Overview

Yes, there is life beyond golf in Scotland. The fishing is famous, the music marvelous, the walks wonderful, and the beaches surprisingly beautiful. Granted, you probably won't acquire tan lines on those beaches, but there are few places where the great outdoors is more appreciated.

Hiking the hills, moors, and rugged coast, is a long tradition here. Of course, Scotland is also a land that is long on heritage - of clans and castles and fine malt whiskys - and home to two historic and resurgent cities: Glasgow and Edinburgh.

At day's end, true serendipity is the discovery that the pub you're in is hosting a "session" - an informal gathering of traditional musicians who play simply for the sheer pleasure of making music.

 Plan Your Trip

FISHING

If golf is Scotland's passion, then fishing is its religion. But fishing here is not fishing unless it is done with an artificial fly, preferably hand-tied by the fisherman himself. The classic quartet of salmon rivers - the Tweed, the Tay, the Dee, and the Spey - is world famous, but other rivers and lochs throughout Scotland hold enough brown trout to answer the prayers of any angler.

GOLF

The sport was born here more than 600 years ago, and several courses - St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal Troon, Muirfield, and Turnberry - are the stuff of legends, from Old Tom Morris to the young Tom Watson. Advance bookings are a must at these famous links, which can humble even a PGA pro. But there are more than 400 other - and easier - courses in Scotland, many of them unheralded gems where you can step right up and take a whack.

SIGHTSEEING

Start in Edinburgh on a tour that combines two of Scotland's indelible symbols: castles and whisky. Learn the single-malt story at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Center near stately Edinburgh Castle (home to the Scottish crown jewels), then head north to Pitlochry, where you can visit Blair Athol Distillery and Blair Castle (whose walls held the secrets of the last Jacobite rebellion, in 1745). If by now you've had enough walls but not enough whisky, continue north to the distilleries of Dalwhinnie, Tomatin (Scotland's largest), and Glenmorangie - and remember, there are still 60 or so more to go.

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