Scotland or Cornwall

[SarahJ]

Hi there

I'm considering doing a self-drive of Scotland at the end of March/April with my partner for our birthdays. I've never been to Scotland before so wanted to ask if anybody could recommend the best places to visit and a good order to visit them in.

What we really want to see is scenery and the more beautiful and natural places, although Edinburgh is on the itinery too, and to be able to do some walking.

We'd be able to spend a week up to ten days touring...but coming from Manchester it will take a few hours for us even to reach the borders!

However, the other option is to go south to Cornwall for a week (I've been here before long ago and remember - although vaguely - the coastlines being beautiful), and again visit scenic places and for walking, etc.

Which way would you recommend - north or south? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks

[Mar]

That's a really difficult question; although you've been to Cornwall before, I'm sure there are new things to see!

If you're coming to Scotland from Manchester, I'd drive north to the border and then turn left! Going through Galloway via Dumfries, Castle-Douglas and Ayr would be good; then north to Glasgow. From Glasgow, via the north shore of the Clyde to Helensburgh (see Mackintosh's Hill House); then either take the Sea Lochs trail to Arrochar or go via Loch Lomond. On to Inveraray and Oban. North to Fort William and up the Great Glen to Inverness. If you have time, head north to Dornoch/Tain area - it's lovely there too. Back down the A9 to Perth, then over to Edinburgh. Amble back from Edinburgh to Manchester.

.... hmm - how many weeks do you have again??? LOL

There are loads of other options .... I hope you get some other answers.

Cheers
Mar
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[flumster75]

once, a long time ago me and a couple of mates drove around scotland in 5 days, just turned 18 and loved it. we started at newcastle and worked our way anti clockwise to glasgow.
was a good week but involved more driving than enything else, i would suggest you take more time. the things i would suggest to see/do are a whisky distillery, the highlands, john o groats and the falkirk wheel.

ps i do know that newcastle is in england. but that is where we started and just drove north on the motorway until we got to scotland
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[zydeco joe]

Simple go North.Had a great 10 days up the north west of Scotland this year.
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[CarlosjuanMigel]

nah, go south mate, cornwall is warmer and drier than scotland. although, granted that doesn't apply right now.
also the surfing is better in cornwall.
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[CDSholli]

that is one advantage of living on this fair isle of ours. it is not inconcievable to visit both scotland and cornwall in the same weekend.
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[pmurray]

[raaboo]

I lived in devon (not quite cornwall I know, but close) for most of my life.

I would recommend Scotland - the main reason being that Scotland actually has more things to do and more places to see than Cornwall.

base your stay in Edinburgh and you can easily get the train from manchester (I live in mancs now, and travel to edinburgh regularly)

from edinburgh you can get coach excursions to other places very easily and see lots of scotland!
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[Fazza]

That's certainly a toughie!

A couple of years ago I went on a cruise between Edinburgh and Glasgow (a canal cruise that is) and it was absolutely amazing! I have to say all the people we met along the way and at all the small villages, towns and cities that we visited were the friendliest and most helpful people I've ever met!

The scenery is fantastic and seeing the Crown Jewels was good too.

Although you can have some fantastic weather in Scotland be prepared for some not-so-warm weather. Like Billy Connolly once said, there's no such thing as bad weather, just wrong clothes!



Having said that, I have lots of fond memories of going on holiday to cornwall as a child, with fantastic beaches, coves, castles, walks, pubs and loads of other things to do and places to visit you can't go wrong with Cornwall either!...