Lanarkshire and West Lothian cover the central belt south and west of Edinburgh — a mix of post-industrial towns, new towns and, tucked in among them, some genuinely interesting historical sites that tend to get overlooked.
Linlithgow is the standout. The palace there was the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots in 1542 and is one of the better ruined royal palaces in Scotland — a large four-sided courtyard structure with an ornate fountain at its centre, sitting beside the loch in a setting that hasn’t changed dramatically since the 16th century. The adjacent Church of St Michael has a controversial modern crown spire that divides opinion but is hard to ignore. Worth at least half a day. Blackness Castle a few miles north on the Forth shore is a ship-shaped fortress that’s been a royal castle, a state prison and an ammunition depot at various points, and was used as a filming location for Outlander. It’s an unusual building in an atmospheric spot.
Hamilton, the main town of South Lanarkshire, has the Chatelherault Country Park on its edge — the former hunting grounds of the Hamilton estate, with a William Adam lodge house and walking along the River Avon gorge. Lanark further south sits above the Clyde valley at a point where the river runs through a series of falls; the New Lanark World Heritage Site, a preserved 18th century mill village at the bottom of the gorge, is one of the better heritage attractions in the area.
Livingston is one of Scotland’s post-war new towns and has become a significant retail centre. It lacks obvious visitor appeal beyond that. Bathgate and Larkhall are former mining and manufacturing towns with the kind of straightforward character that tends to come from those industries. East Kilbride, another new town south of Glasgow, has its own distinct character by now — it’s been there long enough to have grown into something with its own identity rather than feeling purely planned.
The Union Canal and Forth and Clyde Canal both run through the area, and their towpaths are good for walking and cycling. The Avon Aqueduct on the Union Canal near Linlithgow is one of the longest canal aqueducts in Scotland and passes quietly unnoticed by most people. The area isn’t one you’d necessarily plan a trip around, but there’s more to it than the motorway view suggests.