We're doing my daughter's high school graduation trip to the UK this summer in mid to late July. We want to see London, Edinburgh and a bit of Scotland. This will be a "sampling" trip not "done it and seen it all!" trip given the short time frame: Landing on a Friday AM, spending Sat to Sat on the ground, flying home Sunday - so 8.5 days in all there.
I searched a bit on this forum for some prior advice for trips with teens but only found a few posts. I'd really welcome some advice on the Scotland portion beyond Edinburgh.
Right now I'm thinking...
- 2.5 days in London (Arrival Friday through Sun night) which I know is super short but will be enough for a taste of it at least
- 1.5 days in Edinburgh (taking train up Mon AM; spending all day Tues touring it)
- 3 days elsewhere in Scotland (Weds, Thurs, Fri) - this is what I'm looking for some help with
- Sat - train back to London unless we get a good price on a direct back from Edinburgh
For the 3 extra Scotland days - Pitlochery looks cute and has a canyoneering tour from nearby that I think the kids would like. I'd like to get them to a castle that more ruin-y - maybe going up to Dunnottar Castle? (We've seen others that are restored/preserved and decorated inside; they aren't all that keen on them but both kids like stuff that's a bit more abandoned/ruin feel.) We are from VA so rolling hill are fine but won't be all that exciting scenery for them; but the cliffs look cool - maybe Bullers of Buchan would be doable to add on?
For some context, a couple summers ago we visited SE Germany and we liked our days in Berchtesgaden more than the Munich piece (charming small town, lots of adventury-type stuff to do with the teens like rock climbing, narrow gorges, salt mine, thermal bath). We'll see enough city during the London & Edinburgh days that I'm trying to see how best to use the other Scotland days for non-urban stuff that's viable driving-wise.
