steviegene

misha, I would be interested to know what your itinerary is so far.

steviegene

We are planning a similar length trip to Scotland for the first week in October. I am having a hard time organizing my thoughts. And, I find this site extremely frustrating to search.

misha2

I totally understand.

My itinerary is still very rough. But, I'm getting there with the help of the very knowledgable and helpful experts on this board

Day 1-4 Edinburgh (including one day trip to Rosslyn and another to St. Andrews)
Day 5 -- Go to airport to rent car and head to Stirling Palace -- tour palace have lunch head towards Oban. Stop and enjoy the "bonnie banks" Loch Lommond. See Kilchurn and Dunstaffnage castles en route. Overnight in Oban area. (I'm still waiting to find accomodations and have a question about whether I will make it to Oban)

Day 6 -- head towards Kyle to take Bridge to Skye. Perhaps a stop in Plockton. Stay in Skye go to distillery. Take a boat ride (any suggestions for one with good wildlife spotting possibilities?)
Day 7-- Skye-- see Cullins, walk or perhaps take a horseback ride -- Relax
Day 8 -- Depart from Skye and see Eileen Donan -- Come back through Glencoe and Trossachs.
Overnight Edinburgh, Falkirk or Callander or Du??

Head out of Edinburgh airport.

It's good that you've already started planning. I'm still trying to find available, nice places to stay.

steviegene

thanks misha!
Do you have any rough idea of the mileage/driving hours your trip will be?

misha2

According to via michelin the time between Skye and Edinburgh is 4 1/2 hours and the time between Oban and Skye is 2 1/2 hrs.

However, I hsve not yet mapped out what routes etc. I'll be taking. However, I hope it is safe to assume that we won't be driving for more than 3 1/2 hours on any day except, perhaps the last.

Can anyone out there tell me if this is a safe assumption?

FlyFish

misha2 - If you're still looking for a place to stay in the Oban area, check out Barcaldine Castle. It's not often you can have an actual 16th century castle (admittedly a smaller one, but complete with dungeon, no less) to yourself. We stayed there last month and it was a fantastic experience. www.barcaldinecastle.co.uk/index.htm

noe847

Misha, I think that the Edinburgh to Oban day is do-able. You will have a few hours to spend at Stirling Castle (fyi, it's a full fortified castle, although there is a palace that is part of the castle complex). As best I can remember, the drive to Oban from Stirling is between 2 and 3 hours. The scenery enroute is quite nice.

misha2

Thanks.
Great, that's a relief!

Any opinions on Toravaig House? It is a lot more than we wanted to spend. I was hoping to stay around $200 or less. But, it seems nice. I was concerned about its location though.

Any thoughts?

janisj

Toravaig House is lovely - but maybe not the best location for touring Skye. It is at the far southern end of the island and off a single track road that carries all the traffic to/from the Armadale ferry. It is good for touring the Sleat Penninsula - but will take you a LOT of time to get to anywhere else on Skye.

Sligachan or Portree would be a better base for touring.

misha2

Thanks.

What do you think of the Sligchean? I just sent them an email. But, the reviews are mixed.

So far, the Viewfield House has said they have availabilty (but we would have to switch rooms) and the Bosville has said yes. But it is way too expensive. Lastly, there is a twin available at Flora McDonald's cottage. But, that, too has gotten mixed reviews -- besides not being very romantic.

How much time do you think it would take to get to places that are most popular in Skye from Sleat? For example, the Cullins etc.

sheila

I really like the Slig. If you climb it's teh place to be. they have live music in the big bar at the weekends; and if you want to be posh, you just stay at the posh end. Location is very good.

If you're looking at staying in Sleat, do look at te Eilean Iarmain which is my favourite place on Skye.

The Viewfiield can be a bit Fawlty Towers, according to my brother.

misha2

Thanks Sheila!

I read that you liked it and have sent them am enquiry. However, I have as yet to hear back.

How do you feel about staying in Sleat?

Also, I'd love it if you would also offer your opinion on my itinerary.

Thanks

sheila

janis is dead on, Sleat's off centre. Essentially, if you stay there you can add 30-40 minutes on your journey time to ANYWHERE- except possibly the golf course or the Raasay ferry terminal.

I didn't comment on the itinerary because others had, but:-

Day 1-4 Fine. Rosslyn is boring IMO.

Day 5 It's Stirling CASTLE not Palace. IGoing from Stirling to Oban, one would not normally go round Loch Lomond. Nothing to hinder you, but if you do, it's then kind of counter-intuitive to go up Locah Awe past Kilchurn. Nothing to hinder you, but...

I don't like Oban as a place to stay. One of these days it may get a decent hotel, but until then, I move out of town. Pretty town, lovely location, masses of places to sleep. You'll get somewhere just by turning up, so don't sweat it.

Day 6- OK. Boat rides at Elgol and Dunvegan, I think. I like the Elgol one, but you are expected to take quite a long walk in the middle.

Do go onto Skye through Mallaig, or Glenelg, and back over the bridge, or vice versa. So Plockton and Eilean Donan should be on the same leg. based ona desire to come back through Glencoe, go on over the bridge and back through Mallaig.


DON'T stay in Falkirk!!!! Linlithgow, maybe, but not Falkirk.

misha2

Thanks so much!

Where would you stay, instead of Oban?

sheila

Why are you going to Oban? (this question has relevance)

misha2

I'm just going because I thought it would be a convenient place to stop. I didn't think I would make it to Skye in a leisurely fashion if I didn's stop somewhere st night.

Is there somewhere else I should stop?
Do I not need to stop?

misha2

One more thing. Would it be too crazy to stay the first night, while in Skye at Toravaig house and the second night at the Slig? The Slig only has availabilty the first night. I'm still waiting to hear from Eilean Iarmin.

But, it does seem like a central stay may be more convenient. Sheila, or others, what do you love baout staying in Sleat?

sheila

On the basis of your Oban answer, I'd go south from Inverary after my meander round Loch Lomond, to Lochgilphead and then I'd sty in the Kilmartin Inn or the Cuilfail Hotel at Kilmelford, both south of Oban. You can stop for a bit in the town on your way north next day.

I don't really like Sleat particularly, other than the view over to the Cuiilins from the road that..... you know, the one we all described on another thread. But I'd go to the Eilean Iarmain just to stay there.

It would be an awful faff just to move a few miles for one night.

FlyFish

>The Viewfiield can be a bit Fawlty Towers, according to my brother.<

Hah! What a great characterization - Hugh did have a bit of a "Basil Fawlty" persona about him when we were there, and the wait staff in the dining room were a bit "Manuel-ish" at times. All in good fun, though, and didn't detract from the experience at all.

SB_Travlr

Hi Misha
We will be in Skye for a couple of days in September, and really went back and forth about where to stay. In the end, we decided to splurge a bit and booked the Eilean Iarmain. I tried their website and email to enquire, but there were some errors on their website and I got no response. In the end, I called them (from the US) -- a room was available, and I reserved it on the spot.

Once we decided to go for "Country House" type hotel rather than B&B, we also considered Toravaig (looks very nice) and Greshornish House. We were heavily influenced by Sheila in our choice of Eilean Iarmian, ;-) and looking forward to it. I would have preferred maybe Portree or Broadford (more central), but never got a response to emails sent there.