The Bookshop, Wigtown

Wigtown, Scotland's National Book Town for nearly 20 years, is home to a bewildering array of book-related businesses. If you're serious about books head to The Bookshop, Scotland's largest second-hand bookstore. With a mile of shelving and 100,000 books to choose from, they've got, as they put it, 'more stock than an Oxo cube.'

Golden Hare Books, Edinburgh

The world's first UNESCO city of literature, Edinburgh is awash with decent bookstores. The hushed environs of Golden Hare Books, on trendy St. Stephen Street, Stockbridge, offers a carefully curated collection of fiction, non-fiction and children's books (housed in a dedicated nook). Best of all, the staff are brilliantly informed and charming to boot.

Main Street Trading Company, St Boswells

You would be hard pushed to find a more attractive and welcoming bookshop than the award-winning Main Street Trading found in the pretty Scottish Borders village of St Boswells. Amongst the 7,500 titles, you'll find fiction, non-fiction and children's books as well as review-driven titles and switched-on staff. The superior coffee-shop attached is a must-do too as is the deli and homeware store across the courtyard. With all this, it's no wonder that the Main Street Trading Company has become a destination in itself.

Topping & Company, St Andrews

If heaven were a bookshop, it would surely model itself on Topping & Co. Split over several rooms the shelves here groan with the weight of beautiful hardbacks, signed and collectable books. Thousands of titles that you had never
heard of but now crave. The sweet smell of Arabica coffee wafts over shelves, but there is no typical bookshop café here. Instead, you are offered a comfy armchair and are handed a little wooden tray with a steaming French press on it. Very civilised. Expect to leave here with your heart – and wallet - much lighter than when you came in.

Caledonia Books, Glasgow

Selling books to the people of Glasgow since 1986, Caledonia Books is a treasure trove of second-hand and antiquarian books with strong travel, literature and history sections. Personal touch and intuitive service puts this bookshop above other local competition, making it impossible to escape empty-handed.