Last minute trip to Edinburgh and around, please help me plan
 

Hello!

I recently spotted a good deal on flights to Edinburgh and quickly convinced my friends that we need a holiday. As a result we will be spending a long weekend in Edinburgh from 3-9.11.2010. Our group: four women, aged 25+ and mainly looking for history / castles / beautiful scenery. Not interested in nightlife and bar-hopping.

I haven't had much time to plan since the whole trip idea was so last minute. Help me plan and give me tips and thoughts about our rough itinerary, please? :)

Thursday: We'll arrive late in the evening and will head straight to our apartment at Royal Mile.

Friday -Saturday: explore Edinburgh -Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood House are must-see but otherwise plans are still open. Maybe a climb up to Arthur's seat if the weather permits..?

Sunday : pick up a rental car from Hertz airport (only rental place open in Sunday) and drive to Inverness via Stirling (castle + little shopping), maybe other stops on the way depending on daylight and weather. Spend evening and night in Inverness.

Monday: Urquhart castle ruins and Loch Ness, drive back to Edinburgh via Fort Williams so can see Glen Coe on the way. Drop-off the rental car.

Tuesday: Half a day in Edinburgh before leaving to airport around 2pm.

The apartment is booked, but the rental car and hotel in Inverness aren't. I'm not sure if the rental car needs to be booked in advance? I'm a bit hesitant about pre-booking the car in-case there's terrible weather (icy/stormy).

Anything else that I haven't thought about? :)

Please don't waste two days driving to Inverness and back -- really!

There are soooooo many other/better places than Inverness and Ft William. EDI to Inverness w/ a detour to Stirling will take an entire day (just the driving bit will be about 5 hours w/o stops and Stirling castle will take a minimum of 2 hours. On Nov. 8 there is 8.5 hours of daylight so basically you will be on the road from sun up to sun set.

You could visit Stirling and Doune Castles, see the Trossachs and Glencoe in two days w/o going all the way to Inverness.

A pre-booked car will cost substantially less than a walk up rental. Just be sure to read the fine print about any cancellation penalties. Most rentals don't require pre-payment so you should be able to cancel.

Another possiblity might be Linlithgow Castle, just 20 mins by train from Edinburgh.

Nonconformist: Oh - I totally agree - there are LOTS of other options. I was just trying to include Stirling and Glencoe from the OPs wish list.

I really liked the Royal Yacht Brittania. Also, touring Parliament was very interesting.

Thank you for your suggestions :)

Museum of Scotland was very well done. Take a walking tour - there's a fun free (payment by tips) one that is mostly run by young adults and college kids.

We are just back from Scotland and agree that Museum of Scotland is well worth a visit and is free. Loved seeing the Royal Yacht which is really a ship--you can have lunch there--nice setting for sure. If you have a car and can drive north of Edinburgh you can visit Glamis Castle which is very impressive and everything one expects a castle to look like. If you and your group want to have lunch in a fun setting (good food too) head to the Witchery near Edinburgh Castle.If you do the climb to Arthur's Seat make sure to take the proper path--one route is extremely rugged. Have fun!

We liked Calton Hill better than Arthur's Seat because the Hill has more to explore on it. And it's a shorter hike from the Royal Mile area.

On a trip as short as yours, I wouldn't go to Inverness either. It's a bit of a trek and considering when you're going, who knows what level of suck the weather will reach. BTW, the petrol prices will be horrid. If you're American, you can blame the dollar, but even at a favorable exchange rate the prices would gouge.

Go see Stirling Castle and the Falkirk Wheel one day and Glamis Castle (home of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, aka the "Queen Mum") and Scone Palace (http://www.scone-palace.co.uk/ -- that'll satisfy your history fix) another day. You'll get at least 5 top end castles/palaces on your trip, which isn't bad at all.

Hmm, looks like I should re-think about our driving itienary.. maybe leave Inverness / Loch Ness area out and instead do somethings closer to the other sites we want to see. The Falkirk Wheel seems to be closed for maintanence for our dates, but The Glamis Castle looks interesting.

I have deciced to take laptop with me so we can book the car and finalise plans when we are in Edinburgh and are wiser about weather and driving conditions :) We are coming from Finland so high petrol prices are something we are unfornately very used to :D