Road trip to Scotland over Christmas

[xksismybestletter]

We were planning a road trip to Scotland in the summer but it didn't go ahead and kids and we were gutted. We were going to stay in our caravan.

We are thinking about going for a week at Xmas, which will include Xmas day.

Two main elements the the decision

• will we miss our home Xmas too much
• will it be fun travelling around in the cold winter days and can we make Xmas special?

Kids are primary age. I'm veering between being massively excited and thinking it would be mad.

Family wise, I'm a bit of off with my family at the moment and I tend to find Xmas laden with expectation from them, and DH family are easy about everything but aging fast. My darling dad died this year so a change is welcome in that regard.

I think that sounds really exciting, but I am a huge English Scotophile. I have probably been to Scotland on holiday more than anywhere else. From Dumfries to Inverness, I’ve been there! Things I’d think about

1- how warm is your caravan?
2- what will you do if the weather is awful, attractions etc closed?
3- are your dc compliant enough to be dragged away from their friends and family fir a few days?
4- would you want to cook Christmas dinner in the caravan, or would you mr family be happy with a simpler meal?

A Christmas away fro it all sounds glorious to me. I’m not convinced my preteen/teen would agree!

I think we probably wouldn't take the caravan and would try for hotels or b&bs. We are a bit more fair weather than that

I'm not sure what attractions we would look for other than stunning views and maybe a trip to an island on a ferry. Partly my lack of knowledge about Scotland, partly that we are not really day trip kin of people

B&B/hotels sounds a bit better for the time of year!! If you’re planning ferry trips check out the CalMac timetables first, not all services are daily, and will be affected by bank holidays etc.

I don't think Scotland at Christmas is the best time to see the country (I'm Scottish!). I love the outdoors and walking but even I find it cold, grey, damp, muddy and generally a bit depressing. There's not a lot of daylight hours. Coastal areas might be a bit better and there's always the snow resorts?

Edinburgh has a fantastic Winter Wonderland in Princes Street gardens actually- I would definitely recommend that!

Have you thought about Arran? Known as 'Scotland in miniature' and its an island!

It will be bloody cold.

I would also think about what the roads will be like - is whoever's driving happy to drive in really poor weather or on flooded/icy roads?

I'm just across the border in Cumbria and we had awful weather this week and it'll only get worse going into winter.

Christmas is an expensive time of year price wise.

www.visitscotland.com/destinations-maps/arran/

And its close to Glasgow and even I suppose Edinburgh for a day trip!

I would do it if you’re planning a city break, but I wouldn’t do it at that time of year for the scenery - just not enough hours of daylight with the potential to have poor road conditions and bad weather

Maybe if you stay in the south and not too far off the beaten track. Edinburgh and Glasgow might be worth it as there'll be indoor attractions and there's lots of spectacular countryside in the Borders area.

Arran sounds interesting, plus I think islands are lower risk for extreme snow, but you probably don't want to venture further north in winter, daylight is very short - on a dull day it can feel like it's not even properly light at all and you only need to read about the woman who went out for a turkey on 23 December and couldn't get home due to the snow for a month to realise what the weather can be like in northern Scotland in winter.

The east coast stands a better chance of being dry, although it might be colder. There's usually a lot of outdoor stuff around Christmas and New Year in Edinburgh, but I don't know how much will happen this year.

Some if the islands, like Mull, don't have an airport. So if the ferry is cancelled then you just have to wait. DH went to visit his brother and was stranded for an extra 48 hours because Calmac cancelled all sailings.

You may also find that a lot of things close for the winter

I would save it for next spring/summer.

If you do it I would plan on going the week before Christmas and going home Boxing Day or the day after - and bear in mind a lot of B&Bs, especially further north, close at the end of October for the winter. Hotels get booked up for Christmas and charge a fortune for a Christmas break.

There's lots of stuff going on before Christmas but it does tend to go a bit flat as soon as Christmas Day is over (and Hogmanay ain't what it used to be!) unless you're near a city.

As pps have said, the light levels can be a bit depressing unless you have blue skies and sunshine - we had the lights on most of the day for the last couple of days even in southern Scotland because the weather's been so appalling.

Not wanting to put you off but a week in the run up to Christmas in Edinburgh or Glasgow rather than a week over Christmas further north would perhaps be better.

@xksismybestletter

I think we probably wouldn't take the caravan and would try for hotels or b&bs. We are a bit more fair weather than that

I'm not sure what attractions we would look for other than stunning views and maybe a trip to an island on a ferry. Partly my lack of knowledge about Scotland, partly that we are not really day trip kin of people

Sounds like fun, but I'd strongly discourage reliance on a ferry unless you are very relaxed about when you might actually get off the island. My parents live on a Scottish island. The ferry service is always unreliable in the winter because it can be affected by the wind blowing in the wrong direction, storms, staff shortages because of sickness - all worse in the winter. It's getting worse though because the Scottish government has absolutely cocked up the process of replacing CalMac ferries in a timely way and the fleet is knackered, so mechanical problems are causing more cancellations and delays. And finally, of course, Covid is a problem. Their ferry service was recently cancelled at very short notice because the entire crew and all the harbour staff had to go into isolation.

Some of my parents' friends are considering moving to the mainland because of the difficulty of getting to hospital appointments etc. Others cope by travelling over the day before an appointment and staying with friends/family or even in a hotel. It's a problem.

Anyway, as you were! Have a lovely time.

PS Skye has a bridge, so easier to visit in winter, but very bleak indeed. Atmosperic though.

@MichelleScarn

www.visitscotland.com/destinations-maps/arran/

And its close to Glasgow and even I suppose Edinburgh for a day trip!

This is my parents' island. I love it. It's a wonderful place to visit, but see above post for the ferry issues (Brodick to Ardrossan in Ayrshire). The only saving grace is that there's a second ferry from the north of the island (Lochranza to Claonaig in Argyll) but it's a long, long way round.

How are you going to do Santa? I'm assuming your kids still believe. Frankly unless you're doing 5 star luxury with indoor pool I'd not even consider it. And I live here. It'll be cold, wet and dark with nothing apart from walks to do.

I live in Scotland.
You are talking about the shortest days of the year where it can seem dark from 3pm to 10am the next day. Please visit another time.

East coast Scotland here. To be honest, I wouldn’t do a road trip around Christmas. At that time of year it gets light around 9am and dark about 4 on a good sunny day and on a wet rainy day it feels dark all day. So you’ll either be driving in the dark or you’ll use up a chunk of the daylight hours driving which leaves you little time to do things.

If you are absolutely set on doing it, I’d find a cosy self catering cottage that you can do day trips from. Even then, think carefully about where you go - I’d stick to either east coast Fife (you could get a train to Edinburgh for the day) or maybe up as far as Pitlochry?

Was coming on to say similar to the two PP above. It will be very short days, very dark most of the time. The stuff you want to see - scenery, big skies, beautiful beaches - will look so much better in the longer days with more light. And if you are doing a lot of driving, do you really want to be doing that in the dark on unfamiliar country roads? In the rain probably, or frost.

Another Scot living in Scotland here who thinks that you’re mad. I get all the “oh it’s so beautiful”…but it’s freezing (usually) raining a lot, pitch black, and everything half decent is still getting cancelled. Save your trip for better days.

Everything will be shut and wet.

I live in Scotland. Please don’t do this to your kids. It’ll be miserable for all the reasons others have already said.