A Highland Fling in Scotland

Scotland’s lamplit capital is a wise old sage with a hundred tales to tell, brooding in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat. Lose yourself in its handsome streets and discover a tale of two dueling souls: the Old Town, a medieval tangle of cobbled lanes and closes, and the New Town’s grand Georgian terraces, the green furrow of Princes Street Gardens dividing the two halves. Watching over it all is the Castle, home to the Scottish Crown Jewels, sparkling like Hogmanay fireworks. 

At the northern end of the Great Glen, with its collar turned to the winds of the North Sea, Inverness is the gateway to the Highlands, a historic, thriving city well-placed for all kinds of Scottish adventures: discover turreted castles, high-quality whisky distilleries and sweeping valleys that once staged bloody battles, or roam the pine-backed banks of Loch Ness, eyes primed for a glimpse of Nessie herself.

A place of bewitching natural beauty, Skye is the king of the Hebrides islands, its heather-scented air alive with tales of fairies, kelpies and legendary warriors. Ancient clans once fought over this land of forbidding mountains and enchanted waterfalls, and their crumbling castles now stand like tombstones over still sea lochs, where seals bask on the jetties of tiny fishing towns. 

On the banks of Loch Linnhe, Fort William is Scotland’s adventure capital, locked in the gaze of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, his head lost in the wispy clouds. This is the heart of hiking country, with epic routes winding in every direction: to Glencoe, where waterfalls tumble down moss-cloaked hills, or out Glenfinnan, home to the iconic viaduct, slicing through the valley.

With excellent seafood restaurants, a seafront bright with colorful houses and poetic views of the distant Hebridean, Oban is surely one of Scotland’s prettiest seaside towns. Before escaping to the isles of Mull, Kerrera or Lismore, hike up to McCraig’s Tower, an old battery that caps the town like a giant granite crown, with spectacular vistas of ferries rippling through Oban’s scenic harbor.  

In the eternal rivalry between Scotland’s two great cities, Glasgow proffers a glass brimming with experiences. Set astride the mighty River Clyde, its banks have been an old bastion of shipbuilding for centuries, though the city wears many guises: there’s an excellent restaurant scene, a wealth of museums and botanic gardens, and art is something a local specialty, too, the streets an open-air studio for the Art Nouveau flourishes of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.