Scotland: The No-Frills Guide

Compiled and concise list of all the recommendations from our Scotland research. We rented a car and stopped at four main places: Isle of Skye, Glencoe, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.

Isle of Skye

• Food
  • Sia cafe/fish and chips
  • The three chimneys
  • Pub (old inn)
• Hikes
  • The Fairy Glen ~1-2 hr walk
  • The Quiraing  ~2 hr walk
  • Old man of Storr ~1-2 hr walk
  • Neist point lighthouse ~1hr walk 
  • Mealt falls – mainly just a viewpoint
  • Old bridge sligachan – mainly just a viewpoint
• Other
  • Eilean Donan Castle
  • Dunvegan Castle & Gardens
  • Boat tour of the small isles 

Glencoe

• The Lost Valley hike ~2-3 hrs
• Harry Potter locations:
  • Viaduct (on the way) – sooooo much cooler than we were expecting
• Food
  • The Laroch Restaurant and Bar pub 

Glasgow

• Pollock Park
  • Cows, house gardens, Riverside walk
  • Burrell collection 
• Necropolis 
• Glasgow Cathedral
• West or Drygate breweries
• Murals near city centre 
• Botanic gardens
• University of Glasgow
• Barras Market (covered market)
• Merchant City (restaurants, bars, shops
• Museums
  • Art museums, modern art
  • Kelvingrove museum (free)
  • Riverside museum – transport & heritage (free)
• Other
  • Glasgow Film Theatre
• Food
  • Gizzis coffee
  • Phillies (pints and bao buns)
  • Stravagin (Scottish food)
  • Bar Brett
  • Crabshakk
  • Ox and Finch
  • Sylvan 
  • Hug and Pint
  • Ashton Lane (pubs / cocktail bars / food)

Edinburgh

• Old Town
  • * Castle– need to book
  • Royal Mile
  • Holyrood house
• New Town
  • * Calton Hill – views of the city, monument at the top
  • Scott monument
  • National Portrait Gallery
• * Arthur’s Seat- small hike + great views
• * Water of Leith walkway / Deans’ Village – nice river walk close to center
• Walking tours
  • Harry Potter Tour– need to book
  • Cemetery tour – need to book
• Whiskey experiences
  • Johnny Walker Experience
    • STIR (food plates with cocktails) – nice date night
    • Scotch Whiskey Experience
    • Port of Leith Distillery – No whiskey made there, but a bunch of tastings and port that they have directly from their casks
• National Museum 
• Greyfriars Kirkyard
• Food
  • Dishoom
  • Mimi’s bake house –  breakfast / brunch (banana and biscoff french toast)
  • Verdo Turkish BBQ
  • *First Coast
  • Kenji (japanese)
  • Ong Gie (Korean)
  • Mothers India Cafe (indian tapas)
  • Timberyard– fancy
  • Haggis (dish)
    • Howies – Waterloo Place or Victoria Street
    • Scott’s Kitchen – offshoot of Howies 
    • Haggis Box 
• Pubs
  • Thomsons Bar (Morrison St)
  • Cloisters (Brougham Place)
  • Jolly Judge 
  • Oxford Bar 
  • Guilford Arms
  • The Bow (Whiskey)
  • Digger’s pub– great whiskey
  • Music
    • bannerman’s – rock 
    • Lost in Leith – varied live stuff 
    • Royal Oak – folk 
    • Sneaky Petes – local bands/dj’s 
    • The Caves – beautiful venue / mixed stuff
  • But really, any pub