christtravel

Hello! Following some very helpful advice that I got from Fodorites, we had a great USA trip and I'd very much appreciate your thoughts/advice on a 7-day trip to Scotland in early May
My husband and I will be travelling with another couple from Cyprus via a direct flight to Edinburgh. We're spending one day in Edinburgh and then plan to rent a car to travel to the Highlands for 5 days and then spend the last day in Edinburgh before returning to Cyprus. The other couple and I have been to Edinburgh many years ago, but it'll be my husband's first time there. None of us has ever been to the Highlands before. We're in our early-mid thirties. I'd also love any recommendations for car rental companies, hotels and any sights/activities we shouldn't miss!

Here's my very preliminary itinerary for the 5-day roadtrip:
Day 1 – Edinburgh to Fort William
 Pick up rental car and head to the Kelpies
 Head north past Stirling to the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle
 Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe
 Drive along the shore of Loch Linnhe before reaching Fort William

Day 2 – Fort William to Isle of Skye
 Glenfinnan Visitor Centre to see Jacobite train
 Drive to Mallaig and take the ferry to Skye. Explore Skye and spend night at Portree

Day 3 – Isle of Skye to Inverness
 Spend time at Skye
 Head to Fort Augustus, Loch Ness
 Stop at Eilean Donan Castle and head to Inverness. Overnight at Inverness

Day 4 – Inverness
 Take a cruise on Loch Ness before heading towards Beauly. Alternatively we could visit Urquhart Castle
 Visit Culloden Battlefield, followed by Clava Cairns
 Maybe visit a whisky distillery – read that Tomatin is good. Spend night at Inverness

Day 5 – Inverness to Edinburgh
 Drive through Cairngorms National Park
 Stop at Aviemore
 Explore the Highland wildlife park near Kingussie
 Return to Edinburgh

Jean

The Scotland experts will be along soon...

I'll just comment that it's a LOT of time sitting in a car.

What time of year?

bilboburgler

early May

janisj

Just a few short comments for now -- will add more details later:

1) I would not stay in Ft William nor Inverness. Since you'll have a car there are soooooo many better options. The only time I'd consider staying in either town is if I was limited to public transport.

2) Days 2 & 3 are crazy You will have less than 1 full day on Skye. You won't see much at all -- its almost 'why bother'.

3) On such a short trip I wouldn't bother with a cruise on Loch Ness -- the scenery is sort of meh compared to other places. You will drive right past Urquhart on the drive from Skye to Inverness wherever you actually stay. So visiting it on day 3 makes more sense.

I d think you might want to go back to the drawing board . . .

bilboburgler

do not trust google maps time scales for this trip

christtravel

janisj thank you for your reply! What would be your suggestions for places alternative to Ft William and Inverness? If we skip the cruise and spend 2 nights at Skye is the rest doable?

janisj

I'm in the middle of a project right now so will post more this afternoon . . . but question . . . Just how important to you is visiting Skye?? It is of course quite lovely, but so are a hundred other places, many of which are a lot more convenient (a LOT more convenient) to Edinburgh. Skye and Loch Ness are the 'famous' places that most everybody feels they must see. The best thing about Loch Ness is Urquhart Castle and not much else really. The best things about Skye are the scenery which is spread over a VERY large island with VERY slow driving. Two nights there still only gives you one full day - not really enough to see much more than the Trotternish Peninsula and maybe the Fairy Pools (if you can find parking) and / or Dunvegan Castle

mdstump

With your current schedule I would make the following changes:
Day 3 - Spend time exploring Isle of Skye, dropping any trips to Inverness.
Day 4 - Skye to Ft. Williams

While in Ft. Williams try and fit in a drive on HW82 to Glencoe which isn't far from Ft. Williams. If it can fit into your schedule I recommend staying at The Iles of Glencoe Hotel on A82. This isn't far from Ft. Williams.

christtravel

I do want to visit Skye based on what I've read and the photographs I saw of it. I'm sure that there are other beautiful places which are less well-known though, so I'm open to suggestions!

christtravel

Many thanks for your suggestion! I'll look into the Glencoe hotel

janisj

OK -- if Skye is your main 'must', then do JUST Skye and one night en route in Glencoe. Stay either here https://clachaig.com or here https://www.kingshousehotel.co.uk or maybe the Isles of Glencoe mentioned above. Forget about Ft William (not Ft. Williams BTW)

Night 1 -- Glencoe
Nights 2,3 4 on Skye Stay here if there is availability (it does book up in advance) https://www.sligachan.co.uk The hotel is the single most convenient location on the Island - sort of at the crossroads so makes touring the Isle a lot easier. If nothing open there - then stay in Portree.

Day five drive back to Edinburgh -- take the Bridge one way and the Armadale Ferry the other way to/from Skte so you can see Eilean Donan, and Glenfinnan/the viaduct, and Neptune's Staircase.

I personally don't think this is the best option for such a short visit but is the only practical way to have any usable time ON Skye.

janisj

Meant to add -- three nights on Skye still only gives you 2.5 days on the island.

KarenWoo

Instead of staying in Inverness, we stayed in Nairn, a lovely seaside village, at the Sunny Brae B&B. We loved our stay here. From Nairn, we visited Elgin Cathedral ruins, Glen Moray Distillery, Cawdor Castle and Gardens, and the Culloden Battlefield. We stopped at Urquhart Castle on our way from Nairn to Portree on Skye.
https://sunnybraenairn.co.uk/

On Skye, we stayed at the Viewfield House Hotel in Portree. Located on a hill - a 5-minute drive or less to downtown Portree - so you are away from the crowds. Quiet and peaceful.
https://viewfieldhouse.com/

In Glen Coe, we stayed at the Glencoe Village Inn, another lovely place. Very convenient. One of our best meals was our dinner at their restaurant, The Gathering. We were happy with all of our lodgings.
https://www.crerarhotels.com/the-gle...m_campaign=gmb

Gardyloo

So, okay, that gives me permission to respond.

Skye gets a lot of publicity, much of it well deserved because it really is gorgeous - in places. But that popularity comes with costs. Some of the most popular sites can become quite congested, while other sites can vanish in the spring clouds and mist (or wind and rain - do you feel lucky?) But the main issue for hurried visits like yours is the fact that Skye is a long way from most places, and travel to and on the island can be very slow. Your initial itinerary (which I know you've changed) would basically be a "windscreen tour" of Scotland, with next to no time to get out of the car and actually BE in the places.

So my suggestion for an alternative plan - which of course you can ignore - we all have thick skins - is to choose a different Inner Hebridean island - or islands - which will, on aggregate and in my opinion, offer an equally rewarding time of things, but in a more compact and efficient plan.

Here's a map showing this plan. I've recommended this loop before, so other posters like Janis will be familiar with it. https://maps.app.goo.gl/B5sLXSQa5vRfCwdo8

You'd head from Edinburgh (via the Kelpies) to Glen Etive and Glen Coe. These are two of the most beautiful of all Highland glens; Glen Etive in particular offers an almost mystical setting IMO.

From Glencoe village you'd head south past Castle Stalker to Oban. Oban is a busy port town, the gateway to the southern Hebrides including, most importantly, the Isle of Mull. Mull is second in size to Skye but possesses many features and attractions similar to those on Skye; if anything (IMO) in some cases superior in terms of accessibility, beauty, and historical interest. The biggest town (still tiny) is picturesque Tobermory, with its crashed-paint-truck waterfront, a decent distillery to visit if that's of interest, and plenty of places to stay and eat. On the way to Tobermory from Oban you'd pass Duart Castle, which IMO is the scenic equal of Eilean Donan, and unlike that Wester Ross castle, actually has some history beyond its Disneyfication.

On the other end the island is the (even tinier) village of Fionnphort, from which you can take a day trip that includes the island of Iona, cradle of Christianity in Scotland (and the north of England, for that matter) and the island of Staffa, home to stunning Fingal's Cave and, in May, to a whole lot of puffins. Along the way from Tobermory to Fionnphort there are beautiful beaches, prehistoric sites, mountains and glen, waterfalls and sea cliffs... more than enough to stop and gawk at.

Back to Oban, then on the way back to Edinburgh you can visit the (tinier yet) village of Kilmartin, which sits on a hillside overlooking Kilmartin Glen, the floor of which is littered with several hundred prehistoric sites and ruins - standing stones, stone circles, burial cairns... evidencing that this glen has been occupied for thousands and thousands of years.

Continue on to the (bigger, beautiful) village of Inveraray, set along Loch Fyne (some of the best seafood in Scotland) and home to pompous Inveraray Castle, seat of Clan Campbell, and used in numerous films and TV shows, including a stint as Cousin Shrimpy's digs in Downton Abbey. From there it's a couple of hours back to Edinburgh.

Google the places on the map or use Undiscovered Scotland, a valuable resource. Undiscovered Scotland: Home Page

Now obviously this plan doesn't include Skye, Inverness, Loch Ness, or the Cairngorms. You'd need at least 10 days to accomplish your original plan in my view, so these places will need to wait. Hint: they're not going anywhere.

My suggested plan would be -

Night 1 - Glencoe
Night 2 - Tobermory
Night 3 - Fionnphort
Night 4 - Oban

Like I say, you can ignore this, but maybe worth some time as a thought experiment.

KarenWoo

I absolutely agree with Gardyloo about Glen Coe and Glen Etive. The scenery is stunning, beautiful, mystical. So green and the Glen Etive Road is filled with rhododendrons. There were 4 of us, and we all agree that Glen Coe and Skye were the two most beautiful places we visited in Scotland. We were there last June, and I can honestly say we didn't think the crowds were that bad on Skye. The only place where we had difficulty with parking was at the Claigan Coral Beach. But it is a long drive to Skye for a short trip so you might want to reconsider.

Here is the link to my TR. We had 16 nights on the ground. Is it possible to extend the length of your trip?
Our SPECTACULAR Scottish Journey!!!

janisj

Do bear in mind that KarenWoo had four nights just on Skye and you have four nights in total.

thomasrutledge6541

Just a data point here, but in 2013 we did a 3 nights/4 days Highlands loop sleeping in Callander (hike up Ben A'an the next day), Oban (with tour of distillery, one of my favorite whiskeys), Glen Coe, then back to Edinburgh via Sterling. Even with this short a loop, we dropped things from our list for lack of time including the Wallace Monument.

I want to visit Skye too, but its just too far a drive for a short visit. I'll make it there one day. Traffic on highland roads is VERY slow going, so temper your expectations. I think you'll spend so much time travelling and not enough time soaking up the area. If you have Scotch whiskey fans in your group, a visit to one of the smaller distilleries is well worth it. I agree with KarenWoo (and she's currently advising me on a trip to Provence) that Glen Coe is magical. The drive down Glen Etive is great too. Undiscovered Scotland mentioned earlier is a tremendous resource.

christtravel

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! This is exactly the type of suggestions I was hoping to get - really appreciate it.

christtravel

Gardyloo I've looked into your suggestions and these seem excellent, so I wanted to especially thank you for taking the time to make these recommendations! We've decided to take Fodor's community advice and leave the visit to the Isle of Skye for another time, when we'll have more time to spend there. We had some trouble finding accommodation in Glencoe and Fionnphort, and had to make some tweaks to the itinerary so that we could add a visit to the Inveraray Castle on a day that it was open, so the revised itinerary looks like this:
Day 1: Edinburgh to Inveraray, and then Glencoe (maybe through Oban as our accommodation is somewhere in the middle of Fort William and Glencoe)
Day 2: Glenfinnan Visitor Centre and Glencoe (same accommodation)
Day 3: Isle of Mull (spending night in Tobermory)
Day 4: Driving from Tobermory to Fionnphort, visiting Iona and Staffa and then going to Oban
Day 5: Oban to Edinburgh through Rannoch Moor, Wallace Monument, Stirling Castle and the Kelpies

Does the above sound doable? Also, do we need to book ferries in advance?