My husband, 25 yr old daughter and myself are staying in St. Andrews for 9 nights in early Sept., with a 2 night stay in Isle of Skye area. We will have a rental car. We will visit Edinburgh for a day or two. We want to see castles and scenery. We are not museum buffs. Suggestions for day trips are very appreciated!
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8159 posts
Stirling Castle would make a wonderful day trip. The castle itself is spectacular (make sure you take one of the free guided tours) and the town of Stirling is quite charming with lots of history. There are incredible views from the castle, which sits higher than the town. It's a relatively easy commute by car from St. Andrews -- about 80-90 minutes.
You could also tack on the Falkirk Wheel, which is about an additional 15 minutes past Stirling. I haven't been there but would have liked to have gone, and most travelers really enjoy it. And the Kelpies are nearby as well, which is a pretty cool sight.
Posted by
Freedonia
16409 posts
Is there a reason you have chosen to spend nine nights in St. Andrews? (Golf?)
I spend a great deal of time in eastern Scotland (I head up there tomorrow) but the best scenery is in the western and northern part of the country.
Two towns nearby to St. Andrews are Arbroath and Perth. With a car you could do both in one day
The following website will give you some more ideas for day trips:
https://www.visitscotland.com/places-to-go
.
Posted by
Lake District, England
8134 posts
There's also several days of things you could do in Dundee. And Glamis Castle just north of Dundee. Scone Palace just north of Dundee. Dunnottar Castle is well within day trip range by car.
As is Stirling.
With a car you have a choice of taking the coastal route, or the inland route via Forfar and/or Brechin.
The fishing villages of the East Neuk.
There is a lot of undiscovered Fife to explore down to Dunfermline, Culross, Kinross and Loch Leven.
Many possibilities.
You don't say if you are into coastal walking, in modest degree, but there is a lot of that to be done in this area.
Steve Marsh, a you tuber, and deservedly often mentioned on this forum (who lives at Montrose) has done a number of superb videos on the area generally and the coastal walking, and is well worth using as a source of ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhQuxcHU3aydk_zTXcbdTg
There are also several other recent threads on this forum which have asked similar questions.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you all. We have free (and lovely) accommodations in St. Andrews...otherwise we would drive a loop and stay at various spots along the way.
Posted by
3124 posts
Of the numerous castles within range of St. Andrews, I've been told Glamis (pronounced Glahms) is the best. We visited there and loved it. It has a guide-guided tour (as opposed to self-guided), lovely and large and varied gardens, and great cafeteria. You really get the sense of the Earl's family living there when the Queen Mother was young, as well as many glimpses of earlier history. Driving around in the surrounding region is very lovely too.