Tourism in Scotland
- A custom-made package for you
- Accommodation
- Travel
- Things to do
- Places to see.
This site includes descriptions of interesting places and things to do. While the site focuses on the North East of Scotland, we have a wide knowledge of the West Coast and we will help you to enjoy your visit to Scotland wherever you choose to go. All you have to do is ask!
Highland Games
Almost all of the Highland Games have finished by the first Saturday in September. So now is the time to be thinking of your next visit. For visitors, there are not many events which give a better flavour of Scotland than "Highland Games". There's a variety of sporting and cultural activities from races to wrestling, from throwing a weight of some sort to tossing the caber, from Pipe Bands to Pibroch, from the Sword Dance to the Sailors' Hornpipe. There are hundreds of Highland Games to see in Scotland; there's a comprehensive listing ordered both alphabetically and chronologically on www.albagames.co.uk/.
An Australian hotel in Scotland? - Dalmunzie
Dalmunzie Hotel lies in Glen Lochsie, northwest of Spittal of Glenshee. This is a hotel for people who want majestic scenery, comfort, peace and quiet, superb food and very friendly attention from the staff. Ben Gulabin towers dramatically 2,500 feet above the hotel, just to the north east.
There was a castle near the present hotel in the 1500’s. It’s hard for us today to comprehend that these quiet and seemingly deserted glens were well populated hundreds of years ago. It certainly wasn’t always peaceful back then as clans were hacking lumps out of each other on a fairly regular basis until comparatively recent times.
The hotel has been formed out of a Victorian Hunting Lodge and for those of us wh
o pursue hunting, shooting and fishing pursuits the hotel reeks of a bygone era. Some of the public rooms have a wonderful old style to them; once you’re in one of the leather sofas in the bar lounge, with a glass of good malt in hand, you won’t want to get up again. And may not be able to. There’s no muzak and if there’s a television it wasn’t on when this correspondent was there. Well-behaved dogs are welcomed and there was no panic when leading a dog through public rooms; unusual in this day and age.
There's a 9-hole golf course beside the hotel. It's a fun course, not too taxing but there's a lot of rough which will eat your ball. Many of the tees are elevated which makes for some cracking drives. The 7th is a short par 3, 116 yards - but the burn runs right in front of the green so you need to judge it right.
The food is first class (although some guests felt that the packed lunches were overly expensive and lacked any flair) and the traditional Scottish breakfast and 4-course dinners (exceptionally well cooked and presented) call for strenuous exercise to work them off. Catch your own wild brown trout in one of the hill lochs, such as Bainnie (or Beanie), Vrotachan, Nan Euan or a stockie from Loch Duu near the hotel and the chef, Michelle, will cook it for your dinner – or next day’s lunch. And having finished off the plate of trout, then there might be an offer of freshly cooked scones, with butter, jam and cream.
The rooms are comfortable and are being modernised on a rolling schedule. Nobody missed having a television in their room, although one can be had if you ask reception.
Sitting out on the lawn in front of the hotel having tea, scones, jams and cream with only the sound of the Lochsie Burn to disturb the peace is surely what heaven is like.
This correspondent felt that if there was one thing which made the hotel, it was the staff. They were all unfailingly polite and helpful and were all from Australia. So, not only can the Aussies stuff us at Rugby but they’re taking over in the hospitality stakes too. But Australia doesn't have haggis and they haven’t got malt whisky. OK, they’ve got an overproofed rum, Bundaberg, but that doesn’t count.
To sum up – if you want a very, very relaxing stay amidst stunning scenery with loch fishing, stalking, shooting to hand and terrific food and service, then go to Dalmunzie.
Culloden House Hotel
Culloden House Hotel is just outside Inverness. It's easy to reach by road from the south or by air, or by rail. The hotel is steeped in history having been taken over by Bonnie Prince Charlie to use as his headquarters before the Battle of Culloden. The hotel sits in about 40 acres with plenty of areas to walk dogs without disturbing other guests. 
The buildings which are there now date back to John Adams in the late 19th Century but some of the interior dates back to the late 18th Century. The Forbes family bought the estate in 1626 although there are historical records going back to the early 13th century. In other words, the hotel is steeped in history. Of course, the event which interests most people nowadays is the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion when Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to regain the throne of Britain. Having gone as far south as Derby, the Prince turned back and eventually had to face the Duke of Cumberland at Culloden on April 16th 1746. This isn't the place to describe the rebellion - there's a newly modernised National Trust visitor centre not far away - but guests should note that the Prince used the hotel as his headquarters before the battle.
The hotel is one of those grand country house hotels where within minutes a guest receives a warm welcome, and thereafter there's nothing so petty as signing a bar bill. Mysteriously, it might seem, the staff know your name and the whiskies from the bar and wine at the table are applied to the correct room. The bedrooms are comfortable, with interesting overhead showers in the bath, giving you a really good drenching with hot water - none of these niggardly electric showers.
Some rooms in the winter suffer a little from the floodlights outside but there are stout old-fashioned shutters and curtains to solve that issue. The public rooms are comfortable and have the perfect ambience for a guest to settle down with afternoon tea and a book. While the staff are attentive they are never intrusive.
Around and about, there's fishing (river and trout) and some classic golf courses. In the grounds there's a tennis court and a couple of golf nets. Importantly - both of these are well maintained and not as is so often the case run down and rotting.
To sum up, if you can't be satisfied here then Scotland is not for you.
Random Restaurant Reviews
Silver Darling Restaurant, the best seafood restaurant in Scotland?
Košice is not namely for seafood - hardly surprising when there isn't a sea within umptyump thousand kilometres. But when you're in Aberdeen, you expect to be able to have good seafood. It may come as a surprise but most if not the entire fishing fleet left Aberdeen a long time ago and moved to Peterhead. But that doesn't stop the Silver Darling restaurant from being a a wonderful place to have seafood. Halibut, sea trout, sea bass, bream are all served daily and are superbly fresh. The halibut on a bed of smoked salmon and rice risotto is halibut like you get in Skagway.
And here's the mark of a good restaurant. When there's someone in the dinner party who can eat molluscs but is allergic to crustaceans and when he asks for the oysters without the lobster jus, or the halibut without the terrine of lobster and prawns - and the chef can cope, then you're in a good restaurant.
But what many people enjoy are the views. The restaurant is on Pocra Quay, by the Harbour Master's office. Supply boats are entering and leaving the harbout within 50 metres, or so it seems, of your glass of wine.
The Crynoch Restaurant, Netherly, Aberdeenshire
The Crynoch Restaurant is part of the Lairhillock Inn which is on the road between the A90 and Netherley. The Crynoch restaurant serves high quality local food in an old setting, with a pianist playing most weekend evenings. They recently had a Valentine's Day special meal which was very good value at £35 a head. There's a small lounge where you can have an aperitif while you study the menu and the wine list. The food is good, the service fast and pleasant and the ambience relaxing.
The Carron Restaurant, Stonehaven
The Carron is housed in an art-deco building which, contrary to local legend, was never a cinema but instead was part of a baker's outlet. Now it houses a restaurant which serves very good food, both simple and grand. If you like home-made sausages, then phone ahead and give Robert time to pepare them - you'll be richly rewarded.
The Marine Hotel, Stonehaven
The web site for the Marine Hotel in Stonehaven tells visitors that seafood and game dishes are their speciality.
Sad to say, our critic during a recent visit had a very disappointing experience. At the time of writing (Oct 07) the dining room is being refurbished but this surely is no excuse for cold plates and cold chips. And more importantly, while the battered haddock and chips looked delicious at least one of the fish portions had spent a long time out of the water. And this in a restaurant on the harbour wall. Soups were excellent; smoked haddock and clam chowder was a variation on the Cullen Skink theme.
Three people, starter and main and a glass of something will cost about £43. Tel. 01569 762155
The Derbar Tandoori Indian Restaurant, Banchory
The restaurant is situated on the High Street, near the town parking square so that’s one less thing to worry about. The food is very good, service is good (although some people would prefer the drinks order to be taken immediately one is seated) and ambience is just right.
The menu is extensive with a wide variety of choices from the Indian sub-continent, with accurate descriptions of what’s in the dish and how hot it is. If you choose the hottest dish on the menu be aware that you might suffer the next day! Tuesday night there’s a buffet for a fixed price – very good value for money. Tel 01330 825564
Yu Restaurant, Aberdeen
The Yu Restaurant is a Chinese restaurant on Union Street, Aberdeen. Nobody would travel 1,000 miles to Aberdeen for a Chinese meal but this is a good example of the genre if you're in Aberdeen anyway. Perhaps service can be a little brusque and perhaps the menu hasn't changed in 10 years but at least the chefs know what they're doing.
Eat on the Green, Udny
This is a very, very good restaurant about 40 minutes drive north of Aberdeen. Udny is between Old Meldrum and Ellon and finding the restaurant is well worth the effort. The writer can't speak too highly of the meal he had there, and the service, and the ambience. Well, perhaps a little bit of Rod Stewart in the background goes a long way and some classical music would have been preferred - but you can't please us all. The food was cooked to perfection; strongly recommended is the plate of sampler starters and equally so the plate of sampler desserts. We turned up early, an hour before opening, on a Sunday evening without booking. By chance the owner, Craig Wilson, happened to be passing the door and ushered us in, bade us wait and made us welcome even though he'd not long since closed after Sunday lunch. What was even more impressive was that our dinner was prepared by the sous-chef rather than Craig himself. Tel 01651 842337. Their website is clean and simple and tells you all you want know. Eat on the Green - go there!
Chinese Restaurants in Newcastle
Agreed, Newcastle isn't in the north east of Scotland. But, it is in the north east. Newcastle has a large number of Chinese restaurants clustered in its "Chinatown," in Stowell Street. Choosing a Chinese restaurant from the menu is no guarantee of success - all the menus are the same, all over the world. No doubt they're different for a native Chinese but what's presented to the British restaurant-goer is not what is presented to a Chinese guest.
So, one way to choose a good restaurant is to pick one which has a lot of Chinese guests, and even better if they're speaking Chinese. Taking that as a measure then the Treasure of the Orient Restaurant (0191 230 4008) has to be good as it's full of the people speaking Chinese, at least one assumes it was Chinese. And another measure is how simple the table cloth is; if it's just a paper cloth which is changed after each group of guests departs, then it's authentic. 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 desserts, 3 drinks in the Treasure of the Orient costs £45.
There's no point describing the menu - it's a standard UK Chinese restaurant menu. Service was fine, one might wish the waitresses would smile now and then but they were fast and efficient.