Scotland

My husband and I did 2 Heart of Scotland tours in 2015 and loved them. We did the southern borders tour that included Roslyn’s chapel and Hadrian’s Wall one day and two days later did the Best of Scotland in a day tour. We stayed at the Apex Waterloo hotel which is right across the street from where they pick up passengers for the tours so it was very convenient. We thought the tour guides were awesome and they also took us to a Stone Circle in a farmers field on the Best of Scotland tour. We are planning on doing a Heart of Scotland tour to Skye in the future which I think is a couple of days in length.

I was on the 11-day 2019 Best of Scotland tour but it has been expanded for 2021 top begin in Glasgow and end in Edinburgh. (Editorial: I do not see how you can enjoy Scotland in 8 days). I arrived two days early and stayed two days after in Edinburgh. If I were doing it again, I'd arrive three to four days early and start for three to four days after the tour. Getting around on the trains and trams was easy.

Every little town we stayed in had several interesting cemeteries, which I enjoy, too. I do not believe any ancient megalithic sites are featured on any of the Steves tours of Scotland. You really don't have time to get out on your own, unless you were to make special arrangements with the guide, but finding a private guide to haul you out to some interesting sites on your extra days should not be difficult to arrange.

Except there is no stone circle and no ‘Craig na Dun’....

https://www.secret-scotland.com/blog/scotland-travel-blog-april-2015

The Visit Scotland website is a good resource for finding what you want to see in Scotland. This page should help you with stone circles and standing stones. I don't know if any are on the RS tour. We visited independently and the only place we went was the Clava Cairns. There is a double (split) standing stone(s) there that was Diana Gabaldon's inspiration when writing Outlander.

Wally....please refer to your earlier statement.....

No humor detected in your original post......enjoy yourself in Brigadoon.

Are there standing shoes in Brigadoon??

There is the Clava Cairns near Inverness that may be of interest if looking for standing stones/cemeteries. I don't think it's part of the tour so you'd probably need to rent a car or find an uber that would take you there. I found it quite interesting. Also, I didn't have time to do this but when I was planning my trip to Scotland a few years back, I was wanting to also find more information about stones and the Pictish history of Scotland and found "the Pictish Trail". If you have extra time when arriving in Inverness (and rent a car), it might be something else interesting to do. There is a pdf you can download from this website to learn more: https://www.exploreeasterross.co.uk/pictish-trail

I went on the Scotland tour last year and was disappointed they were no longer able to take a big bus to Clava Cairns. I hope on future tours they will find a way (a couple vans maybe or just one and make it optional) to go see the standing stones even if Jamie and Clare aren't there.

We enjoyed this museum in Edinburgh, from their website:

"The Scottish National Gallery displays some of the greatest art in the world, including masterpieces by Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, El Greco, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Dyck, Tiepolo, Landseer, Gainsborough, Constable, Turner, and Angelica Kauffmann amongst many others. The most comprehensive part of the collection covers the history of Scottish painting – including Ramsay, Raeburn and Wilkie."

My husband and I always get to the starting point at least a day ahead and then we stay up all day to reset our biological clocks. We landed early in the morning, dropped bags off at the hotel and then took the bus to Rosslyn Chapel. Had a tour around the Chapel and a nice lunch at the cafe--very nice folks running the place.

The Necropolis in Glasgow is really cool, but the 8-day tour doesn't go to Glasgow at all.

There is tons to see in Scotland (I didn't cover all that much of it in 26 days last year), so add as much time as you can. You certainly won't have trouble filling it.

"Except there is no stone circle and no ‘Craig na Dun’...."

It's just as good. Otherwise one look at my vaccination scar would get me burned alive for being in cahoots with the Devil.