Scotland Bus Tour Recommendation?
 

Hello,
I would like to do a bus tour of Scotland with my 70 year old mother, maybe over 5 days or a week. Can you recommend a good tour company?

Rabbies Tours ar raved about by many here.
https://www.rabbies.com/

PalQ is right, Rabbies gets a lot of good pub here.

Rabbies tours are smaller than the colossal-coach tours, which should be a good thing considering the full-size coaches really cannot traverse Scotland's back-country roads.

That said, you may want to add some parameters to your question: (1) basic budget, (2) what you want to see; (3) how ambulatory is mom?

Thanks very much.
Not particular about where in Scotland to see... neither of us has been. This would be my gift to her for her 70th birthday because her ancestry goes back to Scotland and she would love to see where her ancestors are from.
She can't walk far distances, and the more organized the planning by the tour company (meaning they book your hotels along the way and perhaps have restaurants planned out), the better.
Also not sure about budget - I kind of wanted to get an idea of what companies were good and reputable and would go from there.

I'll be going on a Rabbies tour in September, mostly because of good reports about them here.

I don't have any physical limitations, and in fact chose one that seems to offer more walking than some, but they have a variety of tours to choose from. Rabbies will handle the lodging, and although most meals are of your own choosing, the guide can help you find something suitable.

By the way, I saw HUGE buses on single track roads in the Highlands...they manage, you move.

Wow, we never saw anything larger than a small truck on the single tracks.

It was pretty unnerving to come around a bend and see! Didn't see lots, but they do use ST roads, apparently.

http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/see-do/itineraries/

Here are some itinrary suggestions from the Scottish Tourist Board.

The Rabbies website is a good place to view their different itineraries.

I went on their Loch Lomond and Stirling tour, St. Andrews and Fife tour, and the 3-day Isle of Skye tour in November 2012. Isle of Skye one had the least amount of walking. The Fife portion also had limited walking, but in St. Andrews, we were left at city center and allowed to roam around by ourselves for about 4 hours; a person with limited mobility might not be able to see much. At Loch Lomond, the tour guide warned us about a "long walk" to the top of a hill to get a better view, but it turned out to be only half a mile trail (I was expecting 2 miles each way).

The only place I remember seeing many large coaches on STs are on the road between the ferry pier on Mull and Fionnphort for the boat to Iona. I have seen a few in orther places but not often,not a lot.

Rabbies would be my #1 choice, and Tmberbush would be my second.

Oops, didn't mean to post yet - where in Scotland is the family from? That could make a huge difference.

Janis, I need to find that out. That info may help me narrow down my choices.

oscars - curious as to whether trip participants tipped the guide at the end and was it encourage (outstretched hand or not) and how much one would tip if so? I get varying reports from no one ever tips and others who they did? Thanks in advance for any answer on that.

Pal , I answered this on a previous post but, once again, there is no outstretched hand. If any tipping was done on either tour I've been on, it's been very discreet.

Yes I recall - I am trying to see if that is what others on other tours with other guides happened - after all the Rabbies web site says about tips" "What can we say our guides love them" - that to me is a suggestion to tip and am surprised that no one dones. Just curious as to other's experiences. Frankfly I find it implausible there is not some nod to tipping and what they say in the online brochure seems to confirm that.

I did not give a tip and observed closely (because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to tip) at the end of the tour and did not see anybody else giving a tip either. There was no hint of tipping from any of the three guides.

Historytraveler: don't try ;)

Just gives him more bone to chew on. . . .

https://www.davidurquhart.com/coach-...ints=Edinburgh
David Urquhart does a wide range of tours. I have a look at the link.I posted dates in July just to get an example but there is a good selection .My mother and her sister have done many of these tours over the years and really enjoyed them ,they are designed for the older age group.My mother and aunt have had to give up the travelling as they are now both too infirm to get in and out of the buses