Grand Tours of Scotland

Grand Tours of Scotland returns for a third series to take viewers on six journeys to relive the golden days of Scottish tourism. The first episode sees presenter Paul Murton travel round one of Scotland's best loved holiday destinations, the Isle of Arran, known as 'Scotland in miniature'.

The first travellers to come north were predominantly men. Scotland was considered to be very much a 'man's world' - full of unseen perils that could only be faced down by the brave, and definitely not a place for ladies! In this episode, Paul Murton travels through Dumfries and Galloway to uncover the stories of the pioneering female tourists who were determined not to be left at home and bravely headed north to explore Scotland.

If you want to experience the wild side of life, then the northern highlands of Scotland is where you have to be. In this episode, Paul Murton is crossing the country coast to coast, from the remote lighthouse at Tarbat Ness over to the iconic castle of Eilean Donan. Travelling off the beaten track, Paul encounters the beautiful bottlenose dolphins that live in the Cromarty firth and travels by horseback through one of Scotland's most spectacular locations, Glen Affric.

The search for a comfortable bed for the night is a challenge that has faced tourists coming to Scotland for two centuries. Some early traveller accounts are very complimentary about the hospitality they received while others are not quite so favourable, and the same could probably be said by tourists today ! In this episode, Paul Murton travels from the shores of the Firth of Forth into the depths of rural Perthshire, and his trip requires him to bed down in everything from a hippy 'Yurt' to the exclusive Lochnagar suite at the Gleneagles Hotel.

In this episode, Paul Murton visits the places connected to the life of one of the first global superstars - Robert Burns - the man who made Ayrshire famous.

By the end of the Victorian era, Scotland had become a favourite summer holiday destination.