Walking and Cycling in Scotland

Scotland is rightly famous for her mountain scenery, and it's no wonder that there are many excellent guides to walking in climbing in the Highlands. But if 'munro bagging' is not your thing, then there are plenty of beautiful walks in the lowlands too - the Galloway forests, or the Borders market towns, for instance.

There are too many guides to list here, but check out Pocket Mountains and Rucksack Readers for handy guides to highland and lowland walks. For the more serious climber, the Scottish Mountaineering Club publish a number of comprehensive guides to help plan your route. We have also prepared a guide to Mountaineering books.

• There is a complete list of Walking and Climbing Guides in our Sports and Hobbies category.

Ralph Storer (author of The Joy of Hillwalking has written a number of popular walking guides, including 50 Best Routes on Skye and Raasay and 50 Classic Routes of Scottish Mountains. The AA produce a series of guides - start with 100 Walks n Scotland and 50 Walks in the Highlands and Islands. The Lonely Planet Walking in Scotland guide is quite old now, but remains popular. For families, WalkScotland.com's Family Walks in Scotland is an essential. Wheelchair users need not miss out either; Eva McCracken has written Walking On Wheels: 50 Wheel-Friendly Trails in Scotland, the first guidebook of its kind.

Jarrold walking guides are very popular, such as Aberdeen and Royal Deeside Walks and Loch Lomond, Trossachs, Stirling and Clackmannan Walks. Jarrod also have a 'short walks' series, such as Fort William.

There are many guides to Scotland's most popular walking routes, including The West Highland Way - check out titles from Aurum, Rucksack Readers and the Footprint Map. For Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, see Jarrold Short Walks and Mercat's 25 Walks series. For The Great Glen Way, there is a guide from Challenge, the handy-sized Rucksack Readers guide, and a Cicerone guide.

City Walks

There are plenty of city walking guides, such as 100 Countryside Walks Around Edinburgh by Derek Storey, Jarrold's Edinburgh and Lothian Walks and Mercat's 25 Walks in Edinburgh and Lothian by Roger Smith. For Glasgow, try Glasgow Short Walks. Further north, 25 Walks In And Around Aberdeen explores both the city and coastline around Aberdeen.

Cycling in Scotland

Cyclists are well catered for - in the Edinburgh area Spokes produce popular cycling maps; Pocket Mountains have a new cycling guide called Bike Scotland Book One by Fergal MacErlean, and a new mountain bike trail guide, Bike Scotland Trails Guide. For a complete guide to the cycleways of Scotland, check out The National Cycle Network.

Harry Henniker's 101 Bike Routes in Scotland is a heavy but comprehensive book; Harry has also written a mountain-biking guide, 101 Mountain Bike Routes in Scotland.