Edinburgh is the perfect base for exploring Scotland. By train or on an organised tour you can reach castles, lochs, mountains and historic towns in a day. Here are the finest trips.
Under an hour away
- Glasgow: Scotland's largest city, with the architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, outstanding free museums and a very lively music scene. Trains every 15 minutes, under an hour.
- Stirling Castle: the fortress where Mary Queen of Scots and James VI were crowned, on the crag overlooking the battlefields of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, with the Wallace Monument nearby.
- The Forth Bridge at South Queensferry: the red-painted cantilever railway bridge completed in 1890, a UNESCO site, alongside two modern road bridges.
- Rosslyn Chapel: a small 15th-century church covered with mysterious carvings, made famous by The Da Vinci Code.
- Linlithgow Palace, the ruined palace where Mary Queen of Scots was born.
- North Berwick and the East Lothian coast, with beaches, seaside castles such as Tantallon and the gannets of the Bass Rock.
Day trips further afield
- St Andrews: Scotland's oldest university town and the home of golf, with its ruined cathedral and beaches.
- Loch Lomond and the Trossachs: Scotland's first national park, with Britain's largest lake by surface area.
- The Highlands, Glencoe and Loch Ness: on a long day's organised tour you cross Scotland's most spectacular glens, as far as the monster's loch and Urquhart Castle. To see them at leisure, though, it is worth staying at least one night.
- Perth and Scone Palace, where Scottish kings were crowned, and the new Perth Museum with the Stone of Destiny.
- The castles and distilleries of Perthshire and Speyside.
Planning
For Glasgow, Stirling, Linlithgow, North Berwick and St Andrews (with a short bus ride from Leuchars) the train is convenient and cheap. For Rosslyn there are Lothian buses. For the Highlands and Loch Ness, organised minibus tours leaving early in the morning from the centre are the most practical option if you are not hiring a car. Drivers should remember that traffic keeps left and that Highland roads are often single-track with passing places.
See also the page on Scotland, the history of Scotland, Glasgow and the Edinburgh guide.