# Scotland HELP!  Need advice quickly!



## DebBrown (Apr 28, 2009)

We're going to Scotland in June.  Through RCI we have an exchange at Scandinavian Village near Aviemore.  This came about after RCI cancelled twice - once a 3br at Hilton Craigendarrach and then MacDonald Lochanhully.  Because RCI had messed up twice, I kept an ongoing exchange request with II.  Today II came through with a 1br at Hilton Craigendarrach.

Now I need to pick between the 2br at Scandinavian Village or the 1br at Hilton Craigendarrach.  The HC property looks great but perhaps SV will due as a better location for touring?  We only have 3 people in our party.  We were planning to tour through Inverness, Culladon, Loch Ness, etc.  

I have until the end of the day to cancel HC without penalty.  Of course, if I take it, I'll have the SV property that I can't use.

What would a Tugger do?

Deb


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## Keitht (Apr 28, 2009)

Aviemore is better located for the areas you plan to tour.  Hilton Craigendarroch is about 50 miles further east, which would be well over an hour extra driving.
The town of Aviemore is decidedly un-lovely, but it is only a base for touring from.


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## DebBrown (Apr 28, 2009)

Keith, I appreciate the voice of reason. We had originally been confirmed at the Hilton property before RCI starting cancelling our plans.  I guess I wish I had more time to see more.  

Deb


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## Keitht (Apr 28, 2009)

Deb,

If you are going to be in Scotland for more than one week, and you plan to visit many historical sites, it's worth considering membership of the National Trust for Scotland.  Individual membership isn't cheap, but can work out as good value if seperate admission costs are totalled up.  For example Culloden costs £12 per person, although that does include a personal PDA for the battlefield tour.  This link will take you to the NTS website.
Membership also gives free access to all National Trust properties in England & Wales too, so then the cost could definitely be a good investment.


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## DebBrown (Apr 28, 2009)

Keith, We'll be there for two weeks and definitely going to historical sites.  I've found, however, that many places we would visit are not part of the Trust.  I'm going to have to go through my guide books and make a more detailed plan to see if the Trust membership would be worthwhile.  Thanks for the suggestion!

Deb


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## Keitht (Apr 29, 2009)

The other 'major player' is Historic Scotland  and their website is also worth a look.  Membership cost looks more sensible too, although that obviously depends on the mix of places you plan to visit.


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## Chrisky (Apr 29, 2009)

We found that this pass was better value than the NTS or the Explorer Pass, and it covered all the properties of the other two.  
http://www.britishheritagepass.com/.


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## Timeshare Von (May 3, 2009)

Chrisky said:


> We found that this pass was better value than the NTS or the Explorer Pass, and it covered all the properties of the other two.
> http://www.britishheritagepass.com/.



I believe this is the pass we bought for our two weeks in 2006 that I referenced in another thread on Deb's trip.

I actually prepared a spreadsheet with all of the things we thought we wanted to do and marked which ones were included on each of the passes available.  It was a great deal for the three of us, as I said elsewhere, saving close to 40%!


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