wrenwood

Here's a rough itinerary for our trip early July. I realize there is a lot of driving, but we love driving in scenic areas. Usually we stay in places more than one night, but I do have several one-nighters here.

Castles, gardens, great scenery and back roads, good restaurants and B&Bs or small inns/hotels our priorities.

So here is what I have at the moment. Let me know if you think too much, or if you have other suggestions in an area.

Fly from IAD to LHR on morning flight, arrive LHR, sleep over at Airport Hotel, morning flight from LHR to EDI, arrive EDI about 10AM

Day 1 ~ pick up rental car upon arrival at EDI (10AM)
Stirling Castle
Drummond Castle
Stop at Kenmore, Loch Tay if time
stay Pitlochry

Day 2 or 3
Blair Castle
House of Bruar
Dalwhinnie Distillery? Edradour Distillery?
stay Pitlochry

Day 2 or 3
Scone Palace (Highland Games)
Glamis Castle
stay Pitlochry

Day 4
Crathes Castle
Dunnotar Castle
Craigievar Castle if time
stay Ballater?

Day 5
Drive Cairngorms Park
Corgarff Castle
Cawdor Castle
stay Strathpeffer?

Day 6
Inverewe Gardens
Stay Poolewe or Gairloch?

Day 7 & 8
Attadale Gardens?
Isle of Skye/ scenic drives?
Dunvegan Castle
Stay Carter’s Rest

Day 9
Scenery /Driving Day
Leave Skye, stay somewhere around Glencoe/Ballachulish?

Day 10
Crarae Gardens
Ardkinglas Gardens
Stay Dunoon?

Day 11
Benmore Botanic Garden
Culzean Castle
stay Maybole? Ayr?

Day 12
head to Edinburgh
stay in Edinburgh @ ? ~ we want someplace where we can walk to the castle restaurants etc. We either need parking for the car, or maybe we should leave the car at the airport when we arrive from and take a shuttle/ taxi into town, and also one then back to the airport? I don’t assume we need a car in Edinburgh? Will we need it to get to the Botanic Garden?

Day 13
Edinburgh

Day 14
Fly EDI to LHR to IAD

sheila

To my knowledge there are no good airport hotels at Heathrow. Pick the best value and go for it.

Day 1 is fine. I still probably wouldn't stay in Pitlochry. If you do, try the Moulin Inn. Why not stay at the Kenmore Hotel? Or one of the Dunkeld Hotels? The Atholl Arms? It suits the rest of your itineraray

Days 2 and 3 are fine. Take Edradour over Dalwhinnie. Nice visitor centre. Whisky of an equivalent quality.

Day 4- slight variance. Take the high road from Pitlochry over through Kirkmichael and Glen Shee so you're coming into Deeside from the west, then do the castles in reverse order.


A hotel is quite difficult. There are a few nice places in Ballater, but I've put you at the wrong end of the river. The Loch Kinord at Dinnet is nice, but ditto. The Inver is fine, but it's even further west.

If you go over to Donside, the Colquhonnie would be good. If you go right over the hill to Speyside, the Craigellachie would be super.

If you did that, you'd pass Corgarff Castle on the way. Another nice hotel on Donside is Kildrummy House and it is at Kildrummy Gardens, but I think it might be a bit steep price wise.

Day 5 would need to be adjusted for where you ended up. Strathpeffer is a bit off the wall. If you stayed at Craigellachie, it would be an OK base for an extra night, giving you the option to go right over to Poolewe the next day

Day 6- Poolewe is prettier; but Gairloch is busier. The Pool House is a super hotel, but it's gone WAY upmarket since I last stayed there. I think the Poolewe Hotel is fine. My sister stays there quite a lot. Basic, but OK.

Gairloch is very pretty town, but hotels....I've stayed in the Myrtle Bank which is perfectly fine but a bit too modern to be charming. I've also stayed in the Aultbea Inn which was fine at the basic end.

I don't do B&Bs, but there are some lovely ones in this part of the world, and I love the beach at Mellon Udrigle. This place gets a great name:-

http://www.nafirchlis.co.uk/
Inverewe Gardens
Stay Poolewe or Gairloch?

Day 7 & 8
Attadale Gardens?
Isle of Skye/ scenic drives?
Dunvegan Castle
Stay Carter’s Rest

Day 9
Scenery /Driving Day
Leave Skye, stay somewhere around Glencoe/Ballachulish?

Day 10
Crarae Gardens
Ardkinglas Gardens
Stay Dunoon?

Day 11
Benmore Botanic Garden
Culzean Castle
stay Maybole? Ayr?

Day 12
head to Edinburgh
stay in Edinburgh @ ? ~ we want someplace where we can walk to the castle restaurants etc. We either need parking for the car, or maybe we should leave the car at the airport when we arrive from and take a shuttle/ taxi into town, and also one then back to the airport? I don’t assume we need a car in Edinburgh? Will we need it to get to the Botanic Garden?

Day 13
Edinburgh

Day 14
Fly EDI to LHR to IAD

sheila

Damn- hit post before I meant to. Sorry

Days 7 & 8 are fine.

Day 9 is fine. Stay at the Pier House in Port Appin. If the price is too steep, stay at a B&B in the village and eat there.

Day 10- Crarae is fine (and I might add, there are lots of lovely things to see on the way. Go south through Kilmartin)and so is Ardkinglas. I started this bit, thinking Dunoon was further than it is.. I can;'t do Dunoon accommodation

Day 11- above my paygrade. Here be dragons!

Day 12- get rid of the car. You will not need it. It's a good walk to the Botanics, but if you're tired, take a bus or a taxi. It'll still be a lot cheaper than two day's car hire.

Accommodation choice in Edinburgh is massive. Money no object- the Scotsman. Me paying with a wee splurge? The Apex in the Grassmarket. Me paying ona budget? Any central Travel Inn or Travel lodge or Express by Holiday Inn or Double Tree

janisj

Only one VERY quick comment right now -- Crarae Gardens is magnificent -- but won't really be worth a special visit in July IMO. It is primarily Rhoddys and azaleas. There are lovely grounds, and a path up one side of the burn and down the other. But it would mainly looking up at the massive Rhododendrons and wishing you could see what they are like in the spring. The rest of the landscaping is semi-interesting but probably quite a let down after some of the other great gardens you are visiting.

wrenwood

Is Inveraray Castle worth a visit?

amelie

Three castles in one day might be tough, I know you wrote if you have time though. The days we did 2 castles were long days.

BigRuss

Corgarff isn't much to visit. If you're in the area (although as I recall the map, it looks like you're not), go to Fraser Castle or Drum Castle instead. If the queen is NOT in residence, visit Balmoral.

Michael

From our experience, make sure you arrive in Gairloch by mid-afternoon to find a place to stay. This is from our trip report of our travels through Scotland; just click on my name if interested in the full report:

<i>Our plan was to get to the Inverewe Garden (http://tinyurl.com/6bfnp), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We drove off the next day, stopped in Fort William which has a large tourist office, but they could not help us with a room in the area of Inverewe. The B&Bs of that area were not on the Scottish registry although it was thought that the local tourist office might be able to help. We continued on, stopping here and there to admire a very cloudy scenery--we rarely saw the tops of the mountains, and from Glasgow onward, rain was always threatening. We arrived in Gairloch half an hour before the closing of the tourist office, and it was obvious that finding a B&B on our own would not be possible. There are few signs for them along the road and we would lose a tremendous amount of time just going from one to the other. The tourist office had the anxious atmosphere of those looking for a room but it found a room for us in Poolewe (£50 plus £3 service charge), and when we got there, the landlady told us that our phone call came just before other people had just passed by looking for a room.</i>

wrenwood

Thanks Michael, I always book ahead. I hate wasting vacation time looking for a place to stay!

I'm not sure if we'll actually go in Corgarff Castle, I just want to be sure to drive by, I love the setting.

I think I will add Balmoral Castle, as we will be there in July, so it should be open.

I think we'll skip Benmore Botanic Garden, do the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh as suggested by many on my Gardens thread.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what we do after we stay in Skye, and before we arrive Edinburgh.

Help!

amelie

Balmoral was my least favorite castle, because you hardly get to see anything.

wrenwood

What are the grounds like amelie, worth an hour to walk around?

amelie

possibly, my pics are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tammimarie/704463415/ June 2007. If it means skipping something else I wouldn't. I don't have any pics of the gardens, so that must mean something. I take a ton of pics.

wrenwood

Thanks amelie ~ what castles did you go to while staying in Pitlochry?

amelie

We stayed in Pitlochry for only one night in 2009. My husband's family is from Aberdeen so that's where we stay with his parents. We drove down from Aberdeen that morning and went to Scone Palace, then we had lunch in Perth, then the afternoon at Drummond Castle Gardens. We got to Pitlochry just before dinner, rested up and then went into town exploring and had dinner (saw a parade of pipers). The next day we went to Dunkeld for lunch and visited the Beatrice Potter museum. I think I am remembering this correctly. I have trip reports on here.

In 2007 my parents came with us to visit and we did Crathes castle and Balmoral Castle in the same day and I remember it being really tiring. Later that week we did Glamis Castle and St. Andrews in the same day, also tiring.

I don't suppose there is room for you to get to Dunnottar Castle... that is an amazing castle ruin.

I'm sure others can give their opinion on Balmoral as well or you could do a search on here.

I really also liked Urquhart Castle. It's great to see castles that are furnished vs. castle ruins. We only stopped for pictures at Eilean Donan Castle. We did go to Dunvagen once as well. That was worth it. I'm slowly checking off castles. I liked Fyvie Castle as well in Aberdeenshire. Oh and Drum Castle had some nice gardens (did not go inside). I would almost go to one of those over Balmoral.

There are a few on your list I have not been to, will be interesting to see what you think after. I know my in-laws like Blair Castle. There's a few others I've been too, but I won't confuse you with more.

historytraveler

Drum Castle is one of my favorites. It boasts a 13th century square tower, a Jacobean mansion house and various Victorian additions making it an eclectic and, IMO, one of Scotland's more unique castles. The interior and furnishings are every bit as interesting as the exterior. It also has a beautiful walled rose garden.

amelie

Yes the rose garden was gorgeous! I'll have to go to Drum Castle again to go inside.

Maybe you can go to Drum instead of Balmoral wrenwood. I don't know the logistics of it though, it's very close to Aberdeen.

koryn

For your Day ll accomodations - in May we drove down from Oban and stopped to see Culzean Castle and spent the night at Wildings Hotel in Girvan. Great place to stay, recently remodeled so the rooms are spotless, and they have an excellent restaurant. Very close to Culzean - if I remember correctly it was within a half hours drive - probably less.

On your Day 2 or 3 - I'd go with the Dalwhinnie tour hands down. Lovely distillery.

I agree with other posters to return the car to the airport in Edinburgh. You won't need it in town. We stayed at the Radisson Blu on the Royal Mile. Wish I could recommend it to you but aside from its awesome location - it has become (in my opinion) rather run down and dirty.

wrenwood

OK, made some changes. Dropped Balmoral, added Drum after I looked more closely at them. Fyvie Castle looked awesome, but yes, a little too far north.

Day 1 ~ pick up rental car upon arrival at EDI (10AM)
Stirling Castle
Drummond Castle
Stop at Kenmore, Loch Tay if time
stay Craigatin House Pitlochry

Day 2 or 3
Blair Castle
House of Bruar
Edradour Distillery
Stop at Kenmore, Loch Tay if time
stay Craigatin House Pitlochry

Day 2 or 3
Scone Palace (Highland Games)
stay Craigatin House Pitlochry

Day 4
Glamis Castle
Dunnotar Castle
stay Banchory?

Day 5
Crathes Castle
Drum Castle
Craigievar Castle if time
Drive Cairngorms Park, past Corgarff Castle
stay near Nairn

Day 6
Cawdor Castle
Stay Poolewe

Day 7
Inverewe Gardens
Tallisker Distillery? Attadale Gardens?
Stay Carters Rest in Upper Milovaig

Day 8
Dunvegan Castle
Neist Point Lighthouse
Stay Carter’s Rest in Upper Milovaig

Now, because I'm adding more time in the Cairngorms region for more castles, we won't visit Cawdor Castle until Day 6 (instead of Day 5) and won't visit Inverewe Gardens until Day 7 (instead of Day 6) So this cuts our time on Skye basically down to 1 day. So what I am going to do is remove Culzean Castle. Someday when we take a trip to the Lakes Region of England we'll include the Borders Region of Scotland and visit Culzean Castle then.

Carters Rest on Skye is booked full, so we can't stay there a 3rd night. So I was wondering about driving up around Staffin and Uig, and staying at one of those places one night.

Thoughts?

janisj

On day 4 --I'd try REALLY hard to fit in Edzell castle between Glamis and Dunnottar. Especially w/ your interest in gardens. It is a small ruin w/ an amazing formal garden attached. The photos don't do it justice but in July the roses and annuals will be a riot. The box borders are unbelievable (and all done by one gardener by hand)

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u.../edzellcastle/
http://tinyurl.com/4kt4a9s
http://www.rampantscotland.com/visit/blvisit_edzell.htm

It would be a short detour off your route between Glamis and Stonehaven and well worth the time.

wrenwood

That looks good Janisj, it will get us off the A90 also!