Scotland in June 2022
 

We are planning a trip toScotland next early June. We are flying into Edinburgh and plan to drive the northern route through the highland and over to the isles. Any suggestions on good places to stay and what islands to go to. We are thinking a 17 day trip. Thank you.

Which islands, east or west?

We are planning on the west coast. Ila, Skye, Iona?

Isla . . . (pronounced sort of 'Ila' but definitely needs the 's')

Random thoughts and questions:

• By 'the northern route' do you mean the North Coast 500 (which is a specific 'thing') or do you just mean you are sticking to more northern bits of Scotland?

• Isla isn't in the north - it is just about due west of Glasgow.

• If Iona is on your list so is Mull.

• Skye has become insanely popular so you'll need to nail down accommodations there months in advance.

• Do you want any time IN Edinburgh? If not have you considered flying in to GLA instead of EDI?

If your trip is 17 days total, you'll have about 14 days free on the ground after subtracting the transatlantic flights and about one full day jet lag recovery before its safe to drive. Very doable but not as much free time as '17 days' sounds. Assuming you didn't actually mean 'Northern Scotland', a basic rough itinerary could look something like Edinburgh one night just for recovery. Then collect a car and drive through the Trossachs including Stirling, Inchmahome, several lochs, Falls Of Dochart - Two nights would be good but you may not have the time. Then through Glencoe and over the bridge to Skye. You could stay one night in Glencoe/Ballachulish or just drive through en route to Skye. Stay 3 nights on Skye. Then ferry to Mallaig and drive to Mull via the Lochaline ferry. Two nights on Mull for Mull/Iona (three nights would be better but I don't think you have the time), Then Ferry to Oban and down through Kilmartin. Another night here. then Ferry to Isla -- 2 or 3 nights on Isla.. Then loooong drive back to EDI so probably breaking it somewhere like in Argyll or near Loch Lomond. Fly home.That is a very full 15 nights which is what a 17 day trip nets you. So if your trip isn't exactly 17 days and you have wiggle room to add a night or two you can pad a night or two anywhere along the basic route.

. . . That's just one option . . . Do realize that an island-centric itinerary is slow driving (like 30 mph or even less in most areas) so you may not be covering as much territory as you imagine.

Thank you for your detailed suggestions. We were planning on staying a couple of days in Edinburgh and then heading north to Aberdeen area and then head west to Inverness and down the great glen. We definitely want to see the islands you mentioned. We’ll end up in Glasgow and fly home from there. We are in the early stages of planning and appreciate your suggestions. That helps! We love Scotland and we’re last there 17 years ago.

My only suggestion is not to try to cover so much geography unless you really like a string of short stays. If I had what seem to be your priorities, I'd round-trip Glasgow (or even fly into Inverness and out of Glasgow) and leave the Aberdeen area for another trip. I admit I'm one who doesn't like an entire trip of short stays, and I'm not disciplined enough to make the Edinburgh-Aberdeen and Aberdeen-Inverness drives without LOTS of side trips and stops for interesting things. A 3-hour drive can easily take me 5-6 hours.

OMG -- Can't BELIEVE I misspelled Islay too - Jeeze Louise !!! :) . . .

Anyway - "We were planning on staying a couple of days in Edinburgh and then heading north to Aberdeen area and then head west to Inverness and down the great glen." Oh no no no - Sorry :(

That's simply too many places and miles than available days.Trying to include multiple days in Edinburgh + Aberdeenshire + Inverness on a western Isles itinerary turns your 17 day trip 3.5 week trip.

To give you a quick idea . . . JUST the drive (no detours or exploring on any island etc -- just the straight drive) Edinburgh > Deeside (assuming you want the castles and stuff and not Aberdeen the city) > Inverness/Culloden > Portree > Tobermory > Port Askaig > Port Ellen > GLA would require 35 to maybe 40 hours car time without stops. Basically 6 to 7 full days of your 17 days would be in transit butts in seats. Not sightseeing - just driving. That leaves barely 10-ish days to explore Edinburgh and some very big/scenic/historic islands and regions on opposite sides of the country. Something needs to give.

Skye for example really needs three nights simply because it take most of a day to get there from just about anywhere. Same for Islay

Just so you know Islay has a big Festival. The dates for the 2022 festival are from Friday the 27th of May to Saturday the 4th of June in Islay. We are going the week before as the Island swells from 3 to 9 thousand. We booked a house as there are four of us. We picked Port Ellen and will stay in Tarbert the night before the ferry. We will take a bus there from Glasgow. We are most excited about renting electric bikes and doing three of the distilleries that are on the same bike path. We will use a taxi or bus to get to a couple of others. I am most looking forward to the seafood. You can fly there from Glasgow but it is all weather dependent and we love doing the ferry. if you are driving make a reservation early for the ferry. We are foot pax so not a big concern. My husband loves Bruichladdich so we have to be there for a special Friday tour. Depending on the time of year tours need reserving. We have been to Scotland several times so concentrating on Glasgow and Islay. We are then going to take a train to Wales.
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Thank you for all the suggestions! This has been very helpful as we plan out our trip!

If you are headed for Mull, Iona, and Islay, you want to contact the Caldeonian MacBrayne ferry folks (calmac.co.uk) to check the ferry schedules for next summer. You would go first to Oban to catch the ferry to Mull (drive to Iona, passenger ferry to Iona), and hopefully stay on Mull a couple of days. That drive BTW is 35 miles of mostly single track, but spectacular! Then you will retrace to Oban and get the ferry to Islay (about 3 hours, I think). When you leave Islay you can take a succession (3) of ferries to get back to Glasgow - will take all day, or go overland from Kennecraig, passing Loch Lomond. Will be doing this ourselves this summer, but only Islay (and Jura), Colonsay and Mull from GLA, then to Wales. Huge thank you to Macross for providing the dates for the 2022 Feis, you just kicked my butt to make that reservation the week after!