B&Bs in Scotland?

[NewEnglandLady]

Hey, all, I've found PS travel advice to be really helpful on prior trips, so I'm fishing for advice again.

DH and I just bought tickets this morning to go to England, Wales and Scotland for 11 days. We leave next week. Last year around Labor Day we took a trip to Ireland and really loved it (which inspired this trip). For that trip, we had a map, a loose itinerary and a rental car. The plan was to just stay at a B&B based on how far we got that day--we loved it. We're hoping to do the same thing on this trip, but I'm not quite sure how easy it is to find a B&B on the fly in Scotland (where we are spending the most time). My husband is a Rick Steves nut, so we have the Great Britain book and have read it over the past week, I'm just wondering if anybody has done this type of trip in Scotland and if finding lodging without reservations was an issue at all? Thank you!!

 

[movie zombie]

in 1996 i was gone the entire month of october with 3 weeks in scotland, wales, and parts of england and one week in amsterdam. i found good and affordable places w/o using any of the guides i thought i had to carry around.

before you go look into getting a pass that gets you into museums and/or castles for free and/or a minimal price. here's a start for that research: http://britishheritagepass.com/Benefits

i'd do that trip all over again.

MoZo

 

[Jennifer W]

I think it will depend on where you are and how much of a tourist area it is. There are plenty B&Bs here, but the nicer ones will be booked in advance.

Maybe if you can tell me where you will be and when, I can make some suggestions?

Jen

 

[rainwood]

NEL -

You'll probably have more luck getting in on the fly if you use B&B's that are NOT included in Rick Steves's book. He has lots of fans and they often book ahead. If the place is small, you might be out of luck and you'd hate to waste most of a day trying to find a place to stay. So, if I were you, I'd have lists of places people recommend that aren't a Steves pick and you'll at least have a back-up plan.

We did 'on the fly' part of the time in the UK. Sometimes we found a gem and sometimes we found a place we're still telling stories about years later! We could swear the owner of the B&B in Edinburgh was a serial killer who dispatched his victims in the backyard shed that always had a light burning inside. This doesn't sound quite so paranoid if you knew that the cover of the breakfast menus was a montage of old newspaper clippings about local murders. Who does that??? But we survived and it remains a favorite tale.

I will warn you that Edinburgh can be quite confusing to get around in based on a street name and number. Many streets change names every few blocks because of how the city grew in rings over the centuries. And many streets have confusingly similar names. By that I mean, there will be a Pricescope Street, Pricescope Road, Pricescope Place, Pricescope Way, etc. And they aren't always right in the same vicinity.

One thing we discovered is that pubs are often a great place to eat, and aren't necessarily limited to what we think of as pub food in the US. Great salads, often quite gourmet. And we found some fabulous Indian restaurants too. In general, we thought the food in the UK was fabulous and didn't deserve its historically bad reputation. I did have a few culinary oddities in Scotland, but mostly because I was trying to eat healthy in places where I should have just gone with what they did best.

Oh, and if you're going to London, I'd book something ahead. It's too big of a city to do on the fly effectively.

Hope this helps. Have a great trip!

 

[rainwood]

And I second what MZ says about the British Heritage pass if you'll be in enough of the places to make it pay off.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Thank you all! This is helpful!

MZ--I know I heard my husband mention the British Heritage Pass, so I do think that's on the list. I'll confirm, though, and he'll think I did lots of research

Jennifer--My husband has put together a loose itinerary, so I'll have to give you the towns where we think we'll be staying. I looked at some numbers he's written on a map that was supposed to be a key to which night we'd be staying where, but I cannot remember at all. Sadly, I used to be the vacation planner extraordinaire, but now all I know is that we're flying into London and flying out of Edinburgh. We leave next Wednesday, land in London Thurs. morning and will be there 11 days.

Rainwood--great advice. Backup B&Bs are always a good plan. In fact, on our other trips to Europe we've alway gotten multiple books as well as advice from friends/family/forums so it's not a comlete Rick Steves tour. I remember when we went to Italy my husband had downloaded what must have been dozens of audio tours. I couldn't listen to Rick Steves for months afterward.

And I love your B&B story. Hahaha, I'm still chuckling to myself about it. I'm so glad you didn't end up as an article in the paper to be served with next week's breakfast. We still talk about our B&B adventures in Ireland--at one B&B we accidentally opened the wrong door and discovered a room full of...light bulbs. I actually asked her about it the next morning and she said the whole country was switching to the energy-efficient bulbs and she hated them, so she bought enough of the regular light bulbs to last the rest of her life. What's funny is that my FIL has done the same thing, so we joke that they are long lost soul mates. I love B&Bs, haha.

 

[movie zombie]

i got the B&B at the airport in edinburgh. there is a tourist office right there. they called to make sure Mrs. Brown had an opening. i still remember her name but not the name of her place! i got directions to the place and took the bus from the airport.

ditto re the advice re NOT using the rick steves recommended places to stay for the reasons stated.

the big splurge on this trip was a rental car which i picked up on the way OUT of edinburgh a couple of days after arriving. after doing a day of driving and sight seeing [ancient sites in the countryside combined with a roadtrip around the "toe" of scotland, i'd stop sometime before dark [if i was smart] or a bit earlier [if i was really smart] and look for lodging. always found it. also, if you're driving and want to out to orkney, the ferry line has a special [when i was there it was monday] for taking the car across. worth checking that out as you get near there...if you're planning to go out to orkney.

the downtown tourist office has lots of info for roadtripping sights as well. the double-decker tourist bus is worth doing to get the lay of the land and its on/off privileges are also worthwhile. there are a lot of night tours of the city as well which can be sort of fun.

in wales its king edward I's castles that are interesting....until you glaze over from having seen so many. wish i could think of the place i stayed there. the house was several hundred years old, the family spoke celtic, and the food was yummy.

having an itinerary is great......be prepared to bend it as you travel. i LOVED scotland...and wales as well. take some time and soak up that history. and take a chance and pop into a pub where locals hang out.........

MoZo

ps its time. i need to go again!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

MZ, your trip sounds amazing! I'll definitely look into Orkney! If the days work out, I have no doubt we'll go.

We are flexible when it comes to the itinerary--we want to be able to soak everything in and not rush ourselves, which is why we don't want to book any B&Bs in advance if we don't have to. We really enjoy driving around the countryside and then just settling down before dark (if we're smart, haha). I'm glad to hear that finding something shouldn't be too much of an issue. I think if we just try to stick to towns with a few B&Bs, we'll be fine.

 

[Jennifer W]

Let me know which towns if you want to - if I know any of them well, I could tell you which B&Bs are nicest.

Edinburgh will be busy, since the English schools are still on holiday and I think it's an English bank holiday while you're here, but there are plenty great places to stay.

If you fancy splashing out a little for a night or two, this hotel is right in the Central belt and a great base for visiting a lot of places. It's about 40 minutes from the centre of both Edinburgh and Glasgow and you can drive to Perth, St Andrews and Dundee in a couple of hours from there too. It's a proper Scottish castle, but with all mod cons and a nice spa. If you call on the off-chance, they offer more flexible rates, I discovered.

http://www.airthcastlehotel.com/


Jen

ETA if you want a local contact in case you're stuck for somewhere to stay, feel free to ask the mods for my email address.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Hey, Jennifer, so sorry I haven't replied. I kept forgetting to ask DH for the itinerary.

We're spending next Thurs. and possibly Friday night in London. He's been to London but I haven't, so I just want to get in a few sites and then get out to the country. Saturday night will be spent in the Cotswols, I believe, then we'll head toward Snowdonia National Park on Sunday and stay near there. We're really hoping to get all the way up to Oban on Monday, but I have a feeling we'll probably stay closer to Carlisle and then go to Oban the next day. Then we plan to go to the Isle of Skye for a night, then Iverness, then St. Andrews and finally end up in Edinburgh.

I have a quick question for you about Edinburgh--if we want to stay in or close to town for a night, would your recommend the staying in the city center or the Dalkeith Road neighborhood? We've already booked our hotel in London and want to book the Edinburgh hotel/B&B since those are our two anchor points, then leave everything open in between.

Thanks again for your insight, it is much appreciated!

 

[Jennifer W]

http://www.standrewsbandbs.co.uk/
St Andrews is really lovely and there is a costal route from the central belt if you fancy a bit of a detour on the route back to Edinburgh. It's a beautiful drive and signposted from St Andrews (brown signs with a thistle on them marked East Coast Tourist route I think). St Andrews is a couple of hours drive from my house so I've never stayed there, but take a look at the link above, hope it helps.

Edinburgh - I'd like the centre better. The New Town is Georgian and very elegant, the old town is anything from medieval onwards and really charming. It's quite vibrant, and I'd prefer being right in the middle of the old town. If you fancy going on a ghost tour at night, they're a lot of (quite silly) fun. Of course, there are plenty of great restaurants, bars and shows too. No shortage of stuff to do in Edinburgh. That said, it isn't a huge city and there are regular bus services pretty much all over, so wherever you stay you won't be far from the centre. Some great restaurants at the water side in Leith, too. Take a 22 bus from the centre and stay on until it comes to the end of its run, about 20 minutes.

Inverness - take a look at Scotland's Housing Expo is you get the chance. http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/ Well worth a visit - do check, but I think it's staying open a couple of weeks longer than advertised, it's been really popular.

I've never been to Oban or Skye, so not much help there.

I hope you have a fantastic time, it sounds like a wonderful trip. Snowdonia to Oban in one day might be a little optimistic though.

Jen

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Thanks again, Jennifer!

The ghost tour sounds like a lot of fun, I'm definitely going to look into it. And thanks for the city centre suggestions--we sort of felt the same way even though a lot of B&B recommedations are for the New Town. I'm glad to hear we aren't crazy for preferring the city centre.

Oh, and thanks for the coastal route recommendation, I know DH would rather do that. And we'll try to catch the housing expo in Iverness. I agree that Snowdonia to Oban is aggressive, we're counting on not making it, which is fine.

 

[movie zombie]

loved Oban.....

actually, loved scotland....all of it.

MoZo

 

[Jennifer W]

MZ, come back!

http://www.mercattours.com/home.asp I've been on one of these tours, it was fun. Silly, but enjoyable. They also do more serious history walks, which are fantastic. Plus they're in daylight, so unlike the ghost tours you really see the city!

Have a blast!

Jen

ETA it isn't a huge city - even if you don't find a B&B in the old town, it will likely be in walking distance. When you book, check the postcodes on a map.

 

[rainwood]

NEL -

Just saw your itinerary. We did something kind of similar. We took the bus from London to Bath, stayed there then drove up to the Cotswolds, wanted to get to Snowdonia but we all got a little tired of being in the car so spent the night in Chester, then up to the Lake District then up to Oban, then the Isle of Mull and Iona, then Edinburgh then back down to England for a few more stops. I loved the drive to Oban, but it may be kind of a long trip from Snowdonia. We took the Oban distillery tour which is great if anyone is a Scotch drinker.

I don't know if they have these in Ireland, but in the West Highlands they have what are essentially one and a half lane roads with turnouts every so often. It took us awhile to catch on, but you're supposed to watch for oncoming traffic and if the turnout is on your side of the road, you're supposed to pull over and let them pass. If the turnout is on their side, they're supposed to pull over. It works quite well unless you have confused tourists like us who didn't know what the heck we were doing the first couple of times and wondered what those striped areas and signs were all about.

We also got stopped on I think the Isle of Mull by a herd of West Highland cattle - the ones with the really long brown hair that covers their eyes. Best photos ever. Have a great trip!

 

[movie zombie]

pulled into Oban and it was raining....raining so hard they weren't taking the ferries out to mull and skye was impossible. i took the hint and found a B&B. from there walked down closer to the water and into the main section of town. took some stairs up to a pub for some pints and soup. there was a fire going......it was lovely sitting up there looking out as the storm lashed down.

that evening it was a drizzle and as it was saturday evening there was to be a dance. walked into another pub to get directions to it and to this day i do not know what the kind bartender told me: i asked three times, she told me three times.....and i know she was speaking english 'cause she could understand me....but her accent was so heavy i still don't know what she said. luckily, found the place: it was an old catholic church that had been converted to a "club" with bar...pews removed but light fixtures were the original as were the windows. and what were they playing you might ask, perhaps highland music?! no, it was american country music they were playing. the scots do love american country music.

i loved Oban despite the weather......

so many small places, so many memories: yes, I MUST RETURN TO SCOTLAND!

MoZo

ps scots are wonderful people....and i love those long haired cows!

 

[movie zombie]

and in case you missed it, Loch Lomond is listed as one of the world's 10 most beautiful:

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-35526661

MoZo

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Thanks again, all! The advantage of pushing Oban back a day is that we'll be able to see Loch Lomond in the daytime and I don't want to miss that. It looks so pretty.

 

[movie zombie]

since you're going to be in the Loch Ness area: http://www.phouka.com/travel/castles/ur ... uhart.html

Urquhart Castle has an amazing view of the lake!

MoZo

ps another of my favs in scotland: http://www.eileandonancastle.com/

 

[Pandora II]

I'm just back from Wales and Cornwall.

If you want to stay in a gorgeous place in Wales then try and go to Betws y Coed - there are lots of B&Bs as it's a centre point for people planning to climb Snowdon. The drive from England to there takes in some of the best welsh countryside, and there are some nice restaurants. Just up the road (on the main Betws y Coed to Conway road) there is a lovely woolen mill that makes traditional Welsh blankets. Conway itself has a fab castle and medieval walled town.