Weekend breaks in Scotland

The UK's largest national park, with arctic mountains and ancient pine forests

The gateway to the Trossachs, with waterfalls, crags and lochs

A postcard harbour in the East Neuk of Fife, with lobster and pantile roofs

Dark skies, a book town and a quiet, unspoilt coast

A cathedral village on the River Tay, in Perthshire's Big Tree Country

A dramatic castle city of cobbled lanes, festivals and whisky

The outdoor capital of the Highlands, at the foot of Ben Nevis

Scotland's biggest city, known for art, music and architecture

Scotland's most dramatic glen, with towering mountains and a haunting history

The capital of the Highlands, with Loch Ness, Culloden and dolphins nearby

Scotland in miniature, a short ferry ride from the mainland

The whisky island, with wild beaches and geese

A colourful harbour, sea eagles and boat trips to Iona and Staffa

Jagged mountains, fairy pools and wild Atlantic coast

A handsome Borders town with a Georgian square and Scotland's largest inhabited house

Britain's largest loch by area, within an hour of Glasgow

An abbey town with a hill walk, the birthplace of rugby sevens

The seafood capital of the west coast and the gateway to the islands

5,000-year-old villages, standing stones and sea cliffs off the north coast of Scotland

White beaches, standing stones and Gaelic culture at the edge of Europe

A Tweed Valley market town with mountain biking and a castle

A Highland gateway town with a theatre in the woods and a salmon ladder

Palm trees and sailing boats on a sheltered Highland sea loch

Ruined abbeys, rolling hills and little-visited border towns

Puffins, Viking heritage and a wild, treeless coast far to the north

The home of golf, Scotland's oldest university and a famous beach

A white-painted harbour town and the ferry gateway to the Outer Hebrides

Castle, Old Town and a volcano, planned around the hills so you never walk further than you need to.

Sea stacks, landslips and fairy pools on Scotland's most dramatic island, though three nights is better.

Britain's largest national park, with a mountain railway, a beach on a loch and wildlife.

Free museums, grand architecture and a famous music scene, in Scotland's biggest city.

Edinburgh Castle stands on an extinct volcanic rock above the city and is Scotland's most visited paid attraction.

The Jacobite is a steam train that runs between Fort William and Mallaig on the West Highland Line, crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct made famous by the Harry Potter films.

Edinburgh offers many ways to learn about Scotch whisky, from guided tastings on the Royal Mile to specialist bars with hundreds of bottles.

The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre near Aviemore looks after the only free-ranging reindeer herd in the British Isles.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is one of the world's largest arts festivals, filling the city every August with comedy, theatre, music and street performance.

At 1,345 metres, Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the UK. The standard route, the Mountain Track, starts at the Glen Nevis visitor centre and climbs steadily for around ten miles there and back.

The Lost Valley, or Coire Gabhail, is a hidden hanging valley tucked between two of the Three Sisters.

Buachaille Etive Mor is the great pyramid of rock that guards the entrance to Glen Etive and is one of the most photographed mountains in Scotland.

The Old Man of Storr is a famous rock pinnacle on the Trotternish ridge, rising from a hillside of towers and crags.

The Quiraing is a spectacular landslip on the northern end of the Trotternish ridge, where pinnacles, cliffs and hidden plateaus stand above the sea.

The Fairy Pools are a series of crystal-clear blue pools and waterfalls on the River Brittle, under the dramatic Black Cuillin mountains.

Ben Lomond is a Munro of 974 metres on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, and the most southerly of Scotland's high peaks.

Arthur's Seat is an extinct volcano of 251 metres in the middle of Holyrood Park, dominating the Edinburgh skyline.

Mull is one of the best places in Britain to see sea eagles, the largest bird of prey in the UK, and boat trips from Tobermory and other harbours also aim to find minke whales, dolphins, porpoises and seals.

Iona is a tiny island of just over a mile and a half off the south-west coast of Mull, reached by a short ferry from Fionnphort.

Boat trips from Mull, Ulva Ferry and Tobermory visit Staffa, a small uninhabited island of hexagonal basalt columns, home to Fingal's Cave, which inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture.