Spring in Scotland

The start of April means one thing: Spring has officially begun! We’re thrilled to set the clocks forward and start looking forward to warmer weather, longer days and the Highlands once again starting to bloom. There’s loads of times you could visit Scotland, but in this piece we’ve made a list of the top 5 reasons you should visit Scotland in Spring.

Spring is rightly associated with beautiful flowers finally blooming after a long winter and Scotland has some of the most incredible flora in all of Europe. The first flowers you will probably notice are gorse. Gorse is a bright yellow flower appearing on the foothills of the Highlands that smells distinctly like coconut when it’s in the sun. The next popular flower you’ll likely come across is the Foxglove, with its distinctive purple flowers making for a great foreground for many a photo. Lastly, if you’re lucky, you’ll find a forest floor covered in bluebells which have a lovely light blue colour and make for some wonderful scenic photos.

There’s so many more varieties of flowers that you will come across in Scotland over the springtime, which is part of why this is our favourite time of the year to visit the Highlands.

Scottish winter is a long and arduous affair. Although we love the snowy conditions and stunning sunsets of a Scottish winter, there’s something indescribable about feeling the warmth of the sun on your face again and knowing your days are getting longer. It puts everyone in a better mood, you feel more energetic and the Highlands seem to have a bit more magic to them. This time of year the weather in Scotland tends to be more stable with less big rainy spells and an increase of the temperatures to around 15-20 degrees.

If that wasn’t enough reason to visit, this is also the first time in months where we’d be considering having a wild swim at Loch Ness as our Lochside Hostel reopens for the year just in time for the warmer weather.

The Scottish Midge is the most feared creature in the Highlands. Small biting insects that love to be around low lying water, they’re a pest in the Highlands that tend to be at their worst in the summer months. Thankfully, Spring tends to be too cold and too early for them to start terrorizing the Highlands and so many a Scot will travel exclusively in these months to try get the most out of their Highlands adventures without the irritation of these beasties.

Thankfully, if you’re worried about midgies you can pick up a bunch of products to keep them away like the ones detailed in this blog

April is the start of our busy season and when much of the Highlands starts to reopen for the season. So it’s no coincidence that it’s also when we restart our two other tours.

5 Day Skye & Highland Fling

From the 14th of April our 5 Day Skye & Highland Fling will be running every Monday until the end of October. This has been an extremely popular tour over the years and is our longest, most in-depth tour. You’ll get to see more of Scotland than any other tour we run and stay at some wonderful hostels such as Lochside Hostel, Lochbuie Guest House and Oban Backpackers. It’s the true Scottish experience and the best way to enjoy our home!

3 Day Loch Ness & Skye

The other tour that starts again in April is our 3 Day Loch Ness & Skye Magic Tour, which will be kicking off again on the 16th of April and running every Wednesday until October. This tour combines the great highlights of our 3 Day Isle of Skye with a night on Loch Ness at Lochside Hostel as well as a stop at the famous Glenfinnan Viaduct (the Harry Potter Bridge) on day 3. Plus, you’ll even get back in time for a night out in the capital!

While Spring offers a lot of the benefits of the summer time in Scotland, it’s also a lot cheaper on average. Our tours stay at a lower rate until the end of May and if you’re looking for accommodation then you’ll find a lot of spots across the country are offering early season discounts for these first few months of warmer weather. It’s a great time to get the most bang for your buck and your chance to see the country before it gets super busy for the summer.

We run specials year round if you’re looking to save some money. If you’d like to be the first in the know and get an automatic 10% discount, then subscribe to our emails on the button below.