JennaJ

Hello fodorites! I am in desperate need of suggestions! My hubby and I just booked a last minute trip to Edinburgh for a friends wedding in 3 weeks. We will spend 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 days sightseeing in Edinburgh (with Wedding festivities on other days while in Edinburgh). We would like to rent a car and venture out of Edinburgh for 3 nights. Hubby and I feel comfortable driving in other countries, having driven in several European countries.

Our vacation interests do not include museums, but include natural scenery, sitting in cafe's and getting a real feel for the local culture. We prefer the coziness of a B&B to hotels.

Since I am in the infancy of my research, I was hoping someone could offer a suggested route and maybe 1-2 towns to stay in. Also, we are young and are use to hopping from town to town, so aggressive itinerary suggestions are welcome! We are photography buffs and don't mind a long drive if the scenery is worth it!!!

DATES:
Wed July 2, arrive Edinburgh 8am - sightsee, rehearsal dinner
Thurs July 3, wedding
Fri July 4, rent car and head ??? for 3 nights
Sat July 5, ???
Sun July 6, ???
Mon July 7, head back to Edinburgh for 1 night, sightsee in afternoon
Tues July 8, 12:30pm flight

JennaJ

My friend also recommended maybe just taking a train to Inverness and exploring the town and Loch Ness. Thoughts? Thank you!

scotlib

Hi JennaJ,

Hopefully you have some specific recommendations coming your way, but while you wait, do browse the Europe forum. I've seen many posters headed to Scotland ask questions in the last few weeks.

I loved my own trip to Edinburgh just this past April (ahem, trip report available: http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=35128123).

Cheers!

scotlib

Hi JennaJ,

Thanks for the compliment on my trip report. I'm topping your thread to help you get responses to your questions.

Cheers!

sheila

Two things:-

whilst you've given us sparce details of what you like- which makes it hard to make recommendations-

1. Please don't spend 3 days based in Inverness. It's a boring city, albeit in a lovely location. YOU COULD do a train trip, but you'd be pretty constrained in what you could do after you dismounted.

2. Consider going to a single base- Oban, Aberfeldy, Crail, Melrose, Kirkcudbright (these are mere examples) and using them to make day trips from, rather than dashing about the countryside trying to "do" Scotland in 3 days.

JennaJ

Sheila,
Thank you for your reply. If you have any specific questions about our interests, please let me know and I would be happy to answer them!

I appreciate the info on Inverness and the other towns you have suggested. We are in no way trying to "do" Scotland in 3 days! I totally understand that we will need to come back for more.

We are looking for a suggestion of maybe 1 town to base in and suggestions of sites to see in that area.

Also, do you think 1-2 days is enough time to spend in Edinburgh? Or should we spend more time in the city and only 2 nights in the countryside? Again, we are not interested in museums, but in architecture, nature, anything providing a great photo op!

Thank you for the help. I do not have a lot of time to research this trip (to make a long story short, I work full time, go to grad school part time and am also pregnant...whew!) Time and energy are limited these days!

rogeruktm

Well, you could head up to Sheila's area and use that as a base. Something I have done and enjoyed is taking the train over to Oban then ferry to Mull and across the isle by bus, then small ferry to the real small isle of Iona. Then the next morning take the bus to Ft. William and then another bus to Inverness. See Loch Ness, take a boat ride then train over to Aberdeen. Then down to St. Andrews, and then finally to Edinburgh. Obviously this can be done by car as well, but I don't drive over there.

sheila

Sorry, my bad. I missed teh bit where you said what you had as intersts in eth first post. Please put it down to this pounding headache.

I think, if it were me, I'd go to somewhere like Oban, or Port Appin, and use that as base to see Kilmartin, Loch Awe, Iona, Glencoe, Glenshiel etc.

Do you have a map and can you check out the areas I'm talking about?

If that patch suits you, then we can flesh out some suggestions.

janisj

I agree w/ sheila that you should not stay IN Inverness - though nearby areas are nice.

I also agree that you should consider staying in one place for all or most of your free days.

My choices would be somewhere near Oban to explore Kilmartin, Mull/Iona, Glencoe, etc

or

Somewhere near Aberfeldy to see Loch Tay, Loch Earn, Killin, Rannoch Moor, the Trossachs, Dunkeld, etc.

or

near Melrose to explore the Borders, the 4 Abbeys, St Abbs Head, etc. w/ maybe a drive down into Northumberland to see Bamburgh, Holy Island.

Any of these would be a great choice but if I had to pick one it would probably be near Oban. Partly because you could go over to Mull/Iona as a day trip.

Edinburgh is great - the more time there the better. But it is also a very compact city and you can see a LOT of it in 2 days.

W/ all respect to rogerukm - he does give lots of good advice - but this time his suggestion is crazy. He'd have you trekking around half of Scotland in 3 days by public transport. You would mainly see the insides of buses and trains. And driving it would almost be worse.

noe847

I'd go with 1-2 days in Edinburgh, and then give the 3 ngiths to either the Oban-related sights OR the Borders-related ones, as detailed above by others. That way you can save the middle and the highlands for a future trip! You won't have any problem finding scenery for photographs. Driving will help your flexibility. Hope you're not at the queasy part of your pregancy...

JennaJ

Thanks for all of the suggestions. So, we have decided to spend our first 2 nights in Edinburgh (for the wedding festivities), and again on our last night before our flight home. The remaining 3 nights are still up in the air. We may possibly do one of the following:

1) 3 nights in Oban. First day drive from Edinburgh to Oban
Q-Are there sits along the way? Or will we need the majority of the day to get there, and then just enjoy Oban?

Second day, take ferry for Mull/Iona/Staffa day trip.
Q-Do we need to book a scheduled tour, or is it difficult to take our rental car and do the tour ourselves?

Third day, tour the other areas around Oban.

If we do this option, should we stay in Oban all 3 nights, or would it be better to split it up with another town?

2) Or...should we skip the Oban/isles and head straight to Skye for 3 nights?

Decisions...decisions...decisions!!!Thank you!

Also, I have not been too quesy (luckily), so the curvy roads shouldn't be a problem. Actually, I kinda like those kind of road. Hubby and I did Road to Hana on two seperate trips to Maui bc we loved it sooooo much. Also, some of the roads in Tuscany and Germany were also quite curvy!

JennaJ

Wopos...meant to say SITES and not sits!

janisj

I'd choose Oban and the surrounding area (though Skye would also be a fine option)

There are no "towns" near Oban - Oban is it. But you can stay anywhere nearby since there are lots of rural B&Bs/hotels in the vicinity. Or - you could stay a night on Mull and 2 nights near Oban.

Whether you decide to stay the whole time in a mainland B&B or split your time on the island - I'd pre-book the ferry to Mull. Take your own car - you can see/do everything on your own at a better pace. And I, for one, would NOT want to be stuck to a coach/day tripper's schedule when pregnant. I'd want to stop when and where I wanted.

There are boats from Fionnphort that take you out to Staffa. And the foot ferries to Iona leave from the same pier.

JennaJ

Thank you for the suggestions. What do you think about the following? Possibly 2 nights on Mull/1 in Oban?

*Friday, pick up rental car and drive from Edinburgh to Oban. Take ferry from Oban to Craignure(pre-book) to Mull. Stay 2 nights in Fionnphort??Or is there a more romantic/scenic location on the island for a B&B? Spend day exploring Mull.

*Saturday, ferry to Iona and Staffa

*Sunday, ferry back to Oban, check in to B&B (or should we possibly stay in Glen Coe?) and visit surrounding areas like Glen Coe and Loch Leven. Other areas?

*Monday, back to Edinburgh for one night, departing on Tuesday.

Thoughts? Thank you!

JennaJ

The ferry schedule is slightly confusing.
http://www.calmac.co.uk/summer-timet...-craignure.gif

If we were to stay 2 nights on Mull, we would need to take the ferry from Oban to Craignure on Friday, the 4th and return Sunday, the 6th. It looks like a car ferry costs 51 pounds (Saver 5 Day Return). But are the dates/times restricted if using a Saver 5 Day?

The bottom of the page has "full fare" listings, and they do not show a return from Craignure to Oban on Sunday. Hmmmm....

janisj

You need to read the paragraph above the "Full Fare Sailings"

It says &quot;on the <u>under noted</u> sailings . . . . .&quot; That is simply saying that on certain trips, you must use certain fare categories. No Sunday sailings are included in the list so no restrictions to type of fare.

CalMac is great - but they do tend to complicate how they explain things. I think they took lessons from Transport for London

Your idea of 2 nights in Fionnphort and one on the mainland is good. Either near Oban or Glencoe would be great places to stay.

JennaJ

Thanks Janisj!

JennaJ

OK, so I think we will stay in Glencoe area the first night (since driving from Edinburgh), and then take the ferry the next day to Mull and stay 2 nights.

1) Question - should we stay in Tobermory or Fionnphort? Any suggested B&amp;B's?

2) Question - about car rental. We will be staying at:
RADISSON SAS EDINBURGH
80 HIGH STREET
Edinburgh, EH1 1TH

Which of the following 3 locations would be convenient to get to?

Edinburgh Railstation Office
Waverly Station

Edinburgh Downtown Office
24 East London Street

Edinburgh Downtown Office
396 Calder Road, Sighthill

Thanks again!

JennaJ

The B&amp;B we are considering in Fionnphort is Staffa House, and in Tobermory is Ptarmigan House.

andyp67

Re Car hire, definitely Waverly - you can walk it in 10 minutes.