Rick Steves - Rick Steves Snapshot Scottish Highlands

SNAPSHOT

Scottish Highlands

This Snapshot guide, excerpted from my guidebook Rick Steves Scotland, introduces you to the Highlands, the rugged, windswept north of Scotland thats a picture-perfect setting for romantic novels and epic films. Filled with more natural and historical mystique than people, the rocky Highlands are where Scottish dreams are set. In this land of mountains and glens, you can march across legendary battlefields, taste a dram of the finest whisky, or even search for the Loch Ness monster. And along the west and north coasts lay a smattering of some of Europes most intriguing islandsmountainous, scenic, romantic, and indelibly Scottish. On these remote outposts of Scottish life, mist drifts across craggy hillsides, grizzled islanders man the drizzly ferry crossings, and midges can make life miserable.

In the Highlands youll find Scottish culture distilled to its most potent brew. Whenever I want a taste of traditional Scotland, this is where I come.

To help you have the best trip possible, Ive included the following topics in this book:

Planning Your Time, with advice on how to make the most of your limited time

Orientation, including tourist information (abbreviated as TI), tips on public transportation, local tour options, and helpful hints

Sights with ratings:

Dont miss

Try hard to see

Worthwhile if you can make it

No ratingWorth knowing about

Sleeping and Eating, with good-value recommendations in every price range

Connections, with tips on trains, buses, ferries, and driving

Practicalities, near the end of this book, has information on money, staying connected, hotel reservations, transportation, and other helpful hints.

To travel smartly, read this little book in its entirety before you go. Its my hope that this guide will make your trip more meaningful and rewarding. Traveling like a temporary local, youll get the absolute most out of every mile, minute, and dollar.

Happy travels!

One of the three countries that make up Great Britain, rugged, feisty, colorful Scotland stands apart. Whether its the laid-back, less-organized nature of the people, the stony architecture, the unmanicured landscape, or simply the haggis, go-its-own-way Scotland is distinctive.

Scotland encompasses about a third of Britains geographical area (30,400 square miles), but has less than a tenth of its population (about 5.4 million). This sparsely populated chunk of land stretches to Norwegian latitudes. Its Shetland Islands, at about 60N (similar to Anchorage, Alaska), are the northernmost point of the British Isles. You may see Scotland referred to as Caledonia (its ancient Roman name) or Alba (its Gaelic name). Scotlands fortunes were long tied to the sea; all of its leading cities are located along firths (estuaries), where major rivers connect to ocean waters.

The southern part of Scotland, called the Lowlands, is relatively flat and urbanized. The northern areathe Highlandsfeatures a wild, severely undulating terrain, punctuated by lochs (lakes) and fringed by sea lochs (inlets) and islands.

The Highland Boundary Fault that divides Scotland geologically also divides it culturally. Historically, there were two distinct identities: rougher Highlanders in the northern wilderness and the more refined Lowlanders in the southern flatlands and cities. Highlanders represented the stereotypical image of true Scots, speaking Gaelic, wearing kilts, and playing bagpipes, while Lowlanders spoke languages of Saxon origin and wore trousers. After the Scottish Reformation, the Lowlanders embraced Protestantism, while most Highlanders stuck to Catholicism. Although this Lowlands/Highlands division has faded over time, some Scots still cling to it.

Scotland Almanac

Official Name: Scotland.

Population: About 5.4 million. Scotland is mostly English-speaking, though about 1.5 million people use the Scots language, and about 60,000 speak Scottish Gaelic.

Latitude and Longitude: 57N and 4W. The Shetland Islands are Scotlands northernmost point, at 60N (similar to Anchorage, Alaska).

Area: 30,400 square miles, about the size of South Carolina.

Geography: Scotlands flatter southern portion is the Lowlands; the Highlands to the north are more wild and hilly, and the country boasts over 6,000 miles of coastline and more than 790 islands (only about 130 are inhabited). Ben Nevis in western Scotland (at 4,406 feet) is Great Britains highest peak.

Biggest Cities: Glasgow has 600,000 people, Edinburgh 490,000.