Things-to-do we most enjoyed in Scotland

When you think of Scotland, the mind conjures images of men in kilts playing bagpipes. We were fortunate enough to actually visit this country in March 2016 and see a lot more of what this place had to offer. In this post we want to share some of the things we most enjoyed during our short 3 days visit.

Road trip to the Scottish Highlands – this was our first ever road trip in Europe where we drove with our cousin in his VW Scirocco. Our first taste of driving along the lush green english countryside and the rolling hills and beautiful lochs in the Scottish Highlands was better than what we’d imagined. The best bit which comes with any road trip was the freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted and make pitstops when we spotted something spectacular – which was quite often.

Camping site stay near Fort William – to make our trip even more fun we opted to stay at a campsite called Bunroy Park where we rented a camping pod. A camping pod turned out to be a good decision as it saved us from pitching a tent in wet and cold weather. The pod had a heater which was awesome and even a microwave in case you needed hot water for tea/coffee or to heat food. Waking up at the campsite surrounded by hills and a stream a stone’s throw away was relaxing and beautiful. The simple breakfast prepared by us at the site felt like the best meal we’d ever had.

Our Camping Pod at Bunroy Park, Fort William

Dalwhinnie Whisky Distillery tour – we drove to this placed called Dalwhinnie which happens to be the highest and coldest village in Scotland where they produce single malt scotch whisky at their distillery with the same name. The drive to this village itself was breathtaking as we were at the same level with the surrounding hills. Moreover, the hills were snow-capped as it had snowed the previous night. The distillery tour was interesting and the tasting was amazing with whisky + chocolate pairings, which to us was new. In fact, we loved the chocolates so much that we took a detour to stop at the Iain Burnett Chocolatier where the chocolates were from.

Dalwhinnie, Scotland

Iain Burnett Highland Chocolatier – this place is located in a traditional bungalow in this place called Grandtully. This is both a cafe and shop and they make wonderful hand-made chocolates. As we were hungry, we spent some time at their cafe, ate sandwiches and had a mug of steaming hot chocolate which lived up to its award winning reputation.

Walking tour in Edinburgh – this was the most historic looking city we’d visited so far with their charming medieval old town and a walking tour seemed like a good idea to explore it. There are several free tours which start at the Royal Mile and you can pay / tip what you think the tour was worth afterwards. We enjoyed exploring Edinburgh this way and genuinely felt the guide did a great job – he was informative, animated and friendly. He narrated anecdotes from the past, some of which influenced certain characters and plots in Game of Thrones. We also saw the cafe where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter. We took pictures of the school which inspired Hogwarts and a cemetery with a grave of a certain Tom Riddle which is where perhaps the author named the character in the books. We saw the the filming location of the Diagon alley in the movie franchise and several other hidden spots. From this tour on, we’ve become fans of free walking tours and try to include them in our itinerary when possible.

We hope you enjoyed this post. Do you have your own favourites in Scotland too? We’d love to hear them to plan for our next trip someday again.