Instead of Edinburgh: Stirling, the Historic Heart of Scotland Where It All Began

Edinburgh is one of Europe's most beautiful capitals, but during the August Festival and throughout the summer months the Royal Mile becomes impassable and prices touch London levels. An hour north by train, Stirling offers the same mix of history, castles and Scottish landscape with a tenth of the visitors.

Stirling Castle is considered the most important in Scotland — more so than Edinburgh Castle — for its strategic position at the crossroads between the Highlands and the Lowlands. The fates of Scotland were decided on this volcanic rock: Mary Queen of Scots was crowned here as a child in 1543, Robert the Bruce took refuge here after Bannockburn. The Great Hall — restored with its oak timber roof — and the Royal Chapel with its vividly painted walls are among the best-preserved Renaissance interiors in Scotland.

The Wallace Monument — the neo-Gothic tower dedicated to William Wallace — rises on a wooded hill north of the city. The walk through the forest and up the 246 steps of the tower are repaid by a view that, on clear days, reaches into the Highlands. Inside, Wallace's sword — a weapon measuring one metre seventy — is displayed alongside period documents and arms.

The battlefield of Bannockburn — where in 1314 Robert the Bruce defeated the English army of Edward II — is today an interactive visitor centre that brings the battle to life with 3D technology. This is a place where Scottish history truly comes alive.

Stirling's Old Town is a medieval quarter of sixteenth and seventeenth-century houses: the Church of the Holy Rude (where Mary Queen of Scots was crowned) retains an original fifteenth-century oak timber roof. Mar's Wark and Argyll's Lodging are Renaissance ruins and townhouses that speak of Stirling's royal wealth.

Eating in Stirling is a Scottish pleasure: haggis, neeps and tatties, cullen skink (smoked haddock soup), and cranachan — a dessert of cream, whisky, honey and raspberries. The pubs serve Scottish ales and single malts at prices well below Edinburgh's.

Stirling is reached from Edinburgh in fifty minutes by train, from Glasgow in thirty. It is the ideal starting point for the Trossachs National Park — the 'first Highland' — and for Loch Lomond.