14 top places to visit in Scotland

Those dramatic peaks, lonely glens and lochs, all that tartan and haggis: Scotland’s most appealing places really do all exist in real, vivid life.

From craggy Skye and historic Edinburgh to the rolling rivers of Speyside, Scotland’s best places to visit are – truly – as glorious as you’d imagine. Yet this proud nation is more than a mere series of postcard views. Spend even a short time here, and you’ll find a varied and engrossing country with a rich culture. Scottish landscapes abound with prehistoric villages, teeming wildlife and ruined abbeys.

So, where does a visitor start? Once you've decided on the best time for your visit and how to get around, you need to decide on just where you want to while you’re lucky enough to be here.

Our list of the best places to visit in Scotland will help get you started.

1. Loch Lomond

Best for a lakeside hike

Despite being less than an hour’s drive from the bustle and sprawl of Glasgow, the bonnie braes (banks) of Loch Lomond – immortalized in the words of one of Scotland’s best-known songs – make up one of the most scenic parts of the country.

At the heart of Scotland’s first national park, the loch begins as a broad, island-peppered lake in the south, its shores clothed in bluebell-sprinkled woods, before it narrows in the north to a fjord-like trench ringed by mountains.

Detour: The summit of Ben Lomond (974m) is a popular climb. Follow the well-maintained path for a 7-mile round-trip on the popular Tourist Route; allow around 5 hours.

2. Stirling

Best for castle fanatics

With an impregnable position atop a mighty wooded crag (the plug of an extinct volcano), Stirling’s beautifully preserved Old Town is a treasure trove of historic buildings and cobbled streets winding up to the ramparts of Stirling Castle. This fortress has seen serious action: it was bombarded by the Warwolf, a giant 14th-century English siege engine; came under attack during the 1745 Jacobite rising; and dispatched troops to the battle of Bannockburn, the decisive battle (portrayed at the end of Braveheart) that happened just a few miles south.

Today, views that stretch to the Highlands, glorious tapestries and juicy history make this Scotland’s best castle – and a great place to visit with your family.

Planning tip: Since many tourists come on day trips from Edinburgh or Glasgow, it’s best to visit in the afternoon. You may have the castle almost to yourself around 4pm.

3. Speyside

Best for whisky tasting

Scotland’s national drink is whisky – and you’ll find more than 50 distilleries in Speyside, Scotland’s most famous whisky area, famed for fruity, lightly spicy flavors. (Head over to Islay for peatier varieties.) Named from the Gaelic phrase uisge beatha, meaning “water of life,” the fiery spirit has been produced here for more than 500 years.

Ask at the Whisky Museum about the Malt Whisky Trail, a self-guided tour around the local distilleries. If you just have time for one, the Balvenie Distillery is a good bet, as it still uses a traditional malting floor. The smell is glorious.

Planning tip: In the heart of the region, Dufftown is host to the biannual Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival.

4. Shetland Islands

Best for bird-watching

Close enough to Norway to make their affiliation with Scotland seem tenuous, the Shetland Islands are Britain's northernmost outpost. The stirringly bleak setting – recognized as a precious UNESCO Geopark – still feels uniquely Scottish, though, thanks to deep, naked glens flanked by steep hills; twinkling, sky-blue lochs; and, of course, wandering sheep on little-trafficked roads. Yet it's the birdlife here that is the main attraction for visitors.

From their first arrival in late spring to the raucous feeding frenzies of high summer, the vast colonies of gannets, guillemots, skua, puffins and kittiwakes at Hermaness, Noss, Sumburgh Head and Fair Isle provide some of Britain’s most impressive bird-watching moments.

Local tip: Shetland is one of the best places in the UK to spot orcas (also in the late spring and summer months May to September) as well as the northern lights (in winter).

5. Edinburgh

Best for year-round entertainment

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Scotland's capital is justly famous for its many festivals. (If you’re planning to visit with festival magic in mind, book ahead, as accommodation can get pricey.) Yet visitors will find that Edinburgh is a city of year-round pleasures and many moods. Visit in spring to take in the Old Town silhouetted against a blue sky and a yellow haze of daffodils; or on a chill winter’s day to observe fog snagging the spires of the Royal Mile, rain on the cobblestones and a warm glow beckoning from the windows of local pubs.

With a world-class modern art gallery, top museums, spooky historic sites and a majestic 12th-century castle, there’s plenty to keep you entertained here, whatever the season.

Local tip: Start your visit with a climb up Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano that offers panoramic city views.

6. The Scotland Borders

Best for a country ramble

Many visitors to Scotland race up to Edinburgh and then hightail it to the Highlands, missing the Scottish Borders entirely. That’s their loss. Once fought over by war chiefs and cattle thieves, the Borders region is rich in history and packed with good cycling and hiking routes.

There are grand country manors (Traquair House brews Jacobite Ale and has a concealed room that once hid Catholic priests), as well as a series of gorgeous ruined abbeys (Gothic Melrose Abbey is the best), plus birds and sea cliffs at St Abb’s Head. More-active types can fish for salmon or thunder down the mountain bike trails at Glentress and Innerleithen.

Planning tip: You can see the highlights of southern Scotland, including the Scottish Borders, on a 5-day itinerary.

7. North Coast 500

Best for a scenic road trip

Breathtaking views abound in the Highlands. And the far north is where things become truly astounding. This is the best place in Scotland to explore by car (the truly fit can also cycle it) – with the reward being some of the finest roadside scenery in all of Europe.

The NC 500 starts and ends in the lovely city of Inverness, looping past the lochs, sand dunes and golf courses of the east coast – then taking in the remote cliffs and beaches of Cape Wrath, the rugged peaks of Assynt and Torridon’s desolate beauty. These sights – as well as the famously warm Highland hospitality found in the region’s classic rural pubs and old crofting villages – make this an unforgettable week-long tour.

Planning tip: Overtourism has come for Scotland's NC 500, with locals reporting a strain on resources. Aim to set out on this iconic road trip without affecting what makes it so special.

8. West Highland Way

Best for long-distance hiking

The best way to absorb Scotland’s landscapes? By walking across them. Expect peaks that tower over lochs and sea cliffs that gaze over the wind-whipped sea, yes – but also short woodland trails and charming strolls through valleys dusted with purple heather in spring and summer.

At the top of many hikers’ wish lists is the 96-mile West Highland Way from Milngavie (near Glasgow) to Fort William. The weeklong walk passes through some of the country’s finest scenery and finishes in the shadow of its highest peak, Ben Nevis. It’s a popular route, so expect to a trail of merry hikers in the peak of summer; in winter, it can become impassable due to snow and ice. Rail lovers should note that sleeper trains run south from Fort William to London, making for a comfortable return after the long walk.

Detour: The 1345m summit of Ben Nevis is within reach of anyone who's reasonably fit. Treat the peak with respect, and your reward (weather permitting) will be magnificent views that can stretch as far as Northern Ireland.

9. Isle of Skye

Best for photographers

In a country famous for over-the-top scenery, the Isle of Skye is an apex. From the craggy peaks of the Cuillins and the bizarre pinnacles of the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing to the spectacular sea cliffs of Neist Point, a photo opportunity awaits at almost every turn.

Skye is also one of the best places in Scotland to see golden eagles. And – if you can tear your eyes from the natural world – you’ll find convivial pubs and top seafood restaurants here, too. Of course, all this tourist appeal makes Skye one of Scotland’s most popular destinations. Yet the crowds tend to stick to Portree, Dunvegan and Trotternish – and it’s almost always possible to find peace and quiet in the island’s further-flung corners.

Planning tip: Come prepared for changeable weather. When it’s fine, it’s very fine indeed – but all too often, it isn’t. Pack waterproof layers and repellent for midges (known as no-see-ums in the United States) in summer.

10. Perthshire

Best for enjoying nature’s bounty

In Perthshire, in the heart of Scotland, picturesque towns bloom with flowers, distilleries emit tempting malty odors and sheep graze in impossibly green meadows. There’s a feeling of nature's bounty here that no other place in Scotland can match.

Blue-gray lochs shimmer, reflecting the changing moods of the weather; centuries-old trees tower amid riverside forests; majestic glens scythe their way into remote wildernesses and salmon leap upriver to the place of their birth. Savor it all.

Planning tip: The Snow Roads Scenic Route is a 90-mile driving route between Blairgowrie in Perthshire and Grantown-on-Spey, by way of Braemar and Ballater. It takes in two high mountain passes that are often snow-covered in winter – Glenshee and the Lecht (both are ski centers) – and is marked by a series of landscape artworks at particularly picturesque viewpoints.

11. Glasgow

Best for live music and pub culture

Scotland’s biggest city lacks Edinburgh’s dramatic setting, it’s true – but its many activities, warmth and energy leave every visitor impressed. Edgy and contemporary, this is a great city for browsing art galleries and museums and discovering the works of local design hero Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Glasgow’s infectious vitality is best sampled at its lively pubs and clubs, which host one of the world’s great live-music scenes.

Local tip: Check out upcoming (mostly alt-rock) acts at legendary former ballroom Barrowland. Or try the Sub Club for house and techno and the Clutha Bar for roots and rock. Nice ’n‘ Sleazy is a classic indie dive.

12. St Andrews

Best for golfers

Scotland invented the game of golf – and the city of St Andrews is still revered as its spiritual home by both champions and amateurs. Links courses are the classic experience here, bumpy coastal affairs where the rough is heather and machair (coastal grass). The main enemy is the wind off the sea, which can in an instant make a disaster of a promising round.

The historic Fife university town of St Andrews is the game of golf’s unofficial headquarters, and an irresistible destination for anyone who loves the sport. And if you’re not so keen...well, the city has impressive medieval ruins, stately university buildings, beautiful white sands, and excellent guesthouses and restaurants.

Planning tip: Accommodation in St Andrews can be impossible to find during graduation week in June and golfing events. Book well ahead or consider visiting outside these busy times.

13. Skara Brae

Best for ancient history

Visitors to ancient sites often find it difficult to imagine them as they existed millennia ago, or to build a connection with the people that built them. Not in Scotland, where superb prehistoric remains have an immediate impact. Few places offer a better glimpse of everyday Stone Age life than Skara Brae in Orkney, with its carefully constructed fireplaces, beds, cupboards and water cisterns.

This Neolithic village – which, dating back 5000 years, is older than Stonehenge or the Pyramids of Giza – lay buried in coastal sand dunes for centuries. Even today, it can feel as though the inhabitants have just slipped out to go fishing and could return at any moment.

Planning tip: Exploring by car saves time and allows access to areas not reachable by public transport. Cars can be rented in Kirkwall and Lerwick. Roads are generally good, though many are single carriageways with passing places. Inter-island ferries operate within and between Orkney and Shetland.

14. Glen Coe

Best for a mix of scenery and history

Scotland’s most famous glen combines two essential qualities of the Highlands: dramatic scenery and a deep sense of history. The peace and beauty of this valley today belie the fact that Glen Coe was the scene of a ruthless 17th-century massacre, when the local MacDonalds were murdered by warriors of the Campbell clan.

Some of the glen’s finest walks – to the Lost Valley, for example – follow the routes taken by fleeing clanspeople, many of whom perished in the snow.

Planning tip: Start at the Glencoe Visitor Centre for more information on this beautiful place and its tragic history.