best choice for staying in Edinburgh and day tours

I would recommend staying in two places. I would stay in Edinburgh. You can enjoy the city and take day trips to Stirling, St. Andrews, and Glasgow by train and bus connection. And if you want to there are additional guided tours that you find out about at the Tourist Information office. I would spend the other half of the trip in Inverness. Locally, you can see Culloden Battlefield and Clava Cairns. You can also see Cawdor Castle if Edinburgh and Stirling didn't castle you out. You can then do some day trips. You get by train to Aviemore and do some walks or take a steam train ride. Another trip would be to take the train to Kyle of Lochalsh and see Skye. You might want to stop off in Plockton. it's a nice little west coast town. You can do a day trip to Loch Ness and visit Urqhart Castle. If you're really venturesome and don't mind long bus trips you can visit Orkney. This plan gets you up to the Highlands and really see them rather than just day bus trip. I like Inverness because of its central location and it's a not just for tourists type of town as it's the Capitol of the Highlands. If you opp to stay in Edinburgh there are other day trips that I could recommend, but this is a good start. Pam

I have to agree with Pamela. Stay in either Inverness (my favorite Scottish city- with LOTS of great day trips) or for a break from "city-ness" stay in Aviemore. It also has lots to see and do and your son might enjoy some of the things there. There are hikes, canoeing, horseback riding and other "outdoors" activities. You can go up Mt. Caringorm on the funicular and either hike down or ride back down. There is a restored steam train that does a nice round trip. There is a local microbrewery that gives tours and samples. You are within a short train or bus ride of some wonderful distilleries.
We like to stay at the Caringorm Hotel- it looks like a minature castle on the outside and a hunting lodge inside. And the resturant serves THE BEST food!!!

thank you, ladies! I will make plans to stay in 2 cities for sure. If anyone also wants to help out with best places to stay in Ireland, that's also up for decisions! We love the smaller, intimate places where we can meet local people. I am waiting on my husband to agree to driveI think he will. We know we have 4 days on a company trip in the Wicklow area (Powerscourt)and will get tours in Dublin and the surrounding area during that, but we are coming in 7 days early. I would love to know your best thoughts on places in Dingle, Doolin, Kinsale, Galway and Kilkenny. I had in mind starting with 1 night in Kilkenny, 2 in Kinsale, 2 in Dingle and 2 in Galway, doing trips out from each. There are a lot of people who seem to love Doolin, too. There are some great suggestions out there for places to stay, and I will look into those, too. Appreciate everyone!
Luanne

We stayed here: http://www.numberfive.com/ a couple of years ago and loved it. You can cook a bit, etc. They have insuite and down the hall baths. Your choice of course. The insuite are a bit more, but not much. The self catering is in Portobello a 15 minute bus ride (stop right outside the door) into town. Price when I was there was about 1.30pounds for the bus each way. I think buying a with return is a bit cheaper.