Scotland Itinerary; places to stay?
 

Okay, I think I have a rough outline of our travel itinerary. In general I am taking a poster's advice and hitting up the Trossach's/Loch region, Isle of Skye, and the Cairngorms. I'm not positive I have this flowing too smoothly...and, it seems I've cut the last stop a little short...but, not sure how else to do this. I'm open to any suggestions and am also looking for recommendations on places to stay.
Thank you,
Gail

My thought is:

Saturday: arrive, short local outing, rugby game, head to Gartocharn
Saturday Night: Gartocharn
Sunday: tour Trossach/Loch region
Saturday Night: Gartocharn
Monday: make our way to Isle of Skye
Monday Night: (not really sure) Loch Sligachan or Portree
Tuesday: tour Isle of Skye
Tuesday Night: Loch Sligachan or Portree
Wednesday: head to Cairngorms & tour
Wednesday Night: Killiecrankie
Thursday: Tour Cairngorms & return to Edinburgh
Thursday Night: Edinburgh

Cannot help you with Gartocharn but we stayed in Aberfoyle in June at Corrie Glen B&B which was super. Small town, close to lots to see in the Trossachs and super hosts. Also in Edinburgh we stayed at Albyn Townhouse which was also a great B&B within easy walk of lots of restaurants and a very short bus ride to Edinburgh Castle. One recommendation I would make is if you rent a car, pay for the windscreen and tire damage insurance. I think it is about 4 pounds per day. We had a flat on the way to Rob Roy's grave in Balqhuidder and it cost 90 pounds for the tire. When I was relaying this story to one of the staff at the Callandar tourist office, he told me because of the very cold winter, alot of folks have been experiencing flat tires due to bad road conditions. Also make sure you get instructions on how to find and change the spare! They are all different.

Why Gartocharn ?

We call the area the Trossachs.

Gartocharn to Portree is about 4 1/2 hours. What sort of place do you like to stay in?

Portrtee to Killiecrankie is about 3 1/2 hours. Killiecrankie is lovely, but it's not exactly "Cairngorms". What are you looking for out of this bit of your trip?

The basic shape of it's fine.

Thanks for your replies.

A B&B or smaller hotel/inn with warm friendly atmosphere & preferably breakfast included.

I'm not firm on Gartocharn or Killiecrankie. They are the first towns listed in a scenic driving tour of the respective areas. However, the driving tours are longer than we have in the area, so we will have to make adjustments regardless. I'm open to recommendations.

Thanks.

Well, in that case, I'd definitely choose somewhere like Callandar. There are better people than I on here to recommend a specific B&B

As to Killiecrankie, it's lovely and there are nice places to stay round about,(the Killicrankie House Hotel has had great reviews) but you'll be coming south to stay there and then north to go back into the mountains.

The Osprey in Kingussie might be a good shout. Give ma clue as to what you want to get out of "the Cairngorms" and I'll make some suggestions.

OK, my recommendations:

Skye - absolutely check out the Lodge at Edinbane. It's about 20 minutes drive from Portree, has it's own pub and restaurant with great food (breakfast included). It's a 16th century hunting lodge, very old-school charming. The family that run it (Hazel et al) are warm and friendly. http://www.the-lodge-at-edinbane.co.uk/

In the Cairngorms, we had a fantastic stay at the Kinross Guest House in Grantown-on-Spey. Also breakfast included - lovely hostess, and within staggering distance of The Craig Bar, with lovely scotch whisky and pies :) http://www.kinrosshouse.co.uk/

Skye - Portree is where I would stay. Good restaurants and pubs. We stayed at Coolin View Guest House which I would highly recommend.

Been too long since I've visited the Scotland posts - Sheila, so happy to see you're still helping out the visitors to Scotland! Although Shelia is not fond of B&Bs or guest houses, we stayed at Lubnaig House in Callender many years ago and loved it - both the House and Callender. For that trip, Callender was pretty much in the middle of everywhere we wanted to visit - St. Andrews, Loch Lommond (loved tiny Luss), Stirling. Although that ping ponging was a bit of driving, it was a great opportunity to see beautiful Scotland. And lucky us, we've seen considerably more of it since then!

Thanks for everyone's help. Used some of your recommendations & went from there. Due to the late date, many of your recommendations were full, but got additional referrals from the first round of contacts, & did some other research & we are finally all set.

Here is what we ended up with! We are quite excited!

Stoneypark Bed and Breakfast in Aberfoyle
Portree Hotel in Portree
Osprey Hotel in Kingussie
The Terrace Hotel (on Royal Terrace) in Edinburgh

:)