vacation

[Kate]

When would be the best time of the year to go to Scottland?

[John Cook]

The winter can become brutal in the highlands. Especially on unpaved one-lane country lanes. But then there are the tourists and their coaches in summer.

My experience in Britain in general has been excellent in November and April.

Beauty is, the weather is never good, but never bad in most of England. So no point in waiting for the sun.

Only time things will get dodgy in winter is around Christmas week.

You haven’t experienced frustration as a photographer until you finally get your tripod set up in the perfect spot at an old castle, only to have a caravan of 1,000 tourists pull up in ten enormous coaches. Balloons and baby carriages absolutely everywhere!

I personally would much rather deal with the weather on a raw day out of season.

[FpJohn]

Hello: 'Lived in Edinburgh for over two years. The weather is always problematic but I second the above-October and May and perhaps mid September.
yours
Frank

[Bob._3483]

In general spring or autumn unless you want lots of snow in which case, late winter. Not much public transport out of season (Easter to mid September) - actually, it's not that good outside traditional tourist areas at any time unless you can get there by train. Avoid the last week of June to the first week in September like the plague (school summer holidays).

Contrary to popular overseas belief, there is plenty of good weather in the UK - even in Scotland(!). The touble is, there is no way of knowing when it will appear - even a 3 day advance weather forecast is as likely to be wrong as right - even more so where there are mountains messing with the local climate. Such are the *features* of being an island warmed by the Gulf Stream on one hand, and frozen by N. Atlantic winds on the other... This makes deciding on when to arrive a bit of a lottery: you can have brilliant sunshine in March, or torrential rain, sleet or snow - and quite likely all four on the same day...

[CP Goerz]

What do you plan to shoot?

CP Goerz

[adrian tyler]

weather patters have been very mixed up not just in scotland but all over, so the usual "best times", which in scotland are may and september, are no longer reliable. but you will have read about this in the media.

if you bank on getting wet then that's your best bet, and then if you do get some sun it'll come as a bonus.

[Struan Gray]

Go to the west coast at an equinox. Gales, haar, or both simultaneously. Wonderful light.

[John Cook]

Just to clarify, my experience with weather in Britain is that it moves much more quickly than anywhere else I have visited.

A typical BBC morning television forecast might be, "periods of clear sun and dense clouds, the drought will be briefly interrupted with heavy rain, calm with occasional high winds". Absolutely impossible to plan any activity with certainty. A week's worth of weather events every day.

Don't forget your brelly.

I have read that Rome actually gets more rainfall per year than London. The difference is that the storms in Rome are farther apart and each lasts longer.