Travel

There are times I long to be religious. Wouldn’t it be pleasant to truly believe a deity was looking out for you? My only belief is that the fortunate parts of my life are due in no small part to sheer luck and it would be arrogant to think otherwise.I’ll tell you who was blessed though, the Minister who...

More young people visit Scotland from Spain than anywhere else in Europe.And VisitScotland is this week promoting the country at an international trade fair in Madrid this week.Last year it was attended by a record-breaking 245,000 travel trade professionals and consumers.The VisitScotland team will meet key travel trade partners from the Spanish and South American markets to develop new...

Perthshire’s nine hole golf course celebrates its 30th anniversary.The golf course's pearl anniversary coincides with the Menzies family owning the Mains of Taymouth Country Estate for 100 years. “Perthshire’s finest nine holes”.In what was a major feat of engineering completed over a two year period - to turn farmland into a challenging 3,026 yard course - Estate owner Robin...

Following its purchase by Karma Group, a collection of worldwide luxury resorts established by British entrepreneur John Spence, Karma Lake of Menteith is able to offer its guests the opportunity to taste a very special red wine created and blended by John Spence himself, together with his 90-year-old father, Mike.A 2019 Bordeaux, the wine, which John has named Père et...

The High Street will be closing between Blackfriars Street and St Mary’s Street from Monday 24th May for works to replace the setts on the road and various other improvements.This is to allow for works involving the re-construction of the existing setts using re-claimed setts, the final road level at the junction will be raised to the footway level...

Virgin Atlantic, which launched its direct Edinburgh-Barbados service in December, has announced it will not carry on flying the route this winter.The airline says passengers who have already booked flights to Barbados for winter 2022-23 will be contacted by the airline or their travel agent and will be re-booked via Manchester, or they can choose a voucher or...

Following a buyout by the worldwide Karma Group, Karma Lake of Menteith is launched with exciting plans to collaborate with local visitor attractions and further develop its impressive whisky vault.A beautiful country hotel in a truly idyllic Scottish location which has become the latest addition to a worldwide collection of outstanding resorts and estates. It was this tempting proposition...

Thinking of a spring getaway? You may have to as one B&B on Skye, currently in the midst of a significant £250,000 upgrade, is already being booked for next year.Following its purchase of the former MacKinnon Country House Hotel on the Isle of Skye, which will be rebranded as the Isle of Skye Guest House, The Fusion Group of...

DORNOCH CASTLE OWNERS REFLECT ON 20 YEARS OF OWNERSHIP AS THEY ANNOUNCE B&B FOR £20.20 & A WINTER WEDDING FOR £2020!One of Dornoch’s best known hotels is to celebrate a special anniversary next year.The Thompson family will have owned Dornoch Castle Hotel, which became the first hotel in the UK its launch its own Gin & Whisky Distillery, for...

Air Canada announced today that it will resume its non-stop seasonal service between Edinburgh and Toronto, operating six times weekly from 1 June - 2 October 2022 and four times weekly from 3 October - 29 October 2022.  The flights from Edinburgh to Toronto will be operated for the first time by Air Canada mainline with state-of-the-art Boeing 787-8...

Behind the facade of what was formerly the Sailors Ark building on The Royal Mile is the Adagio Aparthotel.It is just over a year since it opened and today the business reports good occupancy rates and customer feedback. With 4.5/5 on TripAdvisor the management is convinced they have got it right.Their revenue in the last year totalled over £4.62...

FINAL FOUR HOLIDAY HOMES IN CURRENT PHASE AT BRIGHAM HOLIDAY PARK – OFFERING BUYERS SUPERB INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITYBrigham Holiday Park at Cockermouth in Cumbria has a final “fab four” of holiday home properties, available to buy in its current phase. These are the superb value ABI Summer Breeze at £29,999, the ABI Oakley at £41,999, the charming Carnaby Rosedale Cottage...

New direct flights to Turkey will begin next year.A new service between Edinburgh and Turkey will launch for summer 2022 as SunExpress will begin to fly to and from Edinburgh Airport.The new service to Antalya will begin in April 2022 operating on Tuesdays and Saturdays, then stepping up to Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from May 24 2022. The service...

Experience Scotland from your armchairPeople across the world can now instantly walk through the prehistoric village of Skara Brae in Orkney, soar high over Edinburgh Castle like a bird, journey into the depths of The Hollow Mountain of Ben Cruachan and experience the Northern Lights all from the comfort of their own home.This follows the release of a new...

Edinburgh has won yet another award but this time it is a bit of a first.The capital has been named Western Europe's top cruise destination 2018. Capital Cruising part of Forth Ports is celebrating the win in the 2018 Cruisers' Choice Destination Awards from Cruise Critics.The company operates seven cruise terminals and anchorages across the UK including Leith and...

The Isle of Skye Guest House has just opened with forward bookings of more than £200,000 for what looks like a busy season ahead.The Fusion Group of Companies owns and operates a portfolio of hospitality businesses across Scotland and has invested more than £250,000 in its first property on the island, The Isle of Skye Guest House.And just last...

A SIMPLE product switch is set to dramatically cut plastic waste at a top Edinburgh hotel. By swapping individual L’Occitane bottles of shampoo, shower gel, conditioner and body lotion in favour of topped up large bottles, Nira Caledonia will save 400 cubic metres of plastic waste each year – enough to fill the load-space of 62 standard-size Ford Transits. It comes...

Vueling surprised their 400,000th customer travelling through Edinburgh Airport, lucky Tracey McTeague from South Queensferry.Tracey was boarding her flight to Alicante when she was presented with a pair of free return flights to Barcelona for a future trip.The low-cost Spanish airline has been flying from Edinburgh Airport for five years and provided more than 100,000 seats from the Scottish...

Of course it is still orange and white, but the new livery which easyJet have launched will appear on all of their new planes from April this year.This is the first change to their look since 1998 and is designed to celebrate the airline's twentieth year of flying. There have only been two styles in the past. In 1995...

...but only briefly.Following our – myself and Adrian Henry (Rugby People) - coverage of the rugby match in Villeneuve d'Ascq on Saturday, we arranged to meet up with the three Scots players on the Sunday to do a short photo shoot with them at the stadium. After we crossed swords with the, key wielding, security presence – 'Non! Impossible!' -...

Nira Caledonia reopened on Thursday with a ribbon cutting ceremony, some fizz and canapés. It has been closed for a nine month refurbishment following a fire last year in Gloucester Place.The work entailed 3 km of cabling, 300 litres of paint, 2000 square metres of carpet and 1092 square metres of wallpaper.The result is a stunning boutique hotel with...

A popular hotel has revealed how the hospitality sector has changed over recent years by using its 20th anniversary to take a nostalgic look at its past.Back when Jurys Inn in Edinburgh opened in 1998, guests would still book a morning wake-up call, TVs were barely bigger than 14-inches and WiFi was just a weird name.Now guests at the...

From 06:00 on Thursday 3 December until 06:00 on Monday 7 December, the Forth Road Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic as part of the ongoing project to replace the main expansion joints.The closure is necessary to allow contractor American Bridge International to carry out concreting works associated with the installation of the new joints and to reduce...

NEW PHASE RELEASED AT CAIRN LODGES, MAINS OF TAYMOUTH- Luxurious, bespoke Willerby lodges are “on course” for strong salesWith half the development already sold, Mains of Taymouth Country Estate & Golf Course at Kenmore has released a further release of luxury turnkey lodges at its Cairn Lodges holiday home development.Part of the prestigious Taymouth Village on the estate, the development sees Mains of...

THE LAVENDER SPA AT ATHOLL PALACE HOTEL  – REJUVENATION 21ST CENTURY STYLE!Drawing on its heritage as a Victorian health hydro, the luxurious Lavender Spa at the Atholl Palace Hotel in Pitlochry uses the powers of natural spring water to rejuvenate and restore. The water, which comes from the nearby mountains of Ben-y-Vrackie, is unique to the Atholl Palace and is...

On the occasions when we get away from Edinburgh, we like to really get away. Now that the whole of the US has become reachable in only a couple of hops from Edinburgh Airport it is all the more accessible.On a recent visit to California we were invited to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe San Francisco to see...

The Chester Residence picks up TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice awards for fifth year runningFive-star Edinburgh hotel, The Chester Residence, has been awarded fifth place in the UK Luxury Hotel category, 14th in the UK for Best Service and 22nd in the UK Small Hotel category in the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2018.The Chester Residence is the only Edinburgh hotel to be named in the Best Service and...

You may have seen their distinctive aircraft flying over towards Edinburgh Airport or you may have used them already of course! But from today low-cost airline Norwegian has launched its UK autumn sale offering affordable fares from Edinburgh to Malaga.Beach dwellers and sun seekers can now land a quick bargain with fares available from £29 until Monday 19 September.Norwegian reports huge...

We strolled to our leather armchairs for the journey and deposited our luggage then I hooked up my laptop ready for use. I picked up a paper to pass the time before coffee arrived.There had been no queue to check in luggage, problems over the weight of the luggage.Also, there was no hassle over security screening and the stress...

airBaltic will begin flying to Edinburgh Airport this summer with flights between Edinburgh and Riga from June.It’s the Latvian airline’s first route from Edinburgh and it will operate two flights per week between to Riga on an Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The route is scheduled to begin on 4 June 2021 and will operate on Mondays and Fridays.Gordon Dewar, Chief...