Hi, here is the plan so far for about 3 weeks in Scotland in May/June 2024

Fly into Glasgow from Boston
Glasgow- 3 nights
Then get rental car, drive to Culzean Castle, then go up coast and take A82 into Inveraray
Inveraray- 2 nights
Breaks up drive, Inveraray Castle and gardens
Tobermory- 3 nights
Iona and Staffa, Tobermory itself, chill out and explore Mull
Plockton (via Mallaig ferry, or should we go inland thru Fr. William and then over on A87)- 3 nights
Applecross peninsula, maybe day trip to Portree, Eilean Donan, see the area
Ballater- 3 nights
Stonehaven and Dunnottar Castle, Balmoral, see area, whisky tour
St. Andrews (or possibly Crail)- 2 nights
Possible round of golf, Fife villages, short walk
Melrose- 3 nights
Borders abbeys, Abbottsford, Holy Isle, Duns (brother in law interested in Jim Clark)
Edinburgh- 3 nights (ditch rental car)
Possible day trip to Stirling (unless visit Stirling as day trip from Glasgow),
Fly out of Edinburgh back to Boston

This totals 22 nights actually. We are 4 adults, ages 58 to 72, all in good health. Trying for mostly 3 night stays and as few really long drive days as possible, yet want good mix of: castles and gardens, historical and religious sites, pretty coastal villages, nice short walks/hikes, good pubs & restaurants, maybe a round of golf or horseback riding, scenic drives

Choosing where to stay between Plockton and St. Andrews/Crail is really challenging. At first, we thought of Grantown-on-Spey, but now I'm thinking Ballater might be good choice too- or maybe some other place? I want to see Dunnottar and Stonehaven and return without it taking all day. No matter what I choose, then I give up something else. Is Ballater a good choice or would Grantown or somewhere else be better? Ideal town would combine being charming, have good pub or two, nice place to stay, and centrally located in this area. Suggestions?

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!

I'll let the Scotland experts weigh in on the specific destinations. I'll only mention that three weeks of only short stays (2-3 nights) one after another after another would drive me crazy.

For anyone wanting to see conndog's preliminary planning thread it is here: Filling in Scotland itinerary gap

Just a few quick commentsL

Driving Glasgow to Culzean to Inveraray would be a bit of a slog - probably 4 to 4.5 hours drive time. Not horrible but a 7+ hour day including time to explore Culzean. I personally wouldn't stay 2 nights in Inveraray. 1 would be plenty, visiting the castle the next morning and leaving for mull around noon/1PM. If you wanted to explore Kilmartin, then what I'd do is stay the one night in Inveraray, explore Kilmartin Glen en route to Oban, stay one night in Oban and take the first ferry over the next morning.

There is no fast/easy way to get from Tobermory to Plockton -- no matter the route, count on 5 to 6 hours plus any stops.

Re Grantown-on-Spey vs. Ballater -- I personally would choose Ballater. But then I LOVE Deeside and the general Castle Trail area. But honestly, either would work.

Didn't see Jean's post. I tend to agree and avoid short stop overs when possible. But one problem -- much of Scotland is not really a hub and spoke sort of place. Because of the road system it can be necessary to have 'linear' itinerary, with one and two night stops. I've done several trips with 2 days here, 1 night there, 2 or 3 days at the next stop, then 1 night, then a week's cottage rental, then 1 night, then 3 nights. With stops never being more than 150 miles apart as the crow flies, but by road 5, 6, 8 hours drive time.

I guess that's why I've only "toured" Scotland in geographic bits and pieces. I really don't like traveling out of an always open suitcase.

We live in the north of England and visit Scotland frequently, but I will let the logistics experts advise you as our holidays are weekly rentals in cottages.
However, I did want to mention a couple of things.
You mention Melrose - we often go there, lovely little town. It has an excellent restaurant called Provender. It's tucked away up a side street, but well worth searching out for lunch or dinner (and it also does breakfast but I've not tried it yet).
Provender Melrose | Restaurant & Take Away
You also mention the Jim Clark museum at Duns. We went for the first time last month. Lovely place, very poignant and moving, beautifully displayed. Don't miss the 3 films of Jim's life. I didn't think the place would hold my attention but we were there for a long time!

It's a somewhat dizzying itinerary and - just my opinion - one that may well leave you exhausted and suffering from a bit of "if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium" syndrome.

I DO get it; sitting with a map and guidebook (or its electronic equivalent) of Scotland is like visiting a high-end Vegas buffet. Ooh.. oh wait... Oh wow... Like that.

If you want to go with this pace and are prepared to make accommodation bookings in popular places at popular times, fine. But the plan can be a bit brittle - any delays can start dominoes falling in the days and nights to come. A missed ferry can turn the Mull > Plockton day into two, for example. And taking a day to "explore Mull" from Tobermory is a tall order. It's not impossible, but at some point I'd have to imagine that there will be diminishing returns. I'd probably be looking at means to edit and simplify the plan.

A couple of random thoughts. The Mallaig - Plockton - Applecross days are going to be whistle stops. Whoever the driver is (I assume one car?) is going to need rehab. This brief excursion into the northwest would certainly cover some very scenic ground, but there are so many scenic parts of the Highlands and Islands that using those days for some longer stays elsewhere, requiring fewer driving days might be advisable. For example, a day based in Oban could allow you to experience places like Glen Etive and Glen Coe - both stunning in the spring. Map - https://maps.app.goo.gl/GbJvpih4R1NxWBca7

Or use Rabbie's, a quality small group touring company, for a day trip from Glasgow to Culzean Castle and Burns country so you don't have to pay for a car and fight jetlag while driving on th wrong side of the road - 1 Day Culzean Castle, Burns Country & Ayrshire Tour | Rabbie's (rabbies.com)

If it was me looking to simplify the plan without losing the sense of variety and beauty, I'd probably focus on Argyll and Mull in the west, and the Royal Deeside and adjacent whisky country in the east. If you wanted a hub-and-spoke area, both of these COULD serve in that capacity - say Oban in the west and Braemar or Ballater in the east.

I'll stop here, but maybe as a thought experiment draw up a plan B that involves fewer destinations but more time in some of those remaining.

Happy planning!

Should I forget about Ballater as a base and instead look at Perth as a travel base? From Perth, we could easily get to Stirling Castle, Drummond Castle Gardens in Crieff, Stonehaven/Dunnotar, St. Andrews/Fife coast., and Braemar or even Ballater. Is Perth itself a nice destination? Perth to Tobermory(and Tobermory to Glasgow) would be the longest drives of the trip, but there's no easy way to get around that. Here's what we could do for fewer stops but with longer stays:

Fly into Glasgow for 4 nights
Either drive straight to Tobermory, or stop for 1 or 2 nights in Inveraray or Oban
Tobermory for 4 nights
Drive to Perth for 4 nights
Drive to Melrose for 4 nights
End in Edinburgh for 4 nights

This gives up the Plonkton area, but it is 5 bases of 4 nights each and possibly 1 or 2 nights more in either Oban or Inveraray to break up the drive to Tobermory. I like the idea of using Rabbies tour for visiting Culzean and Burns places.

Your new plan is fine but though with some long drives between stops.

I personally would hate to give up Deeside. But Perth is OK (I might stay in Dunkeld instead of Perth)

For practicality and squeezing in more fabulous scenery without reverting to 2 night stays but injecting one 1-night stay - maybe consider something like:

Fly into Glasgow for 3 nights
Drive to Tobermory aiming to get the late afternoon ferry with a few hour break in Oban for the distillery/lunch/sightseeing. 4 nights on Mull (either in Tobermory or Fionnphort)
Morning ferry and drive to Glencoe - stay one night. Time to explore Glencoe and Glen Etive.
Drive to Ballater for 4 nights (or Braemar though I might prefer Ballater). Ballater is a good base for a lot of day trips
Drive to Melrose for 3 nights
End in Edinburgh for 5 nights - the extra night would let you do an easy day trip by train to Stirling by train from Edinburgh and maybe a Rabbies day tour to St Andrews

If driving close to Meigle, go and see its small museum:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigle...d_Stone_Museum

If you are interested, Meigle is right on the direct route from Ballater > Dunottar > Melrose. It is a small place but does have a fair sized collection of Pictish stones. It is only 5 or 6 miles from the magnificent Glamis Castle on the same route

I've been re-thinking the trip, but still keeping it to 22 nights, here is a slightly different itinerary:
Fly into Glasgow - 3 nights
Drive to Tobermory (4 hr drive) - 3 nights
Drive to Plockton (4 hr 24 min drive) - 3 nights
Drive to Ballater (3 hr 28 min drive) - 4 nights
St. Andrews (1 hr 58 min drive) - 1 night
Drive to Melrose (2 hr 5 min drive) - 4 nights
Return car to Edinburgh Airport (57 min drive) - 4 nights in Edinburgh

Nice mix of types of places. I will guess you took your drive times from Googlemap or similar - right? More than likely each drive will likely take a bit longer.

ex: Tobermory > Plockton = 4:24 . . . Not likely. More like 5-5½ hours depending on which ferry.
Ballater > St Andrews in 1:58? Plan on 2 ½ hours give or take.

If you manage faster count your lucky stars. Each could take considerably longer on weekends, or where there is construction or if you get stuck behind caravans (travel trailers)

Trying to add a Highland Games to schedule and think the one on June 9 at Glamis Castle might work well. We still could go in May/June and time it so we would be in Ballater around then. It would be a long but fun day to go from Ballater to Glamis, enjoy the games, and then afterward continue down to St. Andrews.
what time to Highland Games typically begin, at noon? Traffic will slow travel times but this could work for us. Seeing Glamis itself would be a bonus too.

Typically Games run from noon to 5 or 6 PM -- I 'think' Strathmore (Glamis) is 12 - 5. Ballater to Glamis is about a 90 minute drive - traffic shouldn't be a huge until you get close to the grounds - it isn't a huge Games -- maybe 2,500 or 3,000 attendance. Some parking and nearby traffic snags but not awful. But - doing that would mean you couldn't do Dunnottar Castle on the drive south. Instead you can easily do Crathes and Dunnottar as a day trip during your stay in Ballater.

Then Glamis to St Andrews takes about an hour as long as you leave before the games close when the traffic out will be slowest.

If it was me, I'd head from Ballater south to Falkland on the Saturday before the games at Glamis Castle. Do the games on Sunday (around an hour's drive) then back to Falkland, then hit St. Andrews on Monday (also around an hour from Falkland.) Falkland Palace and gardens close at 5 PM; in early June you'd have plenty of daylight for most any activities. You might miss Dunnottar Castle but the drive south on the A93 from Royal Deeside through Glenshee is pretty damn nice, and it's not like you won't have plenty of castles to see in Aberdeenshire.

Alternatively, you could head from Ballater out to the coast, stop at Dunnottar Castle, and maybe overnight someplace along the Angus coast in striking distance to Glamis. My many acquaintances from Forfar would insist you partake on a Forfar bridie (with onions) or two (pause for saliva to subside) or maybe stay in historic, lively, and rather pretty Arbroath, home of Arbroath smokies, also yum. Either would make accessing Glamis very easy; you'd want to be there early enough to see the massed pipes entering the grounds.

I wanted to explore tweaking the itinerary to have fewer long driving days. So, if we did this new plan, we'd take out Plockton and Ballater, saving them and other northern & western spots for another trip. What do you think of this? It now goes to Mull, Islay, and Arran Isles and takes in the Borders area plus also Edinburgh.

Fly into Glasgow- 2 nights
Rent car and go to either Inverary or Oban- 2 nights
Go to Tobermory- 3 nights
Go to Jura and Islay- 3 nights
Go to Tarbert- 2 nights
Go to Brodick- 3 nights
Go to Melrose- 3 nights
End in Edinburgh- 4 nights
Total- 22 nights

I'd love to get advice and feedback. Would this plan reduce travel time? Is it still too many places even for 3 weeks? Is going to Ballater and Dunnotar and Highlands worth giving up Islay or Mull?

Just very quick -- That is mostly a very well paced itinerary. The one major hiccup I see is the transit between Tobermory and Islay. That is one loooong haul. At very minimum 6 hours but more likely 7+ hours depending on the ferry schedules.

Granted this inserts a couple of 1 night stops but IMO it would be a lot easier go from Glasgow to Oban - stay one night. Then do your thee nights on Mull. Then drive from Tobermory to Inveraray and stay one night. Then on to Islay and the rest of your plan.

Meant to add -- because of the long distances and often very slow driving, sometimes having a one-nighter or two is the only practical option.

And if I wanted to get to Highlands and still keep it at 22 nights, then here is another itinerary, which takes out Islay:

Glasgow- 2 nights
Get car, drive to Melrose- 3 nights
Ayr- 2 nights (for Culzean)
Brodick- 3 nights
Either Inverary or Oban- 2 nights
Tobermory- 3 nights
Crieff- 1 night (break up drive and see Drummond Castle gardens)
Ballater- 3 nights
Edinburgh- 3 nights

Any thoughts?