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An internationally significant collection of paintings, from a select group of early Renaissance masterpieces to works by Rembrandt, Velazquez, Gainsborough, Ramsay and Raeburn (see National Gallery of Scotland) .

Two neighbouring museums, one entirely eclectic, the other taking on Scotland from prehistory to the 20th century (see Royal Museum and Museum of Scotland) .

An immensely pleasurable museum, blending into the surrounding park and bringing together such curious bedfellows as a medieval dining hall and Ming Dynasty Buddha (see Burrell Collection and Pollok Park) .

Glasgow’s newest major museum, and a spellbinding array of interactive exhibits, visual enthralment and stimulation aplenty for minds young and old alike. Impossible not to be wowed (see Glasgow Science Centre) .

Ancient geology scarred Scotland, and the Great Glen is its deepest cut, a swath that splits the land in two. A course of water runs through this great valley, forming charismatic lochs, such as notorious Loch Ness (see Loch Ness and the Great Glen) .

To Dickens this was “a burial ground of a race of giants”, and, indeed, there is something ominous in the raw terrain of this region. It is a magnificent, sublime landscape, chilled by the history of the bloody 1692 massacre (see Glencoe) .

A little splash of Regency gentility and fashion in a land prized for its wildness. Indeed, the castle stands proud on a windswept clifftop, but Culzean is a velvet hand in an iron glove, and inside all is given over to Robert Adam’s dexterous play with the rules of Classicism (see Culzean Castle) .

Bird lovers, walkers and winter sports enthusiasts praying for snow all head to the woodlands, rivers, lochs, mountains and plateaux of the Cairngorms, the highest landmass in Britain. From ospreys to reindeer to Arctic flowers, it’s all here to discover (see The Cairngorms) .