Scotland

A landscape of remarkable scale and emptiness — Ben Nevis and the Cairngorms plateau, Glencoe's dramatic volcanic valley, the loch-studded expanse of Sutherland, and the ancient Torridonian sandstone mountains of Wester Ross — the Highlands offer nature travel of a quality difficult to match in Western Europe. Red deer, golden eagles, red squirrels, ospreys, and the reintroduced white-tailed sea eagle are all present in significant numbers, and the walking, from gentle lochside paths to serious Munro-bagging, is among the finest in Europe.

One of the most beautiful capital cities in Europe, Edinburgh's Old Town rises along the Royal Mile from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the castle on its volcanic crag, its medieval tenements and closes compressed into a landscape of extraordinary dramatic intensity. The Scottish National Museum, the National Gallery, and the Writer's Museum reflect a cultural depth disproportionate to the city's size, while the Michelin-starred restaurant scene and the world's largest arts festival — the Edinburgh Festival in August — make it one of the most intellectually alive cities in Britain.

The highest concentration of whisky distilleries in the world — over 50 within a relatively compact valley in the northeast — Speyside produces the fruit-forward, honeyed styles of whisky most associated with single malt Scotch: Glenfarclas, Glenfiddich, the Macallan, Balvenie. Private distillery visits at the senior level — accessing warehouses of maturing casks, drawing whisky directly from the wood, meeting the people who have dedicated their working lives to the craft — are among the most memorable experiences Scotland offers.

A small island off the southwest coast of Scotland, Islay produces the world's most intensely peated whiskies — Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Bowmore — in a landscape of Atlantic-battered coastline, peat bogs, ancient ruined churches, and the best birdwatching in the Hebrides. The annual Islay Jazz Festival and the Fèis Ìle whisky festival draw visitors from around the world, but the island's extraordinary natural beauty — barnacle geese in their thousands, otters on the rocky shores, golden eagles on the high ground — makes it compelling in any season.

A chain of islands stretching 200 kilometres off the northwest coast, the Outer Hebrides — Lewis, Harris, the Uists, and Barra — are among the most remote and beautiful places in the British Isles. Harris's white sand beaches, the standing stones of Callanish on Lewis, the peat moorland that covers both islands, and a Gaelic culture and language still genuinely alive in the communities here make the Outer Hebrides one of the most distinctive destinations in all of Europe.

Scotland's oldest university town, founded in 1413, St Andrews is also the home of golf — the Old Course, played over for 600 years, is the most historically significant golf course in the world. The ruined cathedral, once the largest church in Scotland, the castle above the sea cliff, and the East Sands beach give the town a compellingly complete historic character. The Kingdom of Fife's fishing villages — Anstruther, Crail, Pittenweem — and the dramatic coastal path along the East Neuk complete a journey of quiet, genuine beauty.