central point in scottish highlands
 

we will be in scotland for 8 days in august, ending with 3 nights in edinburgh. we are looking for a central location in the highlands for 2 nights and then another location in skye. or perhaps we should skip skye and spend 4 nights in the highlands. any recommendations would be very much appreciated. thanks!

Which part of the Highlands are you considering? The northern part of Scotland is sufficiently large that your travel times could be several hours if you pick the wrong place.

thank you for responding. we are not very well informed yet about scotland and that is why we are so concerned about picking the right place. we do not want to spend more time in the car than enjoying the sites. what would you recommend? we are very flexible.

Before anyone can give you useful advice - we need to know what places you have on your 'radar' -- I assume you've done some research and have at least a list of 'wants' if not 'musts'. You've picked the "Highlands" - but that is a vast area and we really can't tell you the best place(s) w/o knowing what sorts of things you are looking for.

Do You have a Scotland guidebook to get you started?

It is hard to believe that a place as densely populated as the (still) United Kingdom can have places as empty as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There are historical reasons for this, some of them shameful, but it means that doing day trips from a central location doesn't work as well there as in some places. Many of the major highways are only two lanes and some fairly significant outes are only one lane with places to pass.

So we really do need to know way you have always wanted to see before we recommend where you should stay to see them.

Question: who's "we"? Debbbbbbbb and hubby/SO, Debbbbbbbbb and friend, Debbbbbbbbb and family (if family, quantify number of persons and type - siblings, progenitors, progeny, spouse, etc - including thumbnail sketch of ages). That may answer your "how much to move around" question for you.

Next question: what do you want to do? Castles, castles, castles may mean one area (Aberdeenshire); historical interests may mean another (Inverness area); fishing/birding may mean yet another area. Whisky sampling can be done anywhere - every city has its own specialty shops for the local personality lubricant (The Whisky Shop in Inverness, Gordon & MacPhail shop in Elgin, Royal Mile Whiskies in Edinburgh).

There's Northern Highlands, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands and (to some degree) Southern Highlands. And the roads are twisty and the coast is inlets and spits and fingers and firths - this makes a tiny country (smaller than South Carolina) much larger than it seems.

Have a look at the driving tours suggested here:
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/ustours/

The area around Fort William might be quite good. This is also convenient if you decide to spend some time in Skye.