Road trip in Scotland

Getting ready for a road trip in Scotland

A trip to Scotland is perfect for an epic road trip. With two weeks, it is possible to carry out a relaxed loop (with about 1.5 hours of driving per day). With a week or ten days it will be a bit more difficult to make a loop but it is enough time to visit a good part of Scotland.

Our first advice to plan your road trip is the timing. It is essential to make the most out of your activities. We arrived on the last weekend of August to enjoy the first half of September. Travelling around those dates allowed us to:

• Maximise our chances of not having terrible weather (which was true on two-thirds of our trip).
• Avoid the worst season for the midges (itchy little flies). We haven’t been disturbed much, only slightly on the Isle of Skye.
• Attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (one of the largest art festivals in the world) and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
• See the Queen Elizabeth in person during the Highland Games final (we organised all our trip around this date and it was really worth it).

Tips

• Bring rain gears, even hiking rain gear for bad weather. We missed some beautiful hikes and were very sorry not to have brought waterproof rain pants.
• Renting a car is the best way to achieve your road trip but stay alert on small winding roads. Also, be careful of the sheep on the road, especially on the Isle of Skye.
• Accommodations are expensive everywhere in the UK but we found beautiful and unique places to stay along the road, here is our selection.

Our 2-week road trip in Scotland

Edinburgh: 2 days

You will not be bored in Edinburgh. This is especially true during the Fringe Festival where we have seen excellent comedy shows for free.

We visited Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Yacht Britannia, which you should enjoy if you have arranged your trip to see the Queen at the Highland Games.

For short hikes, we recommend climbing Arthur’s Seat for the view and walking along the river towards Dean Village.

For food, we loved the small and cosy Italian restaurant Domenico’s.

Finally we stayed in a charming historic building at a very affordable price. Find more information in our article on unusual places to stay in Scotland.

It’s easy to walk or take the bus in Edinburgh, so we picked up the car just before leaving the city in a car rental near the main train station (to facilitate our return by train to London).

Edinburgh: new places to discover after my 2026 visit

Here are a few more things to do and places to discover in the beautiful Scottish capital:

• The National Museum of Scotland: it’s free, and the view from the rooftop terrace on the seventh floor is great.
• The vegan café-restaurant Holy Cow, where you can enjoy burgers and cakes.
• The coffeeshops : try Think Pastry (a Greek café), or head to Art and Vintage, which serves vegan English breakfasts.

 

Crail: half a day

A must-stop at Crail, on the way from Edinburgh to St Andrews. It is a charming little village by the sea where we ate a delicious lobster for only £11. We were sitting at a picnic table on a car park next to the Lobster Hut, the best culinary experience of the trip!

You can also check out the Crail Harbour Gallery, a nice tea room, but lobster first!

St Andrews: 1 day

We really enjoyed the city of St Andrews. We started with St Andrew’s Castle, next to the beach. If the weather is nice, and you are brave enough, bring your swimsuit. It was unexpected to see swimmers in the sea and we were disappointed not to have our swimsuits. The ruins of the cathedral are beautiful and impressive. Finally you can visit the University of St Andrews where Prince William met his sweetheart Kate.

To end this lovely day, we spent the night in our dream accommodation. It is a Scottish adventure must: a castle! We were also able to walk from the castle to Dunina Parish Church and observe a very impressive and authentic druid well.

Dundee: 1 day

After the beauty of St Andrews and the most incredible accommodation of the trip we were a little disappointed with our visit to Dundee. The only notable activity was the visit of RSS Discovery, the boat in which the Discovery Expedition to Antarctica was successfully conducted. A visit that we highly recommend if you are like us: fans of adventure, travel, history and you share our fascination for the historic features (boats, houses and castles).

Glamis Castle: 1 day

We love visiting castles and Glamis Castle did not disappoint us. It is a castle very well preserved and furnished.

Cairngorm National Park: 3 days

Crathes Castle:

As we said, we love visiting castles! If it’s not your passion we recommend visiting only Glamis Castle, Crathes Castle is not as impressive. The visit of the castle was not very long but we also went for a walk in the gardens which are very nice. There is also the possibility of treetrop activities for the more adventurous.

Cairngorm:

The Cairngorm’s landscapes are beautiful, but our favourite travel activity was the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre where we were able to approach a herd of reindeer (reintroduced to Scotland after extinction) and feed them with the keepers. It was a moment we will cherish forever.

It was a day dedicated to wildlife, as we also visited the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park, a park where you can go by car like on a safari. It is a nice activity to do with children or if the weather is too bad for a hike.

Braemar:

As mentioned above we planned all our trip to arrive at Braemar on the day of its Highland Games final. A day out of the ordinary that went by really fast. The Highland Games are sporting events celebrating Scottish culture, especially focused on the Highlands. A day full of kilts, tug-of-war, thrown incredibly high tree trunks, dancing, bagpipes and throwing hammers. The bonus, as it is the final, the Queen of England and her suite were giving the medals to the winners at the end of the day. A great afternoon sitting opposite of Elisabeth, Philippe, Charles and Camilla. Once in a lifetime.

Be aware Braemar is overcrowded due to the event, make sure you book your accommodation in advance. To find an affordable accommodation we had to stay relatively far from the city.

Between Braemar and Inverness we stopped in Carrbridge to sleep in a nice hostel. There are hiking trails starting from the hostel, it’s worth planning a few hours of hikes.

Loch Ness: 1 day

A must! Both the story around Loch Ness and the landscapes made this day mystical and beautiful. We toured the Loch through Fort Augustus, Invergarry, Invermoriston and ended at Urquhart Castle. The ruins of the castle are quite disappointing. It’s not worth paying to visit them. The Loch Ness and its surroundings are very impressive, we strongly advise you to explore them.

After this day we spent the night in Inverness and slept in the city centre. We were a little disappointed with the city and don’t believe it is an essential visit.

Loch Torridon: 1 day

We loved Loch Torridon and its beautiful beaches. We had a very nice walk in Torridon and finished at the Deer Museum where we could feed the gorgeous deer.

The evening was just as nice, we ended the day in Strathcarron, a beautiful place with beaches and a majestic view on Shieldaig Island. We had a seafood dinner at Tigh An Eilean Restaurant followed by a night at the very original accommodation Loch Torridon Smokehouse.

Isle of Skye: 2 days

The road to the Isle of Skye from Loch Torridon is very impressive. Do not forget your insect repellent and pay attention to the midges. We visited Sligachan, Kylechin, the Quiraing, The Fairy Pools, the pretty village of Portree, Fairy Glen (which Nicolas loved) and Duntulm Castle. We climbed up the Old Man of Storr but it was very windy and the climb was much more difficult than expected (especially for Clémentine).

The Isle of Skye offered us our second delicious lobster at the Oyster Shed, accompanied by fries and a selection of seafood. It was for a ridiculously low price, highly recommended!

For our three nights on the island we decided to go for glamping.

The Isle of Skye is beautiful but is much more popular with tourists than the rest of Scotland which can be a little annoying.

Glenfinnan: 1 day

We arrived in the afternoon at Glenfinnan where we walked to the famous viaduct over which the Hogwarts Express passes in the Harry Potter movies. We ate venison steak, which is quite popular in Scotland, at Prince’s House Hotel (we wish we also had haggis but it contains lactose to which Clémentine is allergic). We spent the night in the most unusual and best-value accommodation of the trip, sleeping in a former Victorian train converted into an inn.

Fort William: half a day

We visited the West Highland Museum as the day was rainy (we recommend enjoying the nature otherwise) and hiked at Glencoe.

We ate in our favourite pub, The Drovers Inn, with the craziest décor, including (among others) bears, wolves, sharks, stuffed wild cats and undoubtedly ghosts! We stumbled upon it in the middle of the day but it must be a great place to stay for one night.

We spent the night in a lovely Airbnb in Kippen (to get a discount on your next Airbnb reservation, use our discount link).

Loch Lomond: half a day

Beautiful scenery but unfortunately under heavy rain for us.

Glasgow: half a day

In Glasgow, we visited the Mackintosh House, the Glasgow Cathedral, and Glasgow City Chambers. We loved the Riverside Museum, great with kids and with extra bonus of being free. the city is nice and the walking around the streets offer a beautiful architectural panorama.

We spent our last night on the road between Glasgow and Edinburgh and ended our road trip in Edinburgh where we returned the car before taking the train back to London.

Our Scottish road trip highlights:

Our favourite moments were during the first part of the trip, achievable in a few days if you do not have the opportunity to go for two weeks.

• Favourite event: Highland Games Braemar Gathering.
• Favourite meal: Lobster in Crail (or on the Isle of Skye).
• Favourite accommodation: Stravithie Castle.
• Favourite activity: visit to the reindeer herd in Cairngorm.