Dumfries and Galloway is the whole of the south-west corner of Scotland and it's more varied than its low profile suggests. The Gulf Stream keeps the climate mild — palm trees at Threave Gardens, subtropical plants at Logan Botanic Garden — and the landscape runs from farmland and forest to a coastline that has a quiet, unhurried quality quite different from anywhere else in Scotland.
Dumfries is the main town, a red sandstone market town on the River Nith. Burns lived here for the last years of his life and the connections are everywhere — the house where he lived, the Globe Inn where he drank, the church where he's buried. It's taken seriously here rather than just commercially exploited, which makes a difference. The town itself is decent without being exciting: a functional market town that serves the surrounding region.
The Galloway coast is the real draw. Kirkcudbright (pronounced Kir-COO-bree) is a Georgian town that became an artists' colony in the late 19th century, attracted by the light, and has maintained a creative character since. It's a good place for a slow afternoon. Castle Douglas has set itself up as a food town with a concentration of independent food producers and shops in its main street. Kippford is a small yachting village at the mouth of the Urr estuary — very quiet out of season, active in summer. Gatehouse of Fleet is a well-preserved planned town in a wooded valley that doesn't get many visitors but deserves more.
The Mull of Galloway at the southern tip is Scotland's most southerly point. There's a lighthouse, good cliffwalking and, on a clear day, views to Ireland, the Isle of Man and England simultaneously. The birdlife on the cliffs is good in season. Portpatrick on the west coast is a small harbour village — once the main ferry port to Ireland, now just a pleasant place to stay with clifftop walks in both directions and good restaurants. Port Logan, a few miles south, has a tidal fish pond that has been maintained since the 18th century and is genuinely odd in the best way.
Gretna at the eastern end is the marriage village, famous since Scottish law allowed marriages without parental consent from 1754. The runaway marriage industry has been commercially developed to an extent that may or may not appeal, but the history behind it is interesting. Newtown Stewart and Stranraer are functional towns serving their areas. Langholm, in the eastern hills, is the birthplace of Hugh MacDiarmid and has a good annual common riding.