Scotland

From Wikitravel

Scotland is one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh.

Table of contents

1 Regions 2 Cities 3 Other destinations 4 Understand 5 Get In 5.1 By Plane 5.2 By Train 5.3 By Car 5.4 By Bus 5.5 By Boat 6 Get Around 6.1 By Train 6.2 By Car 6.3 By Bus 6.4 Hitching 7 Talk 8 Buy 8.1 Currency 8.2 Souvenirs 8.3 Cost of living 9 Eat 10 Drink 11 Sleep 12 See 13 Do 14 Learn 15 Work 16 Safety 17 Stay healthy 18 Contact 19 External Links

Regions

There are 32 unitary authority regions, which can be grouped into these parts:

• The Central Belt
• The Borders
• The Hebrides
• The Highlands
• North East Scotland
• The Orkney Islands
• The Shetland Islands
• South West Scotland

Cities

Glasgow is Scotland's largest city with a population of approximately 620,000 people while the capital, Edinburgh, has around 450,000 with Aberdeen next at about 220,000 inhabitants.

• Aberdeen
• Dundee
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Inverness
• Perth
• St Andrews
• Stirling
• Falkirk

Other destinations

Scotland has extensive wilderness areas, some of which have been proclaimed as National Parks:

• the Cairngorms - the Cairngorm Mountains
• Loch Lomond & the Trossachs - Scotland's first national park

Understand

Scotland is overwhelmingly rich in history, much of which is preserved in historic buildings throughout the country. It is a country that can be explored without prior trip-planning as Scotland has always either some touristic attraction close by or incredibly beautiful landscape to offer.

Throughout history many battles were fought against the English in order to gain independence. Scotland's national identity is very important to the people and they are generally very proud to be Scottish. You will find that a few people in Scotland express their dislike of the English, but that should not always be taken serious.

Scotland has two flags. The national flag, a diagonal white cross on blue ground — known as the saltire, is one of the oldest flags in the world. It is also incorporated into the Union Flag of the United Kingdom. The second flag which is often seen around Scotland is the Lion Rampant, a red lion on yellow ground. It is the royal banner of Scotland and actually should only be used by a Scottish monarch.

Since 1999 Scotland has entered a new phase following a process called devolution. In 1997 the people of Scotland voted in a referendum to create a new Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive, which has been given powers to govern the country on certain purely domestic matters, with a limited tax varying capability. The first elections were held in 1999, and the controversial new Scottish Parliament building, completed in September 2004 (three years late and ten times over budget), is located at Holyrood, in Edinburgh.

Get In

If you are entering the United Kingdom from another country you may need to obtain a visa. EU citizens do not need a visa and can live and work in Britain as long as they want. Visitors from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA can stay in Scotland for up to six months without a visa, but are not allowed to work without one. All other nations need to obtain a visa.

By Plane

There are four international airports in Scotland: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick. London Gatwick, London Heathrow and London Stansted are often places to change to a plane that heads to Scotland. London Stansted and Glasgow Prestwick are the airports used by low-fare airlines like Ryanair and Easy Jet, but they lie quite far from the towns they are named after (Prestwick is in Ayrshire). It takes about 50 minutes by train to arrive in Glasgow Central Station from Prestwick airport.

It should be noted that there is no immediate rail link between Glasgow International Airport and the centre of Glasgow. Buses to Buchanan Street station (single fare £3.30) and Taxis (fare up to £20) are available, but the nearest rail link is the Paisley St. James station. This is neither a distance nor a route you would want to walk with luggage, so a Taxi to the station would be advisable if you really want to take a train.

By Train

There's 2 main trainlines for getting up to Scotland from the South. The East Coast line runs roughly London (King's X or Euston) - Newcastle - Edinburgh (GNER have the franchise). The West Coast line (run by Virgin Trains) runs London - Manchester - Carlisle - Glasgow.

Rail travel is kind of expensive if you don't book in advance and travel off-peak. (London-Manchester can be especially silly).

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Superfast Ferries (http://www.superfast.com/Scotland/English/index.asp) sail from Zeebrugge, Belgium to Rosyth, near Edinburgh.

Get Around

By Train

First ScotRail covers most of Scotland and can take you through breath-taking landscapes. You can take a bike along free of charge, but you may need to book ahead when doing so, especially on Highland routes.

• First ScotRail (http://www.firstscotrail.com/) — Journey information and ticket sales.

By Car

As Scotland is not a big country, most location can be reached within a few hours. Visitors from outside the United Kingdom should take special care when driving with the car, as it is not that easy to drive on the left-hand side if you have never done that before. Many by-passes have been built to allow faster travel, but you will miss out on the beautiful scenery of Scotland.

By Bus

The bus is the cheapest way of getting around in Scotland. You can get almost everywhere with the Citylink bus, but it is more expensive than Megabus. Megabus is a very cheap way to travel, with ticket prices from £1. Megabus departs from Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Perth, going between these Scottish cities as well as to English destinations. Note that with Megabus you can only book online (from 45 days to 30 minutes before departure) and buses tend to depart not from major bus stations, but nearby bus stops.

• Citylink (http://www.citylink.co.uk/) — Journey information and ticket sales.
• Megabus (http://www.megabus.com/) — Journey information and ticket sales.

Hitching

Hitchhiking is surprisingly easy in Scotland, but better to do outside the big cities. In the highlands you might need to wait for a long time until a car comes by. General caution must be given.

Talk

English is the official language of Scotland and is spoken by more or less everyone. Gaelic is also spoken by around 60,000 people, mainly in the highlands and islands, but even there everyone speaks English. In some rural communities in the Lowlands, the Scots language (a language with similar roots as English, and not to be confused with Gaelic) is the common vernacular. The Scots, like most Britons, generally have rather poor foreign language skills, although those in tourism-related industries generally have better language skills. French and German are the most commonly known foreign languages.

Here are some useful Scottish words:

• Ben = mountain (Ben Nevis)
• Burn = stream (Bannockburn)
• Ceilidh = informal celebration, party
• Close = entrance to an alley or courtyard
• Firth = estuary (Firth of Forth)
• Glen, Strath = valley (Glen Coe)
• Kyle = narrow strait of water (Kyle of Sutherland)
• Loch = lake (Loch Ness)
• Wee = small
• Wynd = lane

Buy

Currency

As in the rest of the United Kingdom, the currency is Pounds Sterling, and banknotes and coins are issued by The Bank of England, the UK's government-owned central bank.

Unlike England and Wales, Scottish law permits certain private banks to issue their own, legal, sterling banknotes. These are The Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and The Clydesdale Bank. These notes are very common in Scotland, but are sometimes not accepted in shops in England (although English banks will exchange them for Bank of England notes). ATMs commonly dispense the Scottish notes, but bank tellers will cash travelers cheques into English notes on request. Scottish banknotes may be difficult to exchange outside the UK, where banks are generally unfamiliar with the notes.

The Scottish banks still produce £1 notes, unlike England. They are legal tender in Scotland but not elsewhere and so will need to be changed.

As English notes are more commonly forged than their (lower-circulation) Scottish equivalents, smaller shops are sometimes wary of larger-denomination English banknotes, particularly when the note is in an uncirculated condition (as is common with sterling notes sold abroad).

Euros are accepted at a very small number of highstreet stores and tourist shops, but this should not be relied upon.

Scotland (similar to the rest of Britain) is quite expensive when compared to other European countries. The further north you go the more expensive it gets, mostly because of the difficulty of supply.

Currency conversion table
Foreign currency	Either one	Pound Sterling
€1.45 Euro	1	£0.69
$1.80 US Dollar	1	£0.56
$2.49 Australian Dollar	1	£0.40
$2.26 Canadian Dollar	1	£0.44

Souvenirs

The classic tourist souvenir is a kilt and everything else involving the tartan. Note that a real kilt costs about £300-400 and is made of heavy wool (so it won't reveal what you are wearing underneath even at strong winds), but most souvenir stores only offer unauthentic thin ones. If you really want a qenuine kilt or full traditional outfit (Kilt,sporran,jacket, shirt and shoes) the best place to look is a clothing hire shop. These specialise in hiring suits and kilts for weddings and often sell stock at reduced prices. The traditional highland kilt is a section of cloth about 6 feet wide and 14 feet long. This is wrapped about the body then then brought up over the shoulder and pined in place, a little like a toga. The modern short kilt was introduced during the industrial revolution to give more freedom of movement.

Whisky is also a common buy and huge differences in price and taste.

Cost of living

Most visitors are unpleasantly surprised by the high cost of living in the UK. Although prices in Scotland are not as bad as in London or the south of England, compared to the USA or most other parts of Europe basic living expenses are still high. Most goods have an additional 17.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) applied although this is usually included in the marked price. Fuel has a VAT level of 5% applied and petrol (gasoline) has a massive 70% excise tax.

Petrol (gasoline) is priced at about 80 pence per litre which is £3.62 per Imperial (UK) gallon or £3.02 per US Gallon or a staggering $5.67 !!

Eat

• Haggis - Scotland's national dish does sounds quite disgusting to foreigners because of its ingredients, but doesn't really taste as bad as one might think. Haggis is made up of chopped heart, liver and lungs of a sheep and then cooked in a sheep's stomach bag. Nowadays, you can buy and cook Haggis in plastic bags. It is served with mashed potatoes and turnips.
• Porridge is an oat meal the Scottish eat at breakfast, usually with salt as topping, although it is not the everyday breakfast anymore....
• The square sausage another common breakfast favourite it is a flavoured thin square of beef ( steak sausage) or Pork (lorne sausage) fried or grilled, often served in a roll.
• the Crisp Roll is one of the strangest snacks that you see some Scottish people eat. To make yourself one, get a fluffy roll, put butter on it and then put crisps (crisps as in Pringles chips) in between them. The taste obviously depends to the flavor of the crisps.
• the Deep Fried Mars Bar, regarded by many as an urban myth, remains alive and well (ironically!) in Scotland and particularly in its home city of Glasgow [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4103415.stm) - an NHS survey reported that at least 1/5 of Glasgow fast food joints and fish and chips shops sell the item, at roughly 60 pence a go, mainly to school children and young adults. You will have to ask them to put one in the fryer, though.
• Another chip shop treat is deep fried pizza, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Drink

Bars are the places you meet people and where you have a good time. More than in other countries, bars are very lively and it is easy to get to know people when you're travelling alone. The Scottish are very welcoming, so it's not unusual that they will buy you a beer even though you just met them.

The legal drinking age is 18.

• Beer — Beer, especially the ales, are measured in pints. One pint equals just over half a litre (568ml).
• Irn Bru — A highly popular, fizzy, orange-coloured soft drink that is supposed to be the best cure for a hangover, be aware its loaded with caffine!
• Whisky — Scotland's most famous export.

Sleep

• SYHA Hostels -- The SYHA (Scottish Youth Hostel Association) has hostels all over Scotland and is probably the cheapest place to stay. Some of the buildings are very impressive, like the one in Loch Lomond and the Carbisdale Castle Hostel. SYHA hostel listing (http://www.syha.org.uk/)

• Independent Hostels -- there are also independent hostels throughout Scotland. Cheap, no membership required. Scottish Independent Hostels (http://www.hostel-scotland.co.uk/)

See

Most historic sites are maintained either by the National Trust of Scotland or by Historic Scotland. Both offer memberships (with free priority access and other discounts) for a year or a lifetime - and have reciprocal arrangements with their English and Welsh equivalents. Depending on how much you get around and how long you are staying, they may well be worth buying.... Membership also contributes to the sites' preservation and new acquisitions.

• Historic Scotland [2] (http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/) - sites and prices, yearly membership starts at £34 adult, £65 family (properties include Edinburgh and Stirling Castles)
• the National Trust of Scotland [3] (http://www.nts.co.uk/) -sites and prices, yearly membership starts at £33 adult, £54 family (properties include Craigievar and Crathes Castles, numerous wilderness areas)

Do

• Cycling -- Even though there are only a few cycle trails compared to England, Scotland makes a great cycling country as there are many roads with little traffic. See Cycling in Scotland.
• Hillwalking -- Scotland is famous for hillwalking. You can try to climb all 284 Munros of Scotland (which are mountains higher than 3000 feet / 911.4 m) and become a Munroist, or you could hike the popular West Highland Way, which stretches for 153km (95 miles).

Learn

In the bigger cities you can learn highland dancing. If you're interested in learning how to play the Scottish bagpipe, you should know that it takes about one year to play on an actual bagpipe for the first time. It is really more difficult than it looks like and needs daily practice!

Work

EU citizens do not need a visa to work in Scotland. All other nations need to acquire a visa. In the big cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow it should not be too difficult to find a job, but it really depends on your skills.

Safety

Scotland has no unusual high or low crime rate. Certain areas of both Edinburgh and Glasgow should be avoided. The main danger in any of the urban areas is likely to be drink-related violence.

Stay healthy

When hillwalking, you should always take along a compass, detailed maps and a good pair of boots. A charged mobile phone with a vodaphone sim card can be a lifesaver as most mountian areas have cell coverage. Note networks like O2 and Orange don't cover the highlands very well so check before you go. Note that the weather on the hills can change suddenly, with vision of only a few meters. Never do hillwalking on your own! and always tell someone where you are going and when you expect to be back.

In case of emergency, call 999 from any phone.

Contact

• Internet -- Most libraries offer free internet access. In Edinburgh you will need to join the library first though. Internet cafes are rare outside of the major cities.
• Post -- Mailboxes are red. In most post offices you can change your foreign money without a fee.

Also see Contact entry under United Kingdom for national information on telephone, internet and postal services.

See Contact entries under individual cities for local information.

External Links

• VisitScotland.com (http://www.visitscotland.com/) -- the Official Site of the Scotland's National Tourism Board
• http://home.freiepresse.de/uwdel/whw.html -- some information about hiking the West-Highland-Way