czk

My husband and I are going to Scotland at the end of June and would love another set of eyes to check out our itinerary. If you see any major holes, please let me know! And, we're open to suggestions for places to stay, restaurants, and favorite sites to see.

6/23 - arrive in Edinburgh, pick up car, drive to Ft. William area stopping in Glencoe, overnight in Ft. William (we know this is an aggressive day)


6/24 - take Ferry to Skye (Mallaig to Armadale), drive around, visit Isle of Skye Brewery in Uig, overnight in Portree


6/25 - Leave Skye via the bridge, drive to Inverness via Loch Ness & Culloden, overnight in Inverness


6/26 - Drive to near Aberdeen via Cawdor Castle, a distillery, anything else that looks interesting, overnight at Potarch Hotel in Banchory (Dinnie Stones are there)

6/27 - Drive to St. Andrews area via anything interesting - maybe Glamis, overnight somewhere in easy driving distance from Ceres


6/28 - Highland Games in Ceres (DH is competing), overnight here again

6/29 - 7/2 - Edinburgh, day trip to Stirling & Wallace Monument at some point (meeting up with friends while here too)

7/3 - go home

janisj

Some of what I'm going to say may sound harsh and I don't mean it that way. We do get a LOT of itineraries like this -- circle all of north/central Scotland in 5 days and check things off a list.

Glencoe √
Skye √
Loch Ness √
Culloden √
etc etc

Where are you flying in from? If overnight transatlantic your first day is bad and verges on suicidal. And of all the wonderful places to stay in Scotland - Ft William is not one of them.

(If you are just coming up by train or plane from down south - then the drive is doable -- but that does not improve Ft William any.)

If you are flying in long haul - you do not want to drive very far (or at all) the first day. The Stirling area is about as far as you should consider.

Most of your days are quite aggressive - figure you will average 35-40 mph and there will be LOTS of places to stop along the way.

Bancory to St Andrews w/ a visit at Glamis is definitely a doable day -- you should make a stop at Dunnottar as well.

If it were me - and w/ the Fife leg set in stone due to the games - I'd drop the Skye bits. Skye is wonderful of course - but you are trying to squeeze in half of the country in 4+ days.

EDI > near Callander for 2 nights as a base to see Stirling, the Trossachs, Lochs Tay/Earn etc. (the reason for 2 nights is your first day may be very jetlagged)

Near (not IN ) Inverness for 1 night to see Culloden and Cawdor.

1 night along the Dee - visit Glenfiddich distillery enroute.

then down to Fife.

bettyk

czk, please listen to janis. She is right about your itinerary.

If you are coming in from the US or other overseas location, you will be exhausted from jetlag when you arrive. It is hard enough to acclimate to driving on the "other" side of the road without adding exhaustion to the mix.

czk

Thanks for the suggestions, Janis. We'll definitely take them into consideration!

4totravel

We just spent last week in Scotland and only visited the Borders region and Edinburgh...and thoroughly enjoyed the area, food, lovely towns, hospitality and a slower pace.
You don't say where you are arriving from but don't underestimate how tired you may be and if you have to start off by learning to drive on the "other" side of the road.
If you want any suggestions on places to stay or things to do in the Borders I may be able to help.

Barbara_in_FL

CZK, it would help if you gave folks a little idea of what you really want to do/see (scenery, castles, distilleries...). Perhaps you could get some good suggestions for replacing the Skye portion of your trip. Given the other destinations you mentioned it does seem to make a lot more sense to concentrate on the eastern part of the country. There is much more to see in the area around Aberdeen than you can enjoy in a day. Since you are returning to Edinburgh at the end of the week, heading for the Callander area the first night makes a lot of sense; you could still keep Inverness and Aberdeen as your next destinations, but perhaps with more than one night in either place. We stayed in the west of Scotland for a week two years ago and I agree that trying to drive to Ft. William right from the airport would probably not be a good idea! If you have not already found it, there is a map feature on www.theaa.com that will help you estimate driving distances and times along your itinerary -- they will almost always be longer than you think.

noe847

czk, I wonder if you could reconfigure your trip so that you visit Edinburgh first and then do your touring. You wouldn't have to drive anywhere jet lagged (that really IS tough) and you can sightsee/rest as you need to the first day in the city. After a few days, you can begin to work your way up to Fife for the Games (in what event is your husband competing?) After that, you can head a bit more west.

I agree that going all the way over to Skye is a bit overambitious. We made that mistake ourselves on our first trip (although we had a bit more time for our touring overall than you do). There are so many fantastic things to do and see in Scotland you will just scratch the surface. Save the remoter parts of the Highlands and the Islands for the next trip!

noe847

I meant to say that after visiting Edinburgh for a few days, you could return to EDI to pick up a rental car, keeping it until you return for your flight at the end (maybe stay that last night somewhere in striking distance of EDI for ease of returning the car and flying out). Alternatively, you could make your first destination after Edinburgh one that you can reach by train and rent your car there.

janisj

If it was my own trip, what I'd REALLY do w/ that short a time and needing to be in/near Ceres -

2 days/nights in Edinburgh

6/25-6/26 in Aberdeenshire/Deeside for the "Castle Trail", Stonehaven, Dunnottar

6/27-6/29 in Fife for the Games, St Andrews, Falkland, Hill of Tarvit House (just outside of Ceres), fishing villages

6/30-7/2 near Stirling/Callander and use it as a base to see the Trossachs, Glencoe, Killin, Loch Lomond, Doune/Stirling castles and Inchmahome Priory

7/3 fly home