Well friends, I have officially graduated my master’s degree (YAY) which means two things: (1) I’ll hopefully have much more time to put together riveting content for the blog and (2) an excuse to travel. Because the best way to celebrate anything is with travel, amiright? And between graduation and my birthday this month, I thought a grand adventure was in order before all the real adult stuff starts.
So as a grand damn-I-guess-I’m-really-an-adult-now gift to myself, I went to Scotland.
Scotland, like most places, has been on my bucket list for some time so when one of my best friends suggested we plan a trip to the land of kilts and bagpipes, I was more than on board. After purchasing plane tickets in November, we had a good few months to put together our ideal Scottish adventure; a seven day trip to experience as much of Scotland as we could.
We ended up spending our time split between Edinburgh and the Highlands, so I wanted to start off by sharing our full itinerary in case anyone else out there wants to try something similar.
I’ll also be sharing more details about each place we visited in both Edinburgh and the Highlands in the next few weeks so stay tuned for that.
So here you have it, our full Scotland itinerary!
I’m sharing it exactly as we went through each day because I truly wouldn’t have changed anything about our trip. There are definitely things we didn’t get to see or restaurants we didn’t get to eat at (because damn there are a lot of amazing restaurants in Edinburgh) but that just means we’ll have to find our way back some day.
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Day 1
- Arrive at Edinburgh Airport in A.M. & go to Airbnb flat to freshen up and drop off bags
- Walk around Victoria Street
- Visit Edinburgh Castle
- Underground Ghost Tour
- Afternoon tea at The Witchery
- Wander the Royal Mile
- Walk through Greyfriars Kirkyard
- Dinner at a pub
Day 2
- Go to The Elephant House café (arrive just before they open to avoid crowds)
- Visit Holyrood House Palace, the Royal Gardens, and the Queen’s Gallery
- Hike to the top of Arthur’s Seat
- Visit the National Museum of Scotland
- Dinner at Mother India
- Comedy/Magic show at The Voodoo Rooms
Day 3-5
- Highlands Bus Tour
We played around with the idea of renting a car and doing our own Scottish Highlands tour but decided a bus tour would be a lot easier and less of a hassle. Also neither of us have ever driven on the other side of the road and didn’t want to start on those narrow Highlands roads.
Why go in the middle of our trip?
Ultimately, we decided we wanted to begin and end our trip with a few days in Edinburgh.
The tours all began and ended in Edinburgh so we didn’t want to get back to the city on the last day of our tour and feel like we didn’t have any more time there before we had to fly home, like a sad layover.
By far the greatest benefit to doing the tour in the middle of our trip was having different accommodations. Our first flat was on Victoria street in the Old Town area and was fabulous – it was adorable inside and the location was perfection – so it wasn’t about getting out of a bad location or gross accommodations; it was about really experiencing different parts of the city.
Our second flat was in the New Town area (a totally different part of the city), and although we could easily walk between areas having our home base in a new area allowed us to discover a new part of Edinburgh that we might not really have explored otherwise.
So if you’re thinking about touring the Highlands, definitely do it and definitely do it in the middle of your trip. Find accommodations in opposite parts of the city and live like the locals twice.
Day 6
- Walk around Stockbridge and Deans Village area
- Stockbridge Market (every Sunday from 10-5)
- Tea/Cake/Snack break at Stockbridge Kitchen
- Visit the Royal Botanic Gardens
- Walk around Princes Street and the Princes Street Gardens
- Dinner at Vittoria
Day 7
- One last trip to Victoria Street and the Royal Mile
- Visit St. Giles Cathedral
- Visit the Scottish National Gallery
- Afternoon Tea at The Balmoral
- One last walk around Princes Street
- Visit the National Portrait Gallery
- Dinner at Bar Soba Edinburgh
Day 8
Return home
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Hopefully this helps you put together your own perfect Scotland itinerary. And if you’re going soon or have already been, I’d love to hear what your favorite place was!
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