Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park
Loch Lomond
Two areas of great natural beauty, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, became the heart of Scotland's first national park, created in 2002. The park extends…
Must-see attractions in Scotland
St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life & Art
Glasgow
Set in a reconstruction of the bishop's palace that once stood in the cathedral forecourt, this museum audaciously attempts to capture the world's major…
Southern Highlands & Islands
If the tide is right, don't miss walking across the half-mile of cockleshell-strewn sand linking Colonsay to smaller Oronsay. Here you can explore the…
Orkney
Six miles from the ferry on Rousay, mighty Midhowe Cairn has been dubbed the 'Great Ship of Death'. Built around 3500 BC and enormous, it's divided into…
Southern Highlands & Islands
Bonawe Iron Furnace is one of the region’s most unusual historical sights. Near Taynuilt (not Bonawe), and dating from 1753, it was built by an iron…
Orkney
By the seashore, this sturdy stone-built farmhouse and storeroom are solidly built testimony to crofting life on Papa Westray island…5500 years ago. An…
Kirkwall
This distillery, South of Kirkwall's centre, is great to visit. Despite a dodgy Viking rebrand, it's a serious distillery that malts its own barley; see…
North & West Coast
As you head south from Durness, heather gradually gives way to a rockier landscape of Lewisian gneiss pockmarked with hundreds of small lochans. This is…
Glasgow
Behind Glasgow Cathedral, this sizeable 19th-century necropolis stretches picturesquely up and over a green hill. The elaborate Victorian tombs of the…
Central Scotland
The Kelpies, the stunning equine statues gracing the eastern entrance to the Forth & Clyde Canal, are named after mythical Scottish water-horses. The two…
Orkney
This superb museum, run with great passion, is full of knick-knacks from maritime and natural-history exhibitions covering whaling, the Hudson's Bay…
North & West Coast
South of Cape Wrath, Sandwood Bay boasts one of Scotland’s best and most isolated beaches, guarded at one end by the spectacular rock pinnacle Am…
Glasgow
The grand seat of local government was built in the 1880s at the high point of Glasgow's wealth. The interior is even more extravagant than the exterior,…
Aberdeen
This excellent museum records the history of one of the British Army's most famous fighting units, described by Winston Churchill as 'the finest regiment…
Orkney
This eclectic museum is a great visit, combining some excellent 360-million-year-old Devonian fish fossils found locally with a well-designed exhibition…
Stirling
This impressive Victorian prison building lay derelict from the 1960s until 2015, when it was reopened as a visitor attraction. Costumed guides lead tours…
Glasgow
One of Glasgow's top attractions, this outstanding museum 3 miles out of town houses everything from Chinese porcelain and medieval furniture to paintings…
The Cairngorms
Built for Queen Victoria in 1855 as a private residence for the Royal Family, Balmoral kicked off the revival of the Scottish Baronial style of…
Orkney
Hoy’s best-known sight is this 137m-high rock stack jutting from the ocean off the tip of an eroded headland. It's a tough ascent and for experienced…
Stirling
Perched high on a crag above the floodplain of the River Forth, this Victorian monument is so Gothic it deserves circling bats and croaking ravens. In the…
Edinburgh
With its moored yachts, stately swans and whitewashed houses spilling down the hillside at the mouth of the River Almond, Cramond is the most picturesque…
Outer Hebrides
One of Scotland’s most evocative historic buildings, the Arnol Blackhouse is not so much a museum as a perfectly preserved fragment of a lost world. Built…
North & West Coast
Photogenically sited at the entrance to Loch Duich, Eilean Donan is one of Scotland’s most evocative castles and must now be represented in millions of…
Glasgow
Across the road from the Hunterian Museum, and part of the same bequest, this art gallery incorporates Mackintosh House as well as a good selection of…
Glasgow
A marvellous thing about walking in here is the way the noise of Great Western Rd suddenly recedes into the background. The wooded gardens follow the…
Outer Hebrides
The Callanish Standing Stones, 15 miles west of Stornoway on the A858 road, form one of the most complete stone circles in Britain. It is one of the most…
Shetland
Old and new collide here, with Sumburgh airport right by this picturesque, instructive archaeological site. Various periods of occupation from 2500 BC to…
Scotland
Just a few miles outside Edinburgh lies this glorious historic estate and its surrounding 1000 acres of ancient oak woodland. Seven walking and biking…
Edinburgh
A hidden gem loved by local hikers and dog walkers, Cammo is all ancient woodlands, crumbling ruins and faded grandeur. Located on Edinburgh’s…
Edinburgh
The most westerly of Edinburgh’s seven hills, and the city’s largest woodland, Corstorphine offers steep (but short) ascents, venerable woodland and…
Glasgow
Now headquarters of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, this is the only one of Mackintosh's church designs to be built. It has an excellent stained…
Edinburgh
A working community smallholding with a range of farm animals (including woolly pigs!), a wildlife garden, a play park, a mini farm shop, and a pet lodge…
The Cairngorms
West of Braemar spreads the National Trust for Scotland's Mar Lodge Estate, one of the country's most important nature conservation areas, covering 7% of…
Edinburgh
Lauriston Castle has one of the most remarkable Edwardian interiors in Scotland, with elements dating back to the 16th century. Gifted to the nation in…
Shetland
A couple of miles beyond Bigton is the largest shell-and-sand tombolo (sand or gravel isthmus) in Britain. Walk across to beautiful, emerald-capped St…
Leith
A multi-purpose, family-friendly arts hub, Out of the Blue occupies a magnificent old drill hall dating back to 1901 and hosts events, exhibitions,…
Leith
This state-of-the-art building located on an old railway siding is the first purpose-built centre dedicated to sculpture in the UK. There are regular…
Leith
This recent addition to Leith’s hipster scene is a creative arts hub housed in an old biscuit factory, also home to Edinburgh Gin’s second distillery…
Inverness
The hill above the city centre is topped by the picturesque Baronial turrets of Inverness Castle, a pink-sandstone confection dating from 1847 that…
Edinburgh
A patch of countryside enclosed by the city’s southern suburbs, craggy Blackford Hill (164m) offers pleasant walking and splendid views. The panorama to…
