I will be traveling with my wife to Scotland in mid September and am considering not making hotel/B&B reservations in advance. This would allow us freedom to change our plans on the go. We could call ahead a day in advance, rather than just showing up in the evening. Would this be a good idea or will we have trouble finding a place to stay on such short notice? We generally stay in mid level places so small B&B are great, hostel/dorm style not so good. We will have a rental car and are flying into Glasgow.

I did a similar trip last May and debated whether or not to book in advance. In the end I did book in advance and I was glad I did - most of the B&Bs in the areas I drove through had "No Vacancy" signs out by the afternoon and other tourists that I spoke with told me that looking for a good place took a lot of time each day. I didn't find that I lost flexibility because I researched the trip properly and planned a good itinerary. There are a lot of good online sights with extensive listings , e.g. www.roomfinderscotland.co.uk, www.walkhighlands.co.uk, the Scottish tourist board, etc. I was not disappointed with any of the B&Bs that I booked (they were exactly as shown in the pictures on the web sites) and they were all within the price range that I could afford.

There were for of us who went to Scotland in mid-Sept 06 . . . we only made reservations for our first night and for our few days at the end in Edinburgh.

We would have had no problems at all if we had only needed one room, and we didn't have much of a problem with finding two rooms. The few times we did, we just went to the tourist bureau and they promptly found us something . . . and something really good.

I typed up my travelog from that trip and would be happy to email it if interested. Just let me know at [email protected].

The purpose of this trip was golf, single-malt scotch, and regular touristy things.

We had a great trip and hope you do, too.

Sandy (in Denton)

I have had good luck in less than prime season by going to the local tourist authority office by mid-afternoon and having them find me a place for a small fee.

It would not be a good idea to press on regardless, just making another 50 miles the way you might do in the US and expecting to find a place when you arrive. Many parts of Scotland are very empty.

Definitely pre-book for Edinburgh and if you plan on being in the area of any of these September Hightand Games http://www.albagames.co.uk/Highland_...TEMBER%20GAMES

-- otherwise you can wing it. The book-a-bed-ahead scheme through every tourist information centre is a God send. They can find you a place for that night, or a few days in advance and charge a tiny booking fee. Saves a lot of shoe leather and phone calls.

ttt

Thanks for the good advice. Janisj we might try to see one of these Highland Games, thanks for the heads up. We are also looking to do a point to point type walk/hike covering 3 to 5 days. We want the type where they transport your luggage and arrange accommodations. Any ideas??

I could look some up for you, if you like. Any idea which walk you want to do?

You'll have no problem with accommodation unbooked in September unless you actually want a specific place on a specific night, in which case, book

Thanks Sheila. It looks like most cover the West Highland Way or the Great Glen Way. Either would be good, most seem to be 6 or 7 nights tho. As I said in earlier post, we only want to do for 4 or 5 nights. Are you familiar with any of the companies offering these trips? A guide is not necessary as we have some hiking skills. My wife also is interested in the Callanish Stones on the isle of Lewis I think. Any help appreciated.

i highly recommend the west highland way. you dont have to do the whole trail. you could do either milngavie to bridge of orchy or rowardennan to kingshouse/glencoe. book accommodation on the trail ahead of time though since some places have limited choices for accommodation.
we used travel-lite for baggage transfer, and both they and ams scotland are reputable. both companies also do accommodation booking along the route for a fee.

Curveball, I am interested in seeing the stones also. If you report back after your trip, I'd love to hear about it. Somewhere on this board I even read there is a b&b near the Stones. Can't remember the name of it. If you keep putting Lewis into the search feature, it might show up.

Glad to hear that the "book a bed ahead" scheme is still in operation. We did this some years back, and it was great. When we knew what direction we were heading after lunch, we would go to a tourist information office and find listings for the location we wanted, and book it right there, then proceed with our day. It was before the internet, not sure how it works now, but it's probably easier.

Strongly recommend you pre-book the first night. Don't know where you're coming from but you won't need the hassle/uncertainty of the unknown right at the beginning. We have made 3 September trips to Scotland without advance reservations other than the first night and had no difficulty finding a pleasant place to bed down. We did have a good B&B guide that was just that, a guide. We stayed in some listed places and some we found through the tourist office. Only in Inverness did we have a moment of concern - took too long to get there and it was getting dark so we "settled".

I'll get some names for you.

Lukehead,I agree with you. I always book the first night or two to give us time to adjust and to avoid the hassle. We are flying into Glasgow and will stay there the first night.