How to Travel Scotland in 10 Days

Scotland, a country filled with rich history, rugged mountains, a breathtaking coastline, lush greenery, and of course sheep and whiskey. As first-time travelers to this magical land, we embarked on a 10-day trip to get a taste of everything Scotland has to offer. We're Brian and Krystal and this is Von Holle Adventures. How you doing B? I am slightly terrified of driving this car on the opposite side of the road. Yeah I believe in you. You're gonna do great. This week on the vlog we'll be sharing with you our 10-day itinerary which will take us all the way from the bustling city of Edinburgh up through the rugged hills and mountains of the Highlands for some hiking then to the temperamental Isle of Skye. Oh man this weather. And end with a magnificent view over Loch Lomond and the Chossacks National Park. Wow. There's gonna be some pretty epic views, incredible food, amazing whiskey, and lots of wildlife. So get ready to book a plane ticket because you might just fall in love with Scotland as we did. For the next 10 days we're going to be showing you around Scotland and today we're starting in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. What everybody needs to take when visiting Edinburgh is the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is at the heart of Edinburgh's old town with Edinburgh Castle at its head and the Palace of Holy Rude House at its foot. Its name comes from its tradition as a processional route for kings and queens for the last 500 years. It's filled with pubs, shops, eateries, and beautiful looking buildings everywhere you look. While there pop into some of the shops to find some of the best cashmere in the world and if you are of Scottish descent be sure to see if you can find your clan's crust. While on the Royal Mile be sure to check out the Elephant House. This is also nicknamed the birthplace of Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling used to sit in the bar and write the early novels of Harry Potter while overlooking the castle which is where she got the inspiration. After a day of shopping be sure to stop by one of the many local pubs for a scotch. We especially liked Inside Ewart which has been around since 1690. As much as we've loved Edinburgh, it's time to head to the Highlands. To the north! Let's go! Our first stop in the Highlands is Cairngorm National Park and it's a central location to where we're going to be going the next couple days. A quick drop off of our luggage but I think Bea and I are both starving and we realized they actually have vegan shepherd's pie here. I'm so stoked so I need to eat. What do you think? Shepherd's pie and whiskey? Yes! Good morning! Hello! Good morning everybody! Since we stayed in Evermore for the past couple nights of course we're essential to everything in the Cairngorms National Park so today we're going to Miel Vukal. Miel Vukal. Miel Vukal. Okay sure. Should be a really great hike through some forest and up on a beautiful... we just want a little bit of everything so apparently that's what this hike has in store. Cool. Let's go. Let's go. It's quite nice. Yeah? If it was hotter I'd jump in there. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody was saying there's leeches in here so I'm a little bit of a pass on this one. However, Loch Morlock... Morlick. Morlick. Morlick. That's how you say it. Is just at the beginning near the Glenmore Visitor Center and it looks absolutely fabulous and that's where everybody goes swimming. I feel like this hike definitely had a little bit of everything. Yeah it sure did. Yeah and we got a great ridge view and it was so nice and open with all the shrubbery. Epic. Then we got to see all the lochs from the top go through the forest like everything was so beautiful. I'm really happy with this choice of hike. Took us about four hours. We definitely were fairly leisurely. We weren't in a hurry but I think now we need a little bevy and then off to our next stop. We'll see you there. So as you all know Scotland is very popular for its whiskeys and scotches so what we're going to do is stop by one of my favorite places, Glenfarkless. So the 15 is at 46% so it's a little bit stronger a little bit more punch to it and we're at 43% We're gonna do a complimentary tasting. I usually put a drop of water in the whiskey and it kind of just opens up the flavor a little bit. I just do a drop. Wow. Which one is that? This is the 12 year. Okay I've never tried Glenfarkless before and I've only just started liking whiskey. Okay it's really good. Yeah it's pretty good. Sometimes that works. All right well we did a little tasting and we went with the 25 year. It just was splendid. We emailed them yesterday because you're supposed to email them in advance for a tour. That's the tour we were going to go on but we emailed too late so it was full we didn't get on it so if you want to go on a tour definitely book in advance. More than a day in advance. More than a day. I am so excited about today's stop. We just got to Balmoral Castle which is the royal family's summer vacation home. However it is open to the public from April to the very beginning of August so we got here just in time. So we're gonna go walk through the grounds today and just check everything out and I'm so excited. Let's go. We filmed this when Queen Elizabeth was still alive during July 2022 which was during her jubilee year. Shortly thereafter in September the queen passed away at Balmoral. As things may have changed be sure to check out the official Balmoral website for more information if you wish to visit. Hey y'all there's something very mischievous walking around these parts of the woods. Squirrels. Beware. I hear one now lurking in the tall grass. False alarm. All of the rose bushes along the upper hedge of the garden directly outside the castle have been here for 70 years which is also the exact amount of time of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. Of course we're having an obligatory drink at the cafe here. They have even some vegan items. We've got some vegan sandwiches and of course champagne and gin and tonic and the gin here is the Balmoral gin so obvious choice. Man this Balmoral gin is really good. I don't know what's going on here but I'm gonna buy a bottle. Should we? Oh for sure that was delicious. Wow I'm not really a gin guy but this was exceptional. Wow that's beautiful. Looking back at that that's amazing. The flowers grown here in the main garden are used throughout the castle on the fireplace and displayed within the rooms and they're just absolutely lovely. We just spent about three hours here at Balmoral and it was so relaxing and the one tip I'd have is to hack a picnic and just hang out on the lawn. It's absolutely huge and definitely do the river walk. Inverness is the largest city and the cultural capital of the Scottish Highlands. This is a great stop for shopping sightseeing and of course to grab a bite to eat. We just landed in Inverness and we are starving. The UK has some of the best Indian food. I've been in Spain for two months before this trip and I've really had nothing but potatoes and bread so I am stoked to eat some veggies right now. Apparently this is the longest established running Indian restaurant in all of the Highlands which I feel like makes me even better. I am so full. That was the best Indian food of my entire life. I'm so so happy that I don't know what to say. It was so good you guys. You have to eat Indian food in the UK. You have to. And that place... The course of British, European and world history was changed here on April 16, 1746. It was here that the Jacobites army fought to reclaim the throne of Britain from the Hanoverians for a Stuart king. The British army was equally determined to stop this happening. The ferocious European war had come to Scotland dividing families and setting clan against clan. In under an hour 1,500 Jacobites were killed on this field. After three or four days of fighting the Duke of Cumberland was satisfied that all the Jacobites had been killed. He then ordered people from Inverness to come up here and bury the bodies. However most of them had been looted so there was no way to identify who was who or which clan they were a part of. So 130 years after the battle of Culloden these stones were erected as grave sites for the different clans that were believed to be here. However they're not sure how accurate they are but this is considered the official grave site. This cairn along with the graves was also raised to commemorate all the Highlanders. Jacobites also came with all their families so not only did they kill the men who fought but they killed the women and children as well. Not only am I a McPherson I'm also a Frazier and for those of you Outlander fans Jamie Frazier this is the Frazier clan gravestone. It's your people. Yeah. Located a short distance north of Inverness is Ullapool. A small village and port in northern Scotland and it's known for being a center for music arts and performance. Despite its small size it's one of the largest settlements in the area and it's absolutely adorable. Ryan and I realize how hungry we are and here they have a food truck and they have vegan pizza and gluten-free crust and you can just come next to the water and chill out and eat it. This is so cool. Want to eat this pizza? Yeah I can't wait. Man after that pizza I think we need a whiskey. The guy at the pizza shop told us to come to this place to have a glass and enjoy the view. I'm trying a new whiskey. I'm trying a whiskey that the woman inside suggested. Try this one out. It kind of smells like rum. It looks like it's like dark. It's like the Guinness of whiskey. Oh that's so subtle. I feel like this could go down really easily though. I can't believe Oban is only like six quid here. It's like one of my favorites. About parking in Scotland is a double line. It means do not park there unless it's an emergency. If it's a single yellow line maybe you can park there for a few minutes if you got to jump in someplace real quick or you can park on a single line after 6 p.m. Basically what you look for is Highlands so I booked us a cottage for two nights up in Dundaddle which is near Ullapool. It is amazing. We haven't shared any of these days where we've been really since we started making this film for you but this is exquisite so we're going to show you around real quick. After the entryway we enter this huge living room cottage that is just so sweet. Look at we even have a fireplace. And couches. And a chair. And a sitting area. And look at this staircase. And we also have this adorable little kitchen. It definitely feels like a cottage and this is just what we are looking for. We are deep in the Highlands and we're also situated right on a river and we have I think it's about five acres all to ourselves where we can go walk in the morning but for now I think it's just whiskey time and hanging out by the fireplace. What do you think B? Yes. I'm so excited. I'm definitely gonna link this place down below because the owners are so sweet. They had greeted us and they also left us a bunch of really sweet treats. I could not already recommend this place more. This place is ultimately awesome for a Highland adventure. Can you see? No. Hi buddy. They're so cute. Our first official day on Isle of Skye. We're trying to go hiking but this is a very thick fog so I don't know if we're gonna be really able to see anything today but the weather changes very very fast here. I hope we're gonna be able to see something. Yeah. If not there's sheep. Lots of sheep. Lots of sheep. Wow look at that. Our first stop today is Brothers Point. Look at all the sheep. Oh my gosh. Yep. One of the reasons I picked this hike for us is because there wasn't going to be a lot of people but still really beautiful views. Okay sadly we couldn't make it all the way out to the point because it's quite boggy. It's just super muddy and I don't have waterproof shoes which was a mistake on my part but I just got done walking the Camino and waterproof boots are not ideal and I just didn't have any more room for more shoes. So next time for this one. You want to continue on to the next hike Bea? Yeah where are we going? I don't know yet. Just five minutes up from Brothers Point is Kilt Rock and Meow Falls. A short and sweet walk of only one minute from the parking lot. The Old Man of Storr is a rocky hill on the Trotternish Peninsula of the Isle of Skye and is one of, if not, the busiest walks on the island. Wow. We definitely were not that lucky at the time of filming this though I can still say it was one of the best stops in our entire Scotland tour. You want to take mine off? Yeah I'm a little wet are you? I'm soaked. I just kind of gave in. It's like nice out though like it's not it was freezing but then it wasn't freezing. Oh man this weather is something else. Gosh man if it was sunny out I feel like I can see why this is so epic. We just put up to the Ferry Glen and one thing about Scotland in general and especially the Isle of Skye is that it is famous for its ferries. There's one place you're going to see ferries on the Isle of Skye. It's definitely going to be at the Ferry Glen. We have no ferry sightings today but to the next stop. Wow look at that house. This is where we're staying. That's where we're staying? Yeah we're staying here. What? Wow. Okay this is another place I've been really excited about. This is the Monkstead House and Lodge. This area and the surroundings this is just so beautiful. I think it's probably one of the most northern restaurants in the Isle of Skye. You have to make reservations for this place because it is quite small and what I did was email them with their dietary preferences and they made a special menu for us. Oh my god babe. Yeah? This is so good. We are just going all the way around the northern tip of Skye before we head down to Fort William today. B you want to bring our van here? I want to bring a van here yes for sure. For those that are new to our channel we live in a camper van vacco and I heard that like van life in Scotland was like semi-iffy because you can tent camp pretty much anywhere but you're supposed to stay in caravan parks but it's kind of like there's a gray area I guess with living in a van like just on sides of the roads you can't stay in passing by places but here on Isle of Skye there is definitely you definitely could do van life there. Yeah. Hey buddy we seem to be lost. Do you know that... We left the Isle of Skye a couple days ago and we came south through Fort William, Glencoe to the Trossachs and Loch Lomond National Park. Yeah we went through Fort Williams that was kind of a tourist trap uh wasn't really digging that. No. Expensive too. Yeah really expensive like whiskey was even twice as much that gives you an idea. The area south of Glencoe right where it hits the Trossachs National Park is an amazing area which we would totally stay there a couple extra days but we just didn't know. So now we're on the east side of Loch Lomond in Balmahaw. Just about an hour north of Glasgow. Yeah we did that just so we could round up this trip for when we leave here but it's time to go hike. Yeah let's do it. I would say this is a great hike to get a view of the entire loch. You really get an idea of the area but it looks like you can keep going. I think that actually is part of the West Island down here. Cool. On to the next stop. That was a beautiful hike. Brian had to run to the bathroom but we're staying at a place called the Oaktree Inn that has this super cool bar, restaurant, ice cream parlor and a coffee shop all at once. So we're gonna go grab a bite to eat here. This is really cool. This bar is super interesting looking. It was voted the best pub in all of Scotland for two years in a row and it's definitely got a vibe for sure. So I'm gonna show you around. This is what two and a half months of traveling looks like. Look at this. Oh my gosh we have so much packing to do. Well all good things must come to an end. I don't really agree with that statement but this has been an amazing trip. Like we said best trip we've ever had. Best trip. I hope this really this video really helps you create your perfect Scotland adventure. Well anyways we're off we gotta get to the airport. Bye guys. All right bye.