Hidden Scotland
Sign in
Isle of Muck, Small IslesThe smallest of the four inhabited Small Isles, a farming island of white-sand bays, seals and views to Rum and Eigg.

Places to visit
in Scotland.

10° and clear at Isle of Muck just now.
Places to visit in Scotland

What do you want to see?

Castles, beaches, gardens, standing stones. Choose one, or scroll down for every place to visit.

CastlesBeachesWaterfallsDistilleriesMuseumsGalleriesGardensLighthouses
Just opened16 hours ago

The Palm Houses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh reopen after their restoration.

The ironwork has been repaired, thousands of panes of glass replaced and the sandstone conserved. Inside, under the glass domes, are rare tree ferns, and around 1,000 ladybirds have been let loose to keep pests off the plants.

Photograph: Nicole’s POV on Google MapsSee Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
From the magazine16 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 02Issue 02Spring / Summer 2021

Fiona, an islander on Fair Isle between Orkney and Shetland, ran the shop and post office, taught art and led the island's fire unit, all at once.

She first came to the island as a ten-year-old, and on an island of 55 people every adult holds several jobs, because some things simply need doing. Fiona ran the shop and post office with her husband Robert and taught art at the primary school, which had just four pupils. She was Watch Manager of Fair Isle's unit of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, a trained aircraft firefighter for the airstrip and a community councillor, and she knits too. 'For us, no day is the same and there's always something to do,' she said. The biggest misconception, she added, is that islanders must be bored in the evenings or in winter.

See Fair Isle · Shetland Islands
Today15 hours agoArgyll and ButeGlen Scotia DistilleryAttractionIsle of SkyeTalisker DistilleryAttractionPerthshireBlair Athol DistilleryTourArdnamurchanNc'nean DistilleryAttractionFort WilliamBen Nevis DistilleryTourCaithnessOld Pulteney DistilleryAttraction

Today calls for a dram.

3° and mostly sunny across Scotland. Cold enough for the tour that ends by the stills.

See them all
From Issue 10 of Hidden Scotland magazineIssue 1015 hours ago

A Walking Guide to Aberdour

A walk round Aberdour in Fife, half an hour by train from Edinburgh, starting at the castle beside the station in the village the Victorians called the Jewel of the Fife Riviera.

Read the story
True or false14 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 07Issue 07Autumn / Winter 2023-24

True or false: Scotland's blackhouses were named for the walls that peat smoke turned black.

Did you know14 hours ago

Archaeologists spent twenty years uncovering 5,000-year-old buildings with painted walls at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, then covered them over again in 2024.

The Ness of Brodgar lies on a strip of land between two famous stone circles, the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. Its great stone buildings date from about 3300 BC to 2900 BC, and some of their walls were painted yellow, red and orange. Thin slabs found on the site are understood as roof tiles, some of the earliest evidence of roofs ever found. Only a fraction of the site was dug, and after the last full season in 2024 it was backfilled to protect it for future archaeologists. The two stone circles beside it are still there to see.

See Ness of Brodgar · Orkney
Autumn14 hours ago

What Dunfermline Abbey and Palace looks like in autumn.

The royal abbey of Dunfermline, burial place of Robert the Bruce and St Margaret, with a great Romanesque nave and the ruins of a royal palace.

Read about it
Did you know13 hours ago

Norwegian forces captured Findlater Castle, on the Banffshire coast, in the early 1260s.

In the early 1260s King Alexander III ordered repairs at Findlater Castle, between Cullen and Sandend, expecting a Norwegian invasion. The Norwegians captured and occupied it for a time. After their defeat at the Battle of Largs in 1263, the castle returned to Scottish hands.

See Findlater Castle · Morayshire
From our collectionsA collection13 hours agoEdinburghCity ObservatoryEdinburghCamera ObscuraEdinburghWriters' MuseumEdinburghThe People’s StoryEdinburghHolyrood ParkEdinburghHolyrood Park and Arthur’s SeatEdinburghRoyal Botanic Garden EdinburghEdinburghMuseum of EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh ZooEdinburghDynamic Earth

Great Things to Do with Kids in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a brilliant city with children, with so much of it outdoors and free. From museums and gardens to a hillside you can climb in an hour, these are the things that keep everyone happy.

See the whole collection
From the magazine12 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 08Issue 08Spring / Summer 2024

Mary, Queen of Scots is said to have shocked her courtiers by playing real tennis at Falkland Palace in Fife wearing trousers rather than a dress.

Real tennis is the forerunner of lawn tennis, a quirky game played inside walls with long-handled rackets. The palace, in the village of Falkland, was once the favourite country retreat of the Stuarts, and its court is billed as the oldest tennis court in the world still in use. The mansion still has a strong Renaissance feel, and the court is one of many reasons to visit. Falkland sits on the edge of the Lomond Hills, and on its outskirts Maspie Den has a woodland path that takes you right behind a waterfall.

See Falkland Palace · Fife
New at Lean To Coffee12 hours ago

Lean To Coffee at Breakish is building a year-round bakery in Broadford and plans to open seven days a week.

The croft café that started in two shipping containers in 2021 has taken a unit at Broadford Business Park for a commercial bakery, with new bakes for wholesale and retail to follow. Four bakery jobs come with it.

Photograph: KK Leung on Google MapsSee Lean to Coffee · Isle of Skye
Did you know11 hours ago

Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island, named Talisker distillery's whisky one of his three 'king o' drinks'.

In a poem of 1880 written in Scots, Stevenson gave his verdict on Scotland's finest drink: the king o' drinks, he declared, was 'Talisker, Isla, or Glenlivet'. The distillery on the shore of Loch Harport on Skye has been quoting him ever since.

Read about it