Tour Lindores Abbey Distillery at Newburgh, which ties its story to the 1494 exchequer roll entry of eight bolls of malt for Friar John Cor to make aqua vitae

Book one of the distillery's History Tours of the Lindores Abbey ruins, where a distillation vat was found in 2018

A 1494 exchequer roll records eight bolls of malt given to Friar John Cor to make aqua vitae — the first written record of whisky in Scotland — and Lindores Abbey claims him as its own, though the roll does not say where he lived. In 2018 a distillation vat was found in the abbey ruins, and the distillery directly opposite has been making spirit since 2017, looking out over the Firth of Tay.

Lindores Abbey and the 1494 Whisky Record

The Fife coast

Seven nights from the Fife coast to Easter Ross, following whisky from its first written record in 1494 to Speyside, by way of the Highland Line and one of Scotland's highest distilleries.

Scotch: From the 1494 Record to Speyside

Visit the Scottish Deer Centre near Cupar, opened in 1988, which keeps 12 species of deer in its 55 acres

See the Scottish wildcats, Eurasian lynx, the European brown bear and the otters at the centre

The Scottish Deer Centre near Cupar opened in 1988 and keeps twelve species of deer in 55 acres, along with Scottish wildcats, Eurasian lynx, a European brown bear and otters, and there is a bird of prey display every day.

The Scottish Deer Centre at Cupar

Tour Falkland Palace, the Renaissance hunting palace James IV and James V made from the old castle between 1497 and 1541, and its gardens

See the Royal Tennis Court in the palace garden, built for James V and still in use by the Falkland Palace Royal Tennis Club

Walk the streets of Falkland, which stood in for 1940s Inverness in Outlander

Between 1497 and 1541 James IV and James V turned the old castle at Falkland into a Renaissance hunting palace, and in its garden James V built a Royal Tennis Court, the only surviving court of the old jeu quarré design and still played on today. The village streets around it stood in for 1940s Inverness in Outlander.

Falkland: The Palace and the Oldest Tennis Court

Visit V&A Dundee, Scotland's first design museum, on the waterfront, opened in 2018

Board RRS Discovery, the ship built in Dundee in 1901 for Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition, at Discovery Point

Tour the McManus Art Gallery and Museum, the Victorian Gothic landmark in the city centre

Dundee built RRS Discovery in 1901 for Captain Scott's first Antarctic expedition, and she is back on the waterfront at Discovery Point. Beside her, V&A Dundee opened in 2018 as Scotland's first design museum, and in the city centre the McManus is a Victorian Gothic art gallery and museum.

Dundee: V&A and the RRS Discovery

Stand on the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole of the Old Course at St Andrews, when golf is not being played

Visit The R&A World Golf Museum beside the Old Course

Explore the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral, and book one of the free guided tours that ends with a climb of St Rule's Tower

Enter the ballot for a tee time on the Old Course

Golf has been played at St Andrews for centuries, and when golf is not being played visitors can stand on the Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole of the Old Course, where Open champions have posed for generations. The R&A World Golf Museum stands beside it, many Old Course tee times are given out by ballot, and in the town the ruined cathedral and St Rule's Tower look over the sea.

St Andrews: The Old Course and the Cathedral

Scramble the Elie Chain Walk, the roughly 0.5km rock route with chains fitted in the 1920s and replaced in 2010, at low tide only

See the Lady's Tower at Elie, the bathing chamber built in the 1770s for Lady Anstruther

Find the remains of the pilgrims' chapel on Chapel Ness at Earlsferry, built for travellers on the medieval ferry to North Berwick

Walk the Fife Coastal Path east from Elie to St Monans

Elie is a small resort on the Fife coast about ten miles south of St Andrews. On the east side of Elie Ness the Lady's Tower was built in the 1770s for Janet, Lady Anstruther; it is said that while she bathed below it a servant rang a bell to keep the locals away. West of the town the Elie Chain Walk is a rock route of about half a kilometre along the base of the cliffs, with chains first fitted in the 1920s, passable only at low tide, and the Fife Coastal Path runs east to St Monans.

Elie: The Chain Walk and the Lady's Tower

Walk the harbours of Anstruther, Crail and Pittenweem, fishing villages of the East Neuk

Visit the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther

Visit Scotland's Secret Bunker near Crail, the Cold War command centre hidden beneath a farmhouse

Walk a stage of the Fife Coastal Path between the villages

The East Neuk is the string of fishing villages on the south-east corner of Fife, among them Elie, St Monans, Pittenweem, Anstruther and Crail, joined by the Fife Coastal Path. The Scottish Fisheries Museum is in Anstruther, and inland near Crail, Scotland's Secret Bunker is a Cold War command centre hidden beneath a farmhouse.

Anstruther and the East Neuk: The Fisheries Museum and the Secret Bunker

Climb Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa, 1,085m), the highest mountain in Wales, by the Miners' Track from Pen-y-Pass — 6.6km with 726m of ascent, the gentlest of the six main routes

Cross the causeway over Llyn Llydaw, built in 1853, and pass the derelict copper-mine buildings on the way to Glaslyn

Find the brass toposcope on the summit pillar, which names 100 places you can see on a clear day

See the Snowdon Mountain Railway, opened in 1896 and running 4.75 miles from Llanberis to the summit, from the top

Snowdon — Yr Wyddfa — is the highest mountain in Wales at 1,085m and the busiest in Britain: 543,541 people walked up it in 2022. The Miners' Track from Pen-y-Pass is the gentlest of the six main routes, 6.6km with 726m of climbing, crossing the causeway over Llyn Llydaw built in 1853 and passing the ruins of the copper mine on the way up to Glaslyn. On top is Hafod Eryri, the summit building opened in 2009, and the end of the Snowdon Mountain Railway, opened in 1896, which climbs 4.75 miles from Llanberis. One legend puts the giant Rhita, killed by King Arthur, under the summit cairn.

Snowdon: The Miners' Track to Yr Wyddfa

Visit the Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston

Ride the steam trains of the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway and see the Museum of Scottish Railways

Take a boat trip on the Union Canal from the Linlithgow Canal Centre

Look at the Five Sisters Bing near West Calder, a spoil heap from West Lothian's shale oil industry

West Lothian was the heart of Scotland's shale oil industry, which grew from James Young's Bathgate works of 1851, the first commercial oil works in the world, and the Five Sisters Bing near West Calder is one of the spoil heaps it left. The Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway runs steam trains beside the Museum of Scottish Railways, the Linlithgow Canal Centre runs boat trips on the Union Canal, and the Almond Valley Heritage Centre is at Livingston.