Without a car
You don't need a hire car
You need one for the far north and most of Skye. For everything else, the train is better than the road — and you get to look out of the window.
Scotland's rail network runs a spine from Edinburgh and Glasgow up through Perthshire to Inverness, and west to Oban and Fort William on two of the prettiest lines in Europe. Ferries do the rest.
Reachable without driving
- EdinburghCloses and crags, and the best eating in the country.
- GlasgowScotland's funniest, friendliest city, and its best music.
- Loch LomondThe first proper gulp of Highland air, forty minutes from Glasgow.
- StirlingThe hinge of Scottish history, and a very good castle.
- St AndrewsRuins, a vast beach and the best chips in Fife.
- PitlochryBig trees, small distilleries, and a very civilised pace.
- Fort WilliamBen Nevis, the Jacobite steam train, and a lot of weather.
- ObanSeafood shack on the pier. That's the whole pitch, and it works.
- Loch NessFamous. Long. Mostly trees.
- InvernessSmall, useful, and the doorway to everything north.
- CairngormsAncient pinewood, reindeer, and the mountains people forget.
- Aberdeenshire CoastGranite towns, cliff-edge castles and puffins in season.
- Isle of ArranScotland in miniature, an hour's ferry from Glasgow.
Set “Will you have a car?” to No in the builder and we'll only route you through places you can actually reach.
Build a car-free trip