Best town off the beaten path in Scotland to visit

We love to stay in Aviemore. It is in the Caringorm Mt. range. A lovely small village. We like the Caringorm hotel- a small hotel across from the rail station. It looks like a small castle, but has a b&b feel to it. The food is marvelous. There's lots to do there- hikes and walks, horseback riding, etc. plus the funicular up the mt. and a restored steam train to ride. There is a small brewery that does tours with samples and you are not too far from some of the best whisky distilleries.

Aviemore is a good choice if you want inland. For the sea, try one of the small fife towns south of St. Andrews, Ely, crail, etc. Or north of Dundee - Arbroath. On teh west coast, Dunoon, Rothesey, or Largs, Troon, Prestwick are all good choices.

ULLAPOOL.
Really lovely little town in Wester Ross.
Pubs on the harbour wall, boat trips, the bestfish n chips (as from radio 4 Food programme)
Corrieshalloch gorge is near by as is Suilven , and Stac Polly, Summer Isles, oh and the mad little road of sutherland.
Ullapool looks like a drawing froma 50's childrens book, lovely.
I believe Loch Broom FM, even gives a daily midge report

It's a tiny town but we liked Glencoe, Scotland. There is great hiking in the area.

We stayed in Linlithgow in 2007 and loved it. It's a perfect location to take a day trip into Edinburgh but still feel like you're in the country. We stayed at the Bonsyde House Hotel (http://www.bonsydehouse.co.uk/), they have 8 very nice bedrooms and then a few cottages. The food was great, we ate dinner and breakfast, and the staff was great! The rooms were very comfortable and the house sits up on a hill over looking the motorway and Linlithgow. Linlithgow Palace was a very interesting place to visit, the town is great and we enjoyed the pub across from the local Tescos or Sainsbury (can't remember which). It's a great area to travel up along the coast to the smaller towns. We will stay there again when we go back to Scotland.

Pitlochry is a pleasant little town and one of the B&B's also has a pub with really good food. The small distillery of Edradour is there as well as the salmon ladders, wool shops, and great hiking opportunities.

We loved Holy Island. Meade wine made by monks was wonderful. The little town is really charming. They have a castle also. I did not visit it. It was about a .5 mile walk and I was not up to it.

Be sure to stop and read the tide charts posted. If you mis-calculate, you will be under 22+ feet of sea.

John b.