Hello Friends!

My wife and I got an opportunity for a trip to the UK happening in 2 weeks' time. We are keen to do both England and Scotland and are feeling a bit overwhelmed with planning our itinerary, especially given the tourist season. I would really appreciate it if I could get some feedback and tips on the below high-level itinerary we are thinking.

- Day 1: Arrive in London at the hotel at 8:00 am. Drop the bags and head out!
- Day 1 - 6: Explore London for all the must-do touristy things. Include a day trip to Oxford.
- Day 7: Fly to Inverness in the morning, rent a car and drive to Skye (2 nights stay).
- Day 8 - 9: Explore Skye
- Day 9: Drive to Edinburgh via Fort William. Stay 3 nights.
- Day 10 - 11: Explore Edinburgh (incl. one or two day trips).
- Day 12: Take the morning train to London for our return flight at night.

Some questions on the above plan if you could please assist:
1. Does the overall itinerary make sense? Please let me know if there are any modifications you think we should make.
2. How should we plan our route in the Scottish Highlands and drive down to Edinburgh?
3. Would it be a good idea to stop at York for a few hours on our train ride back to London? Or should we rather spend the night here by cutting a day from Edinburgh?

I'd really appreciate it if you could please assist with any tips and suggestions for our trip to make the most of it. Thanks

Inevitably trying to fit in London and several places in Scotland in such a short visit is going to lead to compromises. Personally I would plan either to stay in England or just go to Scotland in that timescale but it's your trip not mine and I know many visitors are time compromised.

Given that, overall your plan looks pretty good, but I could suggest a couple of changes.

There is no need to make a special point of going to Fort William. It's a convenient place to stay to visit parts of western Scotland but it's not especially attractive. From Skye you can take the bridge back and drive straight to Edinburgh. Or alternatively drive to Armadale and take the ferry to Mallaig and then on to Edinburgh. Both drives are long days with the second being a bit slower but probably more interesting (especially for Harry Potter fans as you pass the Glenfinnan Viaduct).

I would not want to be starting the day of my flight home from London in Edinburgh. If you flights are not yet booked you could look at an open-jaw flight going straight back home from EDI. Or if not, I would want to be in London the night before the return date. You can do this simply by leaving London a day early and having the last night somewhere near King's Cross station for an easy airport transfer at the end. I also wouldn't start from York either on that last day or try and do a few hours stopover on the way down from Edinburgh. If you want to see York I would build in an overnight stay.

I'd just stick to England, London and maybe one other centre, like York or Durham. Trying to fit Skye into this is bonkers. Cornwall probably is fully booked but the moors in Yorkshire will still have space, look at Holy Island for example

I love, love Skye but I agree that trying to fit Skye into this itinerary is not a good idea. I would be surprised if you could find accommodations on Skye at this late date. When we visited Scotland in June 2023, I started making hotel reservations 6 months in advance and discovered that hotels were starting to get booked up. And only 2 nights on Skye is not a lot of time especially considering how far it is from Edinburgh. You really need 3 or 4 nights on Skye to do it justice and to make the trek there worthwhile.

I agree with John about booking open-jaw tickets if you haven't booked your airline reservations yet. OR visit one country, either Scotland or England, not both, in such a short time frame.

The drive from Skye to Edinburgh in one day will be very, very long. When we left Skye via the Armadale ferry, we drove to Glencoe and spent 2 nights there before continuing on to Edinburgh. Glen Coe is absolutely gorgeous! It might make sense to visit Glen Coe instead of Skye since it is easier to get to from Edinburgh.

OK -- Skye will likely be a huge problem. Have you already booked accommodations there?? If not, that will very likely be difficult if not impossible at this late date. Plus 2 nights will only net you one full day on the island so a HUGE investment in time/money/hassle to see very little of Skye. Also - have you already booked a flight to Inverness?? If not I'll make a different suggestion below.

Now you could do JUST London and Edinburgh and maybe a couple of day trips out of Edinburgh with a small group tour like some of Rabbies https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-...from-edinburgh. There would be no need to rent a car at all. Places like St Andrews, or Loch Lomond, or Stirling (though Stirling is very easy on your own from Edinburgh by train), or many other options.

If you haven't yet booked Inverness what I'd do instead is immediately upon arriving at LHR -- fly up to EDI and get the Scotland bits out of the way first. Then take the train down to London - maybe stopping over in York for a night - and finish up with a week in London before flying home. If you decide to keep London on the front end I personally would not take a train down on your departure day - that would be a hige hassle -- Train to Kings Cross, then either tube to LHR or maybe the tube or a taxi to one of the Elizabeth line stations then Lizzy Line out to LHR. Being up in Edinburgh on your departure day -- the only practical option is to fly from EDI to LHR -- but leave it a LOT of time between flights incase of delays or cancellations.

Trying to fit Skye in . . . ESPECIALLY at this very late date will just be difficult.

("There is no need to make a special point of going to Fort William." - I didn't read that to mean they were planning on VISITING or staying in Ft William but merely to drive to Edinburgh via Ft William -- at least I hope that's what was meant)

Hadn't read all of the above -- I didn't recommend open jaw because I assumed you already have your long haul flights booked (because you mention arrival and departure times) . . . However IF you haven't booked your flights then Open Jaw/Multi-city is a no brainer -- either in to LHR and home from EDI (or even GLA) or vice versa.

OH nerts . . . of anyone is interested here is the OP's first thread . . . Feedback on 10-day London + Edinburgh itinerary (please?)

Lots of changes but still not all that realistic . . .

janisj - the fastest way from Portree to Edinburgh would not go through Fort William. Although not much of a diversion it's not worth it on what is already a 5 hour plus drive. Taking the ferry through Mallaig you would go there and it would then be a useful toilet/snack stop, but not much more.

I understand that -- But since Skye really isn't practical in any case its sort of a moot point. I was just commenting that I didn't read the OP to mean they wanted to stop over in Ft William.

Well, based on the first thread Janisj found, this sounds to be a partial working vacation for the OP, so London will have to remain as is at the top. I'd stick to the original plan and just do London and Edinburgh, just space out the sites you want to visit in London, like someone said on the last thread, that Tower of London day would be beyond anyone's limits, even if you're 25 years old!

JohnEW2912 bilboburgler Thanks for the feedback! Scotland is something we really wanted to do so we also extended our trip for this Unfortunately, our return flights from LHR are already booked so we will have to go back to London. But I'll definitely take the suggestion of getting back to London the previous night by leaving a day earlier.

KarenWoo Thanks! We're strongly reconsidering our trip to Skye based on the feedback and instead simply drive between from Inverness to Edinburgh (or the reverse, depending on the train and flight times/prices). Do you have any suggestions on the route to take for our drive? Would a tour with a small group from Edinburgh do as much justice to the trip as a self-drive?

janisj Thanks! I decided to extend the trip by a few days from the suggestions on the previous thread - this one mainly focuses on the Scotland plan We have to do the London bit first due to work commitments. However, we still haven't booked the flights to Inverness and are looking at flying back from Edinburgh to London like you suggested. We really want to see some of the Highlands while we are there but joining a small tour group is also a good idea. Do you think taking the 1-day Loch Ness, Glencoe and Highlands tour with Rabies will do as much justice as staying in Inverness for a night and driving to Edinburgh (or the reverse)?

OK -- that clears up a lot. Unfortunately you simply don't have enough time to make Skye practical. But that doesn't meand you can't see some or quite a lot of the Highlands.

Take a look at some of the 1 and 2-day trips with Rabbies in the link I provided. Several of them include substantial parts of the Highlands and a lot easier (and often cheaper) that trying to rent a car and figure it all out on your own. They leave from central Edinbrgh so likely walking distance or a very short bust/taxi ride from your hotel. They are small groups in minivans - never more than 16 people - sometimes fewer. BUT that are very popular (for good reason) and this is quite late so I would get on that ASAP - like immediately. Any one of their 1 and 2 day tours heading north or northeast will include the Highlands

OH jeeze -- I missed reading to the bottom of your post -- yes that tour would be fine but there are also others going farther north. That tour is extremely popular so you may need to check out some of their other offerings. They would make much more sense that going all the way to Inverness. (BTW Rabbies also does some tours from Inverness but more limited and just using Edinburgh as your base makes more sense)

Other one dayers to look at -- Oban, Glencoe, Highland Lochs & Castles; Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Highlands; West Highlands, Lochs & Castles;

Or several of their 2-day trips.

Assuming that the Rabbies tours that you’re looking at are from Edinburgh then I would strongly advise you not to consider any tour including Loch Ness. It’s one of the more boring lochs in Scotland. There are many more much nearer to Edinburgh and more beautiful and they all have exactly the same number of monsters in them. A tour including Loch Ness from Edinburgh will confine you to the inside of a bus for most of the day.

Yes - of course Loch Ness is boring -- I've been preaching that on Fodors for more than 20 years -- but the Rabbies tour mentioned includes Glencoe, Rannoch Moor and general Gampian scenery - it only really hits the very southern end of Loch Ness/Ft Augustus.. It is NOT a tour of Loch Ness. My guess is Loch Ness is only mentioned in the title because its the 'famous one' that all Americans think they need to see.

And to clarify -- I'm not pushing that tour -- just that it is not Loch Ness-focused at all. Actually at this late date one may need to be really flexible about any Rabbies tour since they are strictly limited to 16 people max and he one day tours are VERY popular. I'd maybe try from some of the 2 day - 1 night tours. The day trips are super popular and the longer 4, 5, 7 day tours tend to book up farther ahead.

janisj Thanks for your feedback as always! I would love to do a self-drive from Edinburgh out for day-trips and looking at the costs involved for 2 people, it will be similar or very slightly higher with a self-drive. There are rental vehicles also available at this stage.
JohnEW2912 I'll avoid any tours that have Loch Ness as the main attraction

The only dilemma I'm facing is as follows and I'd really appreciate it if I could get some input on what would be a better way to go:
- Option 1: Flight to Inverness, rent a car at the airport and drive down to Fort William (or somewhere nearby) to stay for the night. Drive to Edinburgh via Glencoe or Cairngorm the following day. I can squeeze in another short trip (perhaps Sterling) before returning the car on the third day in Edinburgh. Stay in Edinburgh for 2 nights.
- Option 2: Flight or train to Edinburgh. Stay in Edinburgh for 3 nights, rent a car and do a day trip to the Highlands and nearby towns perhaps.

Any thoughts on the above two options? Option 1 would be a bit more tiring but will allow us to see more of Scotland I guess. Option 2 would give us more flexibility. Would it be worth going with Option 1? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Option 1 just sees you moving about more but not seeing any more than you could by taking a day trip from Edinburgh. Inverness to Fort William is an OK but nothing special journey, mostly along the length of Loch Ness. Fort William itself is a useful place for supplies and a base for the area but no one would describe it as beautiful. A lot of effort with getting out to the airport and flying up to Inverness, hiring a car and quite a bit of driving over 2 days.

I would take option 2 and take the train. If you're in central London the overall elapsed time between plane or train to Edinburgh is negligible. the train also has the advantage of you seeing some of the UK countryside as well. The journey is nothing special until about Durham but is excellent after that - sit on the right side of the train. If you opt for this book the train now - the sooner the better for a good price.

OK -- IF you are only considering hiring a car and won't do a tour -- then Option 2. BUT that is a huge hassle for just one day IMO.

If you collect the car in central Edinburgh you may have ghastly traffic in and out of the city. If you collect it at EDI (which is the easier location) - then you have to travel out to EDI by tram, bus or taxi -- none of which are quick.

For just one day I still would highly recommend a small group tour. Much more efficient -- and I wouldn't factor in cost difference in this case -- I'd be factoring in just what I could see in the limited time.

Just about the only place I might consider renting a car for just a day trip would be St Andrews. That is a great day trip -- St Andrews + all the lovely fishing villages (Crail etc.) + Falkland Palace & Garden. All within in a reasonable day's drive. In fact - for Fife/St Andrews I'd highly recommend a car over a tour. It wouldn't be the Highlands but would be a really GREAT excursion -- all assuming it isn't raining sideways

Stirling (note the spelling) is a VERY easy day trip by short train ride from Edinburgh. No need for a tour at all. Two other very easy day trips by train would be out to Linlithgow or to North Berwick/Tantallon