Any suggestions for an 7 day Scotland Iteinerary??
 

I will be attending a conference in Glasgow from July 31 to Aug 4th. My husband is coming along and on the afternoon of Aug 4th we'd like to start touring Scotland for 8 additional days (flying back on Aug 12th from Glasgow).

Can anyone suggest an itinerary, things to do and/or recommend different places to stay along the way? I have in mind visiting and/or staying in Edinburgh, Perth, Pitlochry and Tobermory/Isle of Mull. We'd like to stay one or two nights in each place (and not necessarily stay the night in all of the places we visit). Right now I'm really in the beginning stages of planning, trying to figure out where to stay vs. where to 'just visit' for the day, etc.

We'll have a car and will try to remain flexible but I'd like to try and figure out the best itinerary and book accomodations soon -- I understand this is a peak travel time in Scotland! Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Goodness! The typos in my subject line are embarrassing! I really do know how to speak and spell properly!

My best advice: search for Sheila and Janis's posts on this subject. They know their stuff.

(Thanks for the nice words mr_go)

kello: You will have time to see all the places on your list and even more.

But a couple of issues. You will be heading into Edinburgh just as the Tattoo and festivals are getting underway. It is getting VERY late to find accomodations in the city at that time. Plus most decent places will have a 3-night or longer minimum.

In your short time for touring you probably can't afford to devote 3+ nights in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is my favorite city (anywhere). But in your case it might be a better idea to stay in Glasgow one additional night and use the train to do a day trip over to Edinburgh. It is a very fast trip from city center to city center and you really can see much of Edinburgh in a full day. The vast majority of sites are within a very compact area centered on Pronces Street. The old town and castle is just south of P. St and the Georgian New Town is along and north of P. St. So you can see a LOT in a day and get back to Glasgow that night.

Then a 6 day loop starting and ending in Glasgow would let you see a LOT.

I would not make a special trip to see Pitlochry (unless you were attending the theatre), but it is not far from Perth so you can make a quick visit there enroute elsewhere.

Here is one good 6-day tour (understanding you could also go in a hundred different directions)

Leave Glasgow early in the a.m. driving N along Loch Lomond, through Tarbet to Invereary and on to Oban. If you want to explore south of Oban around Arduaine, you could stay the night in or near Oban. But w/o that that detour south of Oban you could easily get to the ferry to Craignure on Mull in time to land on the Isle by late afternoon or early evening.

I'd stay 2 nights on Mull - Fionnphort is my favorite location. It is right at the ferry slip for Iona and the sunsets over Iona from the little harbor are unbelievable. Seaview is an EXCELLENT small B&B right on the little beach in Fionnphort. 2 nights would give you really about 1.5 days to see the sights of Mull including Duart Castle, Tobermory, Iona, Calgary Bay and some lovely beaches. If you have time - a 4 hour boat trip to Staffa and Fingall's Cave is wonderful.

Then after the two nights on Mull take a different ferry -- the one from from Fishnish to Lochaline -- and drive through the Morvern penninsula. This is slow driving but glorious secenery. Depending on your timing you can then go toward Coran on Loch Linnhe, or to Lochailort and Glenfinnan. You really don't need to pre-book B&Bs here (I would on Mull for sure) because it will be mid-week. Even in August many B&Bs will have rooms. But to be sure, you can use the Tourist Information Center in Oban or Tobermory to locate a room for your stop in this area.

From there travel through Ft William to Spean Bridge and across toward Dalwhinnie and down the A9 through Blair Atholl and on to Perth. You could stay 1 or 2 nights in Perth and use it as a base to see Pitlochry, Scone, Loch Rannoch, Loch Tay, etc.

Then the last 1 or 2 nights somewhere west of Stirling. This area is very convenient to Glasgow airport - and you could see Stirling Castle, Imchmahome Priory and the general Trossachs scenery which is really lovely. Staying in/near Aberfoyle or Callanderwould be a good base.

If I've counted the days right this would put you in/near Aberfoyle on the morning of the 12th and you'd be less than an hour from the airport.

(My preference would be 1 night in Perth and 2 nights in the Trossachs - but you really can't go wrong either way)

Wow, Janis... thank you so much! I'm priting this out now and will be taking most (if not all) of your suggestions!

If we stay in Pitlochry, could we just drive to Perth during the day? (i.e. how far is it?). The reason is that 1. I do want to try to get into a show. 2. I would like to go back to the Atholl Palace (to stay). I went there when I was about 12 and have some really neat memories and I want to share the experience with my husband now! So, I think Pitlochry is staying on the itinerary -- but perhaps if we stayed the night there we could plan on spending the day/evenings in Perth and surrounding areas?

Thanks again for all of the suggestions.

SHELIA... if you see this post, I'd like to hear from you too. I've read and printed out some of your other posts on the same subject as well. Perhaps you don't have anything more to add but at any rate, my mom has been on me though to let you know that I am Laura's (dancintomusic) daughter!!! I undersand you guys are friends! She was talking about you all weekend and even encouraging me to try to meet you!! :)

kello: Sure - staying in Pitlochry for a night or 2 would work just as well as Perth. Especially if you have childhood memeories of the area and are attending a performance. They are only about 25 miles apart on a fast-ish direct road so you can easily visit Scone/Perth from Pitlochry.

Well, m'dear, if you're Laura's daughter that puts a whole nother complexion on matters. I didn't post because a) you seemed pretty in control and b) there wasn't much to add to what Janis said. Having said THAT, all bets are off now.

I thought I was fodored out this year (three sets down, and two to go) but, will you come and see us? OR let us spend some time with you in Edinburgh or Perthsire or somewhere we know very well?

I'll work up the route I would take and you may take it or leave it or ask me to jigger with it.

Sheila! Sure, I'd love to either meet you in Edinburgh or the Perthshire area OR come see you elsewhere (you are in the Aberdeen area if I remember correctly?)!

Can I write you at this e-mail address ([email protected])? I'll contact you soon when I have more details. My mom is going to be thrilled! lol :)

kello, I don't have any Scotland advice that would even begin to compare to what you've gotten here. Just want to say that you have an amazing mom. :-)

Ask her to give you a link to Judi's photos.

Sheila, my kid really does know how to spell. It's the proofreading that does her in every time. Thank you for taking the time to help her out. I wish I were going with her, I would love to meet you. Someday I will!

Grasshopper, it's you who is amazing! By the way, happy birthday!

Of course you may, kello.

My love to all y'all:)

sheila or janis...

Do you know how long the total ferry journey takes from Fishnish to Lochaline?

I'm trying to figure out if I have time to take a ferry in the a.m. to Lochaline, drive up the Movern peninsula to Mallaig, then ferry from there to Armadale in the late afternoon.

Let's see... I have the CalMac ferries page bookmarked, but I'm not Sheila or Janis. So perhaps I shouldn't post this, but I will:
http://www.calmac.co.uk/summer-mull-timetable.html

Now, now, don't be so touchy..

The timetable, from memory says 30 minutes, but that's to allow for tides. It's rarely more than 20 minutes. You could easily do that in a day- indeed you could manage the side run to Ardnamurchan Point too.

Sorry KT! I should not have been so exclusive. :)

Thank you for the website! I'm looking at the Island Hopscotch offers they have. I think we may go with one of those.

You've already got the info -- but just to reassure you -- I've done that exact trip 3 times and you'll have plenty of time even if you wait until a little later in the day. (Actually once I went from Tobermory instead of Fishnish but it was still doable)

kello

Email me till I pin this down, please?