Scottish Highlands
When you’re ready to clear your head of the grit and bustle of the city, head north where the towering mountains are covered in a blanket of soft green grass. The Highlands contain more than 50% of the land in Scotland and only 5% of its population.
Let your imagination take hold while on the Harry Potter Train & Scenic Highlands tour. Begin this all-day adventure with a stop at Urquhart Castle. These castle ruins along Loch Ness provide the best opportunity to prove the existence of Nessie, the fabled Loch Ness Monster, as you scan the loch.
As you continue on and weave through mountains and meadows aboard the Jacobite Steam Train, imagine Harry, Hermione, and Ron joining your car on the Hogwarts Express as you cross the iconic Glenfinnan Viaduct. This viaduct carries its steam train 100-feet above the ground across an 1000-foot span covering majestic lochs and lush country landscapes. A civil engineering marvel, constructed in the 1890s, this was the first viaduct in Britain built completely out of concrete, and that is why it still stands today. Wizards and muggles 5 years and up are welcome on board the train.
If you find that the weather has turned, don’t curse the rain, but instead fall in step with the locals who boast that “Today’s rain is tomorrow’s whiskey,” and follow them to one of the many distilleries dotting the Highlands. Put a cap on your trip by sampling genuine Scottish whiskey that was matured in oak casks for at least three years and is just as much an art form as it is science.
