I'm planning our trip for June and need to figure out what to do for one night between our stay in Edinburgh and our one night at Broomhall Castle in Stirling. The night we wanted at Broomhall wasn't available, so we're having to shift things around. (I'm so excited to stay in a castle!!) It's me, my husband and our 11-year-old son. We'll have a car, which makes it a bit easier to plan. Our main hope for the trip was to see castles and beautiful mountains/sea, so don't really want to spend another night in Edinburgh. We were thinking maybe going to St. Andrews or Dundee. Or should we stay in the Stirling area and maybe go to Loch Lomond? Other thoughts? Our itinerary so far is this:
Edinburgh-2 nights
?-1 night
Broomhall Castle- 1 night
Inverness area-1 night
Isle of Skye-2 nights
Back to Edinburgh to fly out the next morning
Thanks!!
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8913 posts
How about Falkirk and visit the Falkirk wheel and the Kelpies?
https://www.scottishcanals.co.uk/falkirk-wheel/
https://www.thehelix.co.uk/visit/kelpies-tour/
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
Sorry, but you are going to be spending longer in the car than actually seeing places and you are going to have a fractious 11 year old.
Skye is a long drive and you are only going to have 1.5 days there. The roads are slow there and it takes 3 days to just scratch the surface. I would be tempted to drop a 1 night stay in Inverness and add this to Skye. Alternatively, drop Skye and add the time to Inverness.
The Falkirk Wheel and The Kelpies are worth seeing, although Falkirk itself wouldn’t be my location of choice. I would stay in Falkirk (see Falkirk Palace) or the pretty coastal East Neuk - such as Elie.
Posted by
Lincolnshire, UK
2320 posts
Jennifer - Did you mean Falkland?
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7204 posts
If you like abbey ruins, then Dunfermline and its Dunfermline Abbey. Robert the Bruce is buried there, although his heart is at Melrose Abbey.
Posted by
Lincolnshire, UK
2320 posts
If planning to visit Historic Environemnt Scotland properties (many ruined castles, abbeys) check their websites as many properties are still currently still closed as a "precautionary measure while they undertake high level masonry inspections"... Many of the places I would have recommended are affected by this. (Historic Scotland have a backlog of repairs which have caught up with them, especially as all their properties were closed during covid lockdowns and maintenance couldn't be carried out.)
From the website, It sounds as if only the nave is open at Dunfermline Abbey.
Posted by
Gig Harbor, Washington, USA
1869 posts
Since you like castles, you might enjoy exploring the area east of Edinburgh which has lots of castles and also ruined abbeys. Even if you can't go inside them, most of the grounds are open for exploring. You might enjoy a loop: Edinburgh - Dirleton Castle - Tantallon Castle (there are even more castles in this area) - St. Abbs (pretty town on the coast) - Dryburgh Abbey. That's about 100 miles. Overnight at the Dryburgh Abbey Hotel or in nearby Melrose. Next day: Drive to Peebles - Kelpies - Stirling Castle - Broomhall. You can research the route on Google maps. If you visit Stirling Castle that afternoon, you will free up the next day to enjoy the drive from Pitlochry through Ballater heading towards Inverness (Grantown would be a better choice.)
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thanks, everyone, for all of the information! We did decide to narrow down the scope a bit and cut out the trip to Inverness and add a day to Isle of Skye. As for the day between Edinburgh and Broomhall Castle, I just booked a night at a B&B in Leven along the coast, heading northeast towards St. Andrews.
We're getting excited to go!
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
Ah well, it took me too long to remember the name of the Champany Inn where a few years ago I spent my last.couple of nights in Scotland. It was very nice and very good food as well. The drive to the airport was a bit longer than I realized and I should have left 30 minutes sooner than I did. :). Maybe next time.