Edinburgh + Scotland Highlands Travel Guide

After visiting the Cotswolds and exploring London, we hopped on a plane and headed up north to Scotland. Having never been to Scotland, I had no idea what to expect. And let me tell you, its my new favorite place in the entire world. Seriously, I want to move there immediately.

Unfortunately, we only had a few days to spend there, so I am already counting down the days I get to go back. We had the most AMAZING tour guide named Allister who was so sweet and well-informed, he literally knew the answer to every question that we had and took us to every sight that we wanted to see. We booked our tour guide Allister through a tourism company called Sincerely Paul. I highly recommend booking tours through them when you are in the UK!

We spent the day touring Edinburgh Castle, where Mary Queen of Scots lived for a period of time. She happens to be one of my absolute favorite queens to ever live, so ninety percent of the questions I had for Allister revolved around her and the history of her reign. After the castle, we roamed the city on foot and learned about nearly every piece of history, myth, and folklore legend that the city had to offer. We were also treated to bagpipes all along the way, making our tour all the more authentic.

The next morning, we met Allister bright and early to tour around the Scottish Highlands and learn more about the history of the country. We booked him for a full day of touring (roughly 8 hours), but we ended up being able to extend the tour and drove around the whole country for nearly 12 hours. I honestly can’t say it enough, but he was the most wonderful tour guide and was happy to show us any and all things throughout Scotland. We started out the day with a trip to the coast and then made our way to Falkland to see the Falkland Palace and tour the first of many cute villages. Each of the country roads was lined with strawberry stands and lavender fields. We couldn’t resist stopping at one of the booths and picking up some of the best berries we have ever eaten. It was a must on our list to make a stop up in St. Andrews where Wills met Kate and also to stop at the golf course for the boys. After passing fields and fields of sheep and castle after castle, we made our way back to Edinburgh for the evening. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of travel buddies or tour guide. I wish that we could have spent more time in Scotland, but that only means that I have to make a trip back.

The next morning, we woke at the crack of dawn and flew off on our next adventure.