I am currently attempting to book my Europe trip and am having some trouble finding lodging in Speyside for a 3-day whiskey trail adventure a friend and I would like to partake in. I have more questions than answers so I am hoping that someone on OB has either done this before, or knows a bit about Scotland and visiting there.

I am trying to find lodging recommendations in Speyside, preferably close to Aberlour (or the central trail areas).

I am also looking into rental cars and am unsure how easy/difficult that is over seas. It should be noted I can't drive a manual (for shame) so that might add to the difficulty.

So anyone been to Speyside before and toured the whiskey distilleries? Or is anyone just well versed enough in Europeness to offer me any insights or tips?

Polish up your Fat Bastard impression, they love that shit.

Highest incidence of heart disease in the Western world. Hope you like your pizza and candy bars deep fried!

Hmmm, I don't know much about Scotland, other than
that my family was part of the MacLeod Clan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_MacLeod

Doing some research, I found an interesting tale about the
MacLeods, concerning a Faerie Flag. Family Lore says that
a member of the Clan was in love and married a fairie.
But, the fairy had to leave and go back to where it was from,
I think it had a total of four years or something.

But, this fairy gave him a flag, and said that the family could
unroll it, and it would beckon the power of the fairies to
save the clan, but only for three times.

So, there is dispute on how many times this flag has been
used. Wether or not it was used to save cattle during a
cattle plague. I probably butchered the story, but isn't it
interesting how abnormal some of their commonly believed
stories can be?

If you see a black guy with an eyepatch, get your flamethrower out. Airblast renders them practically useless.

I can check with my cousin who's in college there right now, I'll let you know what she says.

I KNOW MANY THINGS ABOUT SCOTLAND!! I lived there for two years, back when I first joined the site, and I miss it each and every day.

1. GO TO EDINBURGH. Goooooo it is the most beautiful.
2. If you don't know how to drive manual you're going to have a bad time renting a car. You can do it, but it's leagues more expensive to rent an automatic. Which brings me to my third point:
3. you really don't need a car. The train system in the UK is really quite something, and most Scottish towns are entirely walkable, so if you can get there by train you can really do the rest by foot.
4. I don't like whiskey myself, but distilleries are awesome to visit, if you can. I assume you've already checked that the ones you want to see take visitors, but if you haven't be sure to. If they don't it doesn't necessarily mean you can't visit, but it does mean that they don't have someone who's job it is to see to visitors, and the further into rural Scotland you get the harder they are to understand. Someone who's job it is to be understood takes care of that.
5. The Scottish Whiskey Experience, in Edinburgh, has a ride devoted to whiskey. How awesome is that??

I think that's most of what you asked. If you've got any other questions, feel free to PM me. I can talk about Scotland until I turn blue in the face.

When I went over there I stayed in a lot of locally owned Bed and Breakfasts. Try to find one near where you're staying and you won't regret it. The tourism board in the nearest big city can help you with this.

The rooms are usually smaller, but very nice, and they usually come with the added bonus of the lovely people who run them. They usually feed you breakfast and in most cases are really happy to have new people in their town and offer all sorts of interesting places to go visit. Hell, one of the couples I stayed with even picked us up one night when the buses had stopped and they didn't want us to pay cab fare.

As for renting a car, not being able to drive manual is not an issue, but lord knows I was confused as shit driving on the other side of the goddamned road.

What's your handicap?

Oh and my punk ass forgot to mention: bed and breakfasts are usually cheaper than hotels too.

The problem with Scotland...


...is that its full of Scots.

Great Scott doesn't mean the same thing as it does over here.

Walter! said:


1. GO TO EDINBURGH. Goooooo it is the most beautiful.
...
5. The Scottish Whiskey Experience, in Edinburgh, has a ride devoted to whiskey. How awesome is that??

Husband and I did 5 days in Scotland (Read: NOT ENOUGH TIME) last September. We started in Edinburgh, then went across to Islay, which has excellent, albeit distinct, whiskey. I enjoyed Speyside whiskey, and I hope you post about your adventure :)

The Scotch Whiskey experience is...well its just friggin important. Its like Col. Sanders is teaching you about whiskey on a ride like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. And then at the end...there's whiskey.

As far as places to stay: I did most of my research on TripAdvisor, and was quite pleased with the results. We stayed at an awesome hostel in Edinburgh, and then a B&B on Islay that was just beautiful. We had to stay one night outside of Tarbert (we missed our ferry to Islay) at an inn on top of a bar. It. Was. Disgusting. Highly recommend research before you travel.

I'm so jelly! I want to go back so badddddd

Great advice. I can always count on OB to deliver. I have looked in to the distilleries and will be trying a car, though the trains get me close the distilleries themselves are 45 min away and I am unclear how spry side transportation between towns is. My only other option is a private whiskey guide, but that seems an excessive fee to pay for something a little planning will resolve.

Can't wait. Going to be amazing. Speyside is only 3 days on a 3 week Europe trip. I will definitely post my adventure to the boards!

sweaters...get lots of sweaters
Kilts are optional, unless you also get a claymore

also...be wary of Haggis.

Oh man, and beware the sheep. There is about eleventy billion sheep up there.

Also, stay on the road! Keep clear of the moors! Beware the moon, lad...

Dude, haggis is actually really good as long as you get it from a proper restaurant and not, for example, a chippy. Chippies are great places to get chips (with cheese or brown sauce) and a deep-fried Mars bar.

Malkiah said:
The problem with Scotland...


...is that its full of Scots.

Woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this quote and post laughing

If you get a chance to go to Edinburgh, it's one of the most beautiful old cities in the world. Go on a "vault tour" under the city. It's haunted! Very fun.