We are travelling to Scotland by train from London on May 24, probably to Edinburgh and have to fly out of Glasgow on the morning of May 27. I was thinking of spending an afternoon and overnight in Edinburgh, then travelling to Fort William by train or bus, renting a car. If we arrived in Fort William early afternoon, would it make sense to drive to Skye for overnight then return to Fort William the next afternoon? Or is that too ambitious? (I've never driven on the left before)
Thanks

Driving on the left is not hard - especially in Scotland because there is relatively little traffic. As long as you don't drive IN Edinburgh you will be fine.

What I would do is take an early morning train to Edinburgh - you can be there well before noon. (or even faster and probably cheaper fly to Edinburgh in the a.m.) Then spend the rest of that day seeing mostly the castle and sites in the old city. You can see a lot in 6 or 7 hours. And the days are long, so after the castle/Holyrood/the Abbey/museums are closed you can still do a lot of sightseeing.

You could take a train to Ft William - or you could take the airport bus to Edinburgh Airport and pick up a rental car there.

If you drive from Edinburgh you could drive by Stirling (the castle is definitely worth a visit but you might decide to skip it since your time is limited and Edinburgh Castle is similar and nearly as big), through the Trossachs, visit Glencoe and on to Mallaig.

If you take the train to Ft William and pick up a car there I'd drive the longer way around to the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh. The reason for this is -- on the shorter drive to Mallaig there is quite a bit of single track road. This is a one lane road for two-way traffic. These roads are very easy to drive after you get the hang of it - but for your very first time driving on the left it might put you off. So I'd go to Skye via the bridge and spend that day/night/next morning on Dkye.

Then mid day on the 26th take the ferry from Skye to Mallaig (by now you'll have some experience and will have driven on the narrow roads on Skye and the single track roads will be easier for you). Drive through/visit Glencoe and then down the A82 along Loch Lomond.

How early is your flight out of Glasgow? Unless it is really early - I'd stay somewhere along Loch Lomond like Luss or Arden. From there it is less than a 20 minute drive from the airport. You can drop the car at Glasgow airport - it is easy to rent a car w/o drop off fees.

If your flight is really early, I'd stay at the TravelInn right at the airport and is very inexpensive.

Oh - a bit of a clarification - the reason I mentioned using the ferry to Skye if you drive from Edinburgh - by then you will have had about 140+ miles to get used to the driving/car/signs/different types of roads etc. But if you pick up the car at Ft William you will be onto the narrow and single track roads before you have a good chance to get comfortable w/ the car/driving.

Frankly, I think that's nuts but each to his own. What is the driving force to get you to that part of the Highlands?

I agree with Janis's roads assessment, I might add.

Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe it is "nuts" to do this much in so short a time. Would it make more sense to take the train from London directly to Inverness, rent a car there and drive to Glasgow, perhaps via Skye?
We really just want to see the scenery and have heard that the western part of Scotland and especially Skye is very beautiful. We are flying from Glasgow to the Outer Hebrides following this to look up family history.
thanks for any more advice...

That is the problem w/ piece-mealing your info in several threads/posts. I assumed you were going to Glasgow to fly back home.

If you want to see Skye -- why are you planning to travel back down to Glasgow to fly to the Hebrides when you could easily take a ferry directly from Skye. There is regular ferry service from Uig on Skye to both Lewis and North Uist.

Right now your itinerary is pretty fractured -- 1.5 days in London, 1 day in Edinburgh, 3 days traveling around through the Highlands/Skye and back down to Glasgow to fly to the Heb's.

This can be done more efficiently - but before I offer some suggestions -- which island(s) are you visiting and WHERE are you going after the Hebrides? This could make a big difference re how you should do things. And especially are you planning on eventually going back to London to fly out????

Also are all these transports (flight into London, train to Edinburgh, flight the Hebrides, etc) already set in stone?

I agree with Janis's comments about getting the ferry rather than drive back down to Glasgow to fly. I'd take it one step further and drive up to Ullapool - frequent ferry to the Outer Hebrides from there. So rent the car in Edinburgh after spending the day sightseeing, drive on up the Motorway to get used to driving on the left. Stop at Linlithgow Palace rather than Stirling Castle - you drive right by and it is a haunting, magical place. Stirling Castle is great, but similar to Edinburgh. After Linlithgow I'd head on over to Oban then up to Fort William via Glencoe.

From Fort William it would depend what Hebridean island you are visiting. If it's Lewis, then a beautifully picturesque drive up the west coast to Ullapool and a ferry across. If it's South Uist, then a drive across to Mallaig - very pretty and seen on 'Local Hero'. If it's North Uist or Harris, then head on to Skye and catch the ferry from Uig.

Of course, you'll need to stop at suitable places along the way, but it will be easy in May.

I'm jealous.

If the sort of change you are suggesting about Inverness is an option for you, then take the train all the way from London to Mallaig and hire your car there. Definitely take the ferry to the Western Isles from Skye instead of going south again to fly up.

You can get a ferry from Uig to Lochmaddy on North Uist or to Tarbert on Harris (not Lewis), but since Lewis and Harris are joined you can drive all over the Western Isles. There is a little ferry from Leverburgh on Harris to Berneray and you can now drive all teh way from there to Eriskay on causeways. Ferry off the isalnds to Ullapool, Uig or Oban depending on your setting off point. MUCH more sense.

Thank you all - I realize my itinerary is fractured (and I'm beginning to realize planned too hastily!). Unfortunately we have already booked flights from Glasgow to the Hebrides (Benbecula) since we did not originally intend spending time in the Skye, Glencoe area. So we are definitely locked into the return to Glasgow.
I hadn't considered renting a car in Mallaig, but if I can find a rental agency there, that suggestion might be my best choice. We could take the train there from London, then rent a car and perhaps cross to Skye by ferry, return via the bridge, drive back to Mallaig and return the car, then the train back to Glasgow? Wold that make more sense?
OR, if you all think this whole plan is too ambitious, do you think we would enjoy the Scotland experience just as much if we just made our headquarters in either Edinburgh or Glasgow for 3 nights and did local day trips by train or bus?

Given the need to travel about 200 miles, I'd check the costs of a one way ferry crossing from Uig to Lochmaddy and sort out the loss of one leg of your flight. I suspect it would cost you as much to drive back to Glasgow, what with everything. I'm pretty sure that's what I'd do. You could then keep the car for the Western Isles bit and drop it off in Oban.

If you are DETERMINED to go back to Glasgow, arrange to leave the car at Kyle of Lochalsh and take the train to glasgow via Inverness.

When I have more energy I'll go and look up the car rental agency in Mallaig. I THINK it's on the Undiscovered Scotland web site.

Thank you all very much - I think I have finalized my plans now, thanks so much to all of you for your input - next time I plan a trip like this, I'll get to this site BEFORE I book all my flights! Would have worked much better - oh well, I know we'll just love seeing the highlands and the Hebrides! Thank you again...