pittsburgh

Background:
- Family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids -- 8 and 10)
- 2 weeks in Scotland
- No car, so all public transportation
- Mid-August 2023

Itinerary:
- Day 1: Arrive to Edinburgh, Bus to Glasgow
- Day 2-3: Glasgow
- Day 4: Glasgow-->Arran Islands
- Day 5-6: Arran Islands
- Day 7: Arran Islands -->Pitlochry (mainly to break up the travel into two days)
- Day 8: Pitlochry-->Inverness
- Day 9-10: Inverness
- Day 11: Inverness-->Edinburgh
- Day 12-13: Edinburgh
- Day 14: Go Home!

Will go through lodging, food, and what we did.
First up -- the hotels!

pittsburgh

The Hotels:

- Our hotel philosophies: Needs to be fairly close (ideally walking) from the main portion of town/city as well as transportation. Ideal is single room with multiple beds. And with a good breakfast.

- Glasgow, Inverness, Edinburgh all had limited hotel availability so our choices were a combination of what we thought we might like + what was actually available.

- Glasgow -- Apex City Glasgow
- Location: Was great. Close to the bus station and train station. In the heart of the city right near the shopping district.
- Breakfast: Very good. Small-ish buffet + made to order breakfast that was excellent.
- Room: We had a family room with one bed + a sofa bed. With the sofa always converted to a bed it was a bit tight in the room without much sitting area but the room was fine for our needs.
- Overall definitely liked this hotel and would recommend again.

- Arran Islands -- Auchrannie Resort
- Location: About a mile from the cruise terminal. Hotel does offer free pick-up/drop-off at the cruise terminal which was easy and convenient. Location is a little secluded but we walked quite a bit (as we will get to in subsequent posts) into town, to the castle, etc. So we liked the location.
- Breakfast: Good buffet. Especially nice selection of fruit, meats, and cheeses. Definitely met our needs.
- Room: We had one king bed + a bunk bed. Bunk was great for the kids. Room was spacious and clean.
- This is a resort hotel with a bunch of activities. The only one we really took advantage of was the pool which the kids absolutely loved going to every day after a long day of either travel or walking. Will discuss the various restaurants in a subsequent post.
- Overall we loved the island and wished we had more time and if we ever go again would definitely consider this place again.

- Pitlochry -- Fishers Hotel
- Location: Can't get closer to the train station than this hotel. I told the family this was going to be right outside the train station. They didn't realize that meant literally right outside, maybe 10-20 steps away. Which was great as we are arrived on a rainy day. And location is good for exploring the town as well.
- Breakfast: Not my favorite. Hearty Scottish breakfast + minimal buffet.
- Room: Was spacious.
- This was a quick one night stopover. The hotel was fine for that. If we were staying multiple nights, maybe we would look elsewhere. But the location at the train station is really hard to beat.

- Inverness -- Premier Inn Inverness Center River Ness
- Location: Across the river from the Inverness Castle. Easy to get to the train station, etc.
- Breakfast: Our least favorite on the trip. Limited, food always running out. Not impressive.
- Room: Basic. Was fine. But nothing overly exciting.
- Probably our least favorite hotel on the trip. The biggest positive was the location which was good. But nothing exciting about the rest. Would definitely look elsewhere if we return to Inverness.

- Edinburgh-- Royal Terrace
- Location: On a bit of a secluded street in Edinburgh, away from the hordes of people. We liked the location a lot. Short walk to the tram (for the airport). Little bit longer for the train station.
- Breakfast: Excellent. Tiny buffet selection + made to order dishes that were excellent.
- Room: Very good.
- Overall our favorite hotel of the stay.

janisj

Looking forward to your report -- especially hints for families doing Scotland w/o driving. I know from your earlier thread you were still planning in July so I'd say you were HUGELY fortunate to fine decent (or any) accommodations in Edinburgh . . .

(You might ask the moderators to fix the 'stuff' around each hotel's name in your post)

pittsburgh

One more note on the Premier Inn in Inverness -- the wi-fi/internet access was very poor. They did have a sign in the lobby saying it would be poor and they were right! Thankfully this was a vacation trip. If it had been a business trip, i would have been livid. But one more negative on that hotel.