We are going to Scotland in early September, 2025. We will have 6 days after doing some hiking on the Isle of Skye before returning to Boston. Thinking about doing 3 nights in Inverness and 3 in Edinburgh.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to flesh out that plan? Will be taking a train to Inverness, but would be willing to rent a car there if that makes the most sense to get to see special spots in the Scottish Highlands ( my husband is quite comfortable driving on the left). We love nature, want to see some castles, and learn about/see cultural sites, but wonder if we could get to see enough by taking public transportation.
We do plan to take the train to Edinburgh, since it's supposed to be a beautiful ride.
Any suggestions about lodging, restaurants and especially about site to see/things to do would be most welcome!

OK -- I'd 1) not stay IN Inverness, and 2) probably not take the train to Edinburgh.

What I'd do is take the train from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness and rent a car there. Stay somewhere nicer than IN Inverness -- lots of options depending on where/what exactly you want to explore.

Then I'd drive down to Edinburgh -- maybe breaking the journey depending on your interests in the East Neuk of Fife or Deeside, or somewhere in Perthshire, drive on to EDI, drop the car at the airport and take public transit into the city centre for the last two nights. (OR do two nights near Inverness, 2 nights in Deeside or Perthshire or Fife, and finally the 2 nights in Edinburgh)

The train ride down from Inverness to Edinburgh is noce but not glorious and would have you missing just soooooo much. Deeside - castes like crazy. Fife - St Andrews, beautiful fishing villages, Falkland, etc. Perthshire - Loch Tay, Loch Earn, Fortingall, Falls of Dochart, etc.

If you click on my username you will see my trip report with info on staying in Inverness and Edinburgh--as well as Oban.

janisj,
Thanks so much for your replay and we're going back to the drawing board to plan our trip. Do you have any thoughts about where to stay outside of Inverness? I am concerned about holding off booking places since it turns out it's quite busy in the Highlands in September!
Also if you have any suggestions for Edinburgh, we'll take them. Will do more research, but I love to hear from Fodorites about their knowledge of foreign countries.
Thanks again.
debbie

We recently visited Edinburgh and stayed at a wonderful B&B called 23 Mayfield Gardens. Can’t recommend highly enough!
We had our car as this was part of a longer trip. However we just parked it up and either walked or took a bus which go past the property very regularly.
The breakfasts were by candlelight and absolutely sensational!

What are your dates. If later in the month you should be able to find accommodations. But early in the month - the Braemar Games fall on Sept. 6 and will fill up rooms over a wide area that weekend -- would probably put Deeside off the table.

For places to stay near Inverness some to check would include Culloden, Nairn, on the Black Isle (not an island), Beauly.

As for suggestions for Edinburgh -- for accommodation?? If so what sort of budget?

September can be a great month to visit Scotland for sure.

Thanks again janisj,
I will be looking at those towns later today to see what they have available.
We fly into Edinburgh on September 3 with a drive to Isle of Skye ( and accommodations set) travelling via Glencoe over Rannoch Mor, staying in Invergarry overnight, then with a quick visit to Eilean Donan Castle en route to Skye. We hike in Skye for 4 days and leave for Inverness on Sept. 8th. So hopefully those games won't effect us.
We do not stay in high end accommodations, but like to be located centrally for things we'd want to see/do in Edinburgh. That said, we're happy to take public transportation and we're BIG walkers. So we often walk whole cities during our stay.

Something confuses me big time. You are driving to Skye via Invergarry but taking the train to Inverness? How can you do that? From your OP I assumed you were on a hiking holiday with a company and they were supplying transport to Skye.

"We fly into Edinburgh on September 3 with a drive to Isle of Skye ( and accommodations set) travelling via Glencoe over Rannoch Mor, staying in Invergarry overnight, then with a quick visit to Eilean Donan Castle en route to Skye." If you are driving yourselves, going to Invergarry on arrival it is a non-starter. Even if driving on arrival day was a good idea (it isn't) there is no way one should drive to that far after a flight -- EDI to Invergarry Castle is close to a four hour drive without stops

The Games are on Sept 6 and only really affect accommodations that Fri/Sat and a bit on Sun and you will be on Skye then so no problem.

But please clarify -- are you driving out to Skye - or is someone else taking you there??

debwhite, at janisj's suggestion, we did not stay in Inverness. Instead, we stayed in Nairn, a lovely seaside village about 20 minutes from Inverness. We loved our accommodations, Sunny Brae B&B. It was our favorite accommodation from our trip. Spacious and pretty rooms. Overlooks a gorgeous park and the Moray Firth. The owners are wonderful; breakfasts are delicious! From Nairn, we visited Elgin Cathedral, Glen Moray distillery, Cawdor Castle, and Culloden Battlefield. On our way to Skye, we also visited Urquhart Castle.

In Edinburgh, we enjoyed our stay at the Ibis St. Andrews Square. A very convenient location. We walked everywhere.

And I highly recommend staying on the Fife Coast if you have time. We spent 2 nights in the fishing village of Anstruther, and we had such a wonderful and relaxing visit. Enjoyed our stay at the Waterfront Inn. Spent a day driving along the coast and visiting St. Andrews and Crail, and took a short walk on the Fife Coastal Path.

Here is the link to my TR from June 2023.

Trip Report Our SPECTACULAR Scottish Journey!!! - Fodor's Travel Talk Forums

I also recommend Ibis St Andrews Square- great location for access to the Royal Mile, tram to Royal Yacht, easy walk to the train station. Nice hotel provided breakfast buffet, we had a small terrace - Room 502 and maybe upgraded because of Accor Membership, front desk people helpful with directions and many nice restaurants in walking distance.

To clarify, we ARE going with a company/guide to do the hiking in Skye and they are doing all the transportation from our arrival until we leave Skye!

PHEW ! You had me worried there LOL

Culloden and Clava Cairns and possibly Cawdor Castle/Brodie Castle could easily be seen as you head south from Inverness after a few days further north.
For somewhere as special but very different looking than Skye in the Highlands I’d look at a day or so in or around Applecross/Torridon.To me, it’s THE best scenic day trip you can do easily from Inverness.About 90 mins drive to Torridon village if you just decide on that truly magnificent area.
(Just a short easy stroll from the village, is an outdoor rock ‘church’ used for secret worship during the religious schism in Scotland in the 19th century.)

You could also drive further north to Ullapool instead and seeing something of the Coigach/Assynt area, another superbly scenic area.

The drives along Loch Lurgainn and the sea loch, Loch Torridon above) are two of the best routes through amazing scenery which we have in Scotland.

Cairngorm around Aviemore also offers a very different landscape again - sub Arctic tundra, great rounded mountains clad in heather and blaeberry, glorious ancient Caledonian pine forest and lochs aplenty.

The East Neuk fishing villages are also a great shout re further south and east on the coast and offering something very different to where else you will have been.

Thanks so much Scotlandmac.
We are struggling with determining how to spend our days between Skye and Edinburgh. We will be taking public transportation from Skye to Inverness then renting a care. Think the northern spots don't work as well, since we don't want to spend that much extra time in the car. But love the suggestions of East Neuk and Aviemore.
We just don't have the time to do everything!!

While I adore the far NW I don't think you have the time. If it was me I'd decide between Fife and Deeside. You can drive through Aviemore/the Cairngorms en route to either area.

Fair enough if you don’t want to drive further north, even as a day trip.

You really are spoiled for choice with other areas suggested…they are all very different too - one of the great things about Scotland is it’s sheer variety despite being such a relatively small country.

Now wondering if there are any restaurant suggestions for a group of 10 on Isle of Skye. We're staying in Portree and I gather it may be hard to find places that will seat all of us together. If need be we will split up to eat!!
Might as well add Inverness for just my husband and myself, We will spend 2 nights in Nairn, per suggestions here, so perhaps in or out of Inverness for dinners.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Debbie

I know The View restaurant on the east side of Portree is large enough - and views to die for.

The dining room at the Sligachan Hotel is big and they are used to large groups of hikers etc.

Pre-book well ahead of course.

Sorry - can't help with Inverness. I think the last meal I had in the city was 20+ years ago.

Look at the Cuillin Hills hotel which has a beautiful dining room - as befitting a big hotel, it's large , a lot bigger than many Portree restaurants which tend to be quite small - and they do nice food too.

Inverness- not tried this place but it's long been known as good quality and the family like it - Mustard Seed gets a good reputation but not 100% sure about the size re a single table for 10.You could always email them.