Rick Steves Scotland

by Rick Steves, Cameron Hewitt (With)

Overview

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Scotland.

With the self-guided tours in this book, you’ll saunter the Royal Mile of Edinburgh and explore the city’s stirring hilltop castle, discover the wild beauty of the desolate Northern Highlands, and plumb the waters of mysterious Loch Ness. Hit the links on the world-class golf courses of St. Andrews. Drink whiskey in the village of Pitlochry. Become enchanted with brooding castles on the Isles of Iona, Mull, and Skye.

Rick’s candid, humorous advice will guide you to good-value hotels and restaurants. He’ll help you plan where to go and what to see, depending on the length of your trip. You’ll get up-to-date recommendations about what is worth your time and money. More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves guidebook is a tour guide in your pocket.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612389783
Publisher:	Avalon Publishing
Publication date:	04/12/2016
Series:	Rick Steves' Travel Guides Series
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 8.12(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent about four months a year exploring Europe. His mission: to empower Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening. Rick produces a best-selling guidebook series, a public television series, and a public radio show, and organizes small-group tours that take over 30,000 travelers to Europe annually. He does all of this with the help of more than 100 well-traveled staff members at Rick Steves' Europe in Edmonds, WA (near Seattle). When not on the road, Rick is active in his church and with advocacy groups focused on economic and social justice, drug policy reform, and ending hunger. To recharge, Rick plays piano, relaxes at his family cabin in the Cascade Mountains, and spends time with his son Andy, daughter Jackie, and his new grandson...baby Atlas. Find out more about Rick at www.ricksteves.com and on Facebook.

Connect with Rick:
facebook.com/RickSteves
twitter: @RickSteves
instagram: ricksteveseurope

Born in Denver and raised in central Ohio, Cameron Hewitt settled in Seattle in 2000. Ever since, he has spent three months each year in Europe, contributing to guidebooks, tours, radio and television shows, and other media for Rick Steves' Europe, where he serves as content manager. Cameron married his high school sweetheart (and favorite travel partner), Shawna, and enjoys taking pictures, trying new restaurants, and planning his next trip. To research and cowrite this book, Cameron spent a month driving 2,000 miles around Scotland, from the Lowlands to the Highlands to the islands.

Table of Contents

Scotland 5

Scotland's Top Destinations 11

Planning Your Trip 17

Travel Smart 27

Edinburgh 29

Glasgow 145

Stirling & Nearby 196

St. Andrews 227

Near St. Andrews 248

The Scottish Highlands 256

Oban & the Inner Hebrides 268

Oban 269

Mull, Iona, & Staffs 284

Glasgow to Oban Drive 297

Glencoe & Fort William 306

Glencoe 307

Fort William 322

The Road to the Isles 327

Isle of Skye 333

Portree 338

Touring the Isle of Skye 351

Inverness & Loch Ness 371

Eastern Scotland 404

Pitlochry 405

Between Inverness & Pitlochry 414

Near Pitlochry 418

Speyside Whisky Trail 420

Balmoral Castle & Royal Deeside 426

Aberdeenshire Coast 436

Northern Scotland 438

Wester Ross & The North Coast 440

The Orkney Islands 450

Scotland: Past & Present 468

Practicalities 489

Travel Tips 489

Money 492

Sightseeing 497

Sleeping 500

Eating 511

Staying Connected 523

Transportation 527

Resources from Rick Steves 543

Appendix 545

Holidays & Festivals 545

Books & Films 547

Conversions & Climate 552

Packing Checklist 554

Scots-Yankee Vocabulary 555

Index 560

Map Index 577

Editorial Reviews

"The country's foremost expert in European travel for Americans."—Forbes

"Steves is an absolute master at unlocking the hidden gems of the world's greatest cities, towns, and monuments."—USA Today

“Every country-specific travel guidebook from the Rick Steves publishing empire can be counted upon for clear organization, specificity and timeliness."—Society of American Travel Writers

"Pick the best accommodations and restaurants from Rick Steves…and a traveler searching for good values will seldom go wrong or be blindsided."—NBC News

"His guidebooks are approachable, silly, and even subtly provocative in their insistence that Americans show respect for the people and places they are visiting and not the other way around."—The New Yorker

"Travel, to Steves, is not some frivolous luxury—it is an engine for improving humankind, for connecting people and removing their prejudices, for knocking distant cultures together to make unlikely sparks of joy and insight. Given that millions of people have encountered the work of Steves over the last 40 years, on TV or online or in his guidebooks, and that they have carried those lessons to untold other millions of people, it is fair to say that his life’s work has had a real effect on the collective life of our planet."—The New York Times Magazine

"[Rick Steves] laces his guides with short and vivid histories and a scholar's appreciation for Renaissance art yet knows the best place to start an early tapas crawl in Madrid if you have kids. His clear, hand-drawn maps are Pentagon-worthy; his hints about how to go directly to the best stuff at the Uffizi, avoid the crowds at Versailles and save money everywhere are guilt-free."—TIME Magazine

"Steves is a walking, talking European encyclopedia who yearns to inspire Americans to venture 'beyond Orlando.'"—Forbes

“…he’s become the unofficial guide for entire generations of North American travelers, beloved for his earnest attitude and dad jeans."—Outside Magazine

"His books offer the equivalent of a bus tour without the bus, with boiled-down itineraries and step-by-step instructions on where to go and how to get there, but adding a dash of humor and an element of choice that his travelers find empowering."—The New York Times

"His penchant for creating meaningful experiences for travelers to Europe is as passionate as his inclination for making ethical choices his guiding light."—Forbes

"[Rick Steves'] neighborhood walks are always fun and informative. His museum guides, complete with commentary about historic sculpture and storied artworks are wonderful and add another dimension to sometimes stodgy, hard-to-comprehend museums."—NBC News

From the Publisher