Other Highlights

Edinburgh Races

Just eight miles from the centre of Edinburgh, Musselburgh racecourse is easily accessible by plane, train or car. Originally known as Edinburgh Races, with meetings held on Leith Sands, horseracing has been staged in the area for hundreds of years. Lord Rosebery was largely responsible for the move to the attractive meadows setting at Musselburgh, following complaints about the crowd at Leith becoming too rowdy.

The historic Musselburgh Links has been a venue for horse racing since 1816, during which time the course has seen many changes. One of the most recent courses to develop a jumping track, Musselburgh is one of two courses in Scotland that races both on the flat and over obstacles.

The racecourse management has also recently redeveloped the main grandstands, entrance and parade ring area, creating some of the best facilities for racegoers in the country. Future projects include a new stable yard and the addition of an all-weather track.

Click here for a 2007 fixture list

Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel was voted one of the top seven waterway structures in the UK, only four months after it was opened by Her Majesty the Queen.

The unique rotating boat lift, part of the Millennium Link project, has also been listed in a British Waterways and Waterways Trust survey as one of their Seven Wonders of the modern waterways.

And the Falkirk Wheel has enjoyed the largest rise in visitors of any British tourist attraction, figures released in February 2007 show.

The wheel, which transfers boats between the Union canal and the Forth and Clyde canal, showed a rise of 48 per cent, a larger percentage increase than Kensington Palace in London, which enjoyed the second largest percentage rise, a boost of 45 per cent.

Linlithgow Palace

The royal palace of Scottish Kings and Queens. The earliest reference to this large castle is dated 1301.
The magnificent ruins of Linlithgow Palace are set in a park beside a loch.

All of the Stewart kings lived at the Palace. Numerous renovations to the palace’s grand facades and chambers were carried out as each sought to create the ideal modern palace.

The Palace is the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Stirling and Stirling Castle

Put an undeniably beautiful, fascinating and enthusiastically tourist-friendly area at the crossroads of Scotland and visitors will come from far and wide. Add genuine world-class crowd-pullers such as the Castle, a gateway to Scotland's first National Park, great shopping and top entertainment, and it's small wonder Stirling is attracting increasing attention. In the 7 years to 2000 visitor numbers more than doubled and shoppers trebled. More than a million tourists visit the city annually at present.

It's the diverse, imaginative heritage-shopping-recreation approach which has established Stirling as a local, national and international destination for all. History buffs will be in their element discovering magnificent Stirling Castle with its Great Hall - the largest and finest medieval banqueting hall in Scotland. Other gems at the Top of the Town are Argyll's Lodgins, the most complete surviving example in Scotland of a 17th century town residence, with rooms decked out 1680 fashion, and the evocative Old Town Jail.

The Wallace Monument, Bannockburn Heritage Centre and Old Stirling Bridge are just some of the other unmissable attractions.