Must-Buy Souvenirs

Woven wool in an official clan or district tartan pattern, from a Royal Mile kiltmaker that can also measure and order a full made-to-measure kilt outfit if you have a few weeks to wait. Checking whether your surname has an associated clan is half the fun.

A bottle from one of the hundreds of single malts on the shelf at a proper whisky specialist, who can talk you through regions and let you nose a few before you commit. Miniatures are a lighter option if a full bottle won't survive the trip home.

Buttery, crumbly biscuits made from just flour, sugar and butter, sold in tartan-printed tins that survive a suitcase far better than a bakery box. Walkers, from the Speyside village of Aberlour, is the best-known name but far from the only good one.

Cloth handwoven by islanders in their own homes in the Outer Hebrides, the only fabric in the world protected by its own Act of Parliament. Sold in Edinburgh as flat caps, wallets and bag straps rather than full jackets, which run into the hundreds of pounds.

Fine cashmere woven at mills that have run continuously on Scottish rivers since the 18th and 19th centuries. Solid colours and subtle herringbone weaves are the classic choice over tourist-facing tartan prints.