Five days in Scotland

[lisalisa]

We are thinking of taking the family to Scotland for 5 days starting April 22 when kids have school hols. Wondering what area to aim for and what there is to do. Quite like the idea of wildlife safaris and some gentle walking - I'm rather overweight so no mountain climbing - unusual landscapes, Loch Ness if poss . Not sure beyond that really where to base ourselves but plan is to train up from London them maybe hire a car. Any ideas / pointers pls? So far I've learnt that the midges around Loch Lomond are terrible and that's about it !

[notcoolintheslightest]

Ah a fellow highlander Youmakemydreams I'm north of Aviemore.

Lots of great ideas for you OP. It's just trying to cram it all into 5 days 😊. Hope you have a great holiday.

[lamusic]

Aviemore sounds a good place for you

[MyLlamasGoneBananas]

If you are as far up as Inverness and Cairngorm take a trip to Findlater Castle near Cullen on the NE Coast.

[UnderTheGreenwoodTree]

We did Loch Ness in February. It was snowy It was fab - a beautiful place.

We did: driving round Loch Ness, one of the the Loch Ness Cruises, the visitor's Centre and Nessieland, Urquhart Castle. In Aviemore, there is Landmark Adventure Park (my 14yr old enjoyed it) and Cairngorm Reindeer Centre where you get to feed the reindeer.

There is so much more to do as well, we wanted another week there.

[UnderTheGreenwoodTree]

We wanted to go on whale-watching trip - but they were all closed in Feb. I think they run from April onwards.

[lamusic]

Another version of the Skye boat song
www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandssongs/primary/genericcontent_tcm4555681.asp

[howabout]

Aviemore is great for a Centreparcs type DIY hol. PP have beaten me to posting links.

Seriously there are no midgies in April (even in Loch Lomond). You will need your waterproofs though and it might also be cold, or you could get very very lucky and have wall to wall sun.

[Notveryhappyvalley]

I highly recommend Aviemore area. We went last year for a week in August and definitely could have filled more days.

We had a wildlife packed week and did dolphin watching at Cromerty (?) Point (which was amazing - they swim really close to the shore), Highland Wildlife Park (Zoo and safari park), Reindeer centre (including feeding reindeers) and DSis and DBil did a night time wildlife safari thing and saw badgers and pine martens (was too late for our DCs). We also saw red squirrels and several birds of prey just out and about.

I use a wheelchair so no big mountain climbing for me but we did a wheelchair friendly walk at Glenmore forest park and they had lots of routes for all abilities. We also had a day at Landmark Adventure Park which was fun but very busy (was the last day of the Scottish school holidays) and a day at Loch Ness/Urquart Castle.

We weren't particularly bothered by midges and this was August and quite hot all week.

We had a lovely holiday and all said we'd definitely go back to the area again.

[MeanwhileHighAboveTheField]

Chanonry point for dolphin watchjng

[lostscot]

You really need a couple of days without a car to appreciate Edinburgh first, then head north. We went on a fab wildlife safari in a land rover and the guide was brilliant with the kids. I'll have a look for the link...

[lostscot]

www.highlandsafaris.net/