Edinburgh

If you want to see castles, Edinburgh is where you need to go. It felt like everywhere you turned, there was a new castle to look at or a medieval structure to admire. We spent a few nights here, and while the weather wasn’t perfect, the autumn leaves and cold air really made the city feel special. We spent our days exploring Edinburgh Castle and all of its museums, catching a view of the city from Calton Hill, walking through the Princes Street Gardens, watching the river flow through Dean Village, and stopping at the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions museum on a rainy afternoon.

I thoroughly enjoyed this city and wish I could have spent more time there, but nothing could have prepared me for the next part of Scotland we were about to see.

Isle of Skye

The Isle of Skye is about a four-hour drive west from Edinburgh, and it has no airports, so that meant we were going on a road trip! We got our car and headed that way, stopping a few times to take pictures as the scenery kept getting more and more beautiful. When we finally reached the Isle of Skye, we were in awe. Right before you cross the bridge, you are met with Eilean Donan Castle, which is set in the water and looks stunning. This was just the first day, and we were already so excited for the rest of the trip.

We started the next day bright and early, planning to explore the south side of the island, but since the weather was looking great, we decided to visit the Fairy Pools, which are accessible via a short hike. The following day, we headed to the far west side of the island to see Dunvegan Castle, which you can walk through and explore almost every part of. We then went to Neist Point lookout, where we saw stunning views of a lighthouse perched on the edge of a cliff.

The next day, we explored the north side of the island, stopping in Portree to see the cute, colorful buildings by the water, play with rocks on the beach, and do some shopping before heading to the Storr. The Storr is a striking rock formation on a mountain that you can hike to, so we headed up the trail. However, it soon started to sprinkle, then suddenly began to hail, and we had to sprint back to the car. It was crazy how quickly the weather changed! We waited for it to clear, but when it didn’t, we returned to Portree for dinner and ended up stumbling upon a festival, which was super fun and unexpected.

On our last day, we headed back to Edinburgh, but we had to make a stop at Loch Ness to see if we could spot the Loch Ness Monster. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any luck. I did vlog the whole road trip, and you can find it here.