Central Scotland

Scotland > Central Scotland

Budget airline flights to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Prestwick have elevated both Edinburgh and Glasgow into serious weekend leisure break venues, prompted by the upsurge in hotel, pub, club and restaurant development over the past 15 years.

Nightlife, in particular, has helped to attract a completely new market which was never really all that interested in the conventional attractions of history, arts, architecture and theatre - except, that is, for the Edinburgh Festival patrons, probably the catalyst in this whole new scene.

Glasgow and Edinburgh, in particular, are festival cities - they have the venues available (many of them brand new) and they ustilise them very well and very fully. Some of the best restaurants in the UK are to be found here although Gordon Ramsay recently moved out of Glasgow.

The re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh has also helped to breathe new life into the Nation's Capital which is now a vibrant, exciting place to visit. History and folklore, something which was quite boring for the younger generation 20 years ago, is now delivered theatrically by street performing tours especially in the evenings - ghost hunts in the High Street etc. Edinburgh is now no longer the staid face of Scottish Presbyterianism it is now alive and dynamic.

Glasgow, in many ways, is very similar to Edinburgh - the love of the arts and theatre, excellent nightlife, good hotels (many built over the last 10 years) restaurants and pubs and 2 good football teams nearly as good as Edinburgh's Hearts and Hibs! But it was built on a river and the River Clyde is probably an asset still to be fully utilised by Glasgow in terms of visitor attraction - they should see how other major rivers are used in other major European cities.

Bewteen the two great cities, like the apex of a triangle, lies another former capital of Scotland - Stirling. Motorway access in this triangle is excellent and Edinburgh and Stirling Castles could be visited in one day - not however to be recommended. Even a trip out to St Andrews to one of the many golf courses in Central Scotland will be just a day out but don't expect to play the Old Course, that you can never guarantee but there are many alternatives.

Edinburgh is, once again, truly one of the classic European Capital cities - enough said?