With the Scottish, there always seems to be a silent standing invitation to join in—on the fun, the meal, the joke.

Scotland isn’t a place where you want to spend your whole time in the cities, nice as they are. Motoring around the Highlands is achingly beautiful and you can easily do the trip in a week. Or longer. Or a lot longer. The scenery is the biggest draw in the Highlands—endless hills and rock, trees and lakes. Driving actually becomes your main activity, as if you were on your own personal treasure hunt.

UK: DRIVING TIPS

Do some drinking. A good place to start your tour is in Speyside on the Malt Whisky Trail. This is a grouping of eight distilleries that bank the fast-flowing River Spey to take advantage of its crystal clear water. Speyside produces more than half the whisky distilled in Scotland. The Scots, to their credit, credit the Irish for inventing whisky—they just don’t talk about it much.

READ MORE: ABOUT SPEYSIDE

Look for Ness. Next up is a swing west to Inverness for a cruise down Loch Ness, just to buy the t-shirt. This picturesque lake is long and skinny, cold and clear, and apparently, extremely deep. Certain tours of it will drop you off at the ruins of Urquhart Castle, where you can wander around, wondering what life would have been like constantly on the look-out for marauders climbing over the stone walls.

Get love. Relax into the loving arms of The Lovat, an award-winning eco-friendly boutique hotel in Fort Augustus. Skip the touristy Fort William and stop here instead, a beautiful village nestled at the base of Loch Ness. You can spend hours here just watching the sky change colour or waving at barges and boats being guided through the Caledonian Canal and locks, on their way through the lake system to the sea.

WHERE TO STAY: IN EDINBURGH

Stuff yourself. Carry on west around Lochs Garry, Loyne and Cluanie to Loch Duich, then cross the bridge to the Isle of Skye. A region of farming and fishing, this is a place for tourists to get back to the land—and the seafood. The Three Chimneys at House-Over-By is booked for months in advance by the foodies. The fabled Seven Courses of Skye uses ingredients sourced in Skye and Lochalsh, including the freshest oysters and crab, succulent smoked fish and a marmalade soufflé you could practically swim in. Book the chef’s table to get in on all the backstage activity. Watch out for sheep sleeping on the warm tarmac on the way home.

Find your clan. Of the castles you need to have on your list, Eilean Donan Castle near the town of Dornie is one of the best restored, the ancient home of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies the Clan Macrae. Built up and torn down for centuries, it lay derelict for 200 years before being rebuilt by John MacRae-Gilstrap in the 1920s. The castle opened to the public in 1955, and has enjoyed its time in the limelight as a location for many films, including The World Is Not Enough, Entrapment and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

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Speyside is the region in northern Scotland along the banks of the River Spey more or less between Inverness and Aberdeen. Difficult to categorize because there are so many, the whiskies here have a strong character, with smoky toffee and floral flavours.

UK: DRIVING TIPS

The concentration of distilleries in Speyside dates back to a time when making it was illegal, and the distillers needed seclusion among the rolling hills and winding roads. The amazing water here was also a big draw. Be sure to hit Benromach and Cardhu, plus all the Glens: Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glen Grant and Glen Moray.

Learn about whisky. Whiskies are either blended or single malts. To qualify as a single malt, whisky must be made in Scotland, bottled in Scotland and aged at least three years. The age on the label always refers to the youngest whisky in the blend. Whisky is aged in oak casks, bought from U.S. bourbon distilleries, who are required by law to only use a cask once. Casks can also be procured from Spanish sherry-makers. The whisky then takes on the taste of the cask’s previous occupant.

THINGS TO DO: IN THE HIGHLANDS

Mind the angel’s share. While it’s aging away, whisky actually evaporates through the casks, something known as the Angels’ Share. The joke goes that this is why older whisky is more expensive—customers like you have to pay for what the angels pilfer.

Visit the cooperage. Casks that need repairing are taken to Speyside Cooperage, the last one in existence in the UK. Twenty coopers and apprentices rejuvenate older oak casks—an art that goes back 5,000 years.

WHERE TO STAY: IN EDINBURGH

Bunk down. Opened in 1893 where the Fiddich and Spey rivers meet, the 26-room Craigellachie Hotel was built to cater to business people making sales calls to the region’s whisky producers. Not much has changed, as visitors travelling on the Malt Whisky Trail stop here for a break or to stay the night to rest up for more tasting the next day. The Macallan and Aberlour distilleries are two of the hotel’s nearest neighbours.

Many guests come specifically for the salmon fishing nearby, to hike to the beach at Lossiemouth or to visit nearby Ballindalloch Castle. The dining room is a must-do: organic Aberdeen Angus beef, fish from the Moray Firth, Walkers Shortbread and wild venison. After supper, congregated in The Quaich bar, where more than 900 bottles of whisky line the walls. Uh-oh.

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