Summer means festival season. There is no city in the UK where this is truer than in Edinburgh, where the old town is filled with the events of one of Europe’s biggest, brightest cultural extravaganzas during August. Joining in, however, comes at a cost.
An average night’s lodgings in the Scottish capital during this August’s revelry will come in at £302.80 for a three-star property, according to hospitality insight providers Lighthouse – that’s compared to £89.09 for the same standard of stay in Scotland’s third-biggest city, Aberdeen.
Meanwhile, the most recent Visit Scotland research shows that some three million annual visitors descend on the Edinburgh region while Dundee, the fourth-largest city, and its surrounding Angus region, receives less than a sixth of as much tourist traffic. For those in search of a metropolitan break in Scotland this summer, it could be time to turn your attention to some of its other often-overlooked cities . Read Next I'm a budget travel expert - here are my tricks for cheaper UK holidays this summer Celebrate 900 years of Stirling One of Scotland’s oldest royal burghs, Stirling has heritage to match Edinburgh ’s, without the crowds.
Founded in 1124 and celebrating 900 years of existence all through 2024, Stirling’s centrepiece is its crag-topping castle. This structure was once the childhood home to perhaps the most storied Scottish monarch, Mary Queen of Scots. Just like Edinburgh, Stirling has cobbled streets and visito.