Hi all, I'm planning a trip for Christmas time to Scotland with my husband. We are in our 40s and interests include enjoying the scenery, Whiskey, and history of Scotland. We plan to fly into London to see friends and hop on the train spend 7-10 days in Scotland, and fly out of Edinburgh to Boston through London (prices for plane tickets through London to Boston are cheaper than train back to London to fly back to Boston).

We want to spend time in the following places and I would like to hear what you think the best order is given it will be Christmas time.

Edinburgh 2-3 days
Glasgow 1-2 days
York 2 days
Aberdeen
Invernes
Skye
Islay
Orkney Islands - this one is a stretch but I'd love to make it work.

Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.

Mary

First things first, there's no "e" in (Scotch) whisky.

I think your plans for the north and west of Scotland (Islay, Skye, Inverness, Orkney) at that time of year need a big reality check. Not only will the weather be awful - horizontal rain if you're lucky, mountains hidden by clouds - but daylight will be very short. Orkney is farther north than Juneau, Alaska, so you'll have little time to run around once you get there.

York isn't in Scotland obviously, so I'm a bit confused by how much time you'd actually have after Edinburgh and Glasgow. You'll need to fly to get to Orkney; you can take a train to Inverness, but you'd need a car to get to and around Skye or Islay, and both are quite long drives and/or ferries to reach.

So really, how many days outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow would you have?

It's also worth mentioning that if you happen to be in Edinburgh for Hogmanay (New Years) you'll be surrounded by a million or so of your best new friends. HUGE celebrations in town.

Yes, you say you have 7 to 10 days, and you have already allocated 7 of them. Orkney is not feasible for reasons Gardyloo explained plus the fact that it’s just too far. Both Inverness and Aberdeen are three hours from Edinburgh by train. Inverness as a town has little to offer, so you’d really need a car to get to some of the more popular sights. Again Aberdeen itself may not have much that would interest you. There are plenty of wonderful castles nearby, but a car is necessary. You can get to Dunnottar Castle from Aberdeen by public transport but it’s still a bit of a walk out to the castle. The time of year may well make plans difficult. Many castles etc. close down over the holidays or have very limited openings.

My suggestion would be to do a Rabbies tour with your remaining time in Scotland. Small group, excellent drivers/ guides and economical. Have a look at their website. www.rabbies.com. In addition, they’ll know what’s open and what’s not.

Thank you for the reality check. After more reading and seeing your responses, yes, we're trying to do too much. We're taking Orkney off the list. Our current thinking, and yes it will evolve as I learn, is to take the train from London, stop in York for a night, and then spend our remaining time based in Edinburgh, renting a car if we feel adventurous and the weather isn't horrible. And yes, I full on realize the what I am in for with New Years - it's on my husband's bucket list. I'll check out the tour info too. Thank you and feel free to make more recommendations. Mary

I would give Glasgow more time than Edinburgh

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...346603583/show

Any rural area in Scotland ESPECIALLY northern and island regions would not be at all viable. Besides the possible vile weather -- there will be very short days. There won't be much getting out into the scenery . . .

I would forget about Orkney, Inverness, Skye and Islay (If the weather is dreadful the ferries will be impacted as well) -- and probably Aberdeen.

Then you have the issue of Hogmanay - especially in Edinburgh. If you are in the city between Dec 29 and Jan 1, room rates will be sky high and center of the city will be a mob scene.

So I would make this an entirely city-centric trip: London, York, Glasgow, Edinburgh. Arranged in whichever order you want (Scotland first/London last or vice versa) avoiding Edinburgh over New Years (unless you actually want to be there big time -- at least it is more fun than Times Square)

You can have whiskey whisky ANYWHERE