What are the best places to visit in Scotland?

Loch Lomond, must be the first place if you want natural beauty - it is a must.

It is not far from Glasgow either - which is the best city for shopping

Edinburgh - is good for the history and the touristy stuff - esp. the Royal mile, but in terms of attractions it is the best place to go...the castle, holyrood palace, John Knox's house, the parliment, the museum of childhood is really good. But I don't know what the opening hours are like, check webpapges. (2 to 3 hours from Loch Lomond)

St Andrews is a quaint fishing/university town on the fife coast 1 an half hours from Edinburgh, with a lot of quirky shops (esp. Jenetta's ice cream) and the castle and catherdral - really nice place.

Royal Deeside -one of bonniest parts of Scotland too. Balmoral and Ballater are really nice. There are a lot of whiskey distereries up there too.

Orkney - expensive to get there - but amazing, the italian chapel, the rings of brodgar, St Magnus catheral, scapa flow, some of best surviving early settlements in Europe too.The orkadians although Scottish are very scandinavian too, and very strong links with the vikings.

I am a native so I can't help you with regards the accomidation, but the Scottish touist board will help you

Place To Visit In Scotland

For the accommodation side of things go to local library and see the Scottish Tourist Board Hotel and Guesthouse guide.

Sightseeing: Edinburgh (castle,the two forth bridges, the museums(Royal & and National both on a bridge link)) Cairngorms, Loch Ness (From Edinburgh follow the M90 to the A9 at Perth this will take you through thr Cairngorms - continue on this road all the way up to Inverness then pick up the A82 and follow this all the way back to Glasgow! On this route you will come across Loch Ness, Loch Oich, Loch Lochy, Loch Linnee, Loch leven. You will pass through the Glen Coe region of the Grampians then through the Black Mountains on to Fort William then through Glen Nevis the Ben Nevis Region. There is a park near to Ben Nevis where you can stop and absorb the view. Carry on along the A82 down to Loch Lommond and into the picturesque village of Luss. Continue on the A82 to Glasgow.

Because Scotland is famous for its snow, I would ask you to check what roads are open and which are blocked off. The weather has a lot to do with what you can get to see.

As for the attractions most are open but again make you final checks before travelling as they might not be open perhaps for maintenance.

Hiya!

If you're looking for natural beauty and amazing culture in January/February I recommend the Shetland Islands.

The Up Helly As festival is held on the last Tuesday in January each year, in the main town, Lerwick. It is a Viking Fire Festival. The street lights are swtched off and a thousand men carry blazing fire torches through the streets dragging a full-size Viking longship. When they reach the town park they all throw the torches into the longship and burn it. Then they go all over the town dancing and partying until 9am next morning. It's a local holiday on the Wednesday. People come from all over the world to see it, it's really amazing!

For natural beauty, Shetland is hard to beat, with wild cliffs, sandy beaches, huge open spaces, and great wildlife including otters, ponies, seabirds, seals and sometimes even whales. You may even see the Northern Lights in the night sky.

Check out visitscotland.com as others have said, and you'll find accommodation and travel options for Shetland or anywhere else in Scotland you fancy.

Have the best holiday!

1. Edinburgh Castle - big castle in centre of Edinburgh (crown jewells etc, nice views)

2. Falkirk Wheel - a canal wheel joining high water to low (15m from Edinburgh)

3. Loch Ness or Loch Lomond (deepest and biggest Lochs)

4. Holyrood Park - for free climb to the top of Arthurs Seat and see all around Edinburgh - 100% good on a clearisgh day. It's the highets point in the city. The park is in central Ed near the new parliament and Holyrood Palace (the Queens offical residence in Scotland).

5. Ben Nevis - the highest mountain in Britain or Ireland. Although this is on the west and you may not want to climb it in winter.

6. Western isles - you could take a ferry out to some of the remote islands.

7. Golf - if you like golf there are loads of ancient courses - e.g. Gleneagles

8. Stadium Tour - Take a tour of Ibrox or Celtic Park or Hampden (all in Glasgow) or Murrayfield (Edinburgh) they are big new interesting stadiums

9. Rugby - Book tickets early for one of the 6 nations games that may be on in Feb at Murraryfield

10. Aviemore - Skiiing

11. Bus tour - bus tour of Ed or Gla is good for a big group at the start of a break, then you can branch off and see the bits you want to see in smalelr groups.

12. Royal Yacht Britannia - Leith harbour

Go the West of Scotland, possibly starting in Oban.

There are lenty of Guest houses in Oban and there will be plenty of vacancies in Jan/Feb. As far as attractions go, the countryside is the main attraction and it is open all year round. There may not be that many of the "commercial" attractions open though.

The weather will not be too favourable I would imagine.

From Oban go over to Mull for a day, then after that head up towards Skye, for some of the best Munros in Scotland.

Glasgow was Europe's first ever city of culture and from glasgow you can reach most parts of scotland quite quickly like Loch lomond just half an hour away , January is a good time to come as the weather is usuall clear and sunny but slightly cold.

there is a good web site ' www.electricscotland .com'.

Perth is also nice but not so full of things to do.

i shall add some sites when i have checked that they are still extant..

www.seeglasgow.com

The Ayrshire coast is lovely and there are a lot of places to visit, Rabbie Burns cottage (he's a Scottish Poet) or Stirling you could visit there there are lot's of places in Scotland to see the place and people are really friendly

I would recommend visiting Glasgow & Edinburgh. Then drive up the west coast via A82 passing Loch Lomond, through Glencoe, fort William, then up to the Isle of Skye.

There are plenty of cheap B&B at that time of year , you should be able to get a discount with it being a group booking as well. goto www.visitscotland.com

The scenery on this tour is amazing especially in the winter with the snow. Wrap up well.

You should try and take as much of Scotland as you can,depends on how long your trip is for,Glasgow is the best for shopping and Stirling Castle is close by,Perthshire is stunning with beautiful scenery,Then a must is the mountains where you can go skiing,the West coast is also stunning,beware tho it's cold up here make sure you all wrap up fine and cosy!!!