Thanks in advance for all information. We will be flying to Edinburgh from Dublin and plan on 4 nights there. We will use one day for a day trip to St Andrews..That is non-negotiable. We were going to spend the night but decided to stay in Edinburgh. We have one night booked there for dinner at the Witchery. We love local spots too and don't need a "fancy" dinner every night. Any other suggestions appreciated. Tours. We like pubs, food tours etc. We are mid 60/s fit and love all food. Think we will be there for the last day or so of Fringe. Tattoo will just have ended.
We will rent a car AM day 5 and drive to Skye. I have found some itineraries with a few places to stop but if there are any suggestions please advise. We have driven in England and Ireland in the past.
Staying at Kinloch lodge in Skye for 3 nights. Plan on taking the bridge in and ferry out then driving to Glencoe overnight. Thinking we can explore the day we are driving from Skye to our hotel. Our last morning will just be driving to Glasgow to take the train back to London.
Does the sound reasonable. We know we will not see it all but hoping it gives us a lot. We may do some short hikes but not planning on spending a lot of time on single hike.

What exact dates are you in Edinburgh - I assume you have already booked your room there??

Day 5 is a killer It will be a 5 to 7 hour drive depending on traffic/construction, etc -- that is just butts in seats time without any stops. If it was me . . . and it isn't . . . I'd cut one night from Edinburgh and use it to stay in Glencoe en route TO Skye.

Kinloch Lodge is great -- however . . . it is a very long drive from most of the highlights/scenic bits on the north half of the island. From the Lodge say up to Duntulm Castle at the top of the Trotternish Peninsula is about a 2 hour drive with not a single stop (and there are a LOT of places to stop in between). From the Lodge around the Peninsula, the Fairy Glen, Portree and back would be a 4 hour drive plus stops. Its about 1.5 hours to Dunvegan Castle/Gardens. A day trip to say Dunvegan, Neist Point and back would be another close to 4 hours drive time plus stops. It is a very large island, the driving is quite slow, and the Lodge is at the far SE corner of the Isle.

We could cut an Edinburgh day if that is enough time as we fly in early afternoon and want one day in St Andrews. We fly in on August 25. Non-negotiable since we have a football game in Dublin on Saturday. We currently have our car rented for the 29th. Sadly I booked Kinloch not doing my due diligence and can not cancel so that is just going to have to be what it is. Is there any other place to stop going to Skye? We are staying in Glencoe on the way back to Glasgow after leaving Skye or should we consider Glenco on the way there and somewhere else heading back to Glasgow.

On the way to Skye, you could stop in Nairn, which is a lovely seaside village about 30 minutes from Inverness. If you have the time on arrival day, you could visit Cawdor Castle or Elgin Cathedral ruins or Culloden Battlefield. When we left Nairn, we visited Urquhart Castle on our way to Portree. Also stopped at Eilean Donan Castle for photos. We arrived in Portree around 5pm.

We did what you are planning on doing: took the bridge to Skye and took the ferry back to the mainland. And we stayed in Glen Coe (for 2 nights) on the way back to Edinburgh.

In Nairn, we stayed at the lovely Sunny Brae B&B, which was our favorite accommodation on this trip.

I have a different suggestion - collect the car the last morning in Edinburgh - out at EDI is best - and drive to St Andrews - the drive takes a little over an hour so you could be there by 10-ish in the mornig without getting up ai 0-dark-thirty. Spend 6 or 7 or 8 hours there and then drive to someplace like Pitlochry. St Andrews to say Pitlochry takes around 1.5 to 2 hours. Then the next morning the drive from Pitlochry to Kinloch Lodge will take about 3.5-4 hours.

Thus preserving more time IN Edinburgh and still having a whole day in St Andrews

. . . actually - cutting a night in Edinburgh you'd still have the same amount of time net for the city as you originally planned since you wouldn't be doing a day trip in the middle.

Thanks for the ideas. I think the one for a 3 night stay in Edinburgh and then a tour of St Andrews and move toward Skye makes the most sense. That was my original idea and then had decided 4 nights in Edinburgh just to.not have to pack and unpack as often. Will start looking at lodging etc.

Edinburgh has many fine restaurants as well as pubs. We found several pubs along Rose Street. Our favorite restaurants as part of our recent trip include Fishers in the City and Dusit. We were not able to get dinner reservations at Harvey Nichols as totally booked. We spent five nights in Edinburgh in October and our planned day trip to St Andrews didn't happen as there were tremendous rainstorms north of Edinburgh and many railroad lines were shut down due to flooding as well as road closures. Our favorite sites in Edinburgh included the Castle and the Royal Mile, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia. We also visited both the Naional Museum and the National Gallery of Art.