Planning trip to Schotland.

[McgR]

Hi Guys. Lots of experienced road trippers on this forum and I am looking for some tips for a trip to Schotland. Haven t booked anything yet.

From april 12 th to friday april 17 / 18th.

Current plan is the boat from IJmuiden to Newcastle. Seems more comfortable than the tunnel from Calais to Dover and driving to Edinburgh. Calais and IJmuiden are equal distance.

we think of staying 1 or 2 days in Edinburgh and a roadtrip for 3 days trough the higlands ending in Newcastle thursday evening for the boat.

any tips for hotels, roads, destinations for the round trip would be very welkome !

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[W1NGE]

Hi Guys. Lots of experienced road trippers on this forum and I am looking for some tips for a trip to Schotland. Haven t booked anything yet.

From april 12 th to friday april 17 / 18th.

Current plan is the boat from IJmuiden to Newcastle. Seems more comfortable than the tunnel from Calais to Dover and driving to Edinburgh. Calais and IJmuiden are equal distance.

we think of staying 1 or 2 days in Edinburgh and a roadtrip for 3 days trough the higlands ending in Newcastle thursday evening for the boat.

any tips for hotels, roads, destinations for the round trip would be very welkome !

Excellent - we need your tourist Euros!

Where to stay - budget dependent - plentiful choice in Edinburgh along with many good restaurants

Charging - ChargePlace Scotland (gov sponsored), Ionity - Perth, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen), MFG petrol stations, BP Pulse, ESB others. PCM should pick most up but handy to have ZapMap to locate.

Things to do: Edinburgh - Old Town, Castle, Johnnie Walker Experience (Princes Street), Highlands - Whisky, Castle Trail etc.

If you could share your intended route once in Scotland I could suggest some more.

 

[McgR]

Excellent - we need your tourist Euros!

Where to stay - budget dependent - plentiful choice in Edinburgh along with many good restaurants

Charging - ChargePlace Scotland (gov sponsored), Ionity - Perth, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen), MFG petrol stations, BP Pulse, ESB others. PCM should pick most up but handy to have ZapMap to locate.

Things to do: Edinburgh - Old Town, Castle, Johnnie Walker Experience (Princes Street), Highlands - Whisky, Castle Trail etc.

If you could share your intended route once in Scotland I could suggest some more.

Thanks @W1NGE . I am actually also looking for tips for the 3 day road trip after Edinburgh. Never been to Scotland before exept for a meeting in Edinburgh for 3 days long time ago. but didnt see much of the city.

I was thinking of driving 2-3 hours a day and hiking for 3-4 hours in the afternoon. It visiting a town. I found some ideas online but it is difficult to select. So any suggestions are welcome.

I planning to be back in Newcastle thursday afternoon for the boat. So probably best to start with 2 days Edinburgh.

Ps are winter tires useful end of april ? In Belgium I would Swatch them half of march.

 

[W1NGE]

Thanks @W1NGE . I am actually also looking for tips for the 3 day road trip after Edinburgh. Never been to Scotland before exept for a meeting in Edinburgh for 3 days long time ago. but didnt see much of the city.

I was thinking of driving 2-3 hours a day and hiking for 3-4 hours in the afternoon. It visiting a town. I found some ideas online but it is difficult to select. So any suggestions are welcome.

I planning to be back in Newcastle thursday afternoon for the boat. So probably best to start with 2 days Edinburgh.

Ps are winter tires useful end of april ? In Belgium I would Swatch them half of march.

I don't have or use winter tyres and never had the need (they are a good idea of course). No harm to travel with but in April you will most likely not need them.

We have a thing called the North Coast 500 (NC 500) - check it out - https://www.northcoast500.com/ - and perhaps do parts rather than all - focus on the West Coast for scenery.

Charge planning will be key if you venture on to the NC500 so be wary.

Suggest looking at stop-offs recommended and others which may offer better accommodation and ensure you book early.

 

[tigerbalm]

One of our first road trips was to Scotland. The hotels and destination chargers we used, etc are all outlined at https://www.electricdrives.blog/scotland-winter-2021

Some hotels even had their own private DC chargers! The final post in the trip has a good summary of the hotels and chargers we used at https://www.electricdrives.blog/scotland-winter-2021/thats-all-folks

 

[tigerbalm]

Charge planning will be key if you venture on to the NC500 so be wary.

Not sure it is still true – but back in 2021 – we regretted not having a ChargePlace Scotland RFID card. (https://chargeplacescotland.org/). It would have been easier to have gotten some of the chargers going – in places with weak GSM signal and messy "web pay" charging activations.

 

[F1Ruaraidh]

Hi Guys. Lots of experienced road trippers on this forum and I am looking for some tips for a trip to Schotland. Haven t booked anything yet.

From april 12 th to friday april 17 / 18th.

Current plan is the boat from IJmuiden to Newcastle. Seems more comfortable than the tunnel from Calais to Dover and driving to Edinburgh. Calais and IJmuiden are equal distance.

we think of staying 1 or 2 days in Edinburgh and a roadtrip for 3 days trough the higlands ending in Newcastle thursday evening for the boat.

any tips for hotels, roads, destinations for the round trip would be very welkome !

Get a chargeplace Scotland card!

 

[anonymouse]

If you have time (might take longer than you are currently allowing!) consider driving the North Coast 500 which is one of the Uk’s great driving routes, with some fabulous scenery. Whizzing up the mountain pass is a great EV experience.

if you can’t get that far up, then at least explore the Loch Lomond area. Less scenic but a nice area is St Andrews, a lovely small university town.

Your dates may overlap with some school holidays so allow for congestion in some tourist sites. Luckily you are not going in midge season though

I’ve not taken the ferry but you are right, that route could save you time. If you had longer then you could take the Chunnel and stop midway in the Cotswolds or Yorkshire for some more great scenery and driving. But the motorways are boring and the M1 in particular has lots of roadworks,

There is some fine coastal scenery around Northumberland if you are going via Newcastle. If interested in history you could also visit Hadrian’s Wall with a small detour. And of course Scotland is packed with scenery, walks, castles, distilleries…

Be aware that the UK’s charging infrastructure is less advanced than on the Continent. Use ABRP to plan, and try to use IONITY where you can. At busy times some of these are too small so there can be queuing. There are some excellent Fastned sites and some of the petrol companies are building fast chargers too (MFP, Shell) — conveniently (for them) costing about the same as petrol. Gridserve has some excellent hubs but avoid the 2-4 stall Gridserve sites because these are often very old and unreliable. InstaVolt works ok but sometimes the parking spaces are very small; BP is hit-and-miss.

As others have said get a Chargeplace Scotland card. This was a government scheme that used to be free but now charges. There are lots of tiny (slow) chargers in village car parks etc. and often the only way to pay is with the CPS card — especially If mobile data coverage is poor.

 

[McgR]

If you have time (might take longer than you are currently allowing!) consider driving the North Coast 500 which is one of the Uk’s great driving routes, with some fabulous scenery. Whizzing up the mountain pass is a great EV experience.

if you can’t get that far up, then at least explore the Loch Lomond area. Less scenic but a nice area is St Andrews, a lovely small university town.

Your dates may overlap with some school holidays so allow for congestion in some tourist sites. Luckily you are not going in midge season though

I’ve not taken the ferry but you are right, that route could save you time. If you had longer then you could take the Chunnel and stop midway in the Cotswolds or Yorkshire for some more great scenery and driving. But the motorways are boring and the M1 in particular has lots of roadworks,

There is some fine coastal scenery around Northumberland if you are going via Newcastle. If interested in history you could also visit Hadrian’s Wall with a small detour. And of course Scotland is packed with scenery, walks, castles, distilleries…

Be aware that the UK’s charging infrastructure is less advanced than on the Continent. Use ABRP to plan, and try to use IONITY where you can. At busy times some of these are too small so there can be queuing. There are some excellent Fastned sites and some of the petrol companies are building fast chargers too (MFP, Shell) — conveniently (for them) costing about the same as petrol. Gridserve has some excellent hubs but avoid the 2-4 stall Gridserve sites because these are often very old and unreliable. InstaVolt works ok but sometimes the parking spaces are very small; BP is hit-and-miss.

As others have said get a Chargeplace Scotland card. This was a government scheme that used to be free but now charges. There are lots of tiny (slow) chargers in village car parks etc. and often the only way to pay is with the CPS card — especially If mobile data coverage is poor.

Many thanks for these tips. The NC 500 looks like a great adventure but it would take to long for this trip.

 

[W1NGE]

Get a chargeplace Scotland card!

Or Electroverse as it covers this and many orher providers.

 

[anonymouse]

Or Elcteoverse as it covers this and many orher providers.

They do sometimes add a margin though.

 

[F1Ruaraidh]

Or Elcteoverse as it covers this and many orher providers.

That's a good tip too.

Is it available to non-UK ie non-Octopus energy customers though?

 

[F1Ruaraidh]

Many thanks for these tips. The NC 500 looks like a great adventure but it would take to long for this trip.

The NC is amazing but a long way. If you're arriving in the South East then East Lothians, then Edinburgh, then the East Neuk of Fife, then St Andrews and the Howe of Fife.

over via Perth to Loch Tay, along the A85 to Tyndrum then A82 to Glencoe (option on Fort William and Loch Ness then back down A9 to Perth).

OR Back down via A82 to Loch Lomond (option via Dalmally and Inveraray and over Rest and be Thankful) to Glasgow and back across to Edinburgh and back to your ferry in Newcastle.

No need to go so far North as the NC.

 

[anonymouse]

Those are all great routes with lots of hiking opportunities.

If you like dining well (at all price points) then I recommend subscribing to the excellent, independent, Good Food Guide. They have just done features on Scottish cuisine and dining in Edinburgh. They named Edinburgh “Most Exciting Food Destination of 2025”.

 

[David Bennett]

With just 3 days and then back to Newcastle I would suggest you follow the SWC300. I posted a report on here last year: https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/scottish-road-trip-report-with-taycan-4s.19683/

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