I am extremely overwhelmed by all of the possible itineraries and so have "cheated" by starting with a Rick Steve's Tour. We will arrive in Edinburgh 10am on April 6 and then leave from Edinburgh at 2:25pm on April 17th. We in our are late 30's, like hiking, site seeing, not big on shopping. So, can you look at the below and see if we should substitute anything? We'll be renting a car.

Edinburgh- 2 nights


Day 3: St. Andrews and Scone Palace
Sleep in or near Pitlochry (1 night). .

Day 4,5: Whisky Drams and the Highlands
Hermitage. Pitlochry for a visit to a whisky distillery After lunch, we'll visit the Pass of Killiecrankie, a breathtaking wooded gorge and site of the important 17th century Battle of Killiecrankie. Sleep in or near Inverness (2 nights).

Day 5: Culloden Battlefield and Cawdor Castle
Culloden, . Clava Cairns, Cawdor Castle,The remainder of the day is yours to explore Inverness or stroll along the banks of the River Ness..

Day 6: Medieval Castles and Loch Ness
Urquhart Castle, After lunch in the village of Fort Augustus, Loch Garry and Eilean Donan Castle, We'll end our day on the Isle of Skye. Sleep near the town of Kyleakin (2 nights
Day 7: Isle of Skye


Day 8: Ben Nevis and Glencoe
ride the ferry back to the mainland, stopping in Glenfinnan, stop in the town of Fort William for a peek at Ben Nevis, Then Glencoe. Sleep in Oban (2 nights).
Day 9: Oban or

Day 10: Bonny Loch Lomond to Edinburgh, fly out at 2:25 the next day.

Any recommendations on lodging would also be most welcomed (low-moderate priced)

I suggest you look at bed and breakfast accomodation. Tis is usually reasonably priced. An alternative, which may be cheaper, would be to move around less and rent a cottage for a week. I did this staying at Glencoe. I used this as a base to visit several of the places on your itinerary. The place I would have liked more time was Skye.

just a very quick comment right now. If you are going to Fife for St Andrews -- don't run all over the country to Scone and then Pitlochry on the same day (a good example of why many of us don't like tours).

Spend a day (or two) in Fife. Visit St Andrews, Falkland Palace, all the fishing villages, etc.

Then you can go north on the A9 and visit Scone Palace and Blair Castle, or the A93/A939 and visit Dufftown (Glenfiddich)

I'd avoid Pitlochry altogether, except for driving past if you take the A9.

You might be interested in my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=3505

Michael, and everyone, Hi:

I cannot access your trip report via the posted link, but would very much like to read it, since I am at the beginning stages of planning a trip to Scotland and am at that "overwhelmed" stage myself.

So, would you kindly re-check the link or e-mail me a copy directly to [email protected]. Thank you in advance.

Anna Roz

clarapist,

Try this link to Michael's report;

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35058184

Jim

We spent 9 nights (out of a total of 16 for the trip) in Scotland last summer. You can find my trip report, here:

http://tinyurl.com/2fca5t

You've got 2 more nights than we had, and I could definitely see adding some time for Fife. However, you've only got 2 nights in Edinburgh (unless you are spending the night there before your flight out), and I would reccommend 3, as you aren't going to get much out of that first day. If you're going to Skye, I think that I would skip Oban (and Mull/Iona) in order to add time to Edinburgh. I also wouldn't split my Edinburgh stay, if that's what you are planning. You could stay some place like Stirling the night before you leave and have an easy trip to the airport the next day.

The reference wasw truncated. Let's try again:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35058184

Thanks thanks so far... you've given me great ideas to go with.

jILL

Whether you skip Pitlochry or not, make sure you stop for the Edradour tour! If you don't tour another distillery, that's the one to do--it's charming, the people are charming, and the whisky's not bad, either.

Tell us what you like. It'll make it easier to recommend changes to you.