Holiday help please

[MamaJaye]

I'm wondering if anyone can help. Looking to go on holiday for 3-4 nights. Travelling from Edinburgh and willing to drive up to 4 hours (if it's worth it!)

Travelling with two very young children and two dogs. Would like to base ourselves somewhere that we could do nice day trips to Lochs/woodlands/beaches/parks ideally. There is just so many places to look at that I'm struggling to focus!

Any pointers would be gratefully received.

Northumberland. Alnwick castle and gardens. Great beaches. Train into Newcastle, Durham or York.

Aviemore: beach at Loch Morlich, loads for kids to do in the area. Stay at the MacDonald resort or Hilton Coylumbridge

Forbes of Kingennie in Angus; near Dundee (science centre, McManus galleries, Olympia swimming pool, dca, camperdown zoo, discovery, verdant works...), monikie and crombie parks, beaches at Broughty Ferry, Carnoustie and Arbroath and Angus glens not far away either.

Highlands gets my vote. When are you going and have you an idea if you want self catering or a hotel? Lots of lovely places are booked up by now but you may get lucky!
Glencoe is a great base but accommodation varies a lot... Thinking loch awe would be good if you want SC.. I'll have a think!

Argyll Holidays have holiday parks throughout the area, beautiful part of the world. agree about Forbes of Kingennie, excellent base for the area.

I would have said Argyll as well- it's a bit less overrun. Try independent B&Bs as the big holiday/tour operators will be busy.

If you can afford it the cottages at Portavadie Marina take dogs- they're super lovely- the spa/kids pool/outdoor pool is fab, you have a forest on your doorstep and the beaches over there are second to none.

I'd do Aviemore too. Might be a bit busier than some places but loads to do for all ages especially if the weather isn't great. Not too far from civilisation which is great when you have young children and are away somewhere for the first time.

Was going to say Aviemore too. We live reasonably locally and it’s our go to place loads for all age groups to do. Loch Morlich is great, Landmark a few miles up the road is a great day out too.

And you could see wee hamish at the wildlife park and the Highland Folk museum is fab too. The funicular railway, forest walks, nice drives, swimming pools

Aviemore would be my first suggestion, then Dundee area, the Trossachs - Stratford or Callander as a base? Also Aberfeldy or Killin area?

Strathyre not Startford! Sorry!

dumfries and Galloway.. only 1.5 hours away but amazing for outdoor stuff.
beaches.... galloway forest park etc.

Or St Andrews - lovely beaches, Cairnie fruit farm, nice leisure pool if it rains, Craigtoun Park.

Thank you so much for all of these ideas!! I'm going to work my way through them all this weekend.

We have been to Aviemore a lot so will probably leave that one out (sorry should have mentioned that in OP).

Hoping for late August/September. Dogs are always our issue so will need to see where takes them.

Probably more self catering accommodation to be Pp who asked

It's an extra 30-60 minutes roughly but Yorkshire is worth a visit. We often stayed in Beverley but this year went a bit further up to Filey which was right on the beach and at Filey and Bridlington there are specific dog walking beaches.

Nairn is lovely, great beaches, woods, river walk, aviemore not too far away, Brodie castle, roseisle
Loch Ness etc, bit bias as I’m from Nairn but live in Stirling now but take my boys to visit I often

What about Tralee Bay near Oban up to 2 dogs per unit, here are Reviews

We drove from Fife to Larne in July and took the ferry (2 hrs) to Cairnryan in NI. We took our 2 dogs and stayed in a holiday bungalow in a lovely seaside town called Port Stewart. The beaches are gorgeous and there's lots to see and do in the area. There's a booking company called Causeway Coast Rentals who have lots of dog-friendly rentals.

For years I've said that I wanted to go to Ireland and/or Northern Ireland and I'm so glad we made the effort and did it.