Since you're interested in the western Highlands and Inner Hebrides as well as the northwestern Highlands, Speyside, Deeside and (presumably) Fife, you're looking at basically a giant circle around the country. I'd say its feasibility in the time you have will depend largely on your energy level and your willingness to drive considerable distances (in time, not necessarily miles) during the course of your tour.

This basic map - https://goo.gl/maps/qx6zy8qjCxH2 - in my view seriously underestimates the hours needed to complete the route. It includes Skye as well as Ullapool, but not Mull nor any parts of Argyll, which I would argue might be more pleasant in the spring than Wester Ross. But if you're okay with the driving, you'd certainly be exposed to about as wide a range of landscapes as one can see in a short time in Scotland. And note too that while Skye shows up on the map (I've used Portree, which is not to say you should stay there, just as a marker) as a destination, the map doesn't include the hours (or days) that one could spend driving around on single-track roads seeing the various sights (or not, depending on the cloud levels.) Same goes for the NW Highlands and Speyside/Deeside - one can spend days chasing castles or distilleries in those areas.

So it comes down to your style and tolerances. If you have 14 nights, of which two or three are (rightly) spent in Edinburgh, then that gives you ten days or so to do this loop. My rough allocation would be five in the west and five in the east. How you allocate those divisions will be up to you; I think it's doable but others might find the pace a bit rapid.

Narrowing in a little more. Gardyloo I am trying to learn how to do a google map for us. Your maps have been priceless in helping to plan. We are booked at 14 Hart Street in Edinburgh for the first three nights. Then we'd like to head in the direction of Glencoe, stopping at Falkland, Stirling Castle and Doune Castle along the way. Stay in Glen Coe three nights if I can find lodging (Clachaig is fully booked). (We don't want to pack so much in that we're tearing about every day, so we're going to leave Skye and Ullapool for another trip). We'd like to fit in the Jacobite train trip from Ft. William to Mallaig. Then on to the distillery area for three nights. In the distillery area, we'd like to stay in a town where we can walk to dinner each night (or have a nice meal in a hotel, but be able to go to another place just for variety). At first glance, there aren't very many rooms left. Currently considering Tigh Na Sgiath Country House in Grantown on Spey, but it's about a mile or so to restaurants for dinner. After seeing this area, we'd head to Aberdeen and tour around there for three days, then head back towards EDI. We'd return the car the night before we leave and stay at the Dakota Hotel where we can take their van to the airport in the early a.m. My current questions are:

Is it more scenic to take the A84 up, or the A811 then A82 and up to Glencoe?
Can you recommend a hotel, inn, guest house or B&B in a town somewhere between Keith and Ballindalloch where we can walk to restaurants ?
Would it make more sense to stop in Stirling, Falkland, and the surrounding area on our way back to EDI (we would try to incorporate a morning or afternoon in St. Andrews). We have two "free" days left to play around with after leaving Edinburgh.
Any suggestions as to where to stay the night before in order to get to EDI around 6 a.m. other than the Dakota?

As always, I very much appreciate the advice given here.

If you want to take the A82 past Loch Lomond, then including Stirling on the drive to Glen Coe is a bit out of the way; take the motorway through Glasgow instead. I confess I'm not a big fan of the A82, which can be quite trafficky. I'd stick to the A84, with stops at Stirling and Doune Castle en route to Glen Coe. Do NOT go via Falkland, which would be a very time consuming detour. Visit Falkland on the way back from the north.

Edited to add: do not confuse Falkland with Falkirk. Very different places.

I confess I'm not familiar enough with Speyside to recommend lodgings in that area. In your case I'd probably look at Dufftown, which is a somewhat larger town in the area. I'd recommend using the accommodation pages on Undiscovered Scotland - https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/ . If you stay at a small country hotel, they'll likely have a restaurant on site.

As I said, I'd visit Falkland on the way back to Edinburgh. It's reasonably close to St. Andrews.

I like the Dakota and usually stay there (if not staying with friends in the New Town.) It's a nice hotel and very convenient to the airport. You should also check out South Queensferry, the (very) historic little town beneath the Forth Bridges. Robert Louis Stevenson apparently wrote parts of Kidnapped while staying at the Hawes Inn, which is still in business.

Maybe you could post a revised outline of your trip; it will help in the tweaking.

Will do. Having some internet connection problems at the moment and keep getting knocked off.

Falkland (if that is what you mean) is nowhere near a route to Glencoe. Falkland -- visit en route back from Aberdeenshire. If you mean the Falkirk Wheel -- that IS en route to Glencoe.

For the Glencoe area look for properties in Glencoe village, Ballachulish and Onich or even a little farther north in Spean Bridge. For up in the Speyside area, Grantown would be fine, but also definitely look in Dufftown.

If you are going to be in the Dufftown area, look into Aberlour. We stayed at https://www.dowanshotel.com/. Had great meals there and Mashtun Aberlour - Welcome to The Mash Tun in Aberlour, in the heart of Scotland's Malt Whisky Country is a great whisky bar!! Distilleries are everywhere in the area.

Thank you again. Eastenderusvi, I checked Dowans, but they are booked the nights we were looking for. I found a very nice place in Dufftown. So, here's where we are so far:

3 nights Edinburgh, then pick up rental car. See Stirling Castle for sure and hopefully Doune as well.

3 nights Glencoe.

3 nights Dufftown. Visiting two distilleries, but only one tour.

Now we have about three nights left. We could stay in Stonehaven or even Perth and cover some more ground before turning in the car the last evening, staying at the Dakota, and flying out the next morning. We would like to fit in a look at Fortingall and St. Andrews. We could also break this up and stay one night in Stonehaven and two nights in Perth. Opinions?

"Now we have about three nights left. We could stay in Stonehaven or even Perth and cover some more ground before turning in the car the last evening, staying at the Dakota, and flying out the next morning. We would like to fit in a look at Fortingall and St. Andrews. We could also break this up and stay one night in Stonehaven and two nights in Perth. Opinions?"

I would REALLY consider stopping one night between Edinburgh and Glencoe -- in Callander or nearby. You could visit Stirling and Doune, and squeeze in Inchmahome either that afternoon or the next morning. Then driving from Callander to Glenco you can take a reasonable detour to Killin and Fortingall and back and end the day in Glencoe.

That would leave you 2 days after Dufftown to play with. Since you very likely will be able to visit some castles from there (Huntly, Corgarff, etc) I'd then drive down through Aberdeenshire (visiting Dunnottar) and stay those two nights in/near St Andrews.

This does squeeze in a one night-er but it lets you fit in more of your wish list while keeping three night and two night stops most of the way..

Thanks, all. We have booked all of our lodging, which was not easy. I know I waited too long, but we are happy as of now with what we have planned. Janisj, in reading another post, you don't seem too keen on the Jacobite steam train going out of Ft. William. Since it's a six-hour trip, I'd really like your take on this. There are others we can do that are much shorter in duration, i.e., this is not a "must" for us. We want to make good use of our time and that's a big chunk of it.

Oh -- I'm very keen on the Jacobite. The problem is the logistics. If one wants to visit Skye it doesn't work because you have to ttake the train both ways and then after returning to Ft William - get back in the car and drive back out to Mallaig where you just were on the train, or to Kyle the Bridge. Making for an impossibly long day. And it isn't that great for families with young children because after the initial excitement of getting on the train and a few OOH! moments -- it is a very long R-T train ride. (I know you aren't traveling w/ children but thought I'd trow out that info for others looking for advice)

To actually ride the Jacobite one really has to devote an entire day AND essentially two nights in/near Ft William. Or they can make it an excursion from Glasgow with two nights there -- regular train to Ft William, change to Jacobite - out to Mallaig and back, train to Glasgow.

​​​​​​​Most people trying to squeeze in the Jacobite just don't have enough time.

Janisj--Is this the trip eport you are looking for>
 

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...rs-gtg-978398/

If not, I will look some more

Thanks, but I'm not really looking for my trip reports . . . (that was a fun trip though :) )

Oh, I thought you were, when I read your second posting in this thread...Jan 12, at 6:02 PM

Yes, I enjoyed reading some of those posts, too. What a terrific resource (and traveller) you are!

"Oh, I thought you were, when I read your second posting in this thread...Jan 12, at 6:02 PM"

Oh -- thanks -- that explains things. That was back when the new site was first up and I was still getting used to the features. (weren't we all :) )

Gardyloo, we will spend our last afternoon and evening at the Dakota near EDI. Would you suggest we have dinner at the Dakota, or do you have another favorite in the area?

The food is certainly decent at the Dakota, but it is, in the end, an airport hotel.

I like to go into South Queensferry (car or short taxi ride) where there are a couple of good places, including the historic Hawes Inn (where R.L. Stevenson ostensibly wrote parts of Kidnapped) and several decent pubs. The views of the bridges are ace.