janisj

>>July 26-28 - 2 days in Edinburgh
Then
2 days Inverness
2 days Loch Ness
2 days Isle of Skye - base at Portree
2 days Fort Willaim

1 day Glasgow<<

That Itinerary doesn't make sense. Inverness is less than 15 miles from the center of LochNess at Drumnadrochit and only 6 miles from the top of the Loch. WHY are you moving hotels less 20 mins away?

Then Ft William is not really a great destination (and is itself only about 30 miles from Loch Ness)

It is VERY late to be looking for accommodations on Skye for Aug 1 and for a group of your size likely impossible at this late date.

Back to the drawing board I'm afraid.

5alive

So I did the quick search for Isle of Skye on booking.com and honestly, I've never seen a search come up as 99 percent full. The very few places left are nowhere near each other. You wouldn't be able to book enough rooms in any one area on Skye.

Are you open to a change? What about the Isle of Mull? There's a hotel on Mull that still has a enough rooms for you. It's called the Isle of Mull Hotel and Spa. I put in for July 31-Aug 2..... There's free cancellation so if you're at all interested, book them. But I wouldn't wait long. If you want to know how I found it, I panned the map out to all of Western Scotland. There is not much left anywhere.

Here is the link but if it doesn't work, just go to Booking.com and put in Isle of Mull and your dates.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/isle-of-mull.html?aid=304142;label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggJCAlhYSDNYBHIFdXNfb3KIAQGYATHCAQp3aW5kb3dz IDEwyAEM2AEB6AEB-AECkgIBeagCAw;sid=d64a3cd797792376ba78b9f4738429ba ;age=14;age=15;atlas_src=sr_iw_title;checkin=2018-07-31;checkout=2018-08-02;dist=0;group_adults=2;group_children=2;no_rooms =1;room1=A%2CA%2C14%2C15;sb_price_type=total;srepo ch=1527999205;srpvid=69191d9e99f20013;type=total&

janisj

vjose: As 5alive's post shows -- and as I suspected, you really can't stay on Skye, and Mull will be tough (and likely impossible unless you book tonight). And if you have not booked in Edinburgh you may have problems (and sticker shock). Luckily you will be there JUST prior to the Festival/Fringe/Tattoo but the thousands of performers will have already started arriving so accommodations will take a bit of doing.

If you. change things up and decide on the Lakes - again accommodations for a group as large as yours will be difficult this late.

Since Manchester, London, and GLA are your only firm/must points, maybe consider doing Manchester, London, somewhere else in southern England (near-ish London) then take the train or fly up to Glasgow and fly home from there.

OR . . . If you still want to visit Scotland . . . Contact Rabbies NOW and see if they have 8 openings on any of their 3, 4 or 5 day tours over your dates. They only do small groups (16 people maximum) so there may not be 8 seats on many/any over that period.

But anyplace

vjose

Thanks all.
Let me take a re look at it. If available, may be Rabbies is the way to go.

Rushed up trip wont do any good anyways

cheers

5alive

So I just looked and there are still the two family rooms left at the Isle of Mull hotel I mentioned. And some other doubles. But I wouldn't wait long.

LancasterLad

Sound decision dropping the Lake District.....it'll be mobbed with humanity, driving and parking will be the stuff of nightmares.

vjose

Held up with work .sorry for the late reply.

Discussed with the group and all agree that we cant do justice to Scotland with a rushed up plan. However all want to catch a glimpse of Scotland
Now we will leave early that is on 3rd August but will drop EdinburghJuly 29- August 1- 3 days in Fort william
Visit Loch Ness, Glen Coe and Ben Nevis area
If time permits drive towards Isle of Skye
August 2 - 3 - 1 day Glasgow

vjose

Since we are leaving UK on 3rd and we have left with few extra days . 3 from our group will return to Dubai while rest of the five plans to goto Lourdes(Religious reasons). Then we have this wild idea of visiting Bruges and Amsterdam.

janisj

You are in London until the morning of Jul 26. That means you cannot possibly get to the Lake district until late afternoon. So one day in the Lakes. Then you want to hit Ft William on the 29th . . . WHY Ft William? It is not a nice place to stay.

This whole plan is bad. And you have 8 people which means 2 cars (there is no 8 passenger van that will hold 8 people PLUS their luggage).

vjose

janisj , I know the plan is quite bad . but what else we can do its so late for anything. We will have 2 cars which we plan to take from Heathrow by 8AM. We will drive to lake district and base at Grasmere,
Spend the next day visit the south or the North lake do a ferry and small walk
on 29th Drive up to Ft Willaim(very long drive as there isn't much properties left for a group of 8) but with many stops on the way

bilboburgler

Why not just stay in the south of Scotland/North of England and drop over to see Hadrian's wall and Durham. Should be rooms in Durham at that time, even if just student accomodation. https://www.universityrooms.com/en-GB/city/durham/home

Going to Fort William because you want to see Scotland is kinda barking. I want to see America so I'm going to Pittsburg.

vjose

bilboburgler, I completely get your point but we have to be in Glasgow for the return flights,

bilboburgler

Tricky, Glasgow itself has some nice bits, Mrs Bilbo did her third degree there. I just find Fort W a bit dull, perhaps find a B&B out in the country

vjose

We have a cancellable booking at Fort William and we are on a lookout on daily basis for ideally B&B's

Is the LondonPass the good way to go for London they have 20% off till tommorrow

bilboburgler

The London Pass is nearly always terrible value
There is a fantastic 2 for 1 deal National Rail Enquiries - 2FOR1 Offers in London that runs pretty much all the time, search fodors for it as there is normally chatter going down

janisj

>>We will have 2 cars which we plan to take from Heathrow by 8AM. <<

How can you manage that? To get a car arranged and on the road by 8AM from LHR leaving from central London, would mean checking out of your hotel around 6AM. Do you REALLY think that is a good idea with 8 people?

You are in a box with the flights and London set in stone. But Manchester > London > the Lakes > central Scotland > GLA is just not a sensible itinerary. And with 8 people including a young child and 3 teenagers it is a downright terrible itinerary. If London cannot be eliminated - then as I see it you have two semi-doable options:

1) Forget hiring a car at LHR and forget the Lakes. Take a train or fly to Glasgow or Inverness, rent a car there and tour around N/W Scotland and drop the car at GLA.

or

2) Forget about Ft William and any parts of Scotland north of Glasgow. Hire the cars at LHR - drive to the Lakes, stay 3 nights, drive to SW Scotland (Visiting Hadrian's Wall, and lots of castles/beaches/gardens in Dumfries & Galloway/Ayrshire) then drop the car at GLA.

janisj

. . . Oh and FORGET about the London Pass -- a huge waste of money.

vjose

"2) Forget about Ft William and any parts of Scotland north of Glasgow. Hire the cars at LHR - drive to the Lakes, stay 3 nights, drive to SW Scotland (Visiting Hadrian's Wall, and lots of castles/beaches/gardens in Dumfries & Galloway/Ayrshire) then drop the car at GLA"
janisj , I think the Option 2 is something we can look at it.

". . . Oh and FORGET about the London Pass -- a huge waste of money."
But is costs only £739.80 for 8 of us. Even if were to do 2 For 1 and visit the Top 10 attractions would cost at least £800

janisj

>>But is costs only £739.80 for 8 of us. Even if were to do 2 For 1 and visit the Top 10 attractions<<

There is no way you can get to the top 10 attractions in the short time you have in London . . . ESPECIALLY with a group of 8. That is how they suck people in: "Look how much you save visiting all these expensive sites!" when in actuality at most you can usually only hit two major sites a day. And with all the free sites one would want to visit -- you are down to average maybe ONE major expensive site per day. So essentially you are paying for a lot of places you wouldn't have a prayer of getting to. That £740 doesn't look like such a bargain when you only get to maybe the Tower, St Pauls and the Eye. To get 'value for money' you'd have to visit a lot of commercial sites (Madame Tussaud's, the Tower Bridge Experience, the London Bridge Experience, etc) and miss a lot of much more worthwhile attractions.

janisj

Should have explained further -- the main reason the 2for1's are a much (MUCH) better option is you only pay for the actual sites you want to/can visit and not some pie in the sky 'possible' list. So you end up spending a lot less money in total.