Scotland

Scotland offers a range of products, souvenirs and memorabilia unavailable authentically anywhere else in the world. A few examples:

'Scotch' Whiskies

souvenirs

The classic tourist souvenir is a kilt and everything else involving the tartan. Note that a real kilt costs about £300-£400 and is made of heavy wool so it will not reveal what you might or might not be wearing underneath even in strong winds, but most souvenir stores offer only unauthentic thin ones. If you really want a genuine kilt or full traditional outfit kilt, sporran, jacket, shirt, and shoes the best place to look is a clothing hire shop. These specialise in hiring suits and kilts for weddings and often sell ex-hire stock at reduced prices - otherwise the kilt will have to be made to order - this usually takes several weeks.

The traditional highland kilt is a section of cloth about 6 feet wide and 14 feet long. This is wrapped about the body then then brought up over the shoulder and pinned in place, a little like a toga. The modern short kilt was introduced during the industrial revolution to give more freedom of movement.

Whisky is also a common buy. There are two basic types - blended whiskies which are made from, as the name suggests - several single malts blended together. Beware of souvenir shops selling small bottles of blended whisky for inflated prices - you can more often than not find the same bottle in a supermarket or in airport duty-free much cheaper!

Single malt whiskies are more expensive, and worth paying the price premium. Single malts are very diverse depending on the region or town where the whisky was distilled and the type of barley used. The smaller, independent distilleries pride themselves on the quality of their product and their whisky is often only available in a small number of shops, or even directly. Mainstream brand single malts are still sold in supermarkets and duty-free shops.

currency

As in the rest of the United Kingdom, Scottish currency is the Pound Sterling £. Scotland's three national clearing banks continue to issue their own sterling banknotes including £1 notes, not produced south of the border. These are The Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland and The Clydesdale Bank. These notes are very common in Scotland, but are sometimes wrongly not accepted in shops in England English banks, however, will exchange them for Bank of England notes. ATMs operated by Scottish banks will usually dispense the Scottish notes, but bank tellers will cash travelers cheques into Bank of England notes on request. Scottish banknotes may be difficult to exchange outside the UK, where foreign banks are generally unfamiliar with the notes. If in doubt, exchange your Scottish notes for Bank of England notes before you leave the country.

A guaranteed way of getting Bank of England notes is simply to make a withdrawal from an ATM run by an English bank e.g. NatWest, Barclays or HSBC--although they tend to be found only in major cities.

As Bank of England notes are more commonly forged than their lower-circulation Scottish equivalents, smaller shops are sometimes wary of larger-denomination Bank of England banknotes, especially the £50 note, particularly when the note is in an uncirculated condition as is common with sterling notes sold abroad.

Euros are accepted at a small number of High Street stores and tourist shops, but this should not be relied upon so change your money into sterling.

Scotland is relatively expensive when compared to some other European countries. As a basic rule, the further north you venture, the more expensive it likely gets, mostly because of the difficulty and expense of supply.

Currency conversion table February 2010
Foreign currency	Either one	Pound Sterling
€1.15 Euro	1	£0.87
$1.57 US Dollar	1	£0.64
$1.76 Australian Dollar	1	£0.57
$1.64 Canadian Dollar	1	£0.61

cost of living

Most visitors are disappointed by the high cost of living in Scotland. Although prices in Scotland are not as bad as in the south of England, compared to the USA or most other parts of Europe basic living expenses are still high. Most goods have an additional 20% Value Added Tax VAT applied although this is always included in the marked price for general consumer purchases. Petrol gasoline has a massive 70% excise tax and 20% VAT on top of that. Costs are highest in Edinburgh and in very remote places such as Stornoway - petrol prices often hit £1.50 per litre in some areas.