My husband and I are in the early stages of planning a two-week trip to Scotland in June. We've drafted a partial itinerary below and would welcome any feedback or suggestions regarding the planned days, places to stay and other places to see along the way. We are interested in seeing the countryside, castles and distilleries.

Day 1 - Leave US (approx 12 hrs travel)

Day 2 - Arrive and settle in Edinburgh

Day 3 - Tour Edinburgh

Day 4 - St. Andrews, Glamis Castle, (go to and stay in Pitlochry)

Day 5 - Tour Pitlocry, Blair Castle, Killercrankie (go to and stay in Aberdeen)

Day 6 - Aberdeen, Gordon Highlanders Museum, Castle Fraser, Craiglever Castle (stay in Aberdeen)

Day 7 - Distilleries, Macallan, Glenfarclas, Knockando, Braes of Glenlivet (go to and stay in Inverness)

Day 8 - Driving from Inverness, Culloden, Clava Cairas, Urquart Castle, Loch Ness, Eillen Donan Castle (go to and stay in Isle of Skye)

Day 9 - Isle of Skye day

Day 10 - Fort William, Glencoe (go to and stay in Oban)

+ 4 more days to break up earlier days and to get back to Edinburgh at the end.

Thank you

You will love Scotland. However, your itinerary is a bit disjointed, w/ a lot of to-ing and fro-ing.

You head NE from Edinburgh to St Andrews, then N to Glamis, then west to Pitlochry, then back east to Aberdeen, then NW to Inverness > East to Culloden > SW to Loch Ness > West to Skye. Plus several one night stands.

Blair Athol/Blair Castle are fine - but by cutting out that loop Glamis > Pitlochry > Aberdeen you could work out a much more efficient itinerary.

I'd think about an itinerary something like this:

Edinburgh to St Andrews. Stay that night in Fife (or even - better 2 nights). See St Andrews, the fishing villages, Falkland Palace/Garden.

Then the next day visit Glamis and Dunnottar enroute to the Aberdeen area. Stay 2 nights somewhere along the Dee and on the 2nd day visit castles including Craigievar, Fraser and Crathes.

Then up through Huntly and Dufftown to the Inverness area for 2 nights (I wouldn't stay IN Inverness). Visit a distillery or 2 - no need for more. I LOVE single malts but one distillery/tour is pretty much like any other. See Clava Cairns and Culloden.

Leave the Inverness area and drive to Skye for 2 or 3 nights. You'll see Urquhart and Eilean Donan enroute.

Then Skye through Ft William (don't stop), through Glencoe and on to the Trossachs for Killin, Stirling, Doune, Inchmahome - whatever and then back to Edinburgh.

Unless you plan on going to Mull or explore the neolithic sites south of Oban, I really don't think there is a reason to detour to stay there.

Day 3 - Tour Edinburgh. I'd probably take another day in Edinburgh at this stage. Firstly to regroup, and and secondly to minimise your dotting about.

Day 5 could cover St. Andrews and Glamis and an overnight stay in Pitlochry, but you might be better to save that bit till later and, instead, head for Aberdeen. The Aberdeen day is then fine.

Your distillery day might be a bit much. If you've seen one, you've seen them all (OK, that's a gross overstatement, but it's nearly true. You'd have to be mad to go and see 4 in one day). OTOH, I'd stay in Craigellachie, were I you, at the hotel and I'd take a "tour" in their whisky bar in the evening.

From there you can pick up in more rational order on the way north, and west, Clava Cairns, Culloden, Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness, and Eilean Donan on the way to Skye.

Leaving Skye, that's a reasonable day, and you could then come back over to Killin, along the north side of Loch Tay and up to Pitlochry.

I assume you're driving, picking up a car when you leave Edinburgh. You're not allowing much time to get over jet lag before launching off on the wrong -- I mean, other -- side of the road.

Since you're staying at Pitlochry, you might like the nearby Edradour distillery, supposed the smallest. Very cute. Here's a link: http://www.whisky.com/distilleries/e...distillery.htm.

Also, if you want to spread your distilleries out, there's one on Skye.

I am a bit of a whisky connisieur and have visited quite a few distilleries.
I second visiting Edradour distillery,it is the smallest working distillery in Scotland and the tours are free,nearby Edradour id the hamlet of Moulin,a very nice Inn there with it's own Micro brewery,well worth a stop or an overnight stay.There is also the Blair Athol distillery in the town and it doeas a very good tour.Of the other distilleries mentioned,Macallan is a little "industrial" but Glenfarclas is a great tour and the room they let you sample whisky in absolutley stunning.Glenlivet is a bit akward to find ,but a good very informative tour with a lot of hands on touchy feely stuff,it also has a very good little cafe for snacks and light meals.I have not toured Knockando but is is right on the Speyside Way are are several other distilleries in the area.
I would not advise more than one or two distillery visits in a day as the "nominated" driver may get jealous.
Craigellachie(an alternative to staying in Inverness) is a lovely place to stay and the Macallan distillery is a short distance away,The Craigellachie Hotel is expensive but the Quaich bar there is a whisky lovers dream.
http://www.craigellachie.com/quaich-bar.asp
The Highlander in a few hundred yards away is where i stayed and has great food and a wonderful selection of whisky,the locals are very friendly.
http://www.whiskyinn.com/
these websites may be of use to you.
http://www.scotlandwhisky.com (Distilleries to visit and Whisky Embassies)
http://www.maltwhiskytrail.com/
http://www.whisky.com/
www.whisky-tours.com
http://www.scottishpubs.co.uk/
http://www.scotchwhisky.net/
http://www.whiskycoast.co.uk
http://www.whisky-heritage.co.uk/ ( Edinburgh )
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whis... (pronunciation of whisky names)
http://www.wmcadenhead.com/ ( specialist whisky shop)
http://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/defa... (specialist whisky shop)
http://www.whiskyshop.com/ (specialist whisky shop)
i also wrote an introdction to whisky on Trip Advisor that you may be interested in.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g1...Of.Whisky.html

Thank you for all of the feedback. We're hearing the "slow down" message loud and clear. I appreciate the detailed responses on distilleries and good ones to visit. We're novices at this and your guidance is helpful.
Thank you,
MN Akins