We will be traveling to Scotland in September 2024 with two other couples and could use some advice on what not to miss as we make our way around Scotland.
Below is our itinerary so far:

Day 1: Fly into Glasgow airport and spend the night, meet up with the 1st couple.
Day 2: Up early, pick up the rental car and drive the Dunoon ferry to make a quick visit (2 hours). Then drive to Oban for the night. (places to see along the way?)
Day 3. Leave Oban and drive to the Spean bridge area where we stay overnight, we are meeting a 3rd couple there who will be hiking Ben Nevis. (Places to stop along the way to Spean?)
Day 4,5,6: Drive to the Isle of Sky for three nights. (Absolute not to miss places?)
Day 7,8: Drive to Inverness for two nights. Try to get in a round of golf in the area. (Places not to miss with two days?) (The highland games in Pitlochry are on the 14th so we might try to make that on the way to Edinburgh)
Day 9: 10 Drive to Edinburgh for two nights. Tour the city, maybe go to visit St. Andrews on Sunday if it is open to visitors. (Absolute places not to miss if we only have 2 days?)
Day 11: Fly out of Edinburgh.
Basically, making a big circle around Scotland and hoping not to miss anything that is a must see. Any Advice would be much appreciated.

Sorry -- posted to the wrong thread . . .

Sooooo confusing - I meant to post to another current thread with an almost identical title. Had to edit out my response and paste it to the other thread. (Maybe ask the moderators to edit your title - even just adding 'Sept.' would help)

(Emphasis mine) "Basically, making a big circle around Scotland and hoping not to miss anything that is a must see. Any Advice would be much appreciated. "

That is utterly impossible -- You'd need months to see even most of the 'must see's' in just the limited parts of Scotland you are hitting. Is there a reason you've chosen Inverness for your possible round of golf. There are courses all over but the Inverness area is not particularly endowed with worthwhile venues.

You may have some difficulty finding a vehicle both large enough for 6 adults and their luggage AND small enough for the very narrow roads and parking areas. Generally when I have more than 4 people - we end up having to rent 2 cars.

We modified the thread's title to include September.

We can certainly change our plans of golf in Inverness, can you suggest others that might be better? Also does the itinerary seem doable or are we putting too much in a short time? We really want to do the 3 nights in Skye and are trying to decide on 2 nights in Oban rather than Spean but don't know if the drive from Oban to Skye would be too long in one day. Should we skip staying overnight in Inverness and have more time in Edinburgh? We plan on flying into Glasgow to get us closer to Dunoon, but would Edinburgh be better?

We will have two cars for the 6 in our group. Two are hiking Ben Nevis and meeting us on our way to Skye.

a big circle of Scotland and don't want to miss anything. In 11 days. "Havin' a laff". You are visiting a space which has been inhabited for over 5000 years and you don't want to miss anything?

Can you give us some more guidance of what the group likes to do. For instance golf is a national sport in Scotland and you can play in so many different grounds. https://www.scottishgolfcourses.com/atoz.html many of which charge peanuts and often with great views.

Are you interested in whisky, if so which types?

Do you have any historica ties to the country?

Do you have any religious ties to the country, and would like to reconnect?

Hiking is another interest, is that shared by all?

What about islands, are you interested in the western or eastern islands?

The more we know the more we can help and, frankly, the easier your group will know what to expect.

bilboburgler, we only plan on golfing for one day of the ten days we are there and somewhere along our planned route.

Two of us are avid hikers, the other four are walkers more than hikers but in good shape and often do the trails here in the states. Isle of Skye is on our planned trip for three nights so we should get some "hiking" in there.

We do plan on visiting one or two distilleries that are along our route, but don't know where would be best.

Would like to visit the Isle of Mull if we stay two nights in Oban, not sure if we would have time to make it to Iona to see the Abbey.

Dunoon is just a quick stop on our way to Oban, my husband wants to see it again, but we may need to take it out. It is why we are flying into Glasgow to save on driving time on our way to Oban.

We plan on flying into Glasgow and out of Edinburgh to avoid a long trip to the airport early in the morning on our last day. Does that sound like a good plan?

Below is our draft itinerary:

Glasgow - 1 Night
Oban - 2 Nights
Isle of Skye - 3 Nights
Inverness - 2 nights
Edinburgh - 2 nights

I'll let others who have travelled far more than me comment on the detail. I've worked and travelled there a bit and find that, due to the narrow roads, that choosing an area and "doing it well" makes more sense. Hence I would stick to one side of the country or the other. But let us see what the real experts come up with.

Whisky is a complicated subject. If none of your group have a special taste then just pop into one as you pass (but not the driver).

Me personally -- I wouldn't enjoy that itinerary very much

I'm not being snarky with the following comments but maybe it will let your group focus on why you chose the places you have . . .

Glasgow - 1 Night - Basically just to sleep off the jet lag. So OK as it goes.

Oban - 2 Nights - why have you chosen Oban? Definitely not a bad place at all, but on such a short trip I'd want each stop to be REALLY special/worthwhile. What do you plan on seeing doing in Oban? Sounds mostly this is for visiting Mull??

Isle of Skye - 3 Nights - OK, I suppose this is a must for the group? Seems many first timers feel a trip to Scotland simply isn't possible without doing Skye. But there are other islands, and there are fabulous areas not on islands. September will mean Skye isn't as busy as earlier in the summer. Hopefully the weather cooperates because Skye is not a fun place if it is raining sideways.

Inverness - 2 nights - Why Inverness? It is a nice city to live in - the commercial hub of the whole north of Scotland. But except for a river running through town not much of interest to visitors.

Edinburgh - 2 nights. Woefully short since 2 nights nets you one day for seeing/doing anything. And part of that day will involve packing and organizing for the morning flight out.

Mull? I adore Mull - but I persoally would not do it as a day trip from Oban . . . especially with 2 cars. If I could manage it I'd probably stay two nights ON Mull instead of 2 nights in Oban. Assuming you collect the cars at GLA (even if you stay the night in central Glasgow, the airport is the easiest place to pick up a car) GLA > Dunoon > Oban is a 4 hour drive plus stops.

I honestly don't see anywhere along that itinerary where there is time for a round of golf.

A group of 6 travelling together, only 9 full days to explore, 5 hotel stays... I also am not being snarky when I say I wouldn't enjoy this trip very much. Large-ish groups are hard. Even if interests generally align, just moving around, staying together, getting served in restaurants, etc., takes longer. Keeping to a tight schedule adds pressure and a simple hiccup can change an entire day. Who wants to volunteer to be the (nagging) time-keeper?

I would pare down the destinations, driving distances...

janisj, the only place that we need to go is to meet one of the couples on September 10th who are climbing Ben Nevis. Other than that, our plans are open to change. We plan on arriving in Scotland on the 7th, either in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Would you completely re-arrange the trip? If so, how would you do it within the days of September 7th - 17th? We have never been to Scotland, so we are without a clue.

Day 2 heading from Glasgow to Oban a nice diversion is heading west from Tarbet through Inveraray on the A83. Pretty loch views along the way, Inveraray is a whitewashed pleasure shop - - then the A819 back up north to the A85. Really doesn't add any driving time to the trip either.

You have soooooo much time to plan. I'd sit back and relax for a while. Pick up a nice guidebook or two, or even a picture book. pour over this site 'cover to cover' https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/index.html Find which part(s) of Scotland sing to you. Now it may end up the typical 'Tartan Track' a lot of Americans choose for their first visit . . . Edinburgh, Skye, Loch Ness/Inverness. But IME these places are often chosen simply because they are the places newbies have heard of. (Heck - you're already ahead of a lot of newbies in that you mentioned Mull)

(Assuming Dunoon is a must) I can see a 10 night trip involving something like 2 nights in Glasgow including an excursion out to Dunoon.

Then pick up a car and head up to Glencoe/Glen Etive staying 3 nights. There is so much glorious scenery in the area. Its close to Ben Nevis, etc. Good base for hiking/walking and day trips out to Glenfinan, Loch Linnhe, Killin Falls of Dochart,Loch Tay. etc.

That's 5 nights so then you could drive across the country to Fife -- St Andrews, Falkland, beautiful fishing villages . . . and the absolute epicenter of golf. The Old Course of course but also countless other courses from small municipal links to world famous. Stay 2 nights

Then, drop the car at EDI and head into the city for the last 3 nights.

The longest travel day would be from Glencoe to Fife - about 3.5 hours.

Is this a perfect trip - nope. But it covers a lot of your wish list - Dunoon, Ben Nevis, hiking/walking, golf, Edinburgh with quite reasonable travel days. But this is just one possibility out of dozens. Like I said - do some research and figure things out a bit before making any decisions.

I was interested that your plan includes Dunoon and since I was there in August, I figured I'd share some info. I took the CalMac ferry from Gourock which was very easy, but with cars you need to reserve in advance on the CalMac site. I spent an enjoyable 4 hours there; 2 hours in the wonderful Dunoon Castle Museum and an hour or so wandering the main drag, Argyll Street. The Castle House museum is not glitzy but is chock full of items and interesting displays; run by volunteers, it tells the story of Dunoon from pre-history to current. I enjoyed talking with the volunteers, especially the gentleman who is their handyman/porter.

Note that if you google Dunoon, all the sites highlight the Victorian pier which is interesting to view from the street but it is decrepit and can't be walked on. I really liked walking along Argyll Street; popped into the Queen's Hall which is the community center of Dunoon offering lots of classes; bought a bacon roll and scone at Black of Dunoon and ate them in the seating area at the site of St. Cuthberts (interesting plaques to read). Enjoyed the shops - bookstore particularly.

Both the London Times and New York Times have recently had articles about a young couple who inadvertently bought an old villa in Dunoon which they have been restoring (pretty much single handed) and are renting as B&B - Jameswood Villa. Worth reading about their adventure and maybe staying overnight.

The London Times ;-)

A British friend explained why this is funny 🇬🇧

first published 1785. Times of India 1835. New York 1851.....