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Once a thriving village with mines, iron workings and trade links with the Low Countries, Culross fell into decline in the 18th and 19th centuries and became a forgotten backwater. Its restoration began in the 1930s, and now the town is a striking resurrection of its 16th- and 17th-century heyday. Even the plants in the palace garden are in keeping with the 1600s!

Innovative presentation has made this aquarium a phenomenal success. Not only does it seem to have every imaginable species of dangerous, beautiful and ugly fish, but it also houses them in a network of glass tunnels, so that great shoals of glittering fish surround you. The more adventurous can even swim with sharks!

The full chill and hazards of Antarctic exploration grip you in this superb hi-tech exhibition. Focusing on the heroic and tragic expeditions of Shackleton and Scott, this display uses original film footage as well as stunning modern images and interactive computer screens. The highlight is a tour of the Dundee-built boat RSS Discovery, the one that carried Scott and his companions on their ill-fated expedition. (While in Dundee check out the Contemporary Arts Centre on Nethergate for great exhibitions and its fine bistro-café.)

Founded in the 11th century by Queen (later St) Margaret (see St Margaret’s Chapel) , the abbey’s stunning feature is the 12th-century Romanesque nave. This was the burial place of Robert the Bruce – without his heart, which he requested be taken on a crusade to the Holy Land. A skeleton with the heart chamber cut open was discovered in a grave here in 1818; the site is now marked by a plaque to honour the hero of Bannockburn (see Battle of Bannockburn) .

A wonderful sense of history pervades this palace, the home of Mary Queen of Scots and the Stuart kings from 1541. Restored royal bedchambers and fine 17th-century tapestries are on display, but most intriguing of all is the oldest real tennis court still in use in Britain, built in 1539. Unlike the modern game, real tennis was played indoors and shares some similarities with squash.

This tartan-and-tweed town has a long history of serving visitors. Its proximity to Perthshire’s beauty spots and sporting estates was the original draw, but now it boasts a fine theatre, as well as a fish ladder, where salmon leap up a series of pools to reach their spawning grounds. A perfect introduction to the joys of Scotland.