Hi all,
Husband and I are going to Europe for 2-months in 2016 and are trying to cram a lot in that time. We are spending 9 days on Ireland before catching a plane to Glasgow. I really want to see the Isle of Skye and hike to the Fairy Pools. Here's our itinerary as of now- all criticism/advice welcomed!

August 1 - Fly into Glasgow
August 2 - Drive to Fort Williams (maybe get a peek at Jacobite train) <is it worth stopping at Loch Lomond?> continue to Eilean Donan Castle - continue to Portree for hostel
August 3 - Old Man of Storr hike - Portree hostel
August 4 - Fairy Pools hike - Neist Point Lighthouse - Portree hostel
August 5 - Drive to Inverness - Drive to Edinburgh - check into hostel
August 6 - Edinburgh
August 7 - Drive to Glasgow - return rental car - Fly to London

August 7 - Land in London - check into hotel - dinner on the town
August 8 - The original London Tour - 48-hour pass
August 9 - 48-hour pass (Adding London Eye ride & probably St. Paul's Cathedral tour
August 10 - Free walking tours - Thames boat ride
August 11 - Lazy day & London Theater at night
August 12 - Train to Bath
August 13 - Day in Bath
August 14 - Train to London and on to Belgium

Couple comments: You will be going thru one of the most scenic areas of the UK on the first day, Glencoe, without stopping. It would be nice to do a hike here, or spend the night. Fort William is not as scenic and only 40 minutes away.

I would drop off the car in Edinburgh and take the train from there to London. That will save some time and running around. You will have to pay a small one way fee. You could also drive to York and leave the car there, then train to London.

What are you using to compute drive time? Portree to Edinburgh is a long drive.

You could go to Skye by way of Glencoe and the scenic Road to the Isles (the same route the Jacobite train takes) catching a ferry at Mallaig. And then return by the bridge at Kyle of Lochalsh for Eileen Donan.

And from Edinburgh, having dropped the car upon arrival, you could fly Easyjet to Bristol airport, which is a 45-minute bus ride from Bath. Or take the overnight train from Edinburgh to London Euston.

I should have added, going to Bath first groups all your days in London and saves transportation time. And you'll be in London to take the train to Belgium.

You are nuts (meant in the nicest possible way -- honest )

GLA to Portree is a 6+ hour drive w/o a single stop. And there are TONS of places to stop/see.

and Portree to Edinburgh via Inverness takes 7+ hours w/o stopping.

You have 2 months -- why so much mad dashing about???

>>August 7 - Drive to Glasgow - return rental car - Fly to London<<

Why return to Glasgow to return your car. You can return it at EDI most likely w/ no drop off charges and fly to London from there. Or <u>even better</u> and most likely faster =- take the train from Edinburgh to London. City center to city center in less than 4.5 hours. And w/o the long trip in to the city from LHR.

>>August 8 - The original London Tour - 48-hour pass
August 9 - 48-hour pass (Adding London Eye ride & probably St. Paul's Cathedral tour
August 10 - Free walking tours - Thames boat ride <<

You have 4 days in London -- don't do the H-o-H-o bus -- waste of time and money. A (as in one) walking tour w/ London Walks is great -- but as it is you are spending no time actually in/at any sites except the Eye. How about the Tower of London, or the British Museum, or Westminster Abbey or anywhere else.

You could take the train back to London, transfer from Paddington to St Pancras, and the Eurostar to Brussels . . . but it would be easier to simply fly from Bristol to Brussels.

Just think you are going too fast and seeing too little all around.

I think its ok with the following revisions:-

1. Skip Inverness altogether and go straight to Edinburgh from Portree. Arrange in advance to leave the rental car at Edinburgh.
2, Head to London from Edinburgh - no need to go back across to Glasgow.

The reason I think this is not as bad as some of the other posters is that you aren't driving on the day you arrive in Glasgow, and on Day 2 when you head up to Skye you have nothing specific planned for that first evening that I can see, so can take your time making the journey and stopping at Glencoe, Eilean Donan etc en-route if you wish.

PS please do a TR as I really want to visit the fairy pools myself.

Definitely would avoid the Portree-Inverness-Edinburgh run. Google Maps etc are good at judging distance, but what they forget is the inevitable tractor / slow moving lorry / adjusting to the new car which you will encounter. RM67's idea of going straight from Portree to Edinburgh and dropping the car there is a good one - the road is a bit more direct and you can get to the A9 which, for its faults, is a reasonable road.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. I altered the trip a bit based on it. The reason for driving back to Glasgow was to avoid a huge rental car fee for dropping off at a different location. What I decided to do instead was fly into Edinburgh from Ireland (instead of Glasgow)... and just drive to Glasgow when we get in. We'll spend the night in Glasgow- then drive to Glencoe the next morning; stay in Glencoe for 2 nights, then drive up to Portree. Stay in Portree for 2 nights. Instead of going to Inverness we will just drive back to Edinburgh (it will be a long drive, but that's all we have to do that day). We'll spend the next day in Edinburgh before catching the overnight train to London. I think this plan works much better- although I'm sure that week Loch Ness will come out of hiding and I'll have missed it Thanks again all!

>>The reason for driving back to Glasgow was to avoid a huge rental car fee for dropping off at a different location. <<

I'm curious who you are booking the car through. In MANY car hires in the UK (more than 40) I've almost never been charged a drop off fee.

>>We'll spend the night in Glasgow- then drive to Glencoe the next morning;<<

Why drive to Glasgow, why not just stay that night in Edinburgh and drive from there to Glencoe? From EDI to Glencoe takes less than 3 hours, Glasgow to Glencoe abour 2.5 hours.