Mountaineer and politician, Sir Hugh Munro (1856–1919) never quite managed to climb all the mountains he catalogued as over 3000 feet high. Today, many keen climbers make it their mission to bag all 282 of them, a bucket-list hobby that can be dipped in and out of over a lifetime.

Tay Country offers 38 Munros to explore, from splendid Schiehallion to Driesh above Glen Doll, but for a gentler introduction to hillwalking the Angus Glens contain a group of peaceful valleys, ideal for cycles and country rambles. Or consider devoting some time to the historic Cateran Trail, straddling the border between Perthshire and Angus that takes its name from cattle thieves who preyed on good hearted locals and their stock until the 17th century.

We won’t judge you though if you decide to stay indoors at one of our well-stocked whisky bars. Sometimes mountains are best viewed from the ground level, by the light of a roaring fire!

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One thing that Scotland isn’t short of is wind, so why not turn that to our advantage with a sail across the sand? It’s go-karting for grown-ups and an opportunity to tear about West Sands Beach in St Andrews, Fife, where ‘Chariots of Fire’ was filmed, like a big kid. Indeed, if you happen to be around when the community stages their annual race in homage, you will hear them play Vangelis’ cinematic score along the route. If not, you’ll have to hum it as you wheel around the beach.

Head inland and the splendour of the Tay Country wildlife is available to the keen nature spotter in the wilderness of Highland Perthshire, where on a good day you may just spot red deer, mountain hares or a soaring golden eagle. Local guides can share hard-won knowledge, supply binoculars and even remember to pack hot drinks and shortbread for a pit stop surrounded by panoramic mountain views. For rambling, fell running, mountain biking or camping, Tay Country has miles of unspoiled landscape and friendly people who are only too happy to advise.

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Dundee Contemporary Arts, the former brick factory that now houses art galleries, print studio, shop, two cinemas and a buzzy bar and restaurant is the ideal spot to set yourself up for the day with a pancake stack or wind down with a craft beer or a cocktail mixed with Tay Country small batch gin. For gifts for your friends and family (and, let’s face it, yourself… you are on your holidays!), don’t miss the design focused shop, full of cool bits and pieces and limited edition prints from the workshop.

Team a trip to DCA with a visit to Hospitalfield, a hidden gem overlooking the North Sea in Angus. It’s a beautiful turreted mansion-house that was once home to Elizabeth Fraser and her artist and collector husband Patrick Allan-Fraser, where visitors can meander around the extraordinary Arts and Craft interiors or explore the tranquil grounds on weekly Architecture and Garden tours.

The creative scene is so prevalent in Tay Country that art takes over picturesque Pittenweem every August, a living exhibition that has grown to include 100 or more artists and makers who exhibit in houses, studios, galleries and public spaces throughout the village.

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A relaxed wander through the forest, giving yourself the time to appreciate sounds, scent and colours, can be as reinvigorating as the most dynamic pursuit. In Japanese culture “forest bathing”, or shinrin-yoku, meaning “taking in the forest atmosphere” is a valued outdoor activity as well as an excuse for walking reaaaally slowly.

October brings a month-long forest spectacle to Highland Perthshire. Enchanted Forest brings sound and light to Faskally Wood, in a spectacular marriage of technology and nature. Wander through the woodland, you’ll pass waterfalls woven with fibre optics and experience the drama of shadows and lights passing through the ancient forest. Mulled wine and grilled marshmallows from the firepit will keep you warm.

Pitlochry, in the heart of Scotland’s Big Tree Country, is home to the brand-new Pitlochry Dam visitor centre offering a welcome cup of tea after autumn walks in a blaze of golds and reds.

The beachside pine forest trails of Tentsmuir Forest in Fife are a sensory delight whilst Dundee’s Botanic Garden offers access to its impressive range of trees, shrubs and exotic plants even when city-based.

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Live out your period drama fantasies in some of Tay Country’s magnificent historic buildings, including Falkland Palace, the country residence of Mary Queen of Scots. Wander around royal apartments and the Old Library, imagining the sound of frilly skirts that once swooshed through the ornate interiors decorated with tapestry, carved furniture and painted ceilings.

If this part of the world looks strangely familiar, that might just be because Falkland was used as a location for one of Outlander’s first scenes, made up to look like 1940s Inverness. If you’d like to follow the Outlander trail a little further, Culross and the privately owned Balgonie Castle were also used as locations for the TV show.

Learn about out why ships, trains and trams were so vital to Tayside at the fascinating Dundee Museum of Transport, and don’t miss a visit to RRS Discovery. Step onto the very vessel that took Scott and Shackleton on their first expedition to Antarctica and find yourself at the heart of a classic adventure story, one that celebrates the heroism and grit of truly remarkable men.

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Which of Tay Country’s many castles will be your favourite? Discover the crowning site of the Kings of Scotland at Scone Palace, where Macbeth and Robert the Bruce once stood and where the Stone of Destiny was held.

Glamis Castle is often quoted as Scotland’s most beautiful castle, with its fairytale turrets, elegant gardens and a ghostly White Lady with seat still reserved in the chapel. Shakespeare fans will know that Glamis Castle was the setting for Macbeth. Nowadays the grounds are used for the hurly-burly of food festivals, outdoor theatre performances and open-air concerts where you can stretch out under a cosy blanket under the stars.

At the opposite end of the castle spectrum is Macduff’s Castle, a ruin in East Wemyss, in Fife, where you may wish to stop for a picnic on a summer’s ramble. Broughty Castle overlooks the mouth of the River Tay, 10 minutes drive from the centre of Dundee or you can find out more about Europe’s last remaining private army, the Atholl Highlanders, based at Blair Castle in Perthshire.

Angus / Dundee / Fife / Perthshire

Innerpeffray Library is Scotland’s first public lending library dating back to 1680. You’ll find it on the banks of the River Earn near Crieff. Perhaps the Library’s most valuable book is the original ‘Borrowers Registrar’, a handwritten record of the people who came to choose a book and take it home to read all those years ago.

On the road between St Andrews and Anstruther remember to keep an eye out for an innocent looking Scottish farmhouse, it happens to be the hiding place of Scotland’s Secret Bunker. Explore the underground tunnels and bunker created to survive a nuclear war, kept a secret for over 40 years. The beautiful village of Comrie in Perthshire (worth a visit in itself) is another unlikely military spot where you’ll find Cultybraggan Camp, the UK’s final remaining high security Prisoner of War Camp from the Second World War.

One of the most important Pictish collections in the area can be found at the St Vigeans Sculptured Stones Museum in Angus. Access to this hidden treasure can be arranged by the staff at Arbroath Abbey, where you’ll be able to enjoy the 30 ancient stones elaborately decorated by the Picts with carvings of imps, saints and fantastic beasts.

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Book lovers, often happiest curled up on a sofa, find the best of both worlds with a visit to Tay Country. Take a walk on the beach at Broughty Ferry and try not to get your copy of Frankenstein too wet. The young Mary Shelley spent time with family friends in Dundee in 1812 and a plaque on South Baffin Street marks the spot of The Cottage, mentioned in her monstrous book. How did the son of a poor weaver become the richest man in the world? You won’t want to miss the rags to riches story of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie at the world’s first Carnegie Library in his home town of Dunfermline.

Even our trees have literary merit. The Birnam oak is what remains of the great Birnam Wood, as mentioned in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as part of the witches’ foretelling of his death. Birnam Arts reveals the literary connection with Peter Rabbit author, Beatrix Potter who spent her childhood holidays in the area. Then to Kirriemuir, gateway to the Angus Glens and birthplace of JM Barrie, who created Peter Pan. The sweet white cottage that was his family home is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.

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Learn more about the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design by exploring it on foot, it is Scotland’s sunniest city after all! (Don’t let the Aberdonians tell you different). There are more than 120 artworks to discover, including bronze comic book characters Desperate Dan, Minnie the Minx and Oor Wullie sitting on his bucket outside TheMcManus Art Gallery and Museum. Follow the Open/Close street art trail which snakes its way around colourful doorways, painted by local artists in unexpected nooks and crannies around the city.

Discovery Walk and Dundee Women’s Trail commemorate artists, trades unionists, social reformers, scientists and suffragettes whose lives have helped shape the city. Dundee was once known as She-town, a place where women were so integral to the jute industry that they received the pay packets and the men stayed at home.

Squeeze in a cardio workout with a guided running tour, stopping by the Oor Wullie statue, Tay Bridges and Botanic Gardens for some sweaty photo ops along the way.

For more macabre thrills, you can peer into Dundee’s murky past on a day or night time walking tour, delving into the city’s secrets of body snatching, riots and rebellion.

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Music and storytelling are two of Scotland’s great passions, and that’s reflected across the arts of Tay Country, from the provocative drama of Dundee Rep (with a full-time company of actors, the last of its kind in the country) and the contemporary beauty of Scottish Dance Theatre productions, to the simple pleasure of live traditional tunes down the local.

Ewan McGregor, got his start treading the boards of the Perth Theatre stage, but would perhaps barely recognise the building now after a sleek £16m transformation, which created a state of the art space for enjoying live dance, opera, stand-up comedy and theatre, as well as the preservation of the B-listed Edwardian auditorium, now a riot of red and gold. Clubbers, meanwhile, will enjoy Dundee’s old public library, turned underground club recently namechecked by i-D magazine and the Wall Street Journal.

And remember to save an evening of your holidays to soak up the local culture. Ask your hosts where they go to hear music, plenty of our pubs and clubs will find a performer pulling out a fiddle and bodhran of an evening for some acoustic entertainment, and everyone has a favourite tune they like to play.

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