beautiful places in scotland

I'm a Fifer, from Kirkcaldy.
Fife is a place of contrasts. There are some absolutely stunning bits of countryside and some of the worst social deprivation in Scotland is found in the small central Fife ex mining towns.
The coastal walks are lovely, some beautiful beaches (Aberdour, Burntisland) and the small fishing villages of the East Neuk are a definite must-see; also, yes, great fish and chips to be had there.
I'm not a huge fan of St. Andrews personally but there is a shedload of history in the town and lots of stuff laid on for tourists - particularly those keen on golf.
I would recommend spending some time on the north coast of Fife - it's pretty underappreciated.
As for the big towns:
Glenrothes is a new town built to accomodate the car. It's a pleasant place to live mostly - but rubbish for visitors.
Dunfermline has some interesting stuff to see in the centre - the abbey and the ruins of the old abbey are worth seeing. Pittencrieff Park is quite nice and has decent views of the Forth. The Carnegie library is one of my favourite libraries in Scotland (I'm a librarian - these are things I notice).
Kirkcaldy is the biggest town in Fife and like much of the Kingdom has never really recovered from the loss of mining and manufacturing in the 80's. My favourite bit of Kirkcaldy is the coastal walk from Dysart Harbour to Ravenscraig Castle.
I also very much like Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery and the big library next door. They occupy a handsome building donated to the town in the memory of the soldiers lost in the first world war.

Another place that I'd say that is well worth a visit is the far north and Orkney.

Dunfermline is also good if you have any interest in Andrew Carnegie, who was undoubtedly A Very Bad Man but gave away loads of his money, not least to the people of Fife and Dunfermline.

I'm staying a couple of nights at my friend's who lives in dunfermline! will mostly be going into edinburgh though (whisky fringe on the saturday)

you will have the pleasure of taking the train across the amazing Forth Rail Bridge, which can be seen from various points in Dunfermline.

Yes look forward to that!

I think Aberdour/Burntisland and East Neuk will appeal to my friend (particularly the great fish and chips! any particular recommendations?)

Orkney may be a bit too much of a drive for this trip. Will be good to see some good hills/mountains too if there are good ones around!

There's a couple of places in Anstruther that have great reputations for their fish'n'chips. Neither is cheap and both suffer from long queues but all reports are that it's well worth the wait.

There's not much in the way of high hills in Fife - Largo Law is probably the biggest and I'd say it's worth the drive through Upper Largo towards St. Andrews for the view across the Forth.

A fairly picturesque place with hills near Dunfermline is Loch Leven which is just off the M90 on the border between Fife and Perth & Kinross.
Perth itself is a pretty nice place in a market town kind of way and depending on the route you take there's some nice scenery.

previous trips:
1: fort william and drumnadrochit christmas 2002
2: edinburgh -> glencoe -> durness -> ullapool -> inverness -> glasgow -> edinburgh august 2006
3: kinlochleven, skye, aonach mor april 2008
4: ardrossan -> brodick march 2009
5: edinburgh -> pittenweem/Anstruther aug 2011

can't believe it's been almost 3 years already!

Will be up again for 5 days in April - any good suggestions? I am thinking of currently getting a short-let house as a base and take day trips (will hire a car). I guess around that ballachulish/glencoe area might be convenient, but not sure appreciate any tips!

maybe it's time for mull?

been living away from scotland for 3 years now, going back for a couple weeks in september. going to skye for the first time for a long weekend. really looking forward to it.

not jingoistic enough to contend that the highlands and western islands are the most beautiful place on earth - in fact i absolutely adore the pacific northwest and am amazed by the grandeur and sheer scale of some of the landscape here - but there's just something about them that i can't get enough of.

I had a cracking weekend in Skye earlier this year at friends' wedding in Isleornsay. Lots of lovely driving about looking at hills and that (also llamas! though they were on the mainland somewhere near the Kintail end of Loch Duich). It's great.

previous trips:
1: fort william and drumnadrochit christmas 2002
2: edinburgh -> glencoe -> durness -> ullapool -> inverness -> glasgow -> edinburgh august 2006
3: kinlochleven, skye, aonach mor april 2008
4: ardrossan -> brodick march 2009
5: edinburgh -> pittenweem/Anstruther aug 2011
6: edinburgh -> ballachulish -> kinloch forest (skye) -> ullapool -> drumnadochit -> pitlochry apr 2014

back again in August! Probably should visit new bits. Likely Kinghorn will feature. Suggestions welcome!

I've done more than a few bothy supported walks, two of the more memorable ones were glenfinnan to knoydart, and one to peanmeanach beach - not a long walk but we did it at one am on a moonless night with no torches!

Kinghorm, well the east neuk of fife - pittenweem, anstruther, isle of may nature reserve, st andrews. note: despite spending four years in st andrews i've never been to any of those others!