Our 8 Day Scotland Roadtrip Travel Diary

Last week, we spent 8 days exploring Scotland by road and I’ve got so much to share with you. I thought I would start off with a diary-style post all about where we went and do a few more detailed posts over the next couple of weeks. It was actually Stefan’s idea to do a big road trip around Scotland whilst we really wanted to do the North Coast 500, we opted for a different route which included spending time on the Isle of Skye. With everything that has been going on this year, I’ve decided to really focus on UK Travel and it’s a brilliant opportunity to explore some of the amazing destinations we have in Great Britain.

Our first stop on the road trip was Glasgow. Stefan was visiting family in the city and I wanted to be reunited with some of the best pizza at Peasano Pizza. We spent our time in Glasgow pretty much just eating and drinking. I was very happy to finally visit Tim Hortons which recently opened some UK stores and pick up some Timbits. We also spent the evening in the West End which has lots of eateries and bars. We ended up at Bread Meats Bread which had the most amazing burgers and another Canadian favourite; Poutine.

It’s hard to believe that it’s literally a 30-minute drive from Glasgow to Loch Lomond; our next destination. We first stopped off at Balloch which is a village on the southern tip of Loch Lomond. From Balloch, you can go on a lake cruise or even visit the Loch Lomond Sea Life Centre. There are quite a few shops by the lakeside including a House of Fraser and few outdoor style shops. There was also a small food market which we did grab some topped fries and also had a round of adventure mini golf (I won!). The weather wasn’t great to start off with as the lake was super misty and you could barely see anything, thankfully it did brighten up later! 

We also visited another lakeside village called Luss, this was a little further up Loch Lomond and the weather was a little brighter here! The village is absolutely lovely with chocolate box styled cottages and a long pier overlooking the Loch. I think we paid something ridiculous like 30p for parking but we didn’t spend too long here. If you were stopping off here for food, there were a few places including Fish and Chips and a Coffee Shop.

That evening we were staying in Fort William which is a great base if you are hiking Ben Nevis or just generally in the area like us. To get there from Loch Lomond is the most unreal and scenic drive which takes you through some stunning roads. We drove through Glen Coe and some incredible scenes. We did stop off a couple of times but didn’t really explore but I’d thoroughly recommend driving through this area. 

Our evening in Fort William was actually really lovely. This small town is quite the hub for restaurants and is very popular with travellers. We were really lucky and got a table at a pub called the Ben Nevis but generally, a lot of restaurants and pubs were bookings only or had a que. The food and service at Ben Nevis was lovely, I went for a Steak & Ale pie and Stefan went for Fish and Chips. Both very delicious dishes and it was just a lovely and very cosy traditional pub. 

I think we’re on Day 3 of the Scotland trip and I’m pretty sure this was my favourite day. Starting off with a very exciting and magical adventure. The Jacobite Steam train runs from Fort William to Mallaig and not too far from Fort William is the Glenfinnan Viaduct which you might recognise from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Twice a day the train runs over the viaduct providing the most magical sight of essentially the Hogwarts Express. I’m going to do a whole other post about my magical locations on this trip but I’ll give a quick rundown of what happened. The steam train leaves Fort William at 10 am and usually ended up at the Viaduct around 10.45 am. We got told to arrive around 30 minutes beforehand to guarantee a car parking spot (we parked at the Visitor Centre) and it was about a 10/15 minute walk to get a position on the hillside. There were quite a few people there and honestly, it was rather exciting! 

Just across from the Glenfinnan Viaduct & Monument  Visitor Centre is the said monument which overlooks Loch Sheil which was also used in the Harry Potter movies (in fact, all eight of them!) as the Great Lake. To follow on with our magical adventures we also stopped by Loch Eilt on the way to Mallaig and this is where you’ll find a small island used as Dumbledores resting place. I’ll definitely write another post with a lot more details!

The reason we were heading to Mallaig is that this is where you can get the ferry over to the Isle of Skye. There is actually a bridge to mainland Scotland but it would have taken us 2 hours+ to drive to it so we decided to get the ferry. It was £15.95 for two of us and the car and I think it only took about 30/40 minutes to do the crossing. It was super simple but we weren’t allowed out of our cars so it was a little claustrophobic at points but thankfully, the sea wasn’t too rough. I was super excited about visiting the Isle of Skye as everyone always said it was a highlight for them when visiting Scotland. 

Our first (well actually only stop) of the day was the famous fairy pools. I’ve found that a lot of people like taking a dip in the pools but it was just a tad too cold to get in. We parked in the official car park, I believe it was £5 and it was probably about a 20-minute walk to the bottom of the pools. It’s quite a steep walk down before climbing a lot of rocks. The pools consist of lots of different waterfalls and some have said to say on a beautiful day you can see the fairies dancing on the water in the sunshine. It is a rather magical place and I can imagine in the height of Summer it would be great to bathe in the pools where they are supposed to bring you luck. 

Whilst we were on the Isle of Skye, we were staying at the Portree Youth Hostel. The accommodation was pretty limited when we were visiting, so much was already sold out or £250+ per night. We paid £50 for a private room and it was really central to Portree which is the main town on Skye. There’s a few little cute shops and eateries (again, you did need to book in advance) so we decided to go down to the harbour and get takeaway fish and chips. Down by the water was a line of pastel-coloured buildings which was ever so cute. Portree really is the most adorable little place. 

The Isle of Skye is the largest of the isles of Scotland and whilst it doesn’t seem that big in mileage, it can take a while to get from place to place. Portree was a great base though as it was pretty central and easy to go from place to place. On Day Four, the weather was absolutely terrible but we decided to just embrace the weather. Our first stop was Kelt Rock and Mealt Falls Viewpoint which was just stunning. We then headed towards The Old Man of Storr, even though the weather was terrible we decided to still park up and do the hike which was around an hour and a half. 

Sadly, we didn’t get to do the whole hike as once we got to the base of the rocks, it was so so muddy and there were diggers blocking the main path which was a shame. It was quite misty but we did get an okay view of the rocks the nearer we got. I think it would be a great hike in warmer weather. Hopefully, it’s something we will be able to do another time. 

We decided to drive towards Coral Beach which is in the Dunvegan region. The beach was highly recommended to me for white sands and beautiful clear waters. The photos don’t do the place justice and I’m sure it would resemble the Caribbean. To access the beach, you’ll need to park in Claigan but parking is very limited and there are a lot of potholes. To get to Claigan, it’s a single track road past Dunvegan Castle and it’s not the best path. From the parking, the walk is probably about 20 minutes (at this point my walking books packed in) but the views along the way are amazing. We also wanted to visit Neist Point Lighthouse but it was a little bit too far to drive so we decided to pop back to Portree via an incredibly scenic drive on the snow road before heading to the bridge over to mainland Scotland. 

At this point, the weather had turned sour again (thankfully we had a rain break whilst we were at the beach) but we still had a few stops after crossing the bridge. The first being a little bakery I’d spotted on the Visit Scotland Instagram page called Manuela’s Wee Bakery. It was like stepping into a fairytale, we picked up some bread which was utterly delicious but it’s also worth noting that there is a pizzeria there and a distillery! Just down the road from the bakery (literally 2 minutes) is the Eilean Donan Castle. We parked across the bay (as the castle was closed) but it’s such a stunning view of the castle. 

Our final destination for the day was driving up to Inverness, it was about an hour and a half to drive the length of the country. We were staying central in the city and found parking super reasonable at the Old Town Rose Street Car Park.  I’d booked us a table at a restaurant called Scotch & Rye and it was a lovely evening. The food was spot on, I had Mac & Cheese with Pulled Pork – So delicious! I wish it wasn’t 100’s of miles away as I would be there all of the time. 

We must be on Day Five now and after a full Scottish breakfast to start the day, we drove to Loch Ness. Obviously, I was very keen to search for Nessie. Stefan had stayed up the night before watching videos and reading theories on the Loch Ness Monster but we decided to go to the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre in Drumnadrochit. This was kind of a guided tour, where you go from room to room watching videos about the history of the Loch. I found it super interesting and learnt that Loch Ness is actually the largest lake in the UK. However, we did come away with the slight niggling feeling that the chance of the Loch Ness Monster existing might be pretty slim. Although the day we got back from Scotland, we read in the newspaper that there had been a sighting!

Usually, I’m on it when it comes to planning our trips but I’d left this day as just a “let’s see what happens day”. In the end, we actually ended up driving into the Cairngorms National Park. We took the A9 from Inverness and it wasn’t too far until we reached Aviemore which is a big ski resort in the park. After a quick Google and picking up some leaflets, we decided to check out the Rothiemurcus Estate. They have a range of water activities, 4X4 tours and even a Highland Coo Safari. Just down the road is the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre too!  After browsing the visitor centre which has some lovely items in the shop, we headed to Loch an Eilein which was utterly stunning. We walked around the lake and it was so gorgeous and autumnal. 

That evening we stayed in the Ness Walk Hotel in Inverness which was such a beautiful hotel. It was located just on the riverbank in a private gated area – close enough to the city but far enough for it to feel very private. I’m going to be doing a full review of the hotel over the next couple of days. Keep your eyes peeled out for that one as we also had a three-course meal in the Torrish Restaurant and it was pretty amazing. We also got to try out some local gins from the area with dinner too before having an early night to recuperate before Day Six of our road trip. 

After a delightful stay at Ness Walk, we headed off back into the Cairngorms National Park. We had decided to drive the scenic route from Grantown-on-Spey to Blairgowrie, also making a few special detours. I actually visited this part of the Cairngorms on my press trip with Visit Aberdeenshire. It really did stick out for me, how epic the route was so I really wanted to show Stefan. It truly is a scenic route. 

As I mentioned, we did a little detour over to Craigevar Castle which has become quite popular on Instagram and known as the pink castle. I’ve spent the last couple of years wanting to visit as it just looks like its straight out of a fairytale. The castle is actually closed at the moment (I presume for the Winter Season) but you can still park up and take photos and even explore the grounds. As I said, It looks like something out of a fairytale and it’s actually said to have been the inspiration for Cinderella which just makes it ever so much more magical. 

We headed back to the scenic route, stopping off at Ballater which this gorgeous little village has royal connection given that it’s just five minutes from the Balmoral Estate. Prince Charles actually has his own restaurant in Ballater called the Rothesay Rooms. There’s a few other shops, restaurants and pubs in Ballater and it’s actually a really pleasant place to visit. We picked up a few baked items from the local Bakery which is famous for serving Balmoral Bread from the Estate. We had actually timed our visit quite poorly as Balmoral was closed but due to open for tours the next day! I did manage to visit on my Visit Aberdeenshire press trip and it’s just such a beautiful castle! Well worth a visit if it’s open and you are in the area.

The last leg of the trip saw us continue on our scenic route to Blairgowrie. Some of these roads were just like a rollercoaster, winding round and round. Our destination for the evening was just outside of Falkirk at the Macdonald Inchyra Hotel & Spa so it was quite a drive down. Falkirk is home of The Kelpies (huge steel sculptures of horses) which, unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to visit. I’ll also be doing another blog post about my stay at the Macdonald Hotel which was a perfect location for heading to Edinburgh Zoo the next morning. We also got to visit their swimming pool before sampling some delicious food at their Steakhouse. 

First on the agenda for Day Seven was to visit Edinburgh Zoo which was about 20 minutes away by car. Although we’d had a few blips with the weather, we were overall really lucky with the weather until this day. It just wouldn’t stop raining! We had to pre-book our tickets and a timed slot to the zoo about a week in advance as they sell out very quickly especially on a weekend. The timed-slots were on the hours so we did have to queue and did find that there was quite a lot of people going in at the same time. The zoo did have a one-way route in operation and a few things were closed (not sure if it was because of the rain or co-vid). I had previously visited the zoo, I think six years ago but I thought it would be quite nice to visit again. We decided to fully embrace the rain and we actually had a really nice time. We got to see the Pandas (only ones in the UK), Koalas, Lions, Tigers and the adorable penguins! 

I think we were at the Zoo for about two and a half hours before we made our way into Edinburgh city. Thankfully our room at YOTEL was ready early and we could check-in straight away. The rain still hadn’t stopped and it did kind of (literally) put a dampener on our day so after a wander about on Princes Street, lunch at Oink (the best-pulled pork sandwich shop) we headed back to the hotel for a chilled evening watching Onward on Disney+ and ordering food to the room. 

Our final day of the trip and in Edinburgh was thankfully, a sunny one. We started the day by visiting the Deciem store in the West End so I could stock up on some bits from The Ordinary. We then took a stroll through Princes Street Gardens which is one of my favourite places as it has beautiful views of Edinburgh Castle. I had actually booked us into Hawksmoor for Lunch as it’s one of our favourite places for a Sunday Roast. I’ll be giving you the full low down next week in the Sunday Roast Diaries. Spoiler Alert though.. its tastes as good as it looks.

No trip to Edinburgh is complete without wandering along the Royal Mile and heading up to the Castle. We didn’t go in the Castle, I think we might do next time. This is actually our third trip to Edinburgh in 13 months but we still have a few things we want to do. Following on from our Harry Potter filming locations earlier in our trip, we decided to go to a few more magical places in Edinburgh. The books were actually written in Edinburgh so some would say there are a few spots which may have inspired the stories. 

The Elephant House is somewhere I’ve mentioned before and was a cafe which the first books were written. Any HP fans should pay this place a visit – especially the toilets! We also stopped by the Kirkfriars Graveyard – You might think this is quite morbid but there was actually a few Harry Potter tours taking place. This is because you’ll be able to find many words and names associating to Harry Potter on the graves, including Thomas Riddle! Finally, we wandered around the Grassmarket area and visited Victoria Street which is lined with colourful shops! This street is said to have inspired Diagon Alley in the books and was described similarly. 

It was then time to pick up the car and head home. We were hoping to stop by Mary’s Milk Bar but as it was such a lovely day so many other people had the same idea and the queue for ice cream was down the street. One to visit on our next trip! We finally got home after about a four-hour drive and a stop off at McDonald’s of course! Our Scotland Roadtrip was pretty incredible and I can’t believe how much we squeezed into eight days. It’s also safe to say that there is still yet so much to be explored. We would still love to do the North Coast 500 and also explore more of the Islands. Although I’m missing travelling abroad, I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to travel around the UK and explore what is on our doorstep. Scotland certainly didn’t disappoint. 

Have you visited Scotland before? Where is your favourite Scottish destination?

XOXO