a country I always have a long list of destinations I hope to see. Public-transportation schedules often don't allow that unless you're staying in a city that's a transportation hub. In Scotland you have the additional challenge of rural roads that don't permit coverage of long distances per hour. Even with a car, I think you'll find staying in a place like Inveraray (which isn't remotely centrally located, either) commits you to an awful lot of hours on the road. I'd be looking at a maximum of one week in any small town, and quite possibly more like 4 or 5 days, depending on how many interesting places I could find within about a 1-hour drive or bus trip.
If you decide on multiple shorter stays, you might look at the area around Dundee as one possibility; there seems to be quite a lot to see up that way.