2 Days In Skye, Scottland or 1 Day Skye, 1 day Iverness?
 

We're very limited on time, so we are wondering what the best use of our time is. Our first day we arrive in Edinburge at 220 pm. we will travel to fort William with a stop at sterling castle. Day 2, we will take the Jacobite train tour and travel to Skye that evening after the train tour. We will then stay there for two days or one depending on the answer to this. If we do just one then we'll go to Iverness for day 4 or like I said day 4 will also be Skye. At the end of Day we head to Edinburgh, and spend day 5 and day 6 there. We leave the 6th day at 750 to Dublin.

Thanks for any help that you guys can provide!!! It's our honeymoon.

OH -- I posted on your other post and didn't see this thread.

Here is what I posted there:

>><i>One day on Skye (which would require 2 nights) will give you a taste of the isle but is nowhere near enough to see even just the high points. It is a large island and the travel is slow. 3 nights/2 days will let you see more - but still not all.

Inverness itself is nothing to write home about - but is in the center of a lot of wonderful places. But again - one day is not enough to see more than a few of the sites w/i an hour or less of Inverness.

Are you asking one day on Skye and one day for Inverness vs. two days on Skye? If so two days in either place is better than one+one.</i><<

But you gave more details here so . . . You want to drive to Ft William. stay the night, spend one day out and back on the Jacobite, then 1 day on Skye AND drive back to Edinburgh all in 4 days. That is a LOT.

day 1) EDI to Stirling, a minimum of two hours at the castle, through Glencoe and to Ft William will take about 5.5 hours. (you won't likely get on the road til about 3:30)

day 2) The next day out and back on the Jacobite and driving to Skye in the evening. If you are staying in say Portree count on 3 hours drive from Ft William.

day 3) Skye

day 4) Not much time on Skye since the drive back to EDI will take 5.5-6 hours plus any stops.

I would much rather stay on Skye as much as possible. I stayed four nights on our last trip, and barely got to explore half of it. And I consider Skye one of the most beautiful places I've been in the world. There is a great deal of beauty packed into a small place!

I quite enjoyed my time in Inverness, but then my family is from there and I like the theater. For me, it's a great example of a highly liveable Scottish small city with charm, especially along the River Ness. In fact, I did write home about it!

But Skye is marvelous, I think especially in the north of it. I had wonderful weather, alternating sunshine and showers and rainbows. Don't know what it is like when it is pouring buckets, or what time of year you plan to be there. Must you reserve in advance? Much of the Highlands in wonderful and charming, so if you can be flexible, you might choose last minute (if not Inverness or Skye than someplace else of interest that fits with the weather forecast).

Like Janis, I think you are trying to push too much into a short time. This is your honeymoon, not a forced march.

You say arrive Edinburgh 2.20. Where in Edinburgh - by train or on the plane? If by plane, where are you coming from and are you likely to be jet lagged? The drive from Edinburgh to Fort William without stops is going to take over three hours. If you are flying, have you allowed time to get out of the airport, pick up baggage and collect your hire car? It could well be 3.30-4pm before you are on the road and that is assuming your plane is on time.

Stirling Castle is nearly an hours drive from Edinburgh and to do the castle justice you need to allow a couple of hours. The castle shuts at 6pm. This is going to mean a very late arrival at Fort William.

One day on Skye hardly gives you any time to see the island. Follow the links on this page to get an idea of some of the things you can do on Skye. It really does need two days.

What is the attraction of Inverness?

Be warned the drive back to Edinburgh from Skye is going to be a good five hours plus stops. Inverness is slightly shorter.

Distances on the road atlas may not look very great but they will take you a lot longer to drive than you might expect. Roads are not fast.

I vote to spend the time on Skye unless there is something in particular you want to see in the area of Inverness. What were you thinking of seeing there?

Scotland - land of the Scots.

Not Scottland, land of guys named Scott.

;-)

Stay both nights on Skye and that's not even enough but much better than just one night. We did Scotland last summer. I would trust janisj. She gave us valuable advice.

lol BigRuss - I just saw my typo! I do know how to spell Scotland on most days. lol.

JanisJ, We're coming from Dublin. It's a short flight so there shouldn't be any jetlag. We won't be checking baggage, but we will have to rent a car. If we could get to Sterling by 4 that would be ideal. I know we're packing so much in, but I just want to do every single thing since it's our first time abroad. Lord only knows the next time in my life I get to come back out. Although I will certainly make it a priority to one day bring our family out. I don't want to be one of those people that doesn't fully live life. Anyway enough on that mushy stuff.

Honestly, JanisJ - Inverness is just an attraction because of Outlander. I don't have a whole lot else to reference there. It looks beautiful in that show. So I don't really have a good reason. Sounds like Skye is the best choice for two days.

Sheila thanks for your help as well. Portree would be the best place to stay in Skye? I'm going to do airbnb most likely.

Thanks again everyone!

>>JanisJ, We're coming from Dublin. It's a short flight so there shouldn't be any jetlag.<<

I didn't assume jet lag -- I just know about EDI and car rentals.

(Another spelling lesson ;) It is St<B><red>i</B></red>rling)

>>I just want to do every single thing since it's our first time abroad.<<

Big mistake IMO. The more dashing about the <i>less</i> you actually see/enjoy. Or you see more but it is mostly through the windscreen.

>>Honestly, JanisJ - Inverness is just an attraction because of Outlander. <<

Hope you understand that while Outlander is set in the Highlands, most filming locations aren't and are nowhere near Inverness. Doune Castle is practically a neighbor of Stirling. Falkland is NE of Edinburgh in Fife (near-ish St Andrews and the fishing villages). Culross is also in Fife and sort of between Edinburgh and Stirling. Blackness Caste is just outside Edinburgh.

If Outlander is important to you, you might do better to stick to the Trossachs/Stirling/Doune/Culross/Fife and ditch Skye and the Jacobite. OR -- if the Jacobite is a 'must' do it but then return to the Trossachs/Doune area for your 2 days.

Skye is gorgeous -- BUT if the weather is dreadful which is always a possibility, you will have driven hours to see nothing much. It ain't called the Misty Isle for nothing. I visited Skye 3 times (over 4 years) before I ever saw a darned thing - though I have also been there when it was glorious as well -- but you probably have less than a 50/50 chance.

Oh -- to clarify -- renting at EDI isn't a hassle. But just the walk to the rental offices, wait in the queue (there is usually a queue) and getting acclimated to your car . . .

I think this is just amazing (and not necessarily in a good way).

Let's break this down. You're going to get away from the airport at 3pm at the earliest. It's going to take you more than 3 hours to drive to Fort William, without a stop, and, even setting aside Stirling (not Sterling) you are driving through stunning countryside and will want to stop. Going via Stirling makes that 3 1/2 hours minimum.

Add, what? 2 hours at Stirling Castle, and you're getting to Fort William at 8.30pm.

You're then going to take from 10.15 am till 4pm to go from Fort William to Mallaig and back, then turn round and drive back to Mallaig- earliest time of arrival 5.30pm.

The last ferry is at 6pm and your check in as 5.30pm, so you do not have a minute to spare. Mind you, you won't have to slow down for the scenery, because you'll have seen it all from the train. Armadale at 6.30pm, and an hour to drive to Portree. (I don't really get airbnb, but whatever works for you)

100% you do not want to go to Inverness.Take the two days on Skye. I also don't get the Outlander thing. I forced myself to read all 700 pages of the first book and it is.. shall we say.. not to my taste. If it's the mine-series locations you're looking for, you're in the wrong bit of Scotland:-

http://www.visitscotland.com/about/a...film-locations

(Falkland is the Inverness standin); if the locations from the book, you need to know they are fictional. BUT, the good news is we can do better than Ms Ghabaldon's fiction everywhere you turn.


It's not for us to say, but if it were my honeymoon, I might want to be more spectacular than Portree. Horses for courses, but.

Choose a different route back to Edinburgh and see different stuff.

Inverness in Outlander is actually filmed in Falkland :)

Here's an article on the locations, which should help. Doune Castle (Leoch) is actually not far from Stirling, so you could certainly swing by there on this trip.

http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/a...film-locations

You must ALWAYS plan as if you'll be back. Otherwise you'll go quite mad trying to see everything. The highlands still run with the madmen of travelers past :P

Sheila and janisj have given you some great advice. Doune Castle is very near to Stirling but, as Sheila pointed out, you really don't have time to stop with your current itinerary.

I have made more than a dozen trips to Scotland, and there are still places I haven't seen. I find that with hurried trips, places seem to become a bit of a muddle after a few days. Having been traveling to the UK for over 25 years, my best advice would be for you to slow down a bit. Otherwise it's going to be like watching something in fast forward mode.

airbnb on Skye? Oh, I hope not.;)

We took a week and added a "few" things. Perhaps this may be of help:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

>>airbnb on Skye? Oh, I hope not.;)<<

I saw that too.

I checked and there are places on Skye listed on AirB&B. Not sure I understand why that would be a bad thing?

PS, we had a great time at the Lodge at Edinbane on Skye - B&B with its own pub and restaurant :)

>> Not sure I understand why that would be a bad thing?<<

Besides it invading just about <i>everywhere</i>, because the B&Bs have to pay taxes etc. and the airbnb's don't

<< because the B&Bs have to pay taxes etc. and the airbnb's don't>>

Suddenly the Brits don't have income taxes? Rubbish. Airbnb charges are income, thus the owners get taxed.