Hello!
I’ll be visiting Scotland in September - Islay and Edinburgh. Does anyone have suggestions on where to purchase (cheap if possible) cards?
Islay - Bowmore, Port Ellen
Edinburgh - in the old town/new town area
Many thanks in advance. 
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Our last stay in beautiful Scotland was a while ago. But we always found it rather difficult to find a wider selection of postcards in Scotland. Of course, there are the usual souvenir shops, there are always postcards, even cheap ones. In Edinburgh anyway, there are many tourist shops. If you don’t want tourist view cards, we were always most successful in museums. In Edinburgh we loved the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, they had some great postcards.
In small towns you can often find postcards in village shops or post offices.
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Oh I think we’re staying near the Scottish National Portrait Gallery - I’ll keep that in mind if I have time to stop by!
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Edinburgh is awash with postcards, generally of what we in Glasgow might call “tartan tat” – lone pipers on heathery hillsides, long-horned cattle, Westies wearing tartan ribbons, that kind of thing. Actually I mustn’t be rude about Edinburgh because I work there and may be moving there permanently soon. Edinburgh is undoubtedly a beautiful city and much of it is civilised but every time I arrive at Waverley Station, sandwiched as it is between the Royal Mile and Princes Street, I’m minded to jump on the first bus to come along whether to Leith, Gorgie, Marchmont, Portobello or any other very agreeable tourist-free havens. Be a traveller, not a tourist! You should find what you need in the National Gallery of Scotland or the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art. I don’t know but I’d hazard a guess that the Scottish Poetry Library might turn up something.
Islay shouldn’t be a problem. There’s certainly a shop in Bowmore that does cards and I imagine that every distillery visitor centre will have them too. There’s not all that much else on Islay.
I’m sorry you aren’t coming to Glasgow. The shop at the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery is pretty good. The one at GoMA (Gallery of Modern Art not that great. Then there’s the Riverside Museum and the Science Museum.
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Thank you so much for the recommendations! Yes, pity we aren’t stopping in Glasgow…two weeks is NOT enough for a first time trip! We’re going to Scotland mostly for Islay, I’ll keep all your recommendations in mind. 
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Yes, England!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. As a 75/25 mix my English side often takes over the Scottish side.
Edinburgh is very touristy, when I called in there on the way back down south earlier today I only found generic tourist cards, however, I did only have 1 hour.
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If you’re looking specifically for tourist postcards, you can also order some fabulous ones from the adorable The Caravan Gallery. What I wouldn’t give for these postcards to be available in German versions as well. Sigh!
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