We got a text one day, Justin’s sister was in Scotland for an extended stay, and would be leaving within 2 months — did we want to come visit? It was a busy time but how can you give up travel when lodging is free? So we booked a flight and 3 weeks later we landed in Edinburgh, we had 10 days in Scotland. It was a bit of a whirlwind trying to balance a really busy time at work with looking into things to do on the trip. But, it just added to the excitement.
We skipped the rental car and put together our own mix of trains, buses, one ferry, and two small-group Rabbie’s tours. Most nights we stayed with Justin’s sister in Edinburgh, with two nights in an Inverness hotel to give everyone a little breathing room. Staying with family for ten days in a row is lovely, but it helps to have a break built in.
Below you’ll find the whole itinerary at a glance, a day-by-day rundown, the firsts and surprises that stuck with us, and what I’d change if we did it again.
The 10 Days in Scotland at a Glance
We used Edinburgh as home base, spent two nights in Inverness, and took three day trips and one ferry ride from there. Times below are from our June 2023 trip, so check current timetables before you book.
| Day | Day of Week | What we did |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunday | Arrived in Edinburgh, dinner at a pub Justin’s sister loves |
| 2 | Monday | Exploring Edinburgh: Old Town, Victoria Street, pubs, city sights |
| 3 | Tuesday | Day trip: Jedburgh Abbey, Hadrian’s Wall at Steel Rigg, Vindolanda |
| 4 | Wednesday | Train to Inverness, Highland kilt shop, Leakey’s Bookshop. Two nights in an Inverness hotel |
| 5 | Thursday | Day trip: Loch Ness, Foyers Waterfall, Fort Augustus, Dores |
| 6 | Friday | Back to Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland |
| 7 | Saurday | Day trip: St Andrews Castle, Cathedral, Old Course tour, putting green |
| 8 | Sunday | Inchcolm Abbey, then a giant plate of nachos at The Auld Hoose, walk through Princess Street Gardens |
| 9 | Monday | Arthur’s Seat hike. Afternoon tea at The Dome for me and Justin’s sister, a golf outing for Justin |
| 10 | Tuesday | Flew home |
Day 1 Settling Into Edinburgh
We landed around 11:40 AM on a Sunday, dropped our bags, and went straight out for a first look at the city. Dinner that night was at Justin’s sister’s favorite pub, which is the best way I know to eat on night one: someone local picks the place and you just follow. She also gave us an informal rundown of other favorites around town.
Then came our first surprise. We were exhausted from traveling and couldn’t wait to get to sleep. Even late in the evening, it was still light out, making it a little hard.
Day 2: The Royal Mile
On the morning of Day 2 we wandered the Old Town with no real agenda. Victoria Street was a highlight, a curved cobblestone lane lined with brightly painted shops that looks like it was designed for photos. We poked around the closes and wynds, stopped for a pub drink, then went to the Castle.
Edinburgh Castle sits on a volcanic rock high above the city, which is part of why it feels so commanding. Statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace flank the gatehouse, and a line of visitors snakes up to the entrance.
After the castle we headed up Calton Hill, an easy climb with some of the best views in the city. The Old Town skyline spreads out below you, castle and all, and at the top you’ll find the National Monument, a half-finished replica of the Parthenon that was started in 1826 and never completed. It makes a great backdrop. It was windy up there too, which turned out to be a preview of Arthur’s Seat.
Dinner that night was at a pizza place. Nothing fancy, just good, and exactly what we wanted after a full day on our feet. The easy pace of those first two days was the right call, because the next morning we had an 8:15 AM tour pickup.
Read more about our exploring Edinburgh here: Exploring Edinburgh: Old Town Walks, Pub Finds, Island Ruins, and Legendary Nachos
Days 3 to 6: Roman Ruins, Kilts, and the Highlands
Day 3: Hadrian’s Wall and the Borders. This was my favorite day of the whole trip, and I knew almost nothing about it going in. Our Rabbie’s tour left Edinburgh Bus Station at 8:15 AM with a small, friendly group, and we headed south for Jedburgh Abbey, a stretch of Hadrian’s Wall at Steel Rigg, and Vindolanda.
Jedburgh Abbey was an interesting stop. Setting the mood for the ruins to come. While the bus stops here for something like 90 minutes, it did not include the tour of the Abbey. We had enough time, so we paid for admission and did the audio tour.
The wall itself was a gray, drizzly, wonderfully moody walk. add what happened to the stones, why there is so few left. maybe add who Hadrian was.
Vindolanda was the surprise. It’s a Roman fort just behind the wall, and you can wander right through the foundations of buildings that are nearly 2,000 years old. I was blown away how the Romans built bathhouses and heated area with warm water. The museum has a case of ancient leather shoes that survived all that time, which somehow made the Romans feel like real people who also needed good footwear and a great coin collection. I could have spent more hours here.
We wrote up the whole day separately: Day Trip from Edinburgh to Hadrian’s Wall, Roman Britain and the Scottish Borders.
Day 4: Train to Inverness. The next morning we caught the 8:38 AM LNER train north and arrived in Inverness at 12:01 PM. The trains were clean and the trip was easy. We even sprung for first class, which included a meal.
In Inverness we ducked into Highland House of Fraser, a kilt shop that turned out to be the quirkiest stop of the trip. Walls of tartan swatches, family names and coats of arms, and upstairs a tiny museum with a short video about the history of the kilt. There was a small fee of £2.50 per person, and it was worth it. We also spent some time in Leakey’s Bookshop, a huge used bookstore in a former church.
Day 5: Loch Ness. We joined another Rabbie’s tour at 9:45 AM from Inverness Cathedral. The scenery was beautiful and the Highlands lived up to the hype: Foyers Waterfall, Fort Augustus where the Caledonian Canal drops down toward the loch, and the village of Dores. We also saw our first Highland cows, which are every bit as hairy as the pictures promised.
Here’s my honest take, though. It was a long day for what is, at heart, a drive around a lake. More on that below. The full story is here: An Interesting Day Trip Around Loch Ness.
Day 6: Back to Edinburgh and a museum afternoon. We took the 7:55 AM train back, arriving at 11:14, and spent the afternoon at the National Museum of Scotland. I love a good museum, and this one delivered. Highlights were Dolly the Sheep, the first cloned mammal, and the Lewis Chessmen, medieval chess pieces carved from walrus ivory.
Days 7 to 10: St Andrews, an Island Abbey, and One Very Windy Hill
Day 7: St Andrews. This was Justin’s day. He booked the Old Course walking tour well ahead, so we built everything else around that 2:00 PM start. We caught a train to Leuchars at 8:30 AM, hopped a local bus into town, and spent the morning at St Andrews Castle and the cathedral ruins before the tour. One of our train tickets even came with breakfast, which felt very civilized. Afterward we played the putting green next to the Old Course, and I’ll admit it was a lot of fun.
The full write-up of day 7 is here: Our Enjoyable Day Trip to St Andrews.
Day 8: Inchcolm Abbey. On Sunday we took a short train and ferry ride out into the Firth of Forth to Inchcolm Abbey. It’s sometimes called the “Iona of the East,” and the island monastery dates to the 12th century. The cloister, chapter house, and stone arches sit right at the water’s edge, and it was a peaceful change after a few busy days. That night we ate at The Auld Hoose, and the plate of nachos that arrived was the largest I have ever seen.
Day 9: Arthur’s Seat and afternoon tea. We hiked Arthur’s Seat in the morning. It’s an extinct volcano, and the summit is 251 meters (about 824 feet) above sea level. We got a little lost finding the trailhead, so we racked up extra steps before we even started climbing. Near the top the wind was fierce enough to take our hats, and I was a bit out of breath. The view from the top was worth every step.
In the afternoon Justin went off for a golf outing, and I had afternoon tea at The Dome on George Street with Justin’s sister. It was the first time the two of us had spent time alone together, which made it special. While we didn’t sit in the room with the dome, the tea and food was good, and the place was packed. I had afternoon tea just one other time in Colorado on a cold winter afternoon, that we got to wear a fancy hat for. No english hat for this tea.
Day 10: Heading home. We were at the airport around 9:30 AM for an 11:30 AM flight, with a connection in Chicago on the way to Denver.
Firsts and Surprises
This trip was full of small firsts that had nothing to do with castles.
- Dusk at 10 or 11 PM. We were there in late June, when daylight peaks, and it stayed light so late that falling asleep was hard. Lesson learned: if you’re traveling at high latitudes in summer, pack an eye mask. We now pack one for any summer trip at a high latitude.
- Paying with our phones. It was our first time using a digital wallet for bus fares, pub drinks, and restaurant bills. Tapping a phone everywhere felt strange for about a day, then felt like the obvious way to do it. At the airport, we also went through automated gates that scanned our passports and faces with no agent in sight.
- The Edinburgh tow truck. One afternoon we stopped to watch a truck remove a car from a tight parallel parking space. Instead of hooking the bumper, it lifted the car and slid it out sideways from between two others. Clever, and oddly mesmerizing.
- Hairy cows. Our first Highland cows, on the Loch Ness day. They looked exactly like the postcards.
- Warm beer. Neither Justin nor I enjoyed the cask ale. It’s served at cellar temperature, and it just wasn’t for us. Worth trying once, though.
- Door ventilation. It was the first, and so far the only time, I have seen a sliding glass door open from the top for ventilation.
We always like to see what is in other places vending machines….
Why We’re Glad We Didn’t Drive
We never seriously regretted skipping the rental car. From the back of a few taxis, we watched fast traffic, driving on the left, and multi-lane roundabouts, and I was very happy to be a passenger. Trains were easy and clean, and different fare classes gave us choices. Buses and tours handled the rest, and I didn’t have to think about parking even once.
Eating Vegetarian in Scotland
As a vegetarian, I was surprised that Scotland seemed to be quite vegetarian friendly. But once or twice I did struggle ending up eating an almost naked unsatisfing salad.
What I’d Change and What I’d Tell a Friend
If I did one thing differently, I’d swap out the Loch Ness day. It was a lot of hours for what amounts to a tour around a lake. We looked at a trip to an island farther north, but it was even more of a haul and we didn’t think we had the time. Next time I’d put that day toward something else, or save it for a longer Highlands trip.
The hardest part of planning was deciding what to leave out. Scotland isn’t big, but there’s a lot to do, and several of the tours were very reasonably priced, so it was tempting to say yes to everything. Ten days turned out to be a good length: enough for a couple of day trips, a few slow days, and some time with family.
Here’s what I’d tell a friend planning something similar:
- Pick the day trips you’d regret skipping, then protect the slow days. Ours were Hadrian’s Wall and St Andrews.
- Book small-group tours. Our Rabbie’s tours were small and friendly.
- Pack an eye mask if you travel in June or July.
- Set up a digital wallet before you go. Buses, pubs, and restaurants all take a tap.
- Skip the rental car if you’re based in Edinburgh. Trains and buses go almost everywhere you’ll want to see.
- Book the Old Course tour early if golf is on your list.
Posts from the Scotland Trip:
