jah312

I will be in Scotland for almost 3 weeks in July as part of a larger round the world trip. I'm trying to strike a balance between seeing "everything" and having enough time to enjoy the countryside. I have mapped out a very rough itinerary below and would appreciate any comments or suggestions (The only part that is truly non-negotiable is the visit to Handa Island).

Day 1-4: Edinburgh
Day 5: Pick up rental car midday at Edinburgh Airport, Drive to Perth, Visit Scone Palace, Stay in Perth (3 nights)
Day 6: St. Andrews/Fife
Day 7: Perthshire (Glen Lyon, Crieff, etc.)
Day 8: Glamis/Dunnotar -- stay overnight in Stonehaven or nearby
Day 9: The Don Valley/Speyside with a visit to at least one distillery -- stay overnight somewhere in Speyside
Day 10: Speyside/Culloden/Clava Cairns -- stay in Inverness or Drummadrochit (2 nights)
Day 11: Loch Ness/Castle Urquhart
Day 12: Drive to Scourie/Visit Handa Island -- overnight near Scourie
Day 13: Drive south to Skye -- overnight Skye (3 nights)
Day 14: Skye
Day 15: Skye
Day 16: Ft. William/Glen Coe -- overnight near Loch Lomond (2 nights)
Day 17: Loch Lomond/Trossachs
Day 18: Trossachs/Stirling -- overnight Stirling
Day 19: Stirling, return rental car to Edinburgh Airport, make my way to Glasgow -- overnight Glasgow (2 nights)
Day 20: Glasgow
Day 21: Leave from Glaswgow airport early morning

janisj

Oh - thank you Lord -- don't mind me - but we've just had a saga w/ a crazy poster who wants to cover more territory than you do in four days.

I absolutely LOVE your itinerary,

The only little kvetch I have is the overnight in Stirling. Nothing wrong w/ Strling per se. But the Loch Lomond/Trossachs/Stirling area is quite compact. I don't see a real reason to pick up and move to a new place when Stirling is only a 30 minute or less drive from just about anywhere in that general area.

And while I'm Kvetching - maybe not staying IN Perth but somewhere nearby like Dunkeld or elsewhere. Still convenient but a bit more scenic. But you can't go wrong in Perth either. Nice city.

And finally - you probably don't have to go back to EDI to return the car. Most of the major agencies willl allow an EDI pick up and GLA drop off w/o extra fees.

noe847

This itinerary is very similar to the one we did on our first trip to Scotland. We really enjoyed the circuit approach for a good overview. Ours was 2 weeks. We didn't do Perth/St. Andrews. We flew into Aberdeen and went along the Deeside and picked up the whisky trail. From there, we followed the same route as yours. We didn't have time to stay on Skye, although we loved what (little) we saw. We visited Edinburgh between Stirling and Glasgow.

You might actually have some free time on your Day 11. If you like scenery, I would recommend a drive back from Drumnadrochit into Glen Affric. It is a forest preserve and you can see some stands of the original scots pine (and some that has been regenerated) that used to cover so much of Scotland. It is a place absolutely primeval in its beauty. You can take some nice walks back in there, or just drive and take pictures. It is single track road back into the Glen, so it's slow driving but the views are really lovely.

I'm so glad to hear someone say they are going to spend some time in Glasgow. I really love that city. There are some wonderful art museums there. If you have any interest in art, I'd recommend the Burrell collection. (I haven't been there, but I can't wait to go this August when we are in Glasgow.) You could visit it before you turn in your car in Glasgow, as it's a bit outside the downtown. If you like the architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, you can keep yourself pretty busy in Glasgow. The cathedral of St. Mungo is a beautiful Gothic church, and behind it is the necropolis, a very large burial ground. My daughters and I love the shopping in Glasgow.

caroline_edinburgh

Mm, good itinerary. You have obviusly done a lot of work on it.

I'd just have one tiny disagreement with noe847 over nomenclature : I'd say the Burrell Collection is more of a museum (i.e. artefacts) than an art gallery, although they have a few small rooms of paintings etc. But Glasgow does have lots of art galleries, notably the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), the Hunterian and many small cutting edge contemporary art spaces around King Street.

We also like Glasgow a lot & go quite frequently, mainly for art and theatre (although Edinburgh obviously also has lots !).

sheila

I'm out of here tomorrow night so time to comment in detail is limited.

Suggest Balvenie for your distillery, but you have to book.

Otherwise it looks fantastic.

jah312

Thank you all for you comments and suggestions. Much appreciated.