Travel to Scotland over Christmas & New Years: are hiking & outdoor activities right out?

Question

I'm trying to plan a trip to Scotland & I don't want to wait >6 months for a number of reasons. It looks like there are a lot of winter festivals all over Scotland, and what I'm reading about sounds really great.

Question is, I'd like to do the Jacobite train, some whiskey tours, visit Skara Brae, and also I'd like to do some outdoor stuff. Looks like Glencoe would be great for snow sports, but I'd also like to do some light (4-6mi round trip) hiking and see some of the landscape. I love the snow, very tolerant of cold, so unless it's miserably rainy/windy I don't mind the weather. Are these things possible/advisable in midwinter? Seems like winter travel around Scotland, esp. the highlands, would be amazingly gorgeous. I'm open for alternative suggestions that achieve similar results.

Answer 1

If you know something about the history of Glencoe a "dreich" day may be the most suitable for a visit there.

Note that the topography makes the climate relatively changeable (specially on the East coast, where four seasons in one day is not unusual). It snowed in Aberdeen quite heavily in July (mid summer!) yet within 48 hours Aberdeen was showing as the hottest city in Europe – with a higher average temperature that day greater than Nicosia.

Your tastes seem eclectic so it should not take much juggling to plan to be indoors (say a distillery) during the worst weather and outdoors during the best. It is possible you will face travel delays due to bad weather but you’d have to be extremely unlucky for that to last throughout the length of stay you seem to have in mind. Though miserably rainy I’m afraid could blight you trip – the Scots themselves are so used to that they barely notice but I admit it could be depressing for a visitor used to continuous sunshine.

There are though advantages for you. Others do avoid the winter months, so you won’t be tripping over so many other tourists – and if visiting to West Coast you would be past the season for “wee biting beasties”. The astounding beauty, of which solitude seems to form part, of the glens is tarnished (in my view!) when tour buses of noisy visitors are in earshot!

On the other hand I fear you will be out of luck with the Jacobite Train “It has been operating under various names and with different operators every summer since 1984.” (though ‘Summer’ this year stretches through to October 24th). There are however other steam engine services, for example Strathspey Steam Railway and that does run in December.

Answer 2

In Scotland in the winter, you can get all sorts of weather. It might be mild and damp, or freezing cold, or blizzards, or some mixture of these. But if the weather is nice, the highlands can be beautiful, with snow on the hills and ice on the lochs.

So it can be very nice for walking, or other outdoor activities. There are plenty of scenic easy walks around much of Scotland, so you can find something the distance you like. You could check Walk Highlands to get an idea of routes. You could find routes ending near a pub, so you can get food and warm up afterwards. Remember it gets dark much earlier in midwinter, especially in northern Scotland. So set off early, and allow plenty of time to get back.

Climbing mountains in the winter can be much harder. For that you need to be prepared for all sorts of weather - ensure you have proper clothing and footwear, plus equipment as required. Some mountains may be covered with ice and snow, so you need crampons and an ice axe, plus experience of how to use these. And if the weather changes, you could have to navigate through a blizzard. So stick to lower level walks if you want to avoid this.

In parts of the highlands, many tourist attractions will be closed for the season. The Jacobite steam train only runs between May and October. You can still take a regular ScotRail passenger train along the same route, which lets you see the great scenery, and is cheaper. Many whisky distillery tours will be closed for the winter, but you should be able to find a few which are open.

So I would say it is worth travelling to Scotland in the winter. You may be lucky, and get great weather for walking. But it is a good idea to plan some bad weather options just in case, eg easier walks, or indoor attractions to visit.