Our gourmet tour starts in Scotland’s capital city, where we’ll stay in a restored Georgian townhouse on the historic Royal Terrace. In waterfront Leith – once busy dockyards, now a foodie hub – we’ll dine on premium Scottish seafood with one of Scotland’s best chefs, Barry Bryson. Add 4 extra days in Edinburgh pre-tour.
In the east coast fishing town of Arbroath, we’ll visit a traditional smokehouse at 'The Fit o' the Toon' (by the port) to see how the famous Arbroath Smokies are made. The Spink family name dominates the world of smokies, and we'll enjoy a casual smokie-focused dinner at Darren and Jess Spink's The Port Kitchen.
In Speyside, home to over half of Scotland’s single malt whiskies, we’ll have a private tour and tasting at the family-owned Glenfarclas distillery. We'll spend the night at the comfortable Craigellachie Hotel with dinner at the Spey Inn, Scotland's oldest drovers' inn, and a nightcap dram at its legendary Quaich Bar.
We’ll take one of Scotland’s most scenic drives, down the Great Glen – an ancient rift valley with a chain of lochs including Loch Ness. Here we'll lunch with artisanal venison salumi producers Anja and Jan Jacob of Great Glen Charcuterie at Glen Spean Brewing, where we'll also taste the award-winning craft beers.
At The Pierhouse restaurant-with-rooms in the West Highlands, we’ll feast on langoustine, lobster and other seafood fresh from the loch. We'll visit the restaurant's oyster supplier for a tour, shucking lesson and tasting, then go foraging for mushrooms, brambles, seaweed and more before a private lunch featuring these wild foods.
We’ll take the ferry across to the Hebridean Isle of Mull for a relaxing afternoon in the colourful town of Tobermory – a chance to visit more distilleries or the farm producing award-winning Isle of Mull Cheddar. Two more scenic ferry rides bring us home, with dinner along the way at The Whitehouse in tiny Lochaline.
Driving through dramatically beautiful Glencoe, we’ll reach the Perthshire Highlands to stay deep in Balquhidder Glen overlooking tranquil Loch Voil. Home to Rob Roy MacGregor, the glen has a strong Jacobite history, which we'll learn about on a food & wine safari, picnic and foraging expedition with owner/chef Tom Lewis.
A drive along Loch Lomond brings us to lunch at Inver, one of Scotland’s most innovative restaurants. Then on to Glasgow – once the centre of British shipbuilding, now home to some of Scotland’s best restaurants, including Eleven Fifty Five where we'll have our final dinner. Add 4 extra days in Glasgow post-tour.
Welcome to Scotland – Caledonia, Scotia, Alba – only 690km from southeast to northwest, with 5.5 million people and over 6.5 million sheep. Its haunting Highland scenery and history stretching to the last Ice Age have long captivated the world. A country that has punched well above its weight in science, economics, exploration and literature – Scotland saves some of its greatest achievements for the table.
Scottish produce is among the world’s finest. Seafood of course – with its cold Atlantic waters and long coastline – also venison and game birds; lamb and cattle grazing wild Highland herbs; a revived artisanal cheese scene; plus mushrooms, berries and other wild foods all increasingly foraged for the table. Inspired by Scotland’s extraordinary natural larder, a generation of chefs (with experience in the world’s finest kitchens) has come home to reimagine what Scottish food can be.
Did I mention the whisky and boutique gin scene using native botanicals? Let’s explore Scotland’s best food and drinks.
Slàinte Mhath!
Immerse yourself in Scotland’s food culture, especially its outstanding seafood and spirits. Visit food producers, brewers and distillers, and eat regional specialties in local restaurants and city fine-diners. You’ll share this Scotland seafood tour with like-minded food and wine lovers in a relaxed, comfortable environment.
The above itinerary covers the food tour highlights – the order of activities and locations may vary.
Edinburgh and Glasgow both have international airports. Airport transfers can be arranged at an additional cost.
Share page on:
Scotland has always had some of the world’s finest produce – but until recently most of it was shipped straight to the kitchens of Europe’s best restaurants. Today a wave of talented Scottish chefs is keeping the best of it at home, and the country has become one of Europe’s most exciting food destinations – from Michelin-starred dining rooms and inspired country inns to seafood shacks on the pier.
Plenty!
Over 10 days on this all-inclusive Scotland tour, we’ll watch Arbroath Smokies emerge from the smokehouse, savour a wee dram in a bar stocked with more than 700 single malts, and pair venison charcuterie with craft beer on the road through the Great Glen.
We’ll forage in the woodlands and along the shore of Loch Linnhe, shuck oysters straight from the water with the Oyster Lady on Loch Creran, and linger over a long picnic lunch in Balquhidder Glen with chef Tom Lewis, who knows every hidden corner of it.
Along the way, there’s clifftop Dunnottar Castle, the haunting battlefield of Culloden and Rob Roy’s grave.
Scottish seafood is world-class: langoustines, oysters, mussels and huge hand-dived scallops, along with fabulous smoked fish – from east coast Arbroath Smokies and Finnan Haddies to kippers and traditionally smoked haddock.
Venison and other seasonal game (grouse, pheasant, partridge, woodcock, ptarmigan and more) are used in traditional dishes as well as increasingly in innovative ways like salami and other cured meats.
Scottish lamb and beef – often raised on Highland herbs and wild grasses – are seen on the menus of Europe’s best restaurants.
Scotland’s woodlands and shores are also a rich source of wild foods that are increasingly foraged for the table: mushrooms like chanterelles; spring greens including wild asparagus, sorrel and wild garlic; brambles and other berries; and a wealth of different seaweeds.
Think beyond haggis, Cullen skink and shortbread (though there are great examples of these to be found all over Scotland).
Scottish seafood is at its best simply prepared so the flavours can shine: freshly shucked oysters straight from the loch; boiled langoustines with house-made mayonnaise for dipping; steamed mussels in white wine with wild herbs; and hand-dived Orkney scallops cooked in the shell.
Scotland’s beautiful flat fish (turbot, brill, flounder, sole and john dory) are best grilled or pan-fried with a light sauce – or turned into a delicious rustic fish pie.
Venison casseroles, roast lamb, steaks of Highland beef – along with square sausage, black pudding, white pudding and the incomparable haggis – are popular meat dishes.
Scottish baking has long been famous – from crumbly all-butter shortbread to scones, fruit-filled Dundee cake, and crisp Aberdeen butteries (rowies) – so there’s always something perfect to have with a cup of tea or coffee.
Scotland has a long history of farmhouse cheesemaking, though – along with the rest of the UK – it was all but obliterated post-WWII by the Milk Marketing Board’s relentless push towards mass-produced cheddar.
The slow resurgence began in the early ‘80s when a handful of stubborn farmers started making cheese again. Among them was Humphrey Errington of Lanarkshire, whose raw sheep milk Lanark Blue became a standard-bearer for the revival.
Today the range and quality of Scottish artisanal cheese is such that restaurants can now offer all-Scottish cheeseboards.
Lanark Blue is still one of Scotland’s benchmark cheeses – along with Strathdon Blue and Blue Murder from Highland Fine Cheeses, and Isle of Mull Cheddar. Denise Ferguson at Drumturk Cheese in Perthshire makes some funky blue and creamy white mould goat’s cheeses too.
Scotland – especially the Scottish Highlands – has some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. The misty, craggy, snowcapped peaks; peaceful glens and lochs; and windswept moors are often dotted with the ruins of ancient castles and crofts, as well as some well-restored ones that are now home to restaurants offering excellent food made with fresh local produce, like Inver on the shore of Loch Fyne.
Scottish whisky is famous the world over, and Scotland’s evolving gin scene is starting to come to prominence too as boutique distilleries across the country produce excellent small-batch gins flavoured with native juniper and local botanicals. The Isle of Harris Distillery uses sugar kelp seaweed; there’s bog myrtle in Speyside’s Caorunn gin; rock rose, rowan and gorse used at Dunnet Bay Distillery in Caithness; and Bruichladdich on Islay makes The Botanist with 22 hand-foraged botanicals all native to the island.
There’s a healthy real ale movement across Scotland too, with craft brewers creating everything from delicious porters and amber ales to traditional lagers, plus some exciting saison beers made with native ingredients such as heather, bog myrtle and foraged herbs.
The tour begins with a night in Edinburgh, Scotland’s elegant capital, and finishes in Glasgow, its most sociable city – with memorable meals in both. To explore further, add my 4-day Edinburgh experience before the tour and my 4-day Glasgow experience after it.
Being on tour with me is like travelling with a small group of food-loving friends. Discover all the details – from accommodation and restaurant style to catering for dietary requirements and travelling solo – in the FAQ on my Food & Wine Tours page.
