Need help planning 1 week in Scotland July 23-30

[Deleted User]

I'm new to the board and will be new to Scotland. My husband and I, and 2 other couples have rented a place near Stirling. We are planning on renting a car (or 2) and want to plan some day trips to maximize our time there. We do have 1 day set aside to see the Senior Open at St. Andrews. Can I get any recommendations of "not to miss" sites? Or any helpful info on getting around - we thought driving would be our best to maximize our time in getting from place to place. Thanks for any and all info and if you want to reference other posts I should look at here that is great- I've just started going through them now.

Michele

Horizons

Hey Michele, my recommendations wouldn't be too different from the ones in this thread : https://community.visitscotland.com/discussion/1338/this-summer-around-balloch

Driving is recommended. If you choose to visit Skye, I recommend staying a night there. Do you have specific interests / activities in mind @meicheraxo? They'll help in providing targeted suggestions.

[Deleted User]

Thanks @Horizons - I know we want to see some castles and then the husbands are big into locations where movies were filmed. I'm hoping to get the group to be a little more focused on what they want to see...oh and lots of distilleries.

Horizons

@meicheraxo You are a couple after my own heart. Here's links to other discussions that are pertinent to your interest. I should mention now that basing yourself in Stirling for the week will limit your options (you cannot possibly make it to Islay and back but Speyside is fully on the table). Also, for the distilleries, I hope your group will take rotations in driving or has multiple non-drinker drivers. Distillery tastings can get, erm, intense.

Distillery thread: https://community.visitscotland.com/discussion/1015/scotlands-top-distilleries-your-picks (focus on Speyside and Highland)

Castles thread: https://community.visitscotland.com/discussion/1264/list-of-scottish-castles-reachable-by-public-transport (Aberdeenshire deserves a full day of castle hopping)

Movie locations in Scotland: https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/attractions/tv-film/ (Glencoe is an obvious choice, Harry Potter, Skyfall, etc)

Happy to help with specifics at any point!