5 Things You Might Not Know About Scotland

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Have you been to Scotland? If not, there may be a few things that will surprise you about this country.

Scotland Has Over 790 Offshore Islands

I wasn’t aware of just how many islands Scotland has until I started researching for my trip. I wanted to visit them all during my trip because there was something unique about each one of them. In the end, I settled on exploring just a couple of islands in the Inner and outer Hebrides.

The Food is Not all Haggis and Black Pudding

Last week, I talked about how I’m not all that adventurous when it comes to food, so it’s probably no big surprise that I was not excited to try Haggis or Black Pudding. Lucky for me though, there were plenty of other tasty things for me to eat in Scotland.

There is no shortage of fresh and local seafood, Shepherd’s Pies, and I even found myself eating Indian food on more than one occasion.

Passes that Include Ferries and Buses

We all know that transportation can be one of the biggest expenses when traveling, so I was thrilled to find out that ACP Rail offers a Freedom of Scotland pass that includes ferry trips to the various islands and buses for the more remote areas of the country. Click here to see prices and options.

There may be other companies that offer these types of passes in Scotland, but I wasn’t able to find any in my search.

Hostels on the Islands

I was always under the impression that I would have to spend an arm and a leg on accommodation in Scotland, so I was surprised to learn that there are hostels on many of the islands. Dunard Hostel on Barra and Dervaig Hostel on the Isle of Mull are just a few that I found.

The Big 5

In 2013, Scotland is celebrating the Year of Natural Scotland, so they teamed up with Scottish Natural Heritage and came up with a list of five of the country’s most adored wildlife. Their Big Five picks are the Red Squirrel, Red Deer, Golden Eagle, Otter and Harbour Seal. Maybe next year they will make it seven and include Puffins and Heilan’ Coos!

To purchase prints or cards of our Scotland photos, please visit our Fine Art Portfolio.

Plan Your Trip to Scotland

After traveling consistently for over 10 years, we’ve come to trust and rely on a few websites to help us find the best deals on flights and accommodation.

Flights:

Momondo is the first place we check when searching for cheap flights. It searches hundreds of sites for the best fare and includes both standard and budget airlines. The price calendar feature shows the cheapest days to fly in your preferred month of travel.

Accommodation:

Booking.com offers savings on hotels, apartments, and villas in 80,000 destinations worldwide. You can browse hotel reviews and find the guaranteed best price on hotels for all budgets.

Thanks to Visit Scotland for helping me plan my itinerary and hosting a portion of my trip to the Scottish Islands. As always, all opinions are my own.