Your Scottish Tourism portal

Shops are usually open Monday to Saturday 9.00am – 5.00pm.
In towns and cities as well as villages in holiday areas many shops will choose to open on a Sunday. Larger supermarkets usually open longer, many are now open 24 hours.

Many stores remain open until late evening especially during the summer months and in the lead up to Christmas.

Restaurants
Iit is customary to leave a tip of 10 – 15% of the bill. It is not normal to leave a tip in a pub unless you have had a meal with good service.

Taxis
A 10% tip is normal.

Porters
In the more upmarket hotels, porters rely on tips.

Post

There is a good network of Post Offices across Scotland. They provide a range of services including the sale of stamps and mailing of letters and parcels. Offices are generally open Monday to Friday 9.00am – 5.30pm. Saturdays 9.00am – 12.30pm. Look out for the Post Office sign.

Stamps can also be bought from newsagents, certain shops and visitor attractions.

Phone

Public payphones are widespread. They are operated by British Telecom (BT) and take all coins from 10p upwards plus phone cards. These cards can be bought in Post Offices and newsagents. Mobile phone reception is good across most of the country. For further information on hiring a mobile phone in the UK see www.mphone.co.uk
To call Scotland from overseas dial 011 from the US and Canada, 0011 from Australia and 00 from New Zealand followed in all cases by 44, then the area code minus its initial zero.

Internet

You’ll find internet cafés in all the major towns and cities.

Personal Computers, PDAs and WI FI hotspots.

Many of the larger hotels, self catering properties airports and some coffee shop chains now provide wireless broadband access. Make sure you have the correct adaptor. The power supply in the UK is 240 volts. Type of socket is square 3 hole sockets taking 3-square-pin plugs. Visitors from the US require a voltage transformer.

Scotland’s weather is interestingly varied. Generally speaking the east coast is cool and dry while the west coast is warmer and wetter. If the wind is from the north east it is often chilly and cloudy in the east yet clear and sunny in the south west. If it is wet in the west it is usually dry in the east.

In mid-summer there is no complete darkness in the north of Scotland. On the longest day, Lerwick, in Shetland has about four hours more daylight than London. Rainfall varies widely ranging from over 3,000mm (118 inches) per year in the west to under 800mm (31 inches) in the east. Thunder storms are comparatively rare and occur on around three to five days a year.