Scotland has without a doubt gained a special place in our hearts. Almost immediately becoming our favorite destination, enough so that we are going back to spend three months there.
It’s hard to say if it was the overly welcoming people or the scenery that made us say WOAH every five minutes that finalized our love affair with Scotland. But we are head over heels, wildly obsessed with the country of Scotland.
We visited Scotland in July and August, and we were lucky enough to have blue skies almost our entire trip. Warning: we were told this is a rare occurrence. We did experience Scotland rain one day and we both agreed that it did not lessen our obsession.
Scotland was the second stop of our UK adventure. We decided to brave renting cars all throughout the UK, brave because we are Americans, if you’re new around here. So left side, stick shift driving in an unfamiliar land required an extra dose of courage. Post adventure and no mishaps, unlike our Thailand driving adventure, we would do it all over again.
Road-tripping Scotland was without a doubt the best way to take it all in.
Though, it appears that road trips are not much of a UK pastime. We received a lot of puzzled looks and questions when we shared with people of Scotland that we were road-tripping the entire country which was humorous to us Americans who drive 14 hours just to visit our parents for three days.
When we shared our plans to drive three hours in one day with a man at the local pub he said, “how many breaks do you have planned?!”
And when we asked the rental car agent her favorite sites in Isle of Skye we were met with, “well, I’ve never been out of Glasgow.”
Nonetheless, we trekked on and now we are sharing our guide to an ultimate road trip around Scotland. Enjoy!
Where to begin…
Well, first things first… you need a car! We started our journey in Glasgow, however you could easily reverse engineer our itinerary to start in Edinburgh. We rented a great car through Arnold Clark rental agency, we found these were by far the best long term prices!
Scotland Stop #1: Glasgow
Glasgow is such a charming city and probably our hardest driving task. Downtown Glasgow is busy and has a lot of one ways! We stayed just outside of Glasgow in the perfect shared AirBnb, we definitely recommend this room hosted by Janie.
We had a special task in Glasgow… to see Andrew’s family castle. We’ve traced Andrew’s ancestry back to this very castle: Johnstone Castle.
Since it’s origins in the 1700’s it’s been demolished and only one part is left as a personal home but here it is in all it’s Johnston glory:
Don’t worry, there is much to do in Glasgow if you don’t want to see Andrew’s family origins.
Stops that were next on our list, if this didn’t work out, were the Riverside Museum of Transport and Travel [Free entry here, woohoo!] or the Kelvingrove Art Museum.
Definitely don’t miss exploring downtown Glasgow and the University of Glasgow, sightseeing the architecture in Scotland is an art museum all by itself.
We got a peek at the Glasgow Cathedral, 800 years of worship! If you love architecture definitely go stand in awe of the details of this cathedral!
Scotland Stop #2: Stirling
We woke up on our last day in Glasgow eager to head to our next overnight stop with some intentional stops in between. The first stop was something familiar…
Where are my Game of Thrones fans, Monty Python fans or Outlander fans?!
Because all were filmed at our first stop…
We absolutely had to make a quick stop at the original Winterfell: Doune Castle!
This was just a quick lunch stop on the way out of Glasgow, you can also visit Stirling Castle here, which is arguably one of the most important castles in Scotland. We are kicking ourselves for not making a stop at this one but will for sure be back. Megan has a slight obsession with all things Mary Queen of Scots, who was crowned here.
Scotland Stop #3:
Basically everywhere that made us go WOAH between here and Fort William, our next overnight.
Our goal was to make it to Isle of Skye from Glasgow, only a 5 hour trip… but with all of our stops in awe of the natural beauty of Scotland, we realized we used almost 5 hours to make it 100 miles. And we have no regrets finding the most gorgeous little town of Fort William tucked away, but more on that later.
Stops in between include: Loch Lomond and Glencoe… but anything else that makes you stare in wonder, we recommend stopping.
Scotland Stop #4: Fort William
Our accidental and HIGHLY recommended overnight.
Once we realized how much time had passed in our wanderlust, we found the perfect little town nestled between mountains, Fort William. Which is apparently one of the top Scotland vacation stops because it was certainly a struggle finding a place to stay from a McDonald’s Wifi spot.
But alas, we found THE MOST PERFECT AIRBNB! I promise you will not be disappointed with this shared Airbnb if you choose it for your Scotland road trip. (P.s. Save the link for our Airbnb, but don’t forget to grab your Airbnb discount here!)
I mean, can we talk about this view…
Mountains, lake, architecture… what more could you ask for?!
And walking distance into the downtown area where we found amazing food, good drinks and great company!
A plus to this shared Airbnb is you will most likely have traveling roommates. We made some forever friends right here on this porch.
After a quick stop to meet a Highland cow…
We continued our trip to Isle of Skye, with roadside views like this:
Scotland Stop #5: Eilean Donan castle
One of the most popular tourist castles in Scotland, we had to make a stop on the way to Isle of Skye at Eilean Donan.
Look a little familiar? Another iconic film spot, scenes from James Bond Skyfall took place here.
It is definitely a tourist stop, that’s for sure. We agree it was worth one visit, but we probably wouldn’t go back.
New home patio views? Yes, please.
Scotland Stop #6: Isle of Skye
Finally, we found our final destination before making our way back down to Edinburgh.
Isle of Skye is like a mythical place you would expect to envision a fairy tale happening.
Some road trip friends along the way.
There is SO much to do here, I’m sure you could spend a week a full month there, and still not run out of things to do. Some things we will be back for, and you should look at adding to your Isle of Skye visit, depending on time:
The Storr – Our friends from Fort William hiked this and said it was AMAZING!
Neist Point – just Google it.
Beaches – Claigan and Elgol
What did we opt to hike around?
The Fairy Pools
Yes, it is 100% as magical as it sounds…
Scotland Stop #7: Edinburgh
Our original plan was head back toward Edinburgh through Inverness, which you can certainly do. But by the time it was Edinburgh day [and behind on our itinerary] we decided to just drive the straight 5 hour route through Perth. Only stopping for food + gas along the way.
This gave us a little “home” base for five days in Edinburgh to go and explore some really cool sites + get a little work done… because ya know, the travel doesn’t sustain itself!
Edinburgh guide + day trips coming soon!
So there you have it! Our perfect little Scotland roadtrip…
We hope this helped you to plan your Scotland itinerary! Let us know in the comments what you added to your list or where your favorite Scotland stops are so we can add them to our list when we head back in June 2019!
And if you found this super helpful, spread the love and Pin the post, so more travelers can plan an epic trip to our favorite country… Scotland.
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