At the beginning of 2019, I promised my partner that I would take her to Scotland, a country I had fallen in love with during my Erasmus stay the year before. So, in May 2019, we set off with my tiny clio from 2001 and drove across half of France and England to get to the land of haggis and Loch Ness Monster. We spent 3 weeks on the land of the poet William Burns and made incredible memories. Come on, let’s travel a bit with us!
How did we organize ourselves ?
Beforehand, we needed to point out which cities, places we wanted to visit and for how long we were going to be in Scotland. Regarding the various cities that we wanted to visit or (for my part) to see again, we decided that a 3-week-vacation would be quite reasonable. So we drew the itinerary on Google Maps in order to visualize better, and then started to organize the duration for each stop. Since I knew Glasgow pretty well from my past Erasmus stay, we decided to go there first and therefore to travel anti-clockwise. You will find below our itinerary.
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Once we had decided the itinerary and the duration of each stop, we had to find the accommodations.
Where did we sleep ?
In order to find accommodations, we used three different platforms : couchsurfing, airbnb and hostelworld. In addition to being three different websites, it also resulted in three different types of accommodation.
The first one (couchsurfing) consists in staying with a local ; we met incredible Scottish hosts thanks to this website.
Then there is airbnb, a platform that you probably all know by now : this allows private rental from one person to another.
And finally, hostelworld, a website on which we booked stays in hostels.
What should you visit in Scotland ?
First stop : Glasgow and Loch Lomond
Our adventure began with the vibrant city of Glasgow. Here is a list of the places we visited in the city (a non-exhaustive list, obviously) :
The University of Glasgow : This is the most beautiful University we have ever seen. If you look it up on Google, you will see that it looks like Hogwarts ! Moreover, it is one of the oldest universities of the United Kingdom.
My favourite museums : I must admit that, when it comes to going to the museum, I am always enthusiastic. Glasgow has many interesting museums! I would recommend visiting the Mackintosh house, Kelvingrove museum as well as the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (GOMA).
Oran Mòr, an original bar : If you are eager to find an original pub, please go to Oran Mòr a parish church that has been changed into a stunning venue which offers restaurant, pub, club and live music.
Botanic garden : Glasgow Botanic Gardens are more than just a park, we discovered many varieties of plants and visited some impressive greenhouses.
Leaving Glasgow, we made a stop in Loch Lomond, a cute little spot to have a walk or enjoy a picnic. My advice, if you want to explore this loch, is to stop on the west bank, more precisely in Luss.
Second stop : Oban
Then, we went to Oban, a rather small but magnificent city. We just wandered in the city and went up McCraig’s Tower. Even if the city is small, there was a vast choice regarding accommodations - we booked an amazing Airbnb to rest a little and even stayed the night in watching the Eurovision contest.
Third stop : The isle of skye
Next stop was the Isle of Skye ; even if the island is small, we spent two days there, as it is really the must-see spot in Scotland. The Isle became quite famous with the Outlander series and there are more and more tourists. However, we chose to go far on the isle and thus went where there was less tourism. Honestly, I do not even have words to describe the beauty of this place, it is so breathtaking that I was nearly moved to tears. Still, here are some pictures of the Isle of Skye, enjoy and dream !
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Fourth stop : Inverness and the Loch Ness monster
You are probably acquainted with the famous legend of the Loch Ness monster ? Well, this was exactly our next stop : Nessie’s Lair. Indeed, on our way to Inverness, we stopped in Invermoriston, on the shores of Loch Ness, to seek out the notorious Nessie. We unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, did not see it, but I will eventually go back there sometimes. Anyway, walking by the shores was lovely !
We stopped for the night in Inverness, but did not have the time to enjoy the city because it was late and rainy. However, on the day after, we stopped by three beautiful historic places : Elgin cathedral, Huntly Castle and Loanhead of Daviot Stone Circle. I know you might think that the last one cannot be as great as Stonehenge, but I assure you that the spot looked extremely mysterious and magical.
Fifth stop : Aberdeen, the Silver City
Aberdeen was a charming city ! We were surprised when we discovered it because all the buildings there are grey, but the sun made our stay very pleasant. We did not have specific places to visit there, but I would recommend from experience to simply get lost in the city, as this is often the best way to discover beautiful hidden places.
Leaving Aberdeen, we had some stops planned on our way to Dundee. We saw stunning pieces of architecture such as Dunnottar Castle and Arbroath Abbey. We also go lost looking for a waterfall that we never found… Such an adventure! Furthermore, we spontaneously decided to make another stop, as several cars were parked at one place, and it seemed to us that there was a nice little walk. But instead of a great walk, we discovered countless people with binoculars, bent over the cliff, watching birds. One of them explained to us that they were looking for puffins. They are very rarely seen seabirds, as they spend their time at sea. But you know what, this day, we were lucky enough to spot two, one of them was even still a nestling.
Sixth stop : Edinburgh
Our last stop was Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Since it is a capital city, there is a lot of tourism there.
The Harry Potter Legacy : To me, the popularity of the city is also linked to its Harry Potter legacy. Indeed, J.K Rawlings, writing her books, was inspired by the city. In that sense, we had to visit and even have a cup of tea in Elephant House, the restaurant where she wrote many chapters of Harry Potter. Our fondness for the tale of the young wizard led us to Victoria Street, a colourful street that is said to have inspired the author in creating the Diagon Alley. Then we went to the Greyfriars Kirk yards, the name might remind you of something. This cemetery became known worldwide as the grave of Voldemort himself is there ! Indeed, we wandered there looking for the grave of Thomas Riddell, who was apparently just a squire. Who would have said back in the days that so many people would come to see his grave. According to the legend, the cemetery has inspired J.K. Rawlings for other characters’ names.
Different museums to see : In Edinburgh, we visited two very different museums. The first one was the National Museum of Scotland. We enjoyed spending one entire afternoon there because the museum displays a lot of pieces of art as well as many inventions. We learnt a lot about astronomy, paintings but also archaeology and so much more ! This museum is huge ! On a very different topic, we visited an illusion museum called Camera Oscura. As a passionate photographer, this museum was to me very interesting and felt like a life-size game.
Arthur Seat : Since we had only three days in the city, we did not have the time to visit Arthur Seat. However, having visited it during my Erasmus stay, I wanted to talk about it to you. Arthur Seat is a small hill at the edge of the city and if you are courageous enough I recommend waking up very early to see the sunrise on top of it : I have done it only once, but it was magical.
The final word
So that's it, I shared with you a bit of our journey on the Scottish roads. Of course, I have a lot more to say, but I wanted to keep it short, so you would not be too lost. That being said, the blog was created to share and interact with each other, so don't hesitate to email me if you have any further questions about the road trip.
If I could leave you with one last piece of advice, it would be on what to bring when going on a road trip : the car is always too small and is not extensible, so travel light (you’ll have free space to bring some souvenirs).
And to finish the article on a funny tone, here is a tricky question that I have been asked quite a few times in Scotland : how many lakes are there in Scotland ?
Only one, the others are lochs.