In the summer of 2024, we took a trip to Scotland with our two children, ages six and three. After a longer than expected journey getting there, and two nights in Edinburgh, we rented a car and took a road trip through the Highlands.

After picking up our car in Edinburgh as described in our previous post, our next destination was Stirling Castle. It was a little intimidating for Della to have get familiar with driving a new car on a different side of the road while in the city, but she was able to figure it out as Eric navigated. There were also a lot of roundabouts which we also don’t see a lot of in the US. Eventually we got on a larger highway which was refreshingly straightforward.

Stirling Castle

Our destination was Stirling Castle, located on a big hill in the city of Stirling. It took us about an hour to get there from Edinburgh. One feature of our car we didn’t talk about in the previous post was a fancy navigation system where you could plug in an address and get turn-by-turn directions. (Yes, we know that this is probably a standard these days, but our car at home is from 2013). That helped us navigate there… although it took us on a back way up the back of the hill that the castle is on using some pretty narrow roads.

We were planning to park in the main parking lot for the castle, but when we got there it was blocked off because it was full! That meant we had to keep driving back down the hill into the main part of Stirling. We eventually found a city parking lot to park in (but only valid for two hours). We had reserved a timed entry into the castle, so we then had to race-walk back up the hill to make it in time for our reservation.

Stirling Castle is included in the Explorer Pass, so we were able to book our visit through that. We had pre-booked a time just to make sure we could get in. To tour the castle, we used, you guessed it, a self-guided tour from the Rick Steves guidebook. Stirling Castle actually felt bigger than Edinburgh Castle, so there was plenty to see. We enjoyed the gardens and 360-degree views from the battlements, plus some nice areas about life in the castle that were aimed towards kids. Also in the royal apartments there were some actors who were able to provide some historical context to what we were seeing.

We rushed through the end of the castle tour to make sure to get back to our car before our two hour parking was over. It was easier heading back down the hill than it had been coming up! After adding time to our parking, we went to eat lunch in town. We found a Thai restaurant called Sida Thai which had some good lunch specials.

Oban

We then hit the road west to the town of Oban, our destination for the night. This route was one that really introduced us to what we talked about in “Driving in Scotland,” with many roads that were “highways” with 60 MPH speed limits, but with blind curves and narrow lanes. After 2.5 hours, we were definitely happy to get to Oban!

In Oban, we were staying in the first of the Hosteling Scotland hostels we had previously discussed. Here we were able to get a private room with its own ensuite bathroom, which was a nice way to ease in to hostel life. The hostel itself is located in a nice older building right by the bay.

After settling in, we walked along the shore into the main part of town. The kids were interested in touching the water, so we found a staircase and walked down. The tide was low so we ended up walking on slippery ocean rocks. We continued on to the North Pier where we took in the sights of the city and the bay. We had dinner at the Piazza Italian restaurant there – good but smaller portions. We headed back to the hostel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Trip to the Isle of Mull

Our itinerary had us spend two nights in Oban, so we had another full day to use. We had originally hoped to take a tour to the Isles of Mull and Iona. However, the weather forecast was showing constant rain, so we didn’t think it would be particularly enjoyable to be out all day in inclement weather. Instead, we decided just to ride the ferry to Mull and back on our own for something to do.

Before catching the ferry, we had time to get the “Wee Breakfast” at the hostel, the continental breakfast that was included in our booking. It had a nice assortment of cereals and toast.

We then walked back into town and caught the 9:55 ferry. The car reservations had filled up far in advance, but there were plenty of spots available for passengers on foot. The kids enjoyed saying the name of the ferry company: “Caledonian MacBrayne.”

The weather was cloudy but not raining, so we started out on the outside observation deck. We had nice views of Oban as we exited the bay. Once we were out in open water we started to feel cold and wet, so we headed into the inside observation area for the rest of the 45 minute journey to Craignure on Mull.

Once we arrived at Craignure, we didn’t have a lot of time because we wanted to ride the same ferry back to Oban. We had just enough time to get off, check out a gift shop by the tiny ferry terminal, and then get back on. We did find it fascinating to watch the cars load off and then on to the ferry. They actually raise up the nose of the ship to allow for access.

The ride back was pretty straightforward since we followed the same path, so we mostly stayed inside. We did go back outside for the final stretch into Oban.

Rainy Afternoon in Oban

After disembarking, we grabbed lunch at a little cafe in the ferry terminal called Argyll at the Pier. The warm soup was nice on the damp day! As we left the terminal, we did get a little bit of sun. We grabbed some groceries at a Tesco supermarket and walked back (in the rain) to the hostel.

We spent some time in our room relaxing and drying off. We then tried to decide what to do with our afternoon that the kids would enjoy (not the Oban Distillery unfortunately). We ended up heading to Atlantis Leisure, Oban’s version of what we would call in the US a recreation center. They had a big soft play area for the kids that they enjoyed playing around in for quite some time.

For our dinner, we kept it easy and used the hostel kitchen to heat up a few different items we had gotten at the supermarket.

The next morning, we had the Wee Breakfast again and hit the road for our next destination, Glencoe. Of course, this morning there was a little bit of a blue sky! It was a little bit of a frustrating reminder that we hadn’t gotten to experience everything we wanted to in Oban due to the weather, but still provided a nice vista as we said goodbye to the pleasant town.