{"id":73651,"date":"2018-12-06T12:02:32","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T18:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?p=73651"},"modified":"2018-12-06T15:17:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T21:17:36","slug":"10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heading to Scotland? There’s much more to this proud U.K. country than the requisite visit to Edinburgh. Add these unexpected highlights to your Scottish bucket list.<\/p>\n

RELATED<\/strong>: A “been there, done that” guide to London for seasoned travelers<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Try falconry (really)<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s the art of bird training, and it\u2019s something that\u2019s incredibly special in Scotland. They can make owls and other large predatory birds fly to your hand from out of the blue (literally). Elite Falconry<\/strong> will come to your destination to provide the falconry, which is an experience you won\u2019t find elsewhere. Plus, it makes a fabulous Instagram photo.<\/p>\n

\"Glenapp,

Glenapp Castle<\/p><\/div>\n

Eat dinner in a castle with a butler<\/h2>\n

Tucked away within the cliffs of Ayrshire (a region in southwest Scotland) sits an ancient castle-turned hotel called Glenapp<\/strong><\/a>. Inside that castle are French-trained butlers\u2014yes, real butlers\u2014who will serve you a six-course Scottish meal inside the intimate dining room (or you can eat in the traditional library). Up the ante by requesting a bagpipe player to serenade you during your meal, which includes canapes, coffee and petits fours. While you\u2019re dining, you\u2019ll take in views of Ailsa Craig, the Mull of Kintyre and the Ayrshire coastline.<\/p>\n

Dine at Field<\/h2>\n

This Edinburgh<\/a> restaurant opened in 2013, and its focus is on local, seasonal Scottish food. It\u2019s a 22-seat restaurant off the beaten path, so Field<\/strong> is incredibly intimate, and both chefs have worked in Michelin-starred restaurants previously. What makes Field even better is that it\u2019s not ridiculously expensive, so you have no excuse not to dine there.<\/p>\n

\"haggis,<\/p>\n

Try haggis<\/h2>\n

It tastes better than it sounds. Haggis is made from a sheep\u2019s heart, liver and lungs, and it\u2019s combined with oatmeal, spices and salt. Then it\u2019s cooked encased in the sheep\u2019s stomach. But try it. It\u2019s a Scottish tradition, and it\u2019s served in many local restaurants (seriously, it tastes really good, and Glenapp makes a great one). Plus, haggis is banned in the United States because sheep\u2019s lung is not allowed to be consumed stateside, so this is your big chance.<\/p>\n

\"Ediburgh,

CODE Hostel<\/p><\/div>\n

Stay at a stylish hostel<\/h2>\n

Not a hostel person? We aren\u2019t either. But Scotland is home to a few pretty sleek ones. Among them is CODE, where the penthouse suite is a total bargain, and it\u2019s in the middle of all of Edinburgh\u2019s action. Plus, CODE<\/strong><\/a> offers free WiFi, has a rooftop terrace and lets you choose between a private room or a pod (you won\u2019t find typical hotel bunk beds here). The Edinburgh Castle is just a 10 minute walk away, while the Grassmarket party zone (shops, bars and restaurants) is just 6 minutes by foot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Get on the water<\/h2>\n

No, it\u2019s not the Caribbean, but there\u2019s something about sailing in Scotland that takes on a magical quality. Maybe it\u2019s because you\u2019re sailing past cliffs and the countryside and it\u2019s just so romantic. Or perhaps it\u2019s because it\u2019s totally possible to sail to and explore a deserted island. Our favorite is the Ailsa Craig<\/strong>, which can only be reached by boat or helicopter. On the way, you can spot whales and plenty of seals and if you are daring, hike to the very top of the island to reach an abandoned castle, where one brave American couple got married last December. The easiest way to get to Ailsa Craig is to hire a boat and a private tour guide via the Glenapp Castle, which is just 30 minutes away. They\u2019ll even set up a picnic lunch with a butler on the island.<\/p>\n

ALSO<\/strong>: Don’t be a wee scunner! Join Orbitz Rewards and start earning Orbucks today!<\/a><\/p>\n

Spot a monster<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re in Scotland, you owe it to yourself to check out Loch Ness. There\u2019s an actual Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition<\/strong> within the Drumnadrochit Hotel<\/strong><\/a> where you can learn about sightings, and figure out how to spy the monster himself under the water. After checking out the exhibit, leave your car at the end of Bunloit Road, and walk to the summit of Meall Fuar-mhonaidh<\/strong>. From there, you\u2019ll be able to look down at the loch. Bonus: It\u2019s a great view of the hills and lochans.<\/p>\n

\"whiskey\"<\/p>\n

Do a whiskey tasting<\/h2>\n

You\u2019re in Scotland. Drink some whiskey. But do it professionally, with the help of the A.D. Rattray The Whisky Experience<\/strong>. They\u2019ll explain how to take your first sip so it doesn\u2019t burn, how to compare whiskeys (spoiler alert: expensive isn’t always relative to quality) and how to really enjoy the experience . . . even more.<\/p>\n

\"Edinburgh,

Edinburgh, Scotland<\/p><\/div>\n

Tour the Edinburgh Castle<\/h2>\n

Voted the top UK Heritage Attraction in the British Travel Awards, this is a huge tourist magnet\u2014but a worthwhile one. Parts of the castle date to the 12th century, and it holds so much history: James IV erected the Great Hall in the 1500s, and the Scottish National War Memorial<\/strong> was placed here after WWI. Pre-book your tickets to skip the line and ensure your visit, and wear sneakers (there are steep walks throughout).<\/p>\n

Play golf<\/h2>\n

Little known fact: The Scots invented golf. Their most famous golf course, the The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews<\/a><\/strong>, which was founded in 1750 and is considered to be golf\u2019s ruling body.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heading to Scotland? There’s much more to this proud U.K. country than the requisite visit to Edinburgh. Add these unexpected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":57651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2667,307,2744],"class_list":["post-73651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","tag-food-and-wine","tag-golf","tag-top-10"],"acf":{"api_active":null,"api_title":null,"api_excerpt":null,"api_featured_image":null,"api_lob":null},"posts_api_cpm_point":"","yoast_head":"\n10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland | Orbitz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland | Orbitz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Heading to Scotland? There’s much more to this proud U.K. country than the requisite visit to Edinburgh. Add these unexpected […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orbitz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Orbitz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-06T18:02:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-06T21:17:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/orbitz-media\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/16094809\/scotland-1000x470.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Danielle Braff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orbitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orbitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Danielle Braff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Danielle Braff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/196af97a17d6522694c7aa82d7c82649\"},\"headline\":\"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-06T18:02:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-06T21:17:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/\"},\"wordCount\":928,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"food and wine\",\"golf\",\"Top 10\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Europe\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/\",\"name\":\"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland | Orbitz\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-06T18:02:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-06T21:17:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/196af97a17d6522694c7aa82d7c82649\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"Scotland\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Orbitz\",\"description\":\"Travel Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/196af97a17d6522694c7aa82d7c82649\",\"name\":\"Danielle Braff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Braff-headshot-copy-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Braff-headshot-copy-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Danielle Braff\"},\"description\":\"Danielle lives in Chicago with her family, two cats and a dog, but she's constantly researching her next vacation. Check out her other articles at www.Daniellebraff.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/author\/dbraff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland | Orbitz","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland | Orbitz","og_description":"Heading to Scotland? There’s much more to this proud U.K. country than the requisite visit to Edinburgh. Add these unexpected […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/","og_site_name":"Orbitz","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Orbitz\/","article_published_time":"2018-12-06T18:02:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-12-06T21:17:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":470,"url":"https:\/\/s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/orbitz-media\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/16094809\/scotland-1000x470.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Danielle Braff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@orbitz","twitter_site":"@orbitz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Danielle Braff","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/"},"author":{"name":"Danielle Braff","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/196af97a17d6522694c7aa82d7c82649"},"headline":"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland","datePublished":"2018-12-06T18:02:32+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-06T21:17:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/"},"wordCount":928,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg","keywords":["food and wine","golf","Top 10"],"articleSection":["Europe"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/","name":"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland | Orbitz","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg","datePublished":"2018-12-06T18:02:32+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-06T21:17:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/196af97a17d6522694c7aa82d7c82649"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"Scotland"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/10-things-you-absolutely-must-do-in-scotland\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 things you absolutely must do in Scotland"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/","name":"Orbitz","description":"Travel Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/196af97a17d6522694c7aa82d7c82649","name":"Danielle Braff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Braff-headshot-copy-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Braff-headshot-copy-150x150.jpg","caption":"Danielle Braff"},"description":"Danielle lives in Chicago with her family, two cats and a dog, but she's constantly researching her next vacation. Check out her other articles at www.Daniellebraff.com","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/author\/dbraff\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/scotland.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}