I realize this has nothing to do with hunting, however....this is best venue I have for getting information!

Wife wants to go to Scotland and do the tourist thing with castles...any and all information would be greatly appreciated.

Strongly encourage a trip to Inverness. Loch Ness, castles, great food, friendly people. Edinburgh is also worth seeing especially if you can time it to attend Tattoo. http://www.edintattoo.co.uk. St. Andrews is not just for golf, great sites in the surrounding areas. Take a whiskey tour. There are several distilleries in the country. Visit Campbell & Co. in Beauly (near Inverness) for beautiful Scottish woolen goods and material http://www.campbellsofbeauly.co.uk visit Ft. George. Search your ancestry. There are so many things to see you will need to make a couple of trips. Not to mention grouse, stag, pheasant and fishing. A truly great boutique hotel in Inverness is the Rocpool http://rocpool.com.

Used to be (maybe still exists) a great and modest restaurant "Henderson's" in Edinburgh ....amazing place in a basement....all vegetarian....incredibly flavorful and imaginative.
Good gunshops in Inverness and Edinburgh. N of Inverness is tiny town "Evanton" with delightful old hotel/restaurant. Wonderful pubs everywhere in Scotland....pub lunches are the BEST.....love kippers....take ferry to Isle of Mull ...see Tobermory (spelling bad) lovely village. So much more....Scotland is wonderful
On road to Tobermory in Isle of Mull, you will pass the remains of Enfield Castle ....one or 2 wall remain....look through hollow windows down onto beautiful scene below - of Irish Sea. On the ground, in center of what was the castle, lies a huge, flat stone with an iron ring through it. I decided that beneath the stone lay some great treasure ....so tried to lift stone via ring. It was a herniating and unsuccessful experience. Added to that failure was the fact that the walk to the castle from the road led through masses of stinging nettles, and I wore short pants!!

I lived a while on The Isle Of Skye where Flora McDonald helped Bonnie Prince Charlie. It is a beautiful place particularly if you can drive yourself around. Inverness is a smaller, quainter city. Edinburgh is very accessible to foot travellers having most visitor attractions within close proximity to the centre. Glasgow has a great vibe going on but requires transport to get the best from it. Scotland is beautiful at any time of year, August being my favourite month due to the heather flowering and the Red Grouse season opening. From mountain tops to lush dairy ground we have it all, the water in our streams and rivers may be drunk without worry. I am lucky to live here and if you do a little homework before you come you will manage to fit a lot of experiences, cultural, environmental and personal into a reasonable space of time. We are not a big country but we have lots to offer and there is no other country in all the world like us.

We just got back from Scotland one month ago. My ancestors came from near Edinburgh and Bothwell in 1856. Some of my early ancestors originally built the presently known Hailes Castle near Edinburgh,(originally it was the Gourlay castle), in 1240 AD, and so we wanted to visited the homeland, so to speak. I believe that the best time to go is in August when they have the world famous Edinburgh Festival (Fringe). That is the time when the Tatoo is presented. It is an evening form of entertainment involving military band musicians from the British Armed Forces, the Commonwealth and some International military bands. We toured Edinburgh, Glasgow, drove up north to Inverness, the Highlands, Loch Ness, etc. There are plenty of castles to see and things to do. Our trip involved Ireland, Scotland, Paris and London. While in Ireland we toured a butt load of castles as well, toured both Northern Ireland(part of the United Kingdom) and "regular" Ireland. We rented a vehicle in both Scotland and Ireland and drove. It was a very beautiful time of the year, the heather was in full bloom in the Highlands (usually only lasts a couple of weeks) and everything was green, purple and lush! And yes, like it has been said, Edinburgh is quite accessible by foot, the train/tram system, car, etc. We stayed in the Ibis hotel systems throughout the various countries that we visited. Not fancy, but nice and clean and reliable. I really love Scotland! Now, I need to work on getting my highland outfit through Hector Russell! LOL!

Second vote on Ibis Hotels. We used them in France, and they were terrific. But, don't ignore the Bed & Breakfast in Scotland!! They are everywhere, reasonable, and add to the whole experience.

Yes, true that one. We stayed at one bed and breakfast in Ireland. Lovely! And, I would second the comments on pub food in Ireland, Scotland and England.