Advice on Scotland Itinerary
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to Scotland in April/May of 2025. We're flexible on timing in those months - as retirees, we generally like to travel during less crowded times- and can take about 4 weeks. We enjoy walks/light hikes, beautiful scenery, soaking up a bit of culture (and whisky), some castles. I think most of the driving will be on my husband, but I may give it a shot (I have not driven on the other side of the road). I have been voraciously reading the guidance/comments from so many on this site (thank you!!!) and I think I have a good start, hoping also that the driving route makes sense. We are trying have a longer stay in each place, but recognize that won't always make sense.

I'd be grateful for any advice on this itinerary incl. location, driving routes, when to start - eg mid-April. (Also there is no magic to flying into Glasgow and leaving from Edinburgh - except that we though we'd chill in Edinburgh for about 5 days, and do some Rabbie's day trips. )

Thank you!

Here goes:
- Day 1-3 - Fly into Glasgow (stay a few nites to get over jet lag).
- Rent car and drive to Oban. Explore. Maybe 1 nt?
- Ferry from Oban to Isle of Mull. Stay in Tobermory or Fionnphort - 3 -4 nts?
- Ferry back to Oban and drive to Glencoe. Stay 4-5 nits in Glencoe
- Drive to Craigellachie (husband want to do Macallan tour). Stay 2 nts?
- Drive to Ballater - stay 4 nites
- Drive to Melrose - stay 3 nites
- Drive to Edinburgh (drop car). Stay 5 nites, take some Rabbie's tours.

First a note re timing of the trip: Understanding that there are UK Bank Holiday weekends at the beginning and end of May and over those weekends accommodations may be more expensive, will definitely book up early, and some spots will be crowded -- but the middle of May is really more of a low season bracketed by two weekends of high season. Even so -- I'd want to travel as late in your window as possible. Both for the longer days and for a slight chance of better weather (and I emphasize slight chance - no telling - next year April could be glorious and May awful or any combination of any sort of wether (except snow isn't likely)

The beginning of April sunset will be around 7AM and sunset 8PM, May 31 sunrise is 4:30 AM and sunset around 10PM.

Now I'll read over the itinerary and see if I have any suggestions . . .

Thank you janisj for the timing info. Very valuable to our planning! Will look forward to any further input.

OK -- I love your plan - lots of time in some really glorious places.

IF you can get in -- it books up far in advance but you are talking next year . . . I'd definitely take a look here in Fionnphort. Lovely B&B, views across to the Abbey on Iona, great breakfasts, and a short walk to the pier for the foot ferry to Iona and boats to Staffa. https://iona-bed-breakfast-mull.com

While I do LOVE Glencoe - unless you are into some serious mountaineering I do think 5 nights is way overkill and even 4 nights is a lot.

Me personally - I'd take 2 nights from Glencoe and add them to Craigellachie. Not for Craigellachie exactly but to use as a base to see so much in the general Speyside/Inverness area. Macallan of course (having a wee bit of 18 yo as we speak :) ), Culloden, Clava Cairns, Elgin, Ft George, Maybe the Black Isle (Dolphins), Cawdor Castle. some of the Cairngorms, I'd look for accommodations in Aberlour or Craigellachie or Dufftown.

Oh -- meant to add . . . Rabbies also does tours out of Glasgow so you might look into maybe a one-day from there. Especially for places like Ayrshire/Cuzean or Arran or Bute.

Thanks again for the recommendations. You gave me just what we were looking for - your idea of adding time to Craigellachie sounds like it will give us a great base to do some additional things we would definitely enjoy. I will do some more research on the various places you noted and look into the Iona B&B too. Thank you kindly again for the advice! It really is just what we needed to help fine tune this itinerary. Enjoy your wee bit of that 18 yo!

Re distillery tours - they are much of a muchness. One tour will be quite similar to other tours because the process is just about identical. But while in the area maybe consider also visiting Balvenie.

Macallan is very modern while Balvenie is more 'traditional' - and both are top notch tours.

janisj - YES to Balvenie! Thanks again.