I'm planning a trip to the UK (London + Scotland) in March and April. I have London pretty well covered, but any feedback on the destinations and/or the route in Scotland would be appreciated. We're trying to use public transportation the first half of the trip. Then rent a car as we leave Edinburgh and drive the rest of the way.

London 4 nights
Take overnight Caledonian Sleeper to West Highland Line
Mallaig 1 night
Edinburgh 4 nights
Perth 2 nights -- See St.Andrews, Stirling
Stonehaven 1 night -- Drive along coast to see Montrose, Abroath
Nairn 3 nights -- See Loch Ness, Culloden, Castle Urquart, Highlands, Speyside
Duror 1 night -- Drive through Glencoe
Drive back to Edinburgh and take train back to London

FBK:

We were in Scotland last June, although our itinerary was longer, and I'm not familiar with some of the places you've mentioned. Like you are planning, we did stay in Edinburgh for 4 nights and Perth for one. I will leave analysis of your itinerary to the Scotland experts who I am sure will soon comment on it in detail.

In the meantime, you can check out my web page on our trip to Scotland. Perhaps it will help you in your planning.
http://www.travel.stv77.com/scotland/scotland.htm

There is absolutely no reason to stay over night in Mallaig - none. There is really nothing there except for the train station and ferry terminal. It really isn't a destination.

I don't understand staying two nights in Perth since you want to see Stirling and St Andrews. For St Andrews - stay in St Andrews or one of the fishing villages. And for Stirling - you could stay in Perth but other places would be closer/more convenient. Doune or Callander or even Stirling itself.

Traveling all the way to Mallaig and then back to Edinburgh seems a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. Why not take the sleeper to Edinburgh and then after a couple of days, start your loop up through Fife, Aberdeenshire, over to Nairn and down to Glencoe and finally Stirling. You could either take the west highland train from Ft Wiliam (you'd go out and back on the same day) or you could drive the road out to Mallaig and back.

You could take the train back to London from Stirling, or Edinburgh -- or even fly back from EDI.

Have you considered going to Northern England on your way to Scotland?

I've been to London enoug times to want to start somewhere else. If you don't want to spend time in London, fly into Manchester and take the train from the airport to York, about 1 1/2 hours away. Stop at Yurk for a few nights, a must for me! North of York, you can train up the east coast, with some spectacular views. Stop at Durham, a lovely city.

Don't worry about renting a car until you are finished with Edinburgh.

Trains were about $20 pd. for a ride to Stirling. Unless you are a Braveheart fanatic, it's not that big a deal.

Do try and see Glasgow.....

I can just pass along what we've settled on for a similiar trip this summer. Take the Caledonia Sleeper from London to Inverness, rent a car and drive to Skye (via Loch Ness and Eilean Donan Castle). 3 nights in Skye. Drive to Crianlarich via ferry to Mallaig, Glenfinnan, and Glen Coe (admittedly an ambitious driving day). One night in Crianlarich. Drive to Edinburgh via Doune Castle and Stirling Castle. 3 nights in Edinburgh, then fly out of Glasgow.

Thanks to everyone for your expertise! See specific replies and follow-up questions below.

sssteve -- Thanks. Will do.

janisj -- * Good to know about Mallaig. Is it worth taking the ferry over to Skye just for a couple of hours?
* Re: Perth -- just a place in the near vicinity to anchor for a few day trips rather than changing hotels every night. I heard Perth was interesting. Do you think we should stay in St. Andrews instead?
* Re: West Highland Train. Good idea. I was getting caught up trying to keep all of our non-car days together before renting the car. But if we don't stay the night in Mallaig, I guess it doesn't matter if we don't have a car. I know that the best part of the West Highland Line is from Ft. William to Mallaig, but aren't there some things worth seeing between Glasgow and Ft. William?

Rastaguytoday -- My husband & I have been to London many times, and would be willing to skip. But my daughter was too young, and doesn't remember any of them, so London is the priority, and there's not enough time to do both.

alihutch -- I was afraid someone was going to say that. Running out of time! What would you cut out to insert Glasgow?

DancingBearMD -- Thanks. I think I saw your posting.

Thanks again for everyone's generosity with time and advice.

One more question for those knowledgable. I'm trying to budget food costs. We're not staying anywhere we can cook, so will be eating out 2-3 meals a day. Anyone got any rough estimates on those costs?

Thanks!

"<i>* Good to know about Mallaig. Is it worth taking the ferry over to Skye just for a couple of hours?</i>"

No - w/ just a couple of hours all you could do is say "we stepped foot on Skye". But - you certainly could alter your loop drive and spend one or two nights on Skye. See DancingBear's plan for their upcoming trip.

[Dancing Bear: Your Skye to Crianlarich day won't be bad at all]

"<i>* Re: Perth -- just a place in the near vicinity to anchor for a few day trips rather than changing hotels every night. I heard Perth was interesting. Do you think we should stay in St. Andrews instead?</i>"

Sure Perth is interesting - especially Scone Palace. But you won't have ANY time in Perth since one whole day would be spent in St Andrews/Fife and the other day spent in Stirling/vicinity. So no reason to stay in Perth if you are spending the whole time elsewhere. Stay in St Andrews - or even better IMO Crail or Anstruther - to explore that area.

"<i>aren't there some things worth seeing between Glasgow and Ft. William?</i>"

Yes - especially the crossing of Rannoch Moor. But you have to make some decisions/cuts since you have limited time and want to see 1/2 the country. If it was me - w/ your time issues - I'd just take the train from Ft William.

- - - What I'd <u>really</u> do is drive it. From Nairn you could drive to Skye, stay a night or 2, and then take the ferry and drive through Glencoe and on to Callander or Stirling. the road between Ft William and Mallaig follws the same route as the railway w/ the advantage that you get to view the train and viaduct (which you really can't from the train itself) - - -

<<[Dancing Bear: Your Skye to Crianlarich day won't be bad at all]>>

Good to hear that!

I've gotten so interested in everyone's trips to Scotland that yesterday I purchased the Fodor's Scotland guide.

Last night I was reading here something janisj had written about Fife, so I went to that section in the book and there was janisj's quote on the front page! pretty cool.

I was thinking to do just a US cross country trip, but now...I'm going to try to get to Scotland in the next couple of months instead. I'll be studying trip reports like crazy now.

Which do you guys think would be preferrable: an extra day in Duror to see the Glencoe area (meaning two days there rather than one) or an extra day in St. Andrews (meaning three days rather than two)?