Scotland Travel & Tourism

Europe is a wonderful place to visit. The culture, the food, the language, and so many other things to just soak up. But, if it’s your first time traveling to Europe, there are some things that you need to be aware of and plan for, before you jet off. Here’s a list of tips to help you with your first Euro vacation.

1. Get in shape.
Europeans do a lot of walking. Hills, stairs, and cobblestone streets will all take their toll on your body. So, get yourself walking every single day for a good month prior to leaving. Don’t walk in your comfy exercise clothes either (unless you plan on wearing them every day of your vacation.) Instead, slap on your cute True Religion jeans and your comfy sneakers and hit the streets. The effort before you leave will make your vacation much more enjoyable.

2. Pack for hygiene.
Europeans aren’t known for their great hygiene. Even at some of the fancy hotels, you may not get all the free toiletries, washcloths, and towels that you would normally expect from an American hotel. So just to be safe, pack an extra towel, washcloth, bar of soap, and bottle of shampoo. That way, you will never be without the essential items you’ll need to keep yourself daisy fresh.

3. Prepare your stomach.
There are a lot of things that we take for granted here in the United States that you won’t have the luxury of in Europe. One of which, our comfort foods. Big hearty breakfasts are unheard of in Europe. Most of the time it’s tea or coffee and a light snack. So, if you’re used to stuffing yourself to the rafters when you wake up, try to break the habit before you leave. That way, your stomach won’t growl at you as you walk the streets on an empty stomach.

Have you ever wondered why others seem to have a lot of fun on vacations for tourism? Do you feel that you always come back dissatisfied with the quality of service, value for money and the overall experience? Nobody can accuse you of not planning your trip. You probably spend a lot of time checking out online and offline resources to identify the best plan for the vacation. However, you probably are committing the following mistakes.

Not focusing on details
A trip with your family where you want the right blend of activity and relaxation is not an easy task. You probably prepared a list of activities for your vacation but ended up breaking your own rules. You probably do not focus on details and fail to anticipate various other activities that may get tagged along to your itinerary. Will you walk about if you discover that a special sound and light show is about to begin when visiting a historical monument? Will you follow your schedule or will you watch the show?

Once you include this new attraction in your schedule, you will automatically fall short of time for all other activities. You will either have to cut your relaxation time or you will have to speed things up and spend less time at all other places.

Not paying special attention to the accommodation
If you get the accommodation right, chances are high that you will always have a lot of fun. Most of us come back to the hotel room only to find that it could have been a lot better. This combined with improper planning of activities makes us feel cheated.

The end result is that our trip seems like a complete disaster. What makes us even angrier is when we find that others have had more fun despite spending less money because they planned their trip better.

Before we begin, the most literal minded people will no doubt object to taking a cruise “around” Scotland. As a part of Great Britain, it isn’t an island nation all unto itself. But if you can forgive one turn of phrase, you can enjoy the fact that Scotland’s 10,000 miles of coastline are an impressive sight to behold. If you are the type of person who enjoys pristine beauty, Scotland is a place you need to see to believe. If your holidays 2011 list is not overwhelmingly booked with the glitz and glamour of Milan and Paris, you need to take some time to enjoy a countryside that thunders with rich history, without beating its chest too much.

If you have the money to charter a boat for your own personal Scottish adventure, you are going to feel truly privileged. There is just something about the green on blue of the rocky coast lines that has inspired a thousand years of poetry. Not to wax too poetic, but you have to admit that after seeing Braveheart, it would be tempting to run up one of those hills and shout, “Freedom!” If you have only seen what England can offer, you need to take a look around more of the Kingdom.

Everybody wants to check out the highlands. But why not also pay a visit to Glasgow, the 700 year old city with some of the friendliest folks in Europe? While it’s common knowledge that Scotland is home to a lot of natural wonder, not many people realize how much grand architecture and artwork also stand proudly here. And just like everything else in life, you are never going to know unless you check it out for yourself. Taking a cruise may just be the best way to see Scotland, after all. That is, until you land and get a little bit closer to it all.

Scotland and golf are concepts as inseparable as horses and carriages. Pride in the ancient sport and in Scotland’ role in making it what it is today is palpable, nowhere more so than in St. Andrews. Here, where the strong easterly winds drive sea-spray across the fairways, golfers tread in the footsteps of every world-class pro. Famously, the much-loved Old Course at St. Andrews is a public course.
Travel south from Fife, to arrive at another golfers’ Mecca, Gullane, pronounced Gull – en, rather than Gull – ain. The courses here occupy a pleasantly elevated location. Here, in Scotland’s county of East Lothian, the deep green sward of the undulating ground makes for enjoyable play, but without steep stretches. Convenient for Edinburgh, and for all that capital has to offer, and less prone to rain than Scotland’s western side, the golfer’s eye line here takes in the tranquil waters of the Firth of Forth. Of its three courses, the chief one, despite being a championship course of great renown, comes under the plain and simple epithet of “Number One”, as in “Fancy a round on Number One this afternoon?”In common with a great many Scottish courses, Gullane has public footpaths across its turf.
Finally, for this brief round-up, a trip west will take lovers of the ancient game to Kintyre (as featured in Paul McCartney’s song). Here on this famously scenic peninsula lies Machrihanish where your very first shot is a test of dexterity, no matter how good your game. From that first tee, the player must drive across part of the bay’s open Atlantic waters.
Taking one’s eyes off the stunning panorama which features the mounds of the islands of Islay and Jura in the near distance takes concentration. And that concentration is needed when it comes to some of the blind shots that make this a testing, but fun, course.

You may be contemplating a trip to Scotland, and are wondering when the best time to visit is. Scotland has four definable seasons, just like other parts of the world, and each of them have their own unique weather.

The summer is considered the best time to visit, because the rainfall is at its lowest. (Scotland does get quite a bit of rain, but it is not constant, even during the wettest seasons.) However, if you want to make sure that you see less rain, then go to the summer.

Summer is the major tourist season, called the “high season” in Scotland, so prices are going to be higher. For this reason, you may want to consider visiting in the spring or fall.

Both seasons are good, both in terms of weather and crowds (or the lack thereof). The spring months are leading up to the “high season”, while it is beginning to wind down as fall approaches, so prices during both these seasons are still low, and crowds are still relatively small.

It is possible to visit Scotland in winter, although this is when you will encounter some of Scotland’s roughest weather. It rains and snows quite a bit during the winter, and the temperatures can be very raw. Combined with the dampness from the rain and snow, they can feel even colder than they actually are.

Still, a lot of people enjoy taking their vacations during the winter months. They don’t mind the weather, and manage to find plenty to do, even if there aren’t that many people to do it with.

Before you visit Scotland, take some time to tour England and see some of the charming English country cottages that still dot the countryside. Some of these are very old, while others are more modern, but they all have their own unique atmosphere.

You may not think about ski deals when you are thinking about visiting Scotland, but you should because you can. You never know, you might be the one to make one of Scotland’s five resorts, called centres in that country, the next Chamonix Mont-Blanc (one of Europe’s most popular ski resorts.)

The five skiing centres in Scotland are Glenshee, Cairngorm, Glencoe (oldest), Nevis Range, and Lecht. Glencoe is the oldest of the five centres, while Lecht is the most remote. It used to be that you could only reach the Lecht resort through other means of transportation besides car, as the road leading to it would often be completely impassable because of drifts. With the invention of the snowplow and, of course, global warming, getting there is easier, but the excitement and adventure is still there.

The resorts are located in different parts of Scotland, but all are close to the mountains, where ski and weather conditions are best for skiing. Not a lot of tourists visit Scotland in winter, so prices are usually fairly reasonable at these centres. However, even during the summer, when tourist season is heaviest (the Scots call this the “high season”), the activities provided by some of the centres are very reasonable and there is something for the whole family.

So, if you are brave enough to face the sometimes bitter weather that can happen in Scotland during the winter, plan your next vacation around a Scotland ski adventure. Although conditions can get extreme, there are usually several days where skiing is possible. If you go at the first of the season, when the weather is not quite as bad, or at the end of the season, when it is starting to moderate, you should be able to get quite a bit of skiing in.

You’ve made the decision to go to Scotland, now you need to start filling up that itinerary with things to do. If there is one thing you need to do while you’re in Scotland, you need to golf.
Scotland is essentially considered the birthplace of golf. Even the casual golf fan has probably seen St. Andrews golf course featured during a glimpse of the British Open. This classic links course is considered one of the most difficult in the world with its tall grass, deep sand traps and windy and wet conditions. If it looks hard on television, in person it is going to reach out and grab you like no other course ever has.
Like most things on your vacation, you’re going to want to plan ahead and do some research before you ever set foot into Scotland. A website like golfscotland.com can give you an idea of availability of courses, tee times, prices and other options should price factor into your decision of where to play.
Some people even plan their entire vacations around the golf aspect of Scotland. Golf tours that take you to different courses are available, but you need to plan ahead and check prices and availability.
There are a number of courses scattered around Scotland including Aberdeen Golf Course, Carnoustie Golf Course, Cruden Bay Golf Course, Dornoch Golf Course, Edinburgh Golf Course, Gleneagles Golf Course, Inverness Golf Course, Nairn Golf Course, North Berwick Golf Course, St. Andrews, Troon Golf Course, Turnberry Golf Course and the Western Isles course.
Carnoustie, St. Andrews and Turnberry are three of the most famous, and have been used to play the British Open.
Bring your clubs and bring plenty of cold and wet weather gear. Scotland golf is famous for it’s strong winds and rain coming in from the seas. Scotland golf will be the vacation of a lifetime.