Scotland
 

I am planning a trip to Scotland in August for my husband and I and another couple. I have booked three nights in Edinburgh (we are seeing the Military Tattoo!), a night between in the Trossachs, in process of booking a night on Skye, then heading to Inverness for two nights to use as a base to explore surrounding area and Highlands.

I would love any suggestions for best things to see/stops to make along the routing from Edinburgh to Trossachs and then Skye. Suggestions for routing/sights on Skye. Most importantly suggestions for best trips out from Inverness in any direction, how far to drive out to see great places and make it back in a day, anything in Inverness to see/do/eat.

So far I have plan to go through Stirling between Edinburgh and Trossachs, drive through Glencoe and then make the scenic drive from Ft. William to Mallaig and cross on ferry. Take bridge back over leaving Skye and head over to Inverness.

We would like to see a couple of castles (best ones?), a distillery or two (best ones?), as an anthropologist, I would love to see some of the archaeological sites (but realize they may be too far out from where we will be?). We are foodies and pub fans for sure. Scenery and history lovers.

Thank you in advance!!!

>>. . . a night between in the Trossachs, in process of booking a night on Skye, then heading to Inverness <<

Not a great plan -- you need either more time or to forget Skye. The drive from say Callander to Portree is close to 6 hours without a single stop (and can take even longer in August w/ all the caravan/motorhome traffic crawling along). Killin, Glencoe, Glenfinnan and other stops will add at least 3 or 4 hours to that, and then the very next morning you will leave Skye to drive to Inverness. Skye is very large and spread out and the driving on the island is very slow. For example just the drive around the Trotternish Peninsula from Portree is about 50 miles and takes 2 hours without any stops. You essentially will see nothing much on Skye.

Where were you planning to go after Inverness?

The Trossachs/Skye/the Inverness area is more than a '4 night trip'. If you want to move that fast, maybe look at a Rabbies tour like one of these-- they can do it faster than you can but are still small groups -- not massive 50 passenger coaches.

https://www.rabbies.com/en/tour-scot...nds-4-day-tour

https://www.rabbies.com/en/tour-scot...rth-5-day-tour

I would drop Skye and Inverness and save yourselves a lot of tedious driving by staying south of the Great Glen altogether, something like this: https://goo.gl/maps/7iubkCe8FBA2

Instead of Skye, ferry from Oban over to Mull and visit picturesque Tobermory - http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/mull/tobermory/

Castles - Stirling and Inveraray are the big ones on this route; you'll see others from the road, such as Castle Stalker north of Oban - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...e_stalker2.jpg

Whisky - There are distilleries in Oban and in Tobermory.

Antiquities - the village of Kilmartin and Kilmartin Glen below are probably the best sites in all of Scotland for prehistoric ruins and relics. Nothing short of amazing, actually. http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...tin/kilmartin/

Food, scenery, history - Hardly any better places in the country for all of the above.

Don't forget the Edinburgh Festivals

>>Don't forget the Edinburgh Festivals<<

They won't be able to forget them -- they will be in the very middle of the hordes :)

That's an awful lot to squeeze into such a short trip.

You'd do better to try a longer trip with 2-3 days in each area as a minimum.

That said, my favourite castle in the Highlands is Eilean Donan - simply stunning. Take a look here: http://www.eileandonancastle.com/

Eilean Donan is really mainly a pretty Photo op -- not really 'worth' visiting inside. There are scores of more interesting castles all over the country -- but Eilean Donan is definitely a 'chocolate box gorgeous' one.

Thank you all. This is our first trip to Scotland. I know very little other than spending countless hours online reading blogs and anything I can find.
My husband has wanted to see the Tattoo for years, so unfortunately, this means our first trip to Scotland coincides with the crowded festivals in Edinburgh and the busiest month of the year everywhere :( We can't do a longer trip. We are leaving Aug 6, arriving in Edinburgh the 7th. Have 3 nights in Edinburgh. My thinking was to leave in the morning from Edinburgh and drive up to the Trossachs, exploring along the way (not sure of best stops...) and we have a place booked already at Mhor Hotel in Balquhidder, Lochearnhead. Nearest place to get on main road (where A82/A85 come together) looks like Crianlarich. From there drive up to Glencoe then Ft. William then Mallaig into Skye.

According to google mapping...this would be three hours or so...I realize it will take longer, but how much longer? If we have all day and stop along way, arriving in evening in Skye for dinner we would be ok.

My thought was get up the next morning and spend the day on Skye. We would like to see the Fairy Pools and the scenery...not planning on doing a lot.

The drive from there to Inverness doesn't LOOK that bad?? I was thinking that wouldn't take that long and after the day on Skye we could make it to our place there in evening. I am not excited about Inverness really. We chose that as a base to go from there to explore a little. So we would get there in evening and have the whole next day/night then get up in morning and start heading back towards Edinburgh...we fly out on Monday the 15th.

Is this just all wrong? I know it would be best to have more time in each place, but I really wanted to see the scenery and get out...I could drop of the night in Skye, but that was at the top of my list to see. I could drop off a night in Inverness...but then we wouldn't really get to see anything North at all.
My husband travels the planet for a living and I never leave home...Florida. It isn't like we will get to make another trip to Scotland again any time soon.

You must must must do this. Please look into it. You must make reservations but it is FREE.

http://www.thehairycoo.com/tour/FREE...ghlands+Tour/2

OK - a reality check here. >>According to google mapping << is a HUGE mistake. All of the on-line calculators are overly ambitious but Googlemap is about the worst. You need to add between 25% and nearly 100% to every single drive time.

• Balquhidder is wonderful - quite remote s=down a single track road -- it is where Rob Roy is buried. Edinburgh to your hotel is at least a 3 hour drive -- and there is a lot to see in between. Falkirk, Stirling, Doune, and more.

Then from your hotel to Portree via the ferry is a 5.5 to 6+ hour drive. W/ stops it will be a 9 hour drive.

The drive to Inverness isn't 'THAT' bad -- between 3 and 4 hours. But you won't have arrived on Skye til late the day before so essentially you won't see anything ON Skye.

>>I was thinking that wouldn't take that long and after the day on Skye << you won't have a day on Skye -- you will have a few evening hours.

>>Is this just all wrong?<<

Nope -- none of it is 'wrong'. It is just that you are trying to cram a week+ into 4 days.

Meant to add -- you will <B>LOVE</B> the Tattoo. I've been 4 or 5 times over many years, including last August and will attend again a couple of weeks after you.