Scotland - Edinburgh, The Borders, Oban, and the Highlands

We began our trip in Edinburgh. We got our rental car from Arnold Clark, which was seamless. Definitely opt for the extra insurance as it pays for popped tires or cracked windshields, which are common with the rough roads in the countryside. We stayed at a lovely AirBnB within walking distance of all of the sights in Edinburgh. We spent the day recovering from jet lag and exploring. Our first stops were Chequers Sandwich Bar and Takeaway and the Broughton Market. The following day we visted Greyfriar's Bobby, had breakfast at the Elephant House, (gets super busy, so plan ahead for the best time), visited the graveyard where you can find many names that are claimed to be the inspiration for some of the characters in Harry Potter. We visited Museum Context, housing all the Harry Potter things! We reserved a tea time at the Balmoral Hotel Palm Court, which quickly became one of our most highly recommended activities of the entire trip. Don't forget to bring your fascinator! It was absolute perfection. Don't skip this on your trip to Edinburgh!

Leave Edinburgh and head towards Fort William. Stop along the way at Devil's Pulpit. You'll need to park along the road and follow the trail (not greatly marked). As long as you can hear water, you're on the right path. You'll finally reach the top of the stairs/trail that you will descend down into the Devil's Pulpit. Don't forget good trail shoes or shoes with tread for this part! There are some rails part of the way down. It is steep and only one person can go up and down at a time. Once you get to the bottom, take in the sight! It's gorgeous and worthy of spending some time exploring. Grab a small rock or pebble to remember it by! We left Devil's Pulpit and headed to Fort William. The drive is very scenic, so take it all in! You can choose to stop at the bottom of Ben Nevis (we did) and take some pictures! Loch Lomond was photo worthy as well.

We left Fort William and headed towards the Highlands. On the way to Portree, we visited the Fairy Pools. There is a paid car park and bathrooms, although they do close at a certain time. I believe there is a shop with refreshments as well. It was a slightly drizzly day, but it was still a beautiful walk. There are several different waterfalls and "pools" that you can stop and see along the way. Allow for a couple hours to complete. We left the Fairy Pools and headed to Portree for the night. You'll need to call ahead if you plan on eating in the town or you can take a chance and get some fish and chips. We visited The Lump (for a good photo of the colorful Portree buildings) as well as the lovely shops around the town, including the Isle of Skye Soap Company. We stayed at an amazing AirBnB from booking.com called Balmoral Skye. The view from the upstairs bedroom window is breathtaking and you can walk down to the seashore and whistle for a chance to see a seal pop up and enjoy your tune!

We began our exploration of the Isle of Skye for the next two days. We visited Brother's Point, where we had professional pictures taken. I highly recommend Love Skye Photography if you're wanting photos taken while you're in the Highlands. Head on to Kilt Rock falls and check out the amazing waterfall that actually resembles a kilt! We then went to the Quiraing for a hike. It was actually a gorgeous sunny day, so it was absolutely picture perfect. We didn't do the long hike, but rather a shorter hike up to the right. We spent some time at the top among the sheep before returning to the car park. We followed up with dinner in Portree. The following day, we did the West side of the Isle of Skye. Skye is fairly small, but the hikes, walks, and exploring takes a little bit of extra time if you don't want to feel rushed. We went to Neist Pointe Lighthouse on this day. I will say the stairs are BRUTAL coming up! And I would not do this on a rainy and windy day. It was slightly drizzling and windy and it was freezing, even in the middle of summer. I love lighthouses though, so it was on my bucket list. The sights looking over the cliffs were amazing to say the least. After visiting the lighthouse we made our way back East to visit Dunvegan Castle. We paid for the tour and the gardens and it was stunning. The gardens and the greenhouse did not disappoint. During our tour, we were told that the Chief of the clan was actually there. We found out that they often stay in part of the castle to oversee things or conduct business or just to take a holiday. We left the castle and headed to a restaurant called Old School. It was probably the best food we had on the entire trip. Every single thing was phenomenal. Call ahead to make your reservation! Don't leave Skye without going to the Old School Restaurant. We headed back to Portree for the night, before making our way to Oban.

We left Portree and headed towards Oban. It is a beautiful coastal town and we loved the shops and food options here. It had a different feel to it than everywhere else we had been. We found a lot of handmade jewelry in various shops as their handmade items come from the Scottish Hebrides. We also found a great shop and restaurant in Appin. We are fans of local or Scottish made goods, which this shop boasted of. We booked a whale and wildlife watching trip with a local tour company, Sealife Adventures. We saw seals, dolphins, golden eagles, and a few other different wildlife species, but not fortunate enough to see whales. We were offered hot tea on the tour, which was nice! They were very knowledgeable and overall it was a good trip. We managed to stop at the Clachan Bridge and got a photo! It is also known as the "bridge over the atlantic". We also took a ferry from Oban over to the Isle of Mull, but the weather was so bad, we turned right around and took the ferry back because they weren't sure if they were going to shut the ferry down and we wouldn't make it back that day. On a nice day, we would have loved to explore Mull, including Tobermory and the puffins! We were disappointed, but didn't want to take the chance! We stayed the night at an Airbnb called Heatherfield House and it was walking distance to everything in town. Along the same road was a laundry service, which we dropped off in the morning and picked up later in the day. It was super convenient and now we had clean clothes to finish our trip!

We headed back East to the Scottish Borders to wrap up our Scotland trip. We had more professional photos taken at Crichton Castle and visited Melrose, a lovely little walkable town. It was so quaint! We stayed at Crookston House, an 1864 home, where the family cooked breakfast for us and the Lord lived there as well. We walked the grounds and enjoyed a quiet night as the only visitors. The Scottish Borders are highly underrated. If you can't make it to the Highlands, try the Borders. They aren't very far from Edinburgh, but boast lots of quiet countryside and small towns. We visited Floors Castle and the Walled Garden, as well as Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. The gift shop at Abbotsford was delightful and I came away with a shirt. The family at the Airbnb we stayed at was kind enough to make us a full breakfast before we packed up and headed back to the Arnold Clark car rental and take a shuttle to the Edinburgh Airport. Until next time, Scotland!