Seeking Scotland travel advice (couple of specific questions)

Post date: 2024-04-27 14:05:54

Question 1. Regarding Perth and Dunfermline. Question 2. Regarding Wigtown.

Question 1. I will be in Scotland for about 6 weeks this summer, solo, so making decisions based only on my wishes woooo hoooo and have found a two-night slot that I would like to use to visit Dunfermline and Perth. Traveling from Glasgow to Perth by train, one night in Perth, travel from Perth to Dunfermline by train, one night in Dunfermline, travel to Edinburgh by train(, then about 3 weeks in Edinburgh, plus a lot of other wonderful things and places). Perth interests me primarily because of the new museum, and also because I can catch a bus to the Hermitage. Dunfermline interests me because of the abbey and Palace, and just kind of generally the history of the place.
So my question is whether I should spend 2 nights in Perth and then the travel day in Dunfermline (no hotel) or should I spend one night in each town.
Are there sights or sites that I'm not taking into account in either of these spots that would make one or the other worth more heavily weighting the allotted time? I'm super interested in the history of the places (as well as the artifacts in the new museum) generally more than nature but the Hermitage seems absolutely magical.

Question 2. I am thinking of returning to Edinburgh for the last week of December, mainly to get a taste of Hogmanay but also the Christmas markets. I don't celebrate most holidays but I do like to see pretty lights and decor. How much time would I need, in your opinion, to add a visit to Wigtown to my itinerary and is the dead of winter the world's worst time to visit Wigtown? Really all I want to do there is soak in the atmosphere of the Book Capitol of Scotland. It seems a little hard to get to without a car and while I enjoy a train ride, I'm not sure that I want to commit such a large amount of time to train travel during a short visit. (If I include Wigtown, should I consider flying home to SFO through an airport other than Edinburgh and if so, which one?)

Thank you so much for any thoughts you may have!

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