Exploring Scotland: Essential Things to Do

11 National Museum of Scotland

The National Museum of Scotland is one of the top attractions in the United Kingdom, and blessedly, you don't have to pay a cent to see its marvelous collections in Edinburgh. Are you interested in genetics? Dolly the Sheep is stuffed and on display. How about Ancient Egypt? There's something for you too. The Scots also invented a forerunner to the guillotine named, innocuously, the Maiden. It was used for executions starting from the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, and a glimpse of it may send a shiver up your spine.