Scottish Elises

I have hired a VW campervan (new one as I value my legs in an accident) to take the kids up and around Scotland for my Holidays this year. There are a few camping experts on SE so I thought I would tap into the collective knowledge and look for recommendations of where to take the Kids. Looking for anything that's going to be kid friendly.

Thanks in advance.

Beach at Arasaig is nice, and the Landmark centre just up from Aviemore is also fun kids, and adults.

Stu

Looks good, keep them coming. Worth noting my kids are 4 & 2.

Well anything with a beach is going to be great for the kids and if you are in the west will help keep the midges away. So Camusdarach Arisaig or Achmelvich & Clacthol at Lochinver have great beaches.

I don't spend much time at Aberdeenshire sites because they are very local but Huntly has a nice site with soft ball play barn attached.

Glen Nevis has great facilities and there is plenty for the kids to do in Ft Bill, Pool, play barn, gondola up Anoch mor and the hogwarts train out to Mallaig.

The Pine trees site at Tyndrum is really nice, but limited activities other than the small playpark, walks and playing in the stream.

One vote for Shell Bay Ellie if you do east coast , were going back again this year ,has the beach and a great play park for kids also a restaurant and bar kids entertainers good for bikes exploring football camp also seams to hog the sun. Book in advance.

Back up the recommendations for Arisaig ( camasdarach camp site I think) and Elie. Elie campsite we stayed in was a fair walk out the town but has the advantage of being quite central and can pop into St Andrews as well. We also liked Rothiemurchus ( just overnighter In fcs car park) and a site called big Sands on the north west coast.

red squirrel campsite near fort William is talked up as a good site and there's a free campsite near the observatory in the dark skies part of Galloway forest- always on the to do list but we never headed over.

Small update as I am getting things together.

Any suggestions for things nearby to visit / Stay would be great.

Night 1 - Glen Nevis
Night 2 - Gairloch
Night 3 - Achmelvich
Night 4 - Durness
Night 5 - Thurso-ish
Night 6 - Dornoch-ish
Night 7 - Avimore-ish
Night 8 - Pitlochry
Home

We always really liked Glenmore at Aviemore. On the edge of Loch Morlich.

BiggestNizzy wrote:I have hired a VW campervan (new one as I value my legs in an accident) to take the kids up and around Scotland for my Holidays this year..

That is a great idea, i would love to do that with the kids. Need 5 beds. Where did you rent from ?

Interested to hear how you get on , interested to understand what its like to rent , drive , manage campervan etc.

Have fun.
Scott

scott_e wrote:

BiggestNizzy wrote:I have hired a VW campervan (new one as I value my legs in an accident) to take the kids up and around Scotland for my Holidays this year..

That is a great idea, i would love to do that with the kids. Need 5 beds. Where did you rent from ?

Interested to hear how you get on , interest to understand what its like to rent , drive , manage campervan etc.

Have fun.
Scott

Hired a 4 berth VW from http://www.rockinvans.co.uk/, they are 3 miles from my front door. As I have 2 small kids lot's of prep is going into this trip as I plan on staying in campsites for the facilities. I will try some form of wild camping for 1 night to see how it goes but again I want that all planned. I can't just wing it with the kids, especially on a first attempt.

I will do a write up when finished

It's a great life. Only done it as a couple (we toured Europe for 6 months in a VW California), but will definitely do it again one day with the kids.

Enjoy!

There are a few good wild camping spots near lochinver. We normally book a couple of nights, then plan a wild camp, then back to a site etc. Wild camping is great to help get from A to B with a bit less hassle of having to be at a site for a specific time etc. There are a couple of things to consider though. If you leave it too late, then someone else will be in the spot you were thinking of. The wild camping sites can have a lot more midges than you'd have at a site, so you want to make sure it's coastal and exposed, not surrounded by trees and bracken.

I spotted this place was being used by 2 or 3 vans last year looked like a nice spot to stop. Between Durness and Tongue.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Dur ... -4.7468816

I like your route, pretty much what I did last year in reverse. Personally I like to stay somewhere for a couple of nights then move on, maybe wildcamp and arrive at the next site for a couple of nights. Packing up to leave every day by 12 is a bit of an effort every day, and then getting to the next site becomes the main activity. So a couple of 2 night stops just adds a bit more variety to the experience.

BiggestNizzy wrote: I will do a write up when finished

Looking forward to the write up too. Seems like an great route. I'm hoping to do something similar with wife and kid this year if I can get organised, though with a slight twist, and at a slower pace / perhaps 2-3 nights in 3 locations or similar.

My mother in law now has a Mazda Bongo, so the plan is that she would take that along with nieces, and Erica and I would take Juliette, and a tent, in the Maserati. We can detour for fun roads, and pitch up for a couple of nights, and Ec's mum arrives in the van a bit later. I get to enjoy some nice roads, and the kids get to enjoy camping / countryside

Barra