General Discussion — visitscotland

Top Harry Potter Things to Do in Scotland

VisitScotlandLiam — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 13:05:54 +0000

Scotland is the notorious birthplace of the Harry Potter series, with from J.K Rowling writing the books here to some of the movies being filmed in Scottish locations. We recently had YouTube personality and Harry Potter super-fan Tessa Netting over to Scotland to create some content for us on Harry Potter things you can do in our country.

1) Visit the Elephant House — The birthplace of Harry Potter
Take a wander down to George IV Bridge and pop into where J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. A must-see for any Harry Potter fan when visiting the capital. Don't forget to take a marker with you and leave a note in the bathroom!

2) Visit the Balmoral Hotel — Where J.K Rowling finished the Deathly Hallows
If you are visiting the place where the first book was written, it seems only fitting that you visit the place where it was all brought to an end! J.K's room where she finished the book is now called the J.K Rowling suite and a night there will cost you a cool £2,000.

3) Go and see Tom Riddle's Grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard
Why not carry on your Harry Potter antics by going to pay tribute to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Throughout the kirkyard you can also spot graves with the name Mcgonagall and Moodie. A really cool find for any Potterhead!

4) Be Transported to Diagon Alley on Victoria Street
Well known to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley, Victoria street boasts many specialist shops, including one called Museum Context, which specialises in Harry Potter merchandise!

5) All Aboard the Hogwarts Express!
How and i mean HOW can you come to Scotland and not go on the Hogwarts Express?! This amazing train takes you from Fort William to Mallaig and back again over the Glenfinnan Viaduct which was used in the scene in The Chamber of Secret's when Harry and Ron flew in front of the Hogwarts Express in the flying car. If you look hard enough, you might be able to see the island where Dumbledore's grave is on Loch Eilt.

What other things can Harry Potter fans experience right here in Scotland? Add your suggestions down below! 👇👇👇

Favourite street in Scotland?

johnmurrayjnr — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 16:48:29 +0000

Hi!

I wondered where everyone's favourite street in Scotland was? Something characteristic and very.....Scottish.

I can see why Circus Lane in Edinburgh is so popular but for me, I fell in love with this wee street in Linlithgow.

It is Kirkgate which leads up to Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.

Would love to see photos of your favourite street in Scotland?

STICKY: Welcome to the community!

VisitScotland — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 11:20:38 +0000

Welcome to I Know Scotland Online, VisitScotland's new online community for those living in and visiting Scotland.

Please introduce yourself in this thread and let people know where you are, what your interest in Scotland is and what you're hoping to get out of your membership of the community

What do you love about Scotland?

VisitScotlandAmanda — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 10:37:27 +0000

The National Trust for Scotland has just released a new campaign full of familiar faces and locals discussing what they love about Scotland.

Which poses the question - what do YOU love about Scotland?

For me, having moved here from New Zealand, I have so much to love about my adopted home, but some key points are:

The beautiful landscapes and lochs
The amazing wild life (will never forget the day I saw my first red squirrel!)
The fascinating history
The people

What else would you add to this list?

Aberdeen this weekend - what to do in 2 nights

Fishjagger — Mon, 21 May 2018 11:19:12 +0000

Hello, I will arrive in Aberdeen on Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. There will be two of us, I have been a few times, my other half hasn't been before. I would like to spend the Friday night in Aberdeen, then a coastal town on the Saturday night. Although we will not be driving, just public transport. And good recommendations of where to stay on the Friday and Saturday nights? And to see and do in Aberdeen and a coastal town?

Using the Community - Quick Guide

VisitScotlandIntro — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 08:38:43 +0000

Hello Community members! Welcome to the new VisitScotland Community.

As we now have more and more members joining, we thought we'd create a new thread with a little guidance on how to use the Community and get the most out of it. Please ask any questions you might have about the forum software in this thread and we'll do the best we can to answer them. In the meantime, here's a quick guide to the main site features.

Main navigation
The navigation at the top of the page is specific to the Community.

Home will take you back to the main forum index
Discussions will show new recent posts
Activity will show actions that you and other Community members have recently taken (like commenting on a thread or uploading a picture)
Best Of will show you threads, pictures and comments that have been liked by other members or promoted by the moderators
The Search box allows you to search the whole Community for specific things. You can search for combinations of words, or for specific phrases by putting your search term inside quotes, i.e. "Isle of Lewis"

Category list
The main way you will be able to find new threads and comments is to browse our main category listing. You will see this as soon as you enter the Community. You can select the title of the category to view that category, or jump straight to the latest post for each category on the right.

On the right of the main list you can see more navigation, including discussions that you have contributed to, draft posts you may have saved,
unanswered questions and popular tags.

Threads
A thread or discussion is where most of the interesting things in the Community happen. It's a conversation between members of the Community and you can jump right in and start commenting.

You can also post three different kinds of thread - a general post, a question (which allows you to mark responses as good answers) or a poll. Just click the arrow on the New Post button to choose the kind of content you would like to post.

Posting in a thread
To add a contribution to a thread, scroll to the bottom and use the comment window.

This is similar to a word processor, with simple controls. You can bold, italicise or add strikethrough text. You can also add bulleted or numbered lists, add emojis and left, right or centred text. If you need more space, you can use the 'Fullscreen' button on the right of your editing window to let the editor take over your whole screen. You can also quickly preview or save a draft of your post, or just post it straight away.

See below for adding files, images and links.

Adding images
There are two ways to add images. The simplest way is to simply drag an image from your desktop onto the comment window. The image will appear wherever your cursor was located. You will also see a small thumbnail of the image at the bottom of your post. If you want to move the image to a different position, click the 'X' next to the thumbnail, click to move your cursor to the new position, then click the thumbnail to reattach it.

The second way is to use the file/image upload button on your toolbar:

This allows you to drag a file or image, select it from your computer's file system, or link directly to an image on a hosting service such as Flickr, Imgur or 500px. Please don't link directly to images which don't belong to you.

Making links
To create a link, highlight the text you would like to make into a link, then click the Link symbol in your toolbar. Type or paste the URL you would like to link to and click OK to create your link.

Videos
To add a video to your post or comment, just paste in a URL from Youtube or Vimeo. It will be automatically converted into a video player. Click 'Preview' to check that your video is working before you post. Unfortunately we don't allow member's own videos to be directly uploaded to the Community as the file sizes are generally too large. But Youtube and Vimeo accounts are free to register, so feel free to share your videos of Scotland with us!

Responding to other users
To mention another user, you can use the @ symbol. Just type '@' and begin typing their username, then select the right one from the list. This will send them a notification to let them know you have mentioned them.

Managing your profile and favourites
Finally, don't forget you can upload a picture of yourself to help other member's identify you, as well as adding a signature to your posts, checking your bookmarked 'favourite' threads or just seeing what's new on the threads you've commented on. Use the menu in the top right of the screen to access your personal profile, favourites and more.

What to do in a day?

Lochgmarcp — Sun, 20 May 2018 15:51:53 +0000

As summer is approaching, my time to get drives or trips is in limited supply, work just seems to take over.. but the wanderlust never disappears! Most places in Scotland can offer plenty to see and do on a day trip, but what would you recommend if you only had a day to spare?

Luckily I founded myself with a day off so took a day trip from Easdale in Argyll, with Seafari Adventures, to the beautiful islands of Iona and Staffa! With only a day to spare this trip was perfect for me as it was close to home and they offered a great experience all within a day trip! Plus the weather was amazing, blue skies and warm which all added to the experience!

Iona Abbey

Harbour view on Iona

A walk to one of the beaches on Iona

The quick trip to Staffa was great fun, with views to the mainland and Mull as we went, and plenty of wildlife on the way..

Staffa

Puffin flying past

Fingals Cave, Staffa

Bottlenose Dolphin surfing our wake.. definitely a highlight!

I would absolutely recommend this trip if you only had a spare day off.. but let me know what you would want to do?

Trip was with : Seafari Adventures Oban www.seafari.co.uk

Photography In Scotland (Tips, Tricks, And How To Be Ready)

AYankInScotland — Tue, 08 May 2018 22:58:13 +0000

We’ve got a lovely thread called “Driving in Scotland” (which I hope becomes a “sticky” someday) and I thought I’d start a new thread on photography. Who doesn’t love coming home with a few great photos that share your magical Scottish experiences?

Photographers – please add to this thread, amateur or professional. Let’s make this a “braw” topic, and maybe a sticky someday!

As a side note, I make part of my living in the US as a portrait photographer, and photography teacher – and teaching others is a special thing for me. Photography (or any art) is gift that is meant to be passed along to others. That’s how we enrich the world. Art is love.

WEATHER:

It doesn’t matter if you a DSLR (digital single reflex) shooter or a Smartphone shooter, it rains a LOT in Scotland, so protecting your gear is job number one. The rain often blows sideways.
Have a good, strong, small umbrella (with a push button) that you can use when exiting the vehicle.
Plastic bags (or disposable shower caps) are a must, to protect the gear.
Consider bringing some silica jell bags with you, to dry equipment out at night. Keeping your gear dry is the most important task.

EVERY DAY (DISCIPLINE):

Walk out the door every day with a fully recharged battery and memory card.
Backup everything every night to the cloud, a USB stick, or a laptop.
Start each day fresh and clean.

LIGHT:

Photography = The Study Of Light
Check your sunrise/sunset times because they will be earlier than what you have at home.
Scotland is at a higher latitude, so the “sweet light” may be a lot different than you think.
Diehards that want the Northern lights need to Google the particulars on that. There are lots of links. Just search for “Scotland Northern Lights”. Typically you need to be up in the Orkneys (or Shetlands) for that sort of light.

LANDSCAPE SHOOTERS:

Yes, a wide angle lens (16m – 14mm) will give you lovely shots, especially in a place like Glencoe. Fog, clouds, moving light – it’s amazing.
If you only have a lens that only gives you 18 – 24 mm, that’s ok too – but consider trying a “pano stitch”. You’ll have to post process that in Lightroom/Photoshop.
If you are a smartphone shooter, don’t zoom in – shoot wide. Check your camera phone for a “pano” setting. Learn how to use that, and crop the photo.
Tripod – of course! I use a 22” unit that fits nicely in my carry-on luggage diagonally. Remote trigger a must.

WILDLIFE SHOOTERS:

Sure bring the big glass if you want, but I wouldn’t go past 300mm.
Most of the wildlife in Scotland isn’t “skittish” (maybe the stags), but puffins, squirrels, coos, and other animals will be easy to shoot at a semi-close range. Your 70 – 200mm will be fine.

VIDEOGRAPHERS:

Doesn’t matter what you are shooting with, but you are going to pick up a LOT of wind noise if someone is narrating. Especially near the coastlines (super windy).
Consider buying an external microphone with a “dead cat” (fuzzy wind-cover) for the microphone.

STREET SHOOTERS:

Your sweet spot will be Edinburgh and Glasgow, lots of candids and posed shots.
Scots are incredibly friendly, so push yourself outside of your comfort zone and ask for a photo. You might be surprised.

SMARTPHONE SHOOTERS (IOS/ANDROID):

Try and leave that selfie stick at home. You’ll find lots of lovely people in Scotland that are happy to take your snap, and you’ll end up with a much better photo.
There are plenty of “dry bag” systems for smart phones that will suit you well. Just jump on to Amazon to find one.

I hope this was a good start to this thread, and I hope you all find the magic and love that comes through your camera lens.

Happy shooting!

Chris

Whats your favourite thing about Scotland?

RossSneddon — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:46:32 +0000

Scotland trip

Starflight — Sun, 06 May 2018 18:14:20 +0000

We just got back from Scotland. We visited the borders, Oban, Iona, Inverness and Edinburgh. It was wonderful. Thank you for sharing your country with us. The people were great, the history amazing, the landscape beautiful. You are lucky people to have such a home.

Scotland E-Brochures that actually get printed

powderglut — Sat, 14 Apr 2018 15:06:37 +0000

The E-brochures on this site are really nice but......was wondering if any of them actually get printed up? I would really love to have a few of them I can hold in my hand and look at. Especially the fishing guide on this site. Are there any visitor centers when we arrive at EDI, to possibly pick up any of these? I find it really hard to look at many of these online guides, especially on a phone screen. It's a lot easier to turn a page. Real maps and specific area guides that you can hold are really nice when you sometimes need to see the big picture.
We will definitely be using a paper map and Google maps on our trip around the North of Scotland. "Old school" when it comes to navigation. Besides how often "GPS only" can sometimes lead you astray on a route that is not for the normal passenger car. We've had some real horror shows with people getting real deep into a bad situation (in Colorado, Utah Arizona Wyoming) because they fully trusted the GPS and did not look at a map.
Anyway..... getting off the subject. Any visitor centers with lots of hand brochures in or near EDI? Thanks

Cant wait to come over

lushnpops — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 22:51:10 +0000

Is it stupid of us to already have set up a count down clock for our trip next march to Scotland... We will be there for 6 weeks and will travel the NC500 in a rented camper van... We are even going to look at buying a bed and breakfast home... One that we can rent to someone and in return they get to keep most of the bnb profit.... I cant wait to go back home

MTB ON THE HIGHLANDS ON END MAY EARLY JUNE AND MIDGES..

URI — Tue, 01 May 2018 10:57:38 +0000

We will be doing the Cairgnorms loop , on a 4 day MTB trip and I am concerned about those little monsters....
Should be the end of may early June, early midge seasson how do we know ?....say in 4 weeks !
I read that if we keep moving on the bike should be fine....., any special advice ?

Thanks !

Logging in with our new account system

VisitScotlandIntro — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 13:15:32 +0000

Hello Community members - we are in the process of switching over to the new VisitScotland Account system. This means that if you have already created a Community account, you will need to create a new VisitScotland account in order to continue commenting and enjoying the community.

This new account will let you be able to save and share ideas from across our website to a trip list, leave comments and tips in our community and enjoy our new features as they're available. I've outlined the steps you will need to take below. If you have any issues, please contact us using the live chat facility on the Community and we'll see if we can help.

The steps in brief
Note - it's a good idea to copy and paste these instructions to a text file, or open this community thread in a new tab so you can refer to it after you have logged out. If you are a part of the closed Beta programme, we will also email these instructions to you.

To create a new VisitScotland account and connect it to your community account, do the following:

Log out of the Community if you are not already logged out. This will take you to VisitScotland.com.
Go back to the Community, by clicking on the "Community" link in the header of the VisitScotland website
Click the 'Register' button on the right of the screen, or the one at the top
You will be taken to the VisitScotland account registration screen. Click the 'Register Now' button on the right side of the screen
Complete the account registration fields - make sure to use the same email address - if you use a different email address, your new VisitScotland account will not be connected to your existing comments and content on the Community.
Once you have created your account, login using your new VisitScotland account details.
You should be returned to the Community and prompted to connect your old account with your new one.
Enter the password for your old account - this confirms that you really are the owner of the existing Community account.
You should now be logged in.

Once you have carried out this process, you will always sign in and out of the Community and other VisitScotland services using your new VisitScotland account. Your old username and password will no longer work.

The steps in detail
If you're unsure of the steps above, you can use the detailed steps below to walk through what you need to do:

Log out of the Community if you are not already logged out. This will take you to VisitScotland.com.

Go back to the Community, by clicking on the "Community" link in the header of the VisitScotland website.
Click the 'Register' button on the right of the screen, or the one at the top

You will be taken to the VisitScotland account registration screen. Click the 'Register Now' button on the right side of the screen

Complete the account registration fields - make sure to use the same email address - if you use a different email address, your new VisitScotland account will not be connected to your existing comments and content on the Community.

Once you have created your account, login using your new VisitScotland account details.

You should be returned to the Community and prompted to connect your old account with your new one.
Enter the password for your old account - this confirms that you really are the owner of the existing Community account.

You should now be logged in.

Looking for Smiddy Banks, Deerness

Helenharding — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 11:44:24 +0000

Hello community, I am an Aussie visiting Scotland in April and would love to visit the home of my grandfather, who immigrated to Australia in the 1920's. I have found his drivers licence from 1922 when he was 22 and he states his address as Smiddy Banks, Deerness, Orkney , Scotland. I have tried google maps and other sites but can only find a Smiddy Banks farm near St Margaret's Hope.
Can anyone help? I don't know if this is/was a road, farm, region or pub! And perhaps this place no longer exists but any assistance would be greatly appreciated, thanks, helen

Driving in Scotland

lizzyann — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 13:14:26 +0000

Hello: Silly question but Daughter and I are travelling to Scotland end of March/2018.. She is a excellent driver but were also considering a day tour from Edinburgh ( will check your info regarding Tours~ Thanks! ).. she has a bucket list to drive in Scotland however she is also concerned about driving on the left. I would think you can not have a test drive before you commit to a rental ?? Were starting to get a few more round abouts here so that isn't such a big issue. Thanks!

Inshriach estate

1745kev — Sun, 22 Apr 2018 16:54:41 +0000

just back from staying in a Bothy, on the inshriach estate. No electricity, no running water, cooking on a stove. Shower outside, after heating the water, putting it in a bag and shower in the forest. I think it’s the best place I’ve been in Scotland (so far)

Camper Van Rentals

lushnpops — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 04:42:34 +0000

Any suggestions on not cheap, but cheaper places to rent a camper van for a few weeks of touring the highlands an the Scottish Islands..

Dont want to use the big companies if i can avoid them..

Any suggestions folks..

Thanks

Scottish Girdle ????

Carstairs — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 11:43:08 +0000

Hi there, am going to be in Scotland later this year and was wondering where I might be able to purchase a Girdle, am going to be in Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye and there about, if anyone has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

Changing Username

EdinBlogger — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 12:40:39 +0000

Could somebody point me in the direction to amend my username? I've looked for the settings but haven't been able to find out where to do it.

Cheers