The Stamping Ground - Official Runrig Forum

Hi,

we want to spend our holidays in scotland. But I don't know exactly how to coordinate it, cause there are so many things we would like to see. For example would we like to do some hiking near Fort William and Cairngorms but also want to visit Slains Castle, Inverness and Melrose Abby for example but they are not really next to each other.
Do you think it is possible to rent a room in Glasgow and start the trips from there or it is to far and takes to many time to get to the different tourist attraction?
I already looked up if it is possible to take the train. But not every hiking route is near a train station. Are there busses which drive regulary in the country? If it's possible we would like to take the train, busses or bicycle rather than a renting car because of the left-hand-traffic.

And the most interesting question: Which season is the best for hiking in Scotland? Is it really so that the best time is from may till june?

Sorry for so many questions.

greetings
Flanna

That sounds like the first of several holidays you're going to need to fit all those places in!

Hers's a few websites which may help to give you some ideas:
http://www.visitscotland.com/
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/index.html

Hiring a car would be the easiest way of getting around and you could plan carefully so you spend a day or two in one area then move on to the next. Or just pick one part of Scotland this time and see that in more depth and leave other places for another year (you will be back!) There are buses but you would need to check routes and times in advance and of course you could cycle but there are a lot of hills and you'd need to be pretty fit. Plus that'd mean carrying all your luggage with you. Personally, I don't think basing yourselves in Glasgow is an option - Scotland may look small on a map but it can still take several hours to drive (for example) from Glasgow to Inverness or Fort William. There's an awful lot of Scotland north of Glasgow & Edinburgh and fewer roads the further north you go as they have to follow the valleys and go round the hills!

I would say almost any time of year would be good for hiking - in spring/summer you'll have the longer days but the weather can be varied whatever the month.

Puffin is correct in saying you will need more than one holiday, most if not all return. Not really sure about cost but the following site might help for your first trip
http://www.macsadventure.com/holidays/w ... guided.php

Hey,
we spent last year our holidays in Scotland. We rent a car, after a half day it´s no problem to drive on the left side. But you can go by train and by bus (city link) to all places you want, and it´s not so expensive. When I am in scotland I stay in the youth hostels shya. They are all clean and the stuff is friendly and helpful. And in all hostels you have a selfcatering kitchen, that´s great.
http://www.syha.org.uk/home.aspx
We were in July in Scotland, but I´ve been there in October, December and February too. Scotland is great, I think every month is a good time . Last year in July we had every day every weather...
one hour rain, windy, sun with sunburns, all you want If I can help you more, let me know.

Thanks for the answers. It seems I have to narrow my holiday-plan a little bit, although I am not sure I can do this. Maybe we will narrow it to west-scotland but I really want to see slains castle, hmmm not so easy.
Could somebody tell me how long it takes from glasgow to aberdeen by car?

@Angelika

I've read that you need a hostel-passport for using the hostels. Is this correct?

greetings
Flanna

Hi Flanna,
yes and no.
I´m a member in the german youth hostel group, so I don´t need a membership for international youth hostel group and can stay in every country.
And if you don´t want a memership you have to pay 1 pound more for each night.
I think in every country you can be a member in the youth hostel group and it´s not so expensive for a family. I pay 20 euros for us all in a year.
Sorry, my english...
Angelika

just over 3 hours (glasgow-aberdeen)

Why d'you want to see Slains castle so much? If you do, you'd better not delay too long as outline planning permission has been granted to turn the ruins into holiday flats. (Actually, unlikely to proceed for a few years due to economic situation)
It's about 150 miles on the A90, dual carriageway all the way. Say about three hours, though it could be longer if you leave Glasgow at rush hour. The train takes about two and a half hours, and the Advance adult single fare (no railcard) is about £10. Advance tickets are limited in number and, as the name suggests, have to be bought in advance - be warned that if you don't buy your ticket until the day you travel, your ticket could cost four times as much. You can check Scotrail timetables and fares (and book tickets) at http://www.scotrail.co.uk .

If you want to do some hill walking, incidentally, you could do a lot worse than stop off in Angus (about two-thirds of the way from Glasgow to Aberdeen) as the Angus glens offer some excellent walking - and there's a very good hotel and bunkhouse at the head of Glen Clova - http://www.clova.com/index.cfm . Real ale in the Climbers bar as well . Don't be fooled if you read about a youth hostel up there, however - it's been closed for some years. And if you like ruined castles in cliff-top positions, Dunnottar, just south of Aberdeen and not far from the A90, is well worth a visit. (http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/s ... tarcastle/ )

As for the best time of year, Scottish weather is notoriously difficult to predict, although April, May and June tend to be the driest months of the year. September can also be glorious. I'd steer clear of August, if possible, as while it should be a bit warmer it is also one of the wetter months, there are lots more tourists about, and in the west you may well find yourself troubled by the notorious highland midge (fortunately not such a problem here in the east).

As for travel, rail travel in the UK is among the most expensive in Europe although, as I mentioned above, you can make substantial savings by using one of the many railcards available and by booking well in advance. There's also a Freedom of Scotland Travelpass which gives unlimited rail and ferry travel, plus some coach travel, but it's not particularly cheap. Sometimes special deals are available to foreign tourists but they have to be bought in their own country.

DT

Take advice from someone who has done it time and time again, not that I am for a moment disregarding anyone elses advice.

The Borders is a great place to start your journey and perhaps you can spend most of the day seeing the sites of the Borders, before catching the x95 upto Edinburgh bus station, where you can then catch the train upto Inverness, which is a fantastic central point to stay in the Highlands to allow you to see the sites fairly easily.

Something I should point out, don't plan your journey in the Borders around trains, your not going to get any trains because at the moment they simply don't exist.

Start in the Borders, finish up in Inverness and then make your way back to the Borders to see the res tof the sites.