Our first wee trip to Scotland! Sept. 5- 13, 2025

Day 2- Edinburgh.

After a morning breakfast at Pret, we walked to the Palace of Holyroodhouse for our tour. I actually liked this tour better than the one at Windsor Castle. You could actually understand why the royal family feels this palace is like a home. We spent about an hour and a half there, walked the gardens as well as the Abbey. We also opted to see the Kings Gallery. It was the last day of the royal photography exhibition. The photographs from the royal family were extensive and the stories behind the taking of the photographs were also very fascinating. Seeing this gallery, after doing the Palace of Holyrood tour was just icing on the cake.

We had lunch at the Palace of Holyrood café. And then we walk to a local yarn shop, The Ginger Twist. Great little place with a wide variety of yarns and fabrics. We took the tram to Princes Street, and then walked to Lannan Bakery in Stockbridge. There was a line going out the door, which made sense because I had the best Hazelnut Pain Au Chocolat pastry I’ve ever tasted. Struck up more wonderful conversations with local folks while waiting in line- the people here are just the best- and walked, eating our baked goods and enjoying our teas down the Walk of Leith to Dean Village. We took the bus back to the National Museum of Scotland. I am glad you all had us pinpoint what we wanted to see beforehand, because it is a huge place. My favorite pieces were the Lewis Chessmen. The expressive carvings on those pieces just were so intricate. I could look at them all day.

We walked down Victoria Street and got a lot of really great photos, then shopped a bit in the various stores. We walked into Grassmarket and continued to walk around to get pictures of the outside of the castle before walking back and eating our dinner at Howies. We had a chicken dish, spinach and courgette risotto, and vegetarian haggis, neeps and tatties. It was all fantastic, but I especially enjoyed the vegetarian dish. Really great wait staff and atmosphere in Howie’s. Thanks to all who suggested it!

Day 3 North Berwick Day trip and more Edinburgh sites

We took the ScotRail train down to North Berwick. Another beautiful weather day for us. We walked on the beach, spent time at the Scottish Sea Bird Center and talked to some lovely local folks there. We used the long distance scopes to see the gannets on Bass Rock- thousands of them. The coastline here is amazingly unique compared to the southeast beaches of the US. We debated waiting until 2 to take the boat out, but wanted to see more of Edinburgh when we got back, so we decided against it. We walked down North Berwick’s High Street- what a quaint, beautiful village. I could move there tomorrow! We decided to take the longer bus route- the X5- back to Edinburgh so we could see more of the countryside. East Lothian did not disappoint! I think it would make for a great base if you didn’t want to stay directly in Edinburgh.

Once we got back into the city, we knew we needed to see a couple of spots we missed as of yet. We went back to the RM to take in St. Giles Cathedral. So beautiful. Unfortunately, the Thistle Chapel was closed (not sure why) which was a bit disappointing as I was looking forward to seeing it. I wish we could’ve stayed for the piano concert that night, but with the beautiful weather conditions we decided to get a picnic dinner at M&S Foods and proceeded to head up Calton Hill (more climbing!) The sky was just perfect and you could see views forever. We stayed up there just enjoying the Edinburgh skyline, looking out toward Leith and just being together in such a lovely city. We then walked back through St James Quarter and back to the Premier Inn.

Going to North Berwick was such a great choice of a short day trip. Thanks to all who suggested it.

Day 4 Day trip to Durham

Durham is a place that we have always wanted to see, so I decided since we were close enough and under two hours from there it could be a doable day trip. It meant getting up early, so we took the 7 am LNER train out of Waverly and were in Durham at 8:40 AM. I took Stuart’s suggestion of purchasing First Class train tickets for the morning in order to have breakfast on the train. It was a very nice experience and the waffles were tasty, but not as filling for my son, so we did need to get more to eat at a Costa coffee when we arrived.

We meandered about Durham’s main area and went to the indoor market. What an eclectic little spot! You have booths offering hardware products across from those selling children’s toys across from carpet and rug merchants across from food vendors. It was interesting!

It was time for our Cathedral Tour and we had an absolutely amazing guide named David Hunt. We learned so much from him. He spent an hour and a half with us sharing the vast amount of information about this sacred place. This cathedral is an absolute must see! Run, don’t walk there! We then had tickets to the Cathedral Museum, which included seeing three versions of the Magna Carta as well as the Forest Charters, Saint Cuthbert’s coffin, the original Sanctuary Ring and St Cuthbert’s pectoral cross. Mind blowing stuff. I literally had to pull the kids away.

We headed downstairs to get lunch at the Undercroft Cafe. It was a fast lunch, though, because we had to be at the Palace Green Library to pick up our lanyards for the Castle Tour. If I have a suggestion for anyone doing these tours, give yourself a bit more time between the museum and the castle tours.

The castle tour was again a huge hit. Our guide was a rising fourth year student who was simply awesome in her presentation of this incredible “working” castle. We really enjoyed hearing all about its history and how it is used today as part of the university. How special the students must feel learning and living in such an environment.

Because of the hurried lunch, we felt we needed more cafe/ tea time, and I had in mind to get one of the scones that were so highly recommended. So we went back and indulged! Yum!

We took more pictures in the Cloister, all Harry Potter fans must do you that you know! then started our walk along the River Wear to get those iconic shots of the Castle and the Cathedral. It was another gorgeous day with high clouds, blue skies, crew teams practicing and just absolutely perfect photography conditions. Can’t wait to develop these shots. Thanks to all who gave me such great directions on how to get over there!

It was late afternoon by the time we were ready to leave Durham, so we opted against going to Newcastle. We instead took the LNER train back and sat on the right side. It was fantastic to be able to see Holy Island from the window after learning so much about its significance while at the Cathedral. We had dinner at the Premier Inn because we were leg weary. After all of the carb intake we had, we all decided on salads! Not bad, but yes, very overpriced.

What a great day we had! Tomorrow we leave Edinburgh and head to Glasgow.

Day five Glasgow
Since we had gotten up so early the morning before to go to Durham, we slept in just a little bit and took the 935 train to Glasgow. It took longer than the one coming over by about 25 minutes we arrived in Glasgow at around 11 and dropped off our luggage at the motel one next to the train station. While the rooms are very small, the motel one was very acceptable. It was our first time staying in this chain, and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay again.

We took a bus to the West End and made haste for the university café. We all enjoyed Anthony Bourdain so much and wanted to eat at this restaurant that he spoke so highly of. When we sat down in the booth, we look over and see a picture of him at the end of the booth, eating his signature dish. I don’t know if he actually sat in the booth that we were sitting sitting in, but it was quite special. We all got pies and chips. I could not eat the entire Anthony Bourdain dish, it just is so much food!

We then walked to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery. We were fortunate on our timing because we were able to sit and listen to a magnificent Organ concert. We saw Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, and the design works by Charles Ronnie Makintosh. I’m not one to spend a lot of time in art galleries, but for some reason this one really kept me wanting more. The gallery featuring Salvador Dali’s Christ St. John of the Cross was especially impactful. We were in there for two hours plus.

From the museum we walked the Kelvingrove Path walkway over to the University of Glasgow. The architecture of the campus is really worth seeing, especially the Cloisters and Quadrangles. We’re big fans of the show Shetland, so it was fun seeing some of the places where scenes were shot with the characters Jimmy and Cassie Perez.

We headed back to the hotel by bus to check in. After exploring the area around our hotel a bit, and then going to the Buchanan Galleries so we could donate the old Barbour coat to the Charity Supermarket, we went to Kitty O’Sheas for live music. This was an unexpected highlight of the trip. Such wonderful traditional Irish folk songs, old and new. People singing and dancing. It was great fun! I wish we could have stayed longer but we needed to be up early the next morning for our Rabbie’s trip.

Day six - Rabbies tour: Loch Ness, Glencoe and the Highlands

This was our first guided tour. A long one day trip, but one we were looking forward to as we wanted to see other parts of Scotland and we’re not driving and we’re short on time. We had an incredible tour guide named Cameron, he called himself “old” Cameron, lol, and it was a very informative and worthwhile trip. As an ecologist and former park ranger, he added a lot of interesting natural history to his narrative of the country’s history in this area, which was unique. I’ve never seen such wild beauty and such jaw-dropping landscape as in the Highlands. Pictures just do not do this countryside justice.

We opted to take the Loch Ness boat tour as well. This was our first kind of normal Scottish weather day, with periods of moderate to heavy rain, followed by clouds clearing and pretty sunshine. When we got to Loch Ness, it was raining pretty hard, so we were glad that we took the boat tour rather than having the hour to walk around in the rain. However, this was the only time we felt really rushed on the tour because we had to get a sandwich etc. at one of the cafés and make it down to the boat in about 20 minutes time. I think if I had to advise anybody about this trip I would possibly suggest packing a lunch the night before if possible and that way you wouldn’t have to spend your 15-20 minutes getting food and you could actually maybe look around a little shops there. But I still felt like this was kind of a rushed stop.

The trip went very quickly, and while we covered almost 400 miles in 12 hours, it was very well set up for the most part. I would definitely take another tour with them.

Day 7- Last Day- Glasgow

One of my daughters bucket list items was to see a Highland Coo. We saw a couple from the window on the Rabbies tour, but that was not close enough for her. So, we decided we would head down to Pollok Country Park in search of the coos. We took the bus there and had a lovely morning walking in the park, saw the Pollak Fold of Highland Cattle and enjoyed the woodlands and gardens. This park is well worth visiting if one has time. We opted not to go to the Burrell Collection because we wanted to get back to Glasgow to see the Cathedral.

We took the bus back and wanted to eat lunch at the Butterfly and the Pig, but they were unable to seat us. We then walked to a little place called Caffe Mulberry on Renfield St. It was really good! Huge portions, very reasonable prices and excellent wait staff. Highly recommend.

We walked to the Glasgow Cathedral. Its spire is being restored and rebuilt, thus under scaffolding, but that didn’t take away from how beautiful it is. I’m always in awe of the age of these cathedrals. This one in particular. Built in the 1100s. My goodness.

We went up to the Necropolis and walked around and caught some nice views of the City of Glasgow, which has its own charm. Grittier, authentic, not as refined. It reminds me a bit of NYC in parts. The people we spoke with were lovely and so warm in personality.

Day 8 Glasgow- LHR- IAD

Our taxi - Glasgow Taxis- was right on time at 5 am and we had no trouble getting to the airport by 5:15. Thanks for the suggestion to do that option with that company. I was a bit of a nervous nelly about making this return and it all worked out well. We used just the downloaded boarding passes thru the app, no paper ticket for the first time. Woo hoo! I now consider myself to be among the cool kids ;)

Thanks to all of you who helped make this such an amazing trip with your suggestions and support. It was just a taste of this beautiful country and we will definitely be back some day to see more! I really want to see more of the islands, the northern coastline and especially more of the Highlands. We didn’t get to Stirling Castle this go round, either, but all in all we covered a lot in a week. We are definitely smitten with this place!

Thanks so much for your trip report. Glad you all had a wonderful time. When was your trip? We had summer-like weather this year in April and May, except for showers at Inverness and Loch Ness.

Hi Leonard. We just got back on Saturday night. It was really warm first part of the week. Lovely weather. Got cooler and rainier as the week went on and we moved west. Still warmer than I was expecting.

So glad you had a wonderful time! You packed a lot into your wee trip.

Your detailed report brought back memories of some of the the sights I saw on my recent visits (e.g., Kelvingrove and the National Museum of Scotland) and reminded me of those still on my want-to-see list (e.g., the University of Glasgow and North Berwick). It also made me wish I could beam myself up and over to Howies for tomorrow night’s dinner.

Really enjoyed hearing about your side trip to Durham, too, especially the cathedral tour. Something else to add to my list!

What a lovely report--your trip sounds like it pleased everyone in your group...and there was shopping, too :) FB memories is reminding me that 2 years ago today I was in Edinburgh and had just had my first meal at Howies...like Nancy just posted, I wish I could just magically beam myself there for another meal and explore more of Edinburgh, and the rest of gorgeous Scotland.

What a fantastic trip report, Mustlovedogs! Great job seeing a lot in a short time while also having plenty of cafe time (this is so important lol).

I also loved the Palace of Holyroodhouse but didn't get to go to the then called Queen's Gallery. Next time. And yes, Durham Cathedral is stunning.

@ "Cool Kid", hahaha! What a wonderful trip you had! I love that you saw Lindesfarne from the train after learning about St Cuthbert in Durham. That can be on your list for next time. Those bird-filled islands/rocks off the coast are amazing aren't they!

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up and post! I do have one suggestion and that is to add your dates in either your title line (yes, that is edit-able) or at the beginning of your TR. You did mention it down in a response but it might be more helpful to have it more visible.

Just did that! Thanks Pam for the reminder :)

My son and I actually didn’t get back until Sunday because we opted to spend the night at the Dulles Hilton after our flight. The stay one night, park your car deal was pretty nice - the Hilton was very, very nice- and it kept my sweet husband from having to drive through Northern Virginia traffic on a Saturday. I wasn’t aware you could take advantage of that special for the end of a trip. Glad we did that bc we were bushed!

Mld, sounds like you packed a lot into your short time. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, I loved reading your TR and I’m a bit envious you were able to climb Carlton Hill for the views. It was so foggy and rainy when I was there in July, that the climb just wasn’t worth it. Thanks for bringing me back to beautiful Scotland with your words.

Thank you for a very nice TR and sharing your experiences so richly. I will enjoy reading this again when the time comes to plan our sojourn to Scotland.

Mustlovedogs, thanks for the wonderful trip report! I loved reading it and it sounds like you saw a LOT for the time you were there!

I'm so glad you got to Durham and the cathedral—it is one of my favorites! And I'm also glad you liked the Lewis Chessmen! I love those little guys and always will go out of my way for them. They're so incredible! I really want to be able to hold one, but something tells me that the museums they are in would frown on that, lol! Your trip really sounds great!

Thanks mardee. We had so much fun, but it’s taken me until this morning to feel like I have my energy restored! I think it was all the hills. I had to reduce my walking preparation due to a couple of foot/toe injuries beforehand so maybe it was that, too. Or, it’s because I am getting older, but I will use other excuses if at all possible!

This trip really wetted our whistles to go back to Scotland. What a gorgeous country filled with so much interesting history and lovely people.

Sounds like a fun trip!

I went back and forth and decided to upgrade to priority economy for the first time. While the seat room was larger, unfortunately I have decided that I am not really able to sleep well on planes regardless of how much room I have.

I am totally with you on this. Also to your point about space in economy, I think it is somewhat dependent on what aircraft your on. For our trip we flew with BA but the flight out was on a 747 while the return flight was on an A380. The A380 was noticably roomier