I was wondering if anyone has taken the Rabbie's Isle of Skye Tour? Did you get a good feel for the country? I thought the cost was high at 139 pounds per person (excluding 2 nights lodging and 3 days of meals). I could be wrong and am curious if there are any other good tour companies that might do the same thing for less. Is it possible to rent a car and cover the same ground in the same amount of time?
Also, has anyone stayed in Edinburgh during the August Festival. Is there anything I should know about buying tickets for events ahead of time? What would you reccomend seeing and doing. We only have 3 days in the city. Where would you reccomend staying...area and hotel. I tried some B&B's from Rick Steve's book, but they were already sold out.
Any and all help will be appreciated!
Tour Companies in Scottland
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• skip Rick Steves for much of anything to do w/ the UK. He is good to very good for a lot of countries. But for the UK - not so much.
• Rabbies is a very good/well regarded tour company. I would have no concerns at all. Timberbush is another/similar reputation tour company.
• Are you also planning on attending the Tattoo? HIGHLY recommended. They started booking tickets yesterday. http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/tickets. I don't think Festival or Fringe tix are available yet.
• What is your budget for accommodations?
If you're touring independently, you do know you can use the Tourist Information Office in the place you're leaving to book accommodation at the next place (or several places) you're going to? They'll have official listings and brochures for you to choose from, so you'll know they'll at least be up to a decent minimum standard. Or at least, it was possible thee last time I did it: the TIO made the phone calls and so on, and there was a nominal add-on fee to them for doing so.
http://www.visitscotland.com/travel/information/centres
http://www.visitscotland.com/accommodation/
Thanks for your thoughts. I did jump on the internet and buy the tickets for the Military Tattoo. There were very few good seats left, I couldn't believe how fast they sold!
We are looking to spend $250.00 US dollars or less for a room. I know that rooms are more pricey during the festivals. Any good ideas on hotels or B&B's that are close to the action?
What kind of festival or fringe tickets should I be looking to purchase. Don't really know much about that either, haven't had time to do my reading.
Tickets for most of the festival events are not available yet. The festival websites should have information about when the schedules and tickets will become available.
If you like theater, I found the plays at the Traverse Theatre during the festival were wonderful. This is a year-round theater that produces new plays, mostly from the UK I believe. During August there are several productions a day. I will be going to some of their productions again this August. http://www.traverse.co.uk/
We ended up seeing many things that we read about in the papers while we were there instead of planning everything in advance. There are all sorts of papers with reviews of the current productions circulating at the festival venues during the festival.
Although there may be many folks named Scott, the Scots are inhabitants of the semi-eponymously named land of the Scots - Scotland. Thus, the nation is not Scottland, which would be a place for guys named Scott or the location of the fertilizer company's manufacturing and distribution.
I've gone on the Isle of Skye tour with Rabbies and was very pleased with the experience. We stayed in a hotel for our lodging and was happy with where they put us. Our tour guide would make stops for tea or restroom breaks when needed. I do not like to drive in unfamiliar places so this was a great way for us to see this side of Scotland without us having to drive. They use small buses so its a more personal tour or at least that's how we felt. We also used Timberbush for a day tour and were happy with that tour as well.
When going to the Tattoo, remember to dress warmly. The week before we attended the weather was nice and not too cold but sure enough the weather changed. We were lucky it didn't rain but it did the night before and after our show.
we joined Timberbush last year for an all day tour of parts of the highlands and was pleased with the quality of the tour and the guide. no high pressure tactics for asking for tips.
if you have time, you can do a side trip to st andrews, sp. if you have interest in golf. cute university town and easy day trip from edinburgh. we didnt join any tour to go there, bus was easy and inexpensive.