Scotland Itinerary Help
 

Hello Everyone,

This has been a great forum to read through, so I thought I'd go ahead and post. My husband and I are taking a trip to Europe for 5 weeks and we'll be in Scotland for 13 nights of it. We just graduated law school and will be taking the bar in a couple of days, so this is the celebratory trip! We'll be in Scotland in late August and we have a couple gaps in the itinerary that I was hoping you all could make some recommendations for.

In general, we prefer country towns to big cities, are interested in nature and archeology, old castles and things like that. We have a car for much of the trip so we're looking for less touristy places. Here's what we have so far:

Day 1-4,
Edinburgh. We're there for the festival and have some tickets set up which I'm excited about. That's 4 nights which is a lot, so we may take the train to Stirling for a day trip but will be back as we have tickets for the Military Tattoo the last night.

Day 5-6
This is the first gap. We have a car from here on out for the rest of the trip. I'm thinking of doing the eastern half of the country, like Blair Castle, Piltlochry, Balmoral Caslte, the coast, maybe Elgin? So that's 2 nights we need help on.

Day 7-10
We have a house rented at the Ardverikie Estate (where Monarch of the Glen was filmed) so we're going fly fishing and hiking and all that stuff on the estate for 4 nights -- really looking forward to this! It is near Newtonmore on the A86.

Day 11-13
This is the second gap. I'm thinking of focusing on the western half for this part. Maybe the Inner Hebridies, though for some reason I'm not all that interested in the Isle of Skye -- should I be? Which islands are best? As an alternative, we'd love to go to the Orkney Islands but I worry that it'll eat up too much travel time. We are spending the last night of this stretch in Prestwick as we fly out of that airport at 6:45am the next morning, but we still have all day to get there -- I'd like to do Glen Coe on the way down from the north. So that's two nights and three days we help with.

Then that's it, we fly out to Paris the next day.

As you can see we've got two four-night stays set up, so I'd be fine with one-night stays in between, but we are trying to limit driving to 3 hours a day or so.

I really appreciate any suggestions! I may not be online much for a few days because of the exam, but will definitely check back soon!

Thanks a lot,
Kate Glaze

The Orkney's are probably one of the easiest (if expensive) places to get to from the Ardverikie Estate

You take the afternoon Northlink Ferry from Aberdeen to Kirkwall, returning on the overnight ferry from where it's 3 hours drive to Glasgow.

Hello Kate! This sounds like a wonderful post-bar trip. Although I am far from a Scotland expert, I just planned a trip also, and my suggestion to you would be to save the west for another time. I would use the two nights/three days to get up to Orkney and spend at least a night there, and then figure out a way (I'm sure someone here can help) to come back through Glen Coe without going further southwest. I hope you will go back and visit Argyll someday, though.

As for your first gap, if you like country towns, nature, archeology, and old castles, I think you cannot go wrong in the Borders. Even a week there is just scratching the surface. But I have not spent time (except in my imagination!) in the area you're talking about, and I am sure you will have a great time either way.

Good luck on the bar!

Re Northlink Aberdeen - Kirkwall. It only sails Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun and returns Mon, Wed, Fri (less often in winter).

Thanks for the quick replies! I had not thought about the Border Regions so I will definitely look into that, same goes for the the ferry from Aberdeen, great suggestions.

I have a question about the Aberdeen ferry -- it looks like it would take 7.25 hours on that ferry from Aberdeen, and about 2 hours to get to Aberdeen from Ardverikie/Newtonmore. Online maps say I can drive from Newtonmore to John o'Groats in 4.5, hours and then take a 1 hour ferry. Also much cheaper to do that if I'm taking the car.

Am I underestimating my driving times? Or are there other reasons to do the ferry from Aberdeen instead of driving up?

Ahhh, I think I just figured it out. You're saying do it as a long day trip and come back overnight. Sorry I missed that, will definitely think about it.

But still, is 4.5 hours realistic for that drive?

Thanks again.

As I remember, Elgin is very grey and nothing there. Have you considered doing the Whiskey Trail? Stayed in Tomintoul(sp) and also there is a wonderful B&B in Craigllachie, up a hill and across from the wonderful old hotel facing the River Spey(I think), salmon fishing in the area. When we stayed there it was owned by a woman, Veronica Grubb and a terrific place to stay. Inverness and Perth are nice areas...We also stayed at a golf resort in the Rattray area, wonderful Indian food.

Days 11 - 13 - Consider Kilmartin Glen and Inverary, even Glen Coe in this time slot. These were favourites of mine and my teen daughters 2 years ago. Kilmartin Glen is a place of standing stones and burial mounds, in the midst of fields. Inverary prison kept us entertained for a few hours and we had the largest room in a B&B there. Glen Coe and surrounding area is simply beautiful.

As castles go, we loved Glamis Castle north of Dundee on the eastern side and the ruins of Urquhart Castle near Inverness on the western side.

Check online for weekends in smaller towns for their Highland Games to see if you can fit one in.

Have a wonderful trip. Scotland keeps part of your heart once you've been.

I envy you -- Monarch of the Glen is my favorite show, and that is SUCH a beautiful place!!! Take pictures, and make sure to let us see!!!

I have been to Skye, and loved it, though I would love to see the Orkney islands as well, so I'm not much help :)

Slightly different recommendations from me (that'll confuse the picture, no?)

On your first 2 day gap, I'd go north through Fife- at least a full day there- visiting all the little East Neuk villages. Stay somewhere round St Andrews. Then drive north, picking up Glamis Castle, over the Cairn o' Mount to Deeside, passing a vast array of castles, across to Donside, over the Lecht to Tomintoul, along the Spey to Aviemore, and hop skip and jump to Ardverikie.



On your second gap, I think you're spot on to go west. Go to Fort William, and then south to the Corran Ferry, and cross Loch Linnhe. Drive south west through Morven to Lochaline, and take the little ferry to Fishnish on Mull.

Spend the next day on Mull and Iona. If it were me, I'd stay either in Tobermory or in Fhionnphort; cruise about a bit, then take the boat off crom Craignure to Oban. Stay somewhere like Kilmelford south of Oban.

Go south through Kilmartin, as advised. When you get to Lochgilphead make a choice (depending on the weather?). Either go down to Tarbert and take the boat to Portavadie, then (another choice) Cloanaig to Arran, and Arran to the mainland- landing just about where you want to get on your plane), or Dunoon to Gourock and soth to Prestwick.

If all that seems a bit of a faff, then from Lochgilphead go round to Inverary, over the Rest and be Thankful, down Loch Lomond, over the Erskine Bridge and south to Ayrshire.

The ferry timetables are all on www.calmac.co.uk

Sheila,

Many thanks for all the thought you put into that recommendation -- I definitely had to pull out a map because there were lots of new places I hadn't thought of yet!

I'm going to have to do some reading and thinking and will probably post later this week with questions.

Hi there--I would love to hear about your stay at Ardverikie Estate ("Monarch" was one of my favorite shows)! How did you find the place? We are going to Scotland next year and staying near Invergarry, and if I could see the Ardverikie area that would be great!
Hope you have (had) a wonderful trip.

I haven't stayed there, but it's about half way down Glen laggain, between Kingussie and Spean Bridge. Remember there's a right to roam in Scotland, so, provided you stay out of people's garden (and hair) you can walk where you want.