To wonder why Scotland isn’t more popular as a holiday destination

[N0rdicStar]

Just been watching that hidden Scotland programme. I promise you I don’t work for the tourist board.

I lived there as a forces child for a few years and was born there previously. Loved it but my mother hated it and refused to ever go back so we never did. Know nobody else who has ever holidayed there but oh my goodness it’s beautiful and seems to have everything- history, beaches, mountains, wildlife.....

Why do we all flock to Cornwall and the Lake District?

Is it the weather? Can’t just be the distance as the above are long distances for many.

On the back of that can you give me the best bits.

This thread has given me the idea to jump in the car tomorrow and head to the Cairngorm National Park via Tease in Banchory for a great breakfast.

Midges (go somewhere windy, then you won’t be bothered)
Unpredictable weather - May is the best month generally, but you can be unlucky and get 2 weeks of bucketing rain any time of year
It can be pricey. Try getting a hotel or guest house in Inverness at a reasonable price - it’s booked up months in advance by tour groups. That’s hard on Highlanders who need to stop over for medical or other appointments.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 my husband is Glaswegian, I hope we can move there permanently some day. Best place ever.

I also want to contradict a previous poster who said Highlanders are unfriendly - no we’re not, but we don’t suffer fools gladly!

The average temp for August here (N.Scotland) is 15deg. That’s considered pretty warm here and we’ll all pack our kids in to the car after school and hit the beach. Every other house will have a bbq when it’s that warm. In the meantime, the Italian and Japanese tourists are all wearing their duvet style ankle length jackets and hats and gloves 😂 ‘Good’ weather is all relative.

Aberdeen is fucking freezing. I know this to be true, because I come from Aberdeen. Now live in Edinburgh, also freezing, but slightly less so than points north.

On most UK weather forecast maps, an orange ball hovers roughly over London, radiating out and turning yellow or green by the time it reaches us. When I travel to London, I take tshirts.

I think service can be hit or miss too, much like the rest of the UK. Some places are absolutely brilliant while others will give you blank looks and act as if your presence is an intrusion. I dread to think what eg American tourists must think of this sometimes. Steep entry fees to lacklustre attractions are tricky for families who could have guaranteed beach weather in Spain.

My family have a caravan in Arran which is paradise for adults regardless of the weather but if you take kids and it rains every day you're basically fucked.

I take it you don't go abroad to mosquito ravaged countries Fiveredbricks.

I'm in the Highlands on the west coast and also consider myself lucky every time I look out of the window. I have a view across fields and a burn to Suilven. It's stunning and ever-changing.

Tourists are only a problem at ferry times (to Lewis) when the road can be full of camper vans. Last year DP took a week off in August and we went to a different white beach every day. Only one had other people on it because it was by a campsite and not one of the local secret ones.

That said, I wouldn't have liked it here as a teenager or young person but it suits me now.

Yeah, Aberdeen is not balmy!

For me it’s the distance. I’m in SE England, and on a good run can get down to Cornwall in 4 hours but to get up to Glasgow to see family is at least 8. I know we could fly, but the biggest advantage of a UK holiday is that we can bring the dogs so we prefer to go by car.

Yeah LMAO, 9 hours with 3 kids screaming, fighting and throwing missiles is so hilarious at 70mph LOLZ

We consider that normal. Otherwise how would you get anywhere?

I was always really perplexed when working in the UK when you mentioned any sort of normal distance by car to be met by disbelief and horror from everyone because it’s ‘so far’. Basically if we want to go anywhere by car it’s all a fuck tonne of distance so it’s normal, including with babies/young children/older children/teens. That’s why portable DVD players, car tablet holders, I spy and 1001 car songs were invented. I remember 9 hour days driving with the Wiggles 20 years ago. Normal for us here.

I live here and love it. I dont think I saw a midge last year and if there are, as soon as there's a breeze they're gone so that's a pretty poor excuse to miss out on a wonderful country.

It does look beautiful and is arguably the most beautiful part of the UK. But I live in the south east and the idea of going somewhere where the weather is even more of a disappointment than here is not appealing.

I wouldn't go in the summer as I don't like shit weather in the summer but I think my family are too much of a bunch of wuss's to handle a Scottish winter.

Basically weather is very important to me when choosing a holiday destination.

My family have a caravan in Arran which is paradise for adults regardless of the weather but if you take kids and it rains every day you're basically fucked.

Ach it is character building

I’d love to go but it’s just too far to drive with 3 kids.
Utter rubbish. It really isn’t that far, you’d be travelling for less time than your overseas trip if you factor in hours sitting in airports.

It’s 400 miles. You don’t think 7 hours in a car is far with a 1yo, 2yo and an 8yo. Vs the 1.5hrs it took to fly to Venice. Even with waiting times, it’s less. I can be in Paris quicker than that with the train.

I think you are utter rubbish

I live in a beautiful town on the east coast of Scotland. It is rammed with visitors in the summer. They come from all over to visit, including England.

I don't know if it's been mentioned. But we're in South Wales. We'd love to go and have looked into it a lot. But it's bloody hard to get to and with flights etc turns out really expensive. It doesn't really make it worth it when we've got counties in England that do the same job.

Smidge is fantastic, Skin so Soft has a different formula now so is useless. - I use Smidge too. Never really had a problem. I think Avon might have got fed up with their beauty product being thought of as an insect repellent.

I camp. I've had a couple of lovely 3 week holidays around the highlands and had a mostly great time. Glencoe is stunning. Ullapool also stunning. Durness right at the top yet again is stunn, maybe I'm just easily stunned but the views are incredible. Edingburgh is great, and fun for the festival. Glasgow is nice.

But...it can be a bit wet and cold. It can also be rather windy. There is also often a long distance between the places to visit. The roads can be quite small too, otherwise the Highlands are perfect for campervans.

I hope to be going again soon.

I don't buy the weather argument. There is not that big a difference in the climate across the UK for it to be a deciding factor surely. You can't guarantee the weather anywhere in the UK.

That’s why I don’t summer holiday in the U.K. I need a bit of sun.

Re distance, I can leave my house at 7.15 and be in Edinburgh city centre via easyJet by 9.45. That’s pretty good I’d say. I often go for work.

"The Bealach na Ba can be like the M25 on occasion".

^That makes me feel very sad. What a great pity that is. I fear that Scotland may have become a victim of its own success. Over-promotion in the media is to blame.

Not so long ago, very few people had heard of the places in the Highlands that are now crammed with tourists and the Western Highlands was a remote and largely empty place. I was lucky enough to visit in the '70s, before all the little one-man ferries were replaced with bridges and when most of the houses were still occupied by the real people who lived and worked there, rather than the AirB&B rentals that many of them are now.

I’ve been to Edinburgh and Glasgow several times because you can get there by train or plane, but for a rural holiday with the DC we’d need to drive. When my family lived in North Yorkshire we went to Loch Ness one year and it was indeed lovely but it was a hell of a long way even from there. Now I’m London based if I want wild country, beaches and mountains I have the choice to drive to Mount Snowdon in 5 hours (very doable at the start of a holiday) or Loch Ness in 10 hours (not so much). No contest. Scotland is beautiful but it’s not twice as beautiful as Wales. (I avoid Cornwall and the Lakes I’m the grounds that they’re full).

Because we are in the south and if we travel the same distance in the opposite direction you are halfway down France. But I am a heat freak being cold is not a summer holiday for me

Basically weather is very important to me when choosing a holiday destination.

It is for us too but as we live in Scotland it's not a major holiday for us and obviously not as expensive as it would be for people travelling from afar. We're not having our annual Scottish jaunt in March as we are travelling to warmer climes.

I'm able to go at short notice. Last year when it was getting up to 60 or 70 degrees Celsius down South I headed North for some Scottish cool. Best decision evah!

I grew up in the Lakes and it has surprised me in my adult life to encounter so many English people who haven't been to Scotland.

Mind you, even though the borders were close we generally went down to Wales.