Hello Fodorites

It has been a while since I posted here for help. Husband and I are planning our trip to Scotland and could really use your expertise. We are planning on October 9th and returning on October 24th. We have not booked anything yet, so if anyone has comments please come forth.

Leave from LAX to London on October 9th and return on October 24th.

These are the areas we are interested in. Can anyone tell me if it is possible to base ourselves in 2 or 3 places to see all these locals and if so what would be the best bases?

We are looking for beautiful scenery and charming villages, some whiskey tasting, peace and quiet, fun pubs and castles and old churches. We love atmospheric accomodations - not looking for 5 star hotels - looking for quaint and comfy.

These are the areas we are interested in:

Edinburgh
Glencoe
Oban
Skye
Mull
Iona
Stirling
Fort William
The Trossachs
Grempains
Ullapool

I have chosen these based on other Fodor recommendations. However, I am not sure if all is doable in 2 weeks. Having a little trouble deciding how much time to spend in each area and combining areas.

Our original plan was to go to the Lake District in England for 4 days prior to this trip, but decided it might be too much and the real focus of this trip is Scotland.

Any advice on getting this organized would be more than appreciated.

K

You could do it, but it's a lot.

Have you been to Scotland before? If not, I assume a minimum of 3 days for Edinburgh, and you'd probably better do that first, so you get over the jet lag. Fly right into Edinburgh and pick up your car when you leave, would be my advice.

You'll also fine that "the nights are fair drawin' in" (as we say round here), and your days are getting shorter. You're going to get to Edinburgh on the afternoon on the 10th, so leave on Thursday morning. Couple of days in the Grampians, day in Ullapool, 2 days in Skye, 4 days based out of Oban (doing Glencoe Mull and Iona from there) (I'm ignoring Fort William- that was a mistake on your part; really. it was), a day in the Trossachs on the way back to Edinburgh and Bob's your uncle.

I wouldn't do it, but it's doable. What do you think yourselves?

Sheila,

Thank you. I have not been to Scotland. We are not city people. Would 2 days do it for Edinburgh? I would like more time on the North Coast - maybe 2 full days.

Shelia's suggestions are as usual good, but I would agree that it's a bit hetic. My suggestion would be to leave out Ullapool, but I see that you have an interest in the North Coast. Two days in Edinburgh is,IMO, not enough even if you're not interested in cities.I think it is one of the best cities anywhere. My prejudices may be showing in this regard.

Will you be heading directly to Edinburgh from London? If so, that does give you about two weeks. If you deicde to limit your time in Edinburgh, I think going to Ullapool would be fine and then drive along the coast( more or less)to Skye and spend a bit more time there. The North Coast(Thurso to Ullapool) is okay, but the western coast offers a lot more possibilities for what you want to see/do.

That's quite a bit - and ALL of those areas are worth a visit. But you simply don't have enough time. You are really talking about oct 10 - oct 23 -- and only half a jet lagged day on the 10th.

If you cut back the extreme north you could just manage. Ullapool is great scenery - but it is far away and the gardens at Inverewe won't be that great in Oct to be worth a detour.

Also, you can skip Ft William altogether (except for driving through enroute somewhere else.

I'd say a minimum of 2 nights in Edinburgh. That will really only give you 1.5 days to see the city. So 3 nights would be better.

Something like this would work:

Nights Oct 10/11/12 in Edinburgh. Leave early in the morning on the 12th. Pick up the car the night before so you can get an early start.

Nt. Oct 13 in/near Ballachulish/Glen Coe

Oct 14, 15, 16 on Skye. Go over the bridge and back by ferry

Oct 17, 18 On Mull

Oct 19 somewhere near Oban or Inveraray to explore that area.

Oct 20, 21, 22 in/near Callander to see the Trossachs, Stirling, Loch Lomond and parts of Perthshire

Oct 23 stay the night near the airport to fly out the next morning. (You could fly out of either EDI or GLA since both are an easy drive from Callander)

Meant to add - if the NW coast is a "must" then drop one of the Islands. If you drop Mull/Oban area you'd have 3 days to play around w/ to do the area around Inverness and the NW.

But in Oct, you'd probably do better to stay a bit farther to the south. My route is only one of MANY possibilities but it does hit 90% of your wish list.

I think if you are not "city people," you don't need to spend a lot of time in Edinburgh, if any at all other than to get over your jet lag. I quite like Scottish cities, but I'm a bigger fan of doing exactly what you want on a trip -- damn the sightseeing!

I'm surprised no one has suggested Dunkeld to you, given your stated interests. And I'm wondering if Plockton would interest you.

http://www.plockton.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkeld

I adore the Isle of Skye, but would be rather wary of making it a mid-to-later October destination. The enjoyment of Skye was, for me, hiking and enjoying the vistas. Others may be able to reassure that your chances of enjoying something other than lots of rain in October in Skye are good (I was there in the first week of September), but I would want to nail that down before heading there at that time of year.

Thank you all for your suggestions. It is alot of help and I will get back to you when I get it more organized. I wanted to stay in just 3 spots for the entire trip. If anyone could suggest what those base points would be I would really appreciate it. I am guessing Edinburgh, Oban not sure about the other. I am a novice at this point on Scotland. I am researching but have not got it down yet.

Thanks
K

I usually stay in one spot for a week at a time and then move on for more time somewhere else. But Scotland is a biiiiig place and no 3 spots would let you see everything you want to visit. Especially since you want to go to islands. There are ferries and loooooong drives involved. So if you want to go that far, you are going to have to move around a bit.

Now - IF you really only want to stop over in 3 places, we can work out some ideas for you. You can have a great trip that way. But the route would not include that many places that far apart. You are sort of asking "I want to stay in three places and see Los Angeles, Death Valley, San Francisco, Yosemite, the Oregon Coast and Portland"

Edinburgh for instance - It's a great base for seeing Stirling, St Andrews/Fife and Glasgow -- but not places way out in the country.

I have to smile when I see Janis refer to Scotland as a big place. Living as I do in central Canada, it takes me 4 days to reach the west coast by train and 2.5 days to reach the east coast. Now that is big. The problem, if you can call it that, with driving in Scotland is that the roads are narrow and twisty for the most part and trying to cover a lot of territory in a short time is not going to do justice to the surroundings. If you can average 35m.p.h. you are doing well. In October, rain, wind and possibly snow are factors to consider. Personally, I would rule out Mull, Iona and Fort William and follow most of what Janis says.

Just a quick note before I leave the house. In reviewing your interests listed in your OP, I think the Central Highlands (Aberdeenshire)might make a good choice for several days. There are a number of castles to visit, although not all will be open, as well as distilleries and beautiful scenery. You could also visit the East Neuk villages enroute. The biggest hitch in this plan would be coming back via the A93. I don't know what this road might be like mid-late October. This is only another idea certainly not one to be combined with Ullapool, the islands etc.

I personally wouldn't dismiss Skye out of fear of bad weather. There are plenty of indoor things to do for a day or so if the weather is awful. Also Mull and Iona are an easy day trip from Oban but maybe not the best choices in bad weather. As everyone else has said, skip Fort William. I suggest that you come up with several itineraries that give you some options. You won't need to book B&B's or hotels ahead of time so that is helpful. However I would make a list of places where you might want to stay to be sure that they will be open during October.

You've been given a number of good suggestions, so get a map of Scotland, try to figure out drive times and research opening dates for the places you'd like to see. We're always here to offer further help.

almcd: (Im from Northern California so have some of the same feelings about distances/wide open spaces)

By biiiig - I meant some visitors equate Scotland to a small province and ask about doing Edinburgh, Inverness, Skye, and Glasgow in 4 or 5 days. "Gee, it didn't look that far in this teensy map in the back of my Rick Steeves guidebook."

The distances are farther than folks imagine, and the driving is MUCH slower than you have in central Canada or I have on I-5

Thank you all for some good advice. My huband I have decided to change our dates to August 29 through September 12. Does that change anyones opinion on Mull or Iona or Skye?

So far I think I have got Edinburgh - 2 nights, Glencoe 1 night, Skye - 3nights, Oban - 3 nights for day trips to Iona, Mull and checking out the Inverary area, 3 nights in the Trossachs area and 1 night back in Edinburgh for travel out.

History Traveler - Aberdenshire could be combined with what part of this trip? I believe we are going to leave out Ullapool. Not enough time for everything.

None really.

Do you want to get this down to 3 stops? And is it 3 plus Edinburgh?

You should not try to include Aberdeenshire with your current itinerary. You could do East Nuek,Aberdeenshire and then come back down to Pitlochry/Dunkeld but that would be about it.

Sheila,

Is it possible to do all this and have only 3 stops?

historytraveler - I will check a map tonight but am not sure where East Nuek is.

If it was me -- I'd never stay 3 nights in Oban. Day trips to Mull and Iona are much easier/better if you are staying ON Mull.

Mull is a big place w/ lots to see besides Iona. 2 or 3 nights on Mull makes more sense that 3 nights in Oban and doing day trips by ferry. Check out this B&B

http://www.seaview-mull.co.uk/

No, probably not. I'm trying to ascertain what's more important to you.

Oban can be a good base to see other places from

East Neuk refers to the north east peninsula shoreline off the Firth of Forth. From Pittenweem to Crail there are several scenic and unspoiled fishing villages. Follow the A917 from Leven (just north of Kirkcaldy) to Crail. From there it's only a few miles to St. Andrews.

Hi everyone,

First of all thank you all for your help. This is what we think we would like to do. Please let me know what you think.
We have changed our dates - August 29 arrive Edinburgh
Edinburgh - Aug 29, 30
Inverness area - Grantown on Spey Aug 31, Sept 1, Sept 2
Skye - Sept 3, 4,5,6
Isle of Mull Sept 7,8,
Glencoe Sept 9
Trossachs area Stirling, Loch Lomond Sept 10, 11
Edimburgh Sept 12
Fly home Sept 13

The reason we chose Inverness first is that we would like our final destinations to be Skye, Mull. Does this make sense?

Thank you