Weekend Getaway Ideas in Scotland

Dunkeld is a small town of whitewashed houses on the River Tay, rebuilt after a battle in 1689 and looked after ever since. The cathedral stands on a lawn by the river. Its choir is still the parish church, and you can visit it free. Just outside the town, a path leads into The Hermitage, a forest of enormous Douglas firs, to a folly above a waterfall. The Birnam Oak, on the other bank, is said to be the last tree of the wood Shakespeare wrote about in Macbeth.

For a weekend for two, Juniper is a red cabin on stilts at the edge of Cally Loch, above the town, with a wood-fired bath outdoors. Pheasant Cottage, close by, sleeps six and has a hot tub in the garden.

Loch Lomond is the largest loch in Britain by surface area, and its southern shore is less than an hour from Glasgow. The south end is wide and dotted with wooded islands. Further north it narrows between the mountains. Luss, on the west shore, is a village of low stone cottages with a pier, and Balmaha, on the east, is where the West Highland Way meets the water. Ben Lomond rises above it all.

The train from Glasgow Queen Street runs to Balloch, at the foot of the loch. If you’re driving and want hills and good food, go on into the Trossachs to Monachyle Mhor, a pink farmhouse hotel on its own estate above Loch Voil, whose restaurant farms its own food.

More about Loch Lomond

St Andrews has three stories running at once: the home of golf, the oldest university in Scotland, and a medieval cathedral city by the sea. On most Sundays the Old Course is closed for play, and anyone can walk across it. The ruined cathedral stands at the east end of town. St Andrews Castle, on the rocks beside it, has a bottle dungeon and a siege tunnel dug in 1546 that you can climb down into.

The town has long beaches on both sides. The nearest station is Leuchars, about an hour from Edinburgh, with a short bus ride from there.

More about St Andrews

North Berwick is the quickest escape from Edinburgh, a seaside town at the end of its own railway line. It has two sandy beaches, a harbour and a High Street of good independent shops. Out to sea is the Bass Rock, which turns white in summer with one of the largest colonies of gannets in the world. You can watch them on live cameras at the Scottish Seabird Centre, or take a boat out in season.

Climb North Berwick Law, the hill behind the town, for the view, and drive three miles east to Tantallon Castle, a great red fortress on the cliff edge. You don’t need a car at all for a weekend here.

More about North Berwick

Edinburgh hardly needs explaining, but it is a different city on a quiet weekend in spring or late autumn. Go up to the castle when it opens, at half past nine, and book ahead. Walk down the Royal Mile, then climb Arthur’s Seat or wander down to Stockbridge and the Royal Botanic Garden. The National Museum of Scotland is free and will fill a wet afternoon.

Moment George IV Bridge has apartments in the Old Town with the castle in the window, and The Scott is a boutique hotel at the edge of Holyrood Park. Our guide to where to stay in Edinburgh goes through the city area by area.

Inverness is a longer trip, and worth it. The River Ness runs fast through the middle of the town, and you can walk upstream to the Ness Islands, joined by footbridges under tall trees. Leakey’s Bookshop, in an old church, has a wood stove and books to the rafters. The castle on the hill has reopened as a visitor attraction. Culloden Battlefield is a few miles east, and Loch Ness begins just to the south.

On the loch’s quiet eastern shore, the Aldourie estate has cottages in the grounds of its castle: South Bothy is for two, and Gatehouse Cottage is a little castle of its own for four.