Ten places you have to visit

When it comes to tourists sites, there is plenty of choice. Here Ian Buxton picks the ones you just can't afford to miss

It's not hard to find somewhere special to visit in Scotland. City or countryside alike, there's a rich variety of museums, galleries, attractions, heritage sites, countryside and places of interest to suit all tastes.

The ‘top ten' attractions are, of course, deservedly popular. Edinburgh Castle, for example, receives well over a million visitors a year – and gets pretty crowded during the summer months. I've listed some of Scotland's best loved sites in the panel (over). If you haven't visited them, then you should do so soon, but this article plans to take you a little off the beaten track, to some less well-known and less crowded parts of Scotland that you should make time to see very soon.

One of my favourite places is the island of Islay, off the west coast. It's famed for its pungent, smoky whiskies, reeking of peat smoke. While you're there, catch a distillery tour – and the tastiest home cooking – at the Ardbeg Distillery. Ardbeg is a connoisseurs' whisky, and the distillery a sanctuary for traditional production and old-fashioned tender loving care for the whisky they make. Don't miss it.

However, today it's just a stopping off place, because I want you to drive (or cycle, or walk to get the full flavour) on a few miles to Kildalton Cross. This starkly beautiful landscape contains an ancient Celtic Cross. Carved from a single piece of epidiorite in the sixth century, this peerless cross still stands proudly next to the ruins of a church which it pre-date...

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• By : Ian Buxton
• In : Travel
• Issue : 20
• Page : 42
• Words : 1,636