100 Things to do in Scotland!

Scotland offers an array of amazing activities for travelers of all ages and backgrounds. There is so much to see and do it can be a little overwhelming. Still, you’ve got to start somewhere, so we’ve put together a few ideas. It’s not the definitive list, but it’s a great way to get started!

 

 

1. See a band in the Barrowlands

2. Visit the Standing Stones at Callanish

3. Take the West Highland line to Mallaig

4. Go to a shinty match

5. Drive over the Bealach na Ba to Applecross

6. Visit the Turner Watercolours at the National Gallery of Scotland

7. Eat a real Arbroath Smokie

8. Enjoy a Dorothy’s-eye view of Edinburgh Castle

9. Eat a Fisher and Donaldson custard slice in St Andrews

10. Play the world’s oldest golf course at St Andrews

11. Spit on the Heart of Midlothian (near St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh)

12. Go to a Highland Games

13. See the dolphins at Moray Firth

14. Surf in Thurso

15. Go to a traditional music festival on an island

16. Go to the races

17. Follow in the footsteps of St Columba at Iona Abbey

18. Walk the West Highland Way

19. Go curling on a frozen pond

20. Ride the Falkirk Wheel

21. Go to a ceilidh at the Riverside Club in Glasgow

22. Buy Ian Rankin a pint in Edinburgh’s Oxford Bar

23. Make the shortest scheduled flight in the world (from Westray to Papa Westray, two of Orkney’s smaller islands)

24. Go to King Tut’s (Glasgow) and listen to a band before they make the big time

25. Windsurf on Tiree

26. Feed a Highland cow

27. Visit the Necropolis in Glasgow before you have no option

28. Experience a really good traditional music session (such as Sandy Bell’s and the Central Bar in Edinburgh, or Glasgow’s Ben Nevis and the Lismore)

29. Visit Maeshowe (Orkney) during the winter solstice

30. Go ‘doon the watter’ on the Waverley, Scotland’s iconic paddle steamer

31. Marvel at the northern lights

32. See killer whales

33. Bag all the munros

34. Dive at St Abbs Head, Berwickshire

35. Buy a kite in Largs and fly it on Millport

36. Visit The Barras market in Glasgow

37. Dive the wrecks in Scapa Flow, Orkney

38. Sugar-rushing at The Brookyln Cafe, Glasgow

39. Climb the Whaligoe steps, Wick

40. Spend the night in a haunted room (such as Carbisdale Castle, a youth hostel)

41. Practise paganism

42. Eat at The Three Chimneys, Skye

43. Visit the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses

44. Climb Ben Nevis

45. Go Loch Ness Monster hunting

46. Visit Glasgow School of Art and the Willow Tea Rooms, both designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

47. Throw a stone from the North Sea into the Atlantic (at Mavis Grind, a narrow neck on the Shetland mainland)

48. Ski/snowboard the ‘Flypaper’ at Glencoe, the steepest run in Scotland

49. Sail to St Kilda

50. Have a night out in Glasgow

51. Visit a malt whisky distillery

52. Eat an Ashvale Whale (a 1lb cod fillet from the famous Ashvale chip shops in Aberdeen, Brechin, Dundee, Elgin, Ellon and Inverurie)

53. Do the ‘Loony Dook’, the traditional New Year’s Day swim at South Queensferry beside the Forth Bridges

54. Play The Ba’ Game on New Year’s Day in Kirwall, Orkney

55. Attend a Burns Supper in Alloway (the Ayrshire village in which Robert Burns was born in 1759)

56. Spot a mermaid at Sandwood Bay, Sutherland

57. Stay in the Eisenhower Apartment at Culzean Castle

58. Climb the Forth Rail Bridge

59. Catch a salmon in the Tweed

60. See Skara Brae, Orkney’s perfectly preserved Neolithic village

61. Have an ice-cream at Luca’s in Musselburgh

62. Make a call from the ‘Local Hero’ phone box (in the village of Pennan near Fraserburgh)

63. Have a curry from the Wee Curry Shop in Glasgow

64. Buy coffee and olive oil at Valvona and Crolla, Edinburgh

65. Climb Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh

66. See The Proclaimers live

67. Cocktails at Rogano, Glasgow’s oldest restaurant

68. Find inspiration at Fingal’s Cave on the island of Staffa

69. Spend midsummer at the northern tip of Unst, Shetland

70. Sing Flower Of Scotland at the top of your lungs at the Calcutta Cup

71. Read Kidnapped in South Queensferry

72. Read Lanark anywhere (Alasdair Gray’s 1981 debut novel)

73. Loop the loop on the ‘Clockwork Orange’ (ie Glasgow’s underground railway)

74. Have a large Laphroaig

75. Boo and hiss at a Pavilion panto in Glasgow

76. See the Really Terrible Orchestra perform

77. Pop into Plockton

78. Tour the Highlands

79. Read the Oor Wullie or The Broons annuals

80. Float in the Hebridean Sea at Ardnamurchan

81. Swing a fireball at Stonehaven’s Hogmanay festival

82. Read The Thirty-Nine Steps and try and recreate Richard Hannay’s journey

83. Try stand-up comedy

84. Make and eat tablet

85. Experience the exhilaration of isolation (eg spending a week alone in a hut/tent/house by the edge of the sea)

86. See the Gulf of Corryvreckan, the second largest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere in the narrow channel between Jura and Scarba

87. Burn a Viking longboat at Shetland’s Up Helly Aa fire festival in late January

88. See Whisky Galore! on Barra

89. Eat haggis and clapshot

90. Walk from Torridon to Inveralligin

91. Rock out at the T in the Park music festival

92. Visit The Hill House, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece in Helensburgh

93. See Billy Connolly in concert in his home city

94. Land on Barra beach in a plan (Traigh Mhor, Barra,’s runway)

95. Visit Hopetoun House, South Queenferry

96. Dance the Strip the Willow

97. Eat a deep-fried Mars Bar

98. Travel on The Royal Scotsman

99. Visit Joseph Beuys’ Scotland, who painted famous scenes of Scotland in the 20th Century

100. Discover the Holy Grail at Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh.