My husband and I will fly to Edinburgh on Oct 14. We would appreciate your review of the itinerary and suggestions. Thanks in advance.
Day 1- Explore Edinburgh
Day 2 - Take train to Perth and pick up rental car there. Start driving tour through Culross, Callendar, Crianlarich, Glencoe, spend a night in Port Appin.
Day 3 - Drive to fort William, Mallaig, take ferry (with our car) to Skye
spend 2 night in Skye
Day 4- touring Skye
Day 5 - leaving Skye over the bridge to Eilean Donan Castle, through Inverness,
Pitlochry and back to Perth. Return rental car and spend a night in Perth.
Day 6 - Take train back to Edinburgh, tour Edinburgh
Day 7 - Day trip to Stonehaven area by train, visit Donnotar castle, overnight in Edinburgh
Day 8 - Edinburgh
Day 9 - fly back to U.S.
P.S. We rent the car in Perth because we never drive in U.K. before. We are afraid that Edinburgh will be too intimidating to start our driving tour. Does Perth make a good starting point since we do need some practice? And any suggetions of beautiful places to go on day 5 when we drive back to Perth?

random thoughts:

• It would be easier to pick up your car at Edinburgh airport than in Perth. It is easier to get the first few miles under you belt on motorways/dual carriageways out of EDI than on surface streets in a city. Soon it will all be second nature -- but trying your initial drive in town traffic w/ 2 way and narrower rds will be more nerve wracking.

And ESPECIALLY taking a train to Perth and then driving almost all the way back towards EDI to see Culross makes little sense. It is less than 20 miles from EDI to Culross.

You can take an airport bus to EDI, get the car and head out.

• Day 2 is a LOT of driving for your first effort. Perth to Culross > Callander to Glencoe to Port Appin is nearly 170 miles. And all just one day after landing in the UK.

You can cut about 30 miles out of your route by starting out from EDI. But even that is a lot of driving after one rushed day in Edinburgh.

• Day 5 is close to impossible. Portree to Inverness to Perth is nearly 250 miles.

• Your time allotted to Skye is great -- but the first and last days of your drive are crazy making

I'd either cut one day from Skye and add it to your trip back towards Perth/Edinburgh - or - cut Skye completely and spend several less hours in the car. There are a LOT of wonderful sites a lot closer than Skye and Inverness.

<<< Day 7 - Day trip to Stonehaven area by train, visit Donnotar castle, overnight in Edinburgh >>>

I don't understand this at all - Stonehaven is two hours by train each way from Edinburgh and is further north than several of the places you are visiting like Pitlochry & Perth.

I'd move all your Edinburgh time to the start of the trip then pick up a car at Edinburgh Airport. Then after Skye travel to Inverness, overnight there, then travel to Pitlochry via Stonehaven, overnight then drive to the airport for your flight home. Better still just get rid of Stonehaven totally and use that day for other things

This will get the jetlag out the way, save you from constant packing / unpacking and be a shorter trip overall as you won't be going past Edinburgh Airport several times

One thing you haven't accounted for though is that in mid October you'll have only 10 hours of daylight

Well, I thought it was pretty good. Comments as follows:-

Day 1- Fine
Day 2 - I totally understand why you would do it. My SLIGHT reservation is that Edinburgh and Perth are no longer directly connected by train (You won't notice that, but you'll be half way across the central belt before you get to Perth). YOu could do it quicker by car and you would not have to double back to Culross. Which is not to say "Don't do it". It would be a relaxing way to start your holiday. Where are you staying in Port Appin? We love the Pierhouse.

Day 3 - Good day.

Day 5 - At this point I would do something different. Since you are in Inverness, I would come south along the coast and take in Stonehaven on the way, rather than go all the way to Edinburgh and then back track. Stay there overnight, and drive to Perth (via Glamis) the next day.

If this appeals, I'll apply myself to your other questions

Assuming you are from the US, you will find that 170 miles in Scotland takes substantially longer to drive than the same 170 miles in the US. Many of the main roads, from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness are very narrow and have heavy truck traffic. It is beautiful, so you should drive it, but it may take a lot longer than you expect.

If many of these roads are blocked by a wreck, there aren't any alternatives. I remember a very long afternoon north of Blair Atholl as we waited with hundreds of others for the road to be cleared ahead.

I pretty much agree with AlanRow.

Ackislander makes a very good point. Don't assume you will average more than 35 miles an hour per day, at best.

The 35-40 mph average is consistent with our experience this summer, but I'm surprised at Ackislander's comment about the trip from Kyle of Localsh to Inverness. The stretch on the A887 from Kyle of Localsh to Loch Ness had the least traffic of any of the roads we traveled on our trip (aside from the local roads around Skye). Seemed like we maybe saw a dozen other vehicles going either direction that entire stretch. Perhaps Ack is referring to a different route, or maybe we just got lucky.

<< Perhaps Ack is referring to a different route, or maybe we just got lucky. >>

AS long as traffic is freely moving you won't see much other traffic. It's when it gets slowed down or stopped that you suddenly find lots of traffic

another vote for the airport pickup. It is a very easy site and best to learn at the sirport I reckon

Just a word of caution, just because the road is clear does not mean that sheep or grouse will not wander on. They make a big mess above 35mph

Thanks everyone for responding. Considering the suggestions/comments, I make some changes and let me know if this makes more sense.
Day 1 - tour Edinburgh all day
Day 2 - tour Edinburgh all day
Day 3 - tour Edinburgh half day,take train to FortWilliam,
pick up rental car, overnight in Port Appin or ??
Day 4 - tour Glencoe via A-82(Southwest)to Lochawe driving alog Lochlinnhe and heading to Mallaig and Skye, overnight in Skye
Day 5 -Skye
Day 6 -Skye
Day 7 -Eilean Donan Castle, then take train ride back to Edinburgh
Day 8 -Edinburgh or join Rabbie's one day tour to St. Andrew or Scottish Borders.
Day 9 - Fly home to U.S.
I appreciate any comment. I am totally lost when it comes to plan this Scotland trip and in desperate need of your expertise. Thank you all so very much.

That sounds very doable. No great stress on any of the days. But why not spend the night in Glencoe instead of Port Appin? Especially since that seems to be your first stopping place the next morning.
On our most recent trip we found a real jewel of a place, rustic but clean. http://www.aboutscotland.com/glencoe/signalrock.html
It sits back in the glen, not the village. The scenery is stunning and the deer came right up to the door.

I assume you mean dropping the car in Ft William and taking the train back from there. If so this is much more doable.

I agree w/ Hollydale - staying the night IN Glencoe would be great.

Thanks, Hollydalek and janisj I got a few more questions. The train ride from Edinburgh to Fort William is about 5 hours. To have more time in Edinburgh, I am thinking about taking the 17:15 train from EDI, arriving Fort William 22:06.(Earlier train leaves EDI at 11:30) The problem with the late train is that car rental company will be closed at that time. And what kind of transportation will be available to take us to the hotel? I check out the signalrock and it is not available the day we arrive. Can you recommend any other option? Sheila mentions Pierhouse hotel in Port Appin. It looks spectacular but the price is so high( 250+euro) Is it worth it? Thanks for any advice.

OK - you are trying to cram a square peg in a round hole. When you are talking about rural Scotland you don't have all the same conveniences at hand that you would in a big city (though there wouldn't be any city center car rental agencies open that late either)

You want to see and do a lot in a very short time and want to work it around train schedules.

So -- either

1) take the late train and then take a cab to whichever hotel you end up at, and another cab in the morning -- which could be pricey if you stay miles outside Ft William -- to collect a car

or

2) stay that night right IN Ft William. Not something I'd normally recommend but not arriving until 10PM means you wouldn't suffer Ft William all that long You will only be there until the rental agency opens in the AM.

or

3) Take the earlier train

Pierhouse is 'worth' it if it fits in your budget. But if it doesn't, I'd stay elsewhere. Besides - you won't be there more than a few hours, and only maybe 2 hours during daylight in the morning. If you must take the late train - then I'd stay in Ft William.

I agree with Janisj, if you arrive in Fort William by train at 10 PM, it would be best to stay in town and pick the rental car up in the morning. Having never spent the night in Fort William, I can't speak from experience, but with a bit of research, I came up with a hotel that I would probably use under the circumstances, the Imperial Best Western. It does not look very exciting, but neither is Fort William. The rates are low, at $ 95.00 (yes that is dollars, not pounds) for a double. More important it is downtown and near the train station.
http://www.laterooms.com/en/p1473/ho...t-william.aspx

Thanks, janisj and Hollydalek for the suggestions. Best Western will work. It is only 5 minutes walk away from the railway station. The money I save here can be used for the overnight stay in Pierhouse. You both are great help. Thank you a lot.

I agree with the foregoing, but I don't know where you're getting your prices. I've never paid more than £80-£90. The rack rate is £120.

http://www.pierhousehotel.co.uk/tariff.asp

No offense, but you are out of your mind to take an evening train from Edinbugh to Ft William at this time of year. It will be dark vey quickly, and you will miss one of the most beautiful mountain railway journeys in the world. People come from all over the world to take the West Highland route from Glasgow to Ft William!

No offense taken, Ackislander. The problem is that I just purchased the train tickets and it is non-refundable. What a shame! However, thanks every one for helping. I did book Best Western Imperial and Pierhouse hotel. Sheila is right about the price at Pierhouse. I booked a Superior Loch view at around $240 not euro, sorry. My trip itinerary is finally taking shape, thanks to all of you. I will post more questions before I leave for sure. ( less than a week!) I am so excited!! many many thanks to you all.