PageTX

Okay, this is my first time posting on here, I have read plenty of threads and the advice y'all have given other people has been so helpful in planning/refining potential itineraries for this trip.
So, I am planning on going for 17 days to Scotland and London in September. I am torn between two different itineraries and could use help figuring out which would be the best route, any comments or ideas too would be greatly appreciated!

Original Plan:
Day 1 Leave TX for Edinburgh (full travel day)
Day 2 Land in Edinburgh
Day 3 Full day in Edinburgh
Day 4 Full day in Edinburgh
Day 5 Full day in Edinburgh
Day 6 (travel day)Go to airport/get rental car, drive to Stirling to see Castle/ Argyll's Lodging, maybe Wallace Monument; drive to Glencoe village- stay there
Day 7 Full day in Glencoe- hiking
Day 8 (travel day) Drive to Elgol- do boat tour of Loch Coruisk, stay the night in Kyleakin
Day 9 Drive to Staffin- stop and see Kilt Rock & Mealt Falls on the way, do fossil walk later; stay the night in Staffin
Day 10 Hiking on Skye- Old Man of Storr
Day 11 Drive to Glencoe to stay the night- Are the fairy pools worth stopping on the way out of Skye?
Day 12 Drive to Glasgow- drop rental car/fly to London
Day 13 London
Day 14 London
Day 15 London
Day 16 Fly back
Day 17 Land

or

The Extra Day in London Itinerary
The itinerary is the same up until...(basically condensing schedule & knocking off a day in Edinburgh)
Day 5 Pick up rental car drive to see Rosslyn Chapel, drive to Linlithgow Palace & finish drive to Stirling- stay the night
Day 6 See Stirling Castle then drive to Glencoe
Day 7 Short morning hike in Glencoe, then drive to Elgol to do the boat tour of Loch Coruisk- stay the night in Kyleakin
Day 8 Drive to Staffin
Day 9 Hike Old Man of Storr
Day 10 Drive to Glencoe
Day 11 Drive to Glasgow/fly to London
Day 12 London
Day 13 London
Day 14 London
Day 15 London
Day 16 Fly back
Day 17 Land

I tried to condense it a bit at the end, I know this is a lot to read. I fully appreciate any feedback. I have some ideas of where to stay in some of these places and some activites, but I am open to suggestions! I am planning on staying 1.5 miles outside the center of the city in edinburgh, would it be reasonable to plan on walking into the center to do things instead of getting a cab? I am 28, in good shape and plan on travelling with a friend.

janisj

I don't have time just now to comment in detail . . . will be back later today. But just one question for now -- Why stopping/staying in Glencoe both directions?

PalenQ

Day 12 Drive to Glasgow- drop rental car/fly to London>

could also take the Caledonian Sleeper overnight train (ex Sat night I believe) to London Euston from Glasgow or Edinburgh or several other Scottish cities - saves time even over flying and the cost of a night in a hotel.

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/sleeper

PageTX

janisj...I wanted to see Glencoe, every picture I have seen of it looks amazing. I am not sure how hiking there would be though, but that is why I was planning on stopping the first time. The second time, I did not want to make the drive from Skye to Glasgow in one day and had no clue where to stop on the way. If it is a feasible one day drive I would totally do it and if not any ideas on better places to stay would be great!

PalenQ I will look into taking the sleeper train, I was worried about cost since flights are so much cheaper. I had not factored in another night of hotel though with the cost of the flight, gas to Glasgow, ect.

Thanks for your help so far!

PalenQ

Page - depending on the type of on-board accommodation you want the Caledonian Sleepers have some super duper offers but I'd at least get a private room like I had with breakfast served in the room. Se what cheap ticket they may have.

PalenQ

BTW - with janis you have one of Fodor's top TOP experts on Britain and Scotland - have your questions ready!

PageTX

PalenQ- I think a private room would definitely be better, I did not know you could have breakfast served to your room! Clearly I did not look into that enough. You have me thinking maybe I could return my rental car in Inverness and catch the Caledonian Sleepers from there. It would make it so much easier!
I will definitely get my questions ready!!

sfmurphys

Good news - you will not lose a day on your return flight. You will depart London and arrive home on the same day, so you actually have an extra full day.

PageTX

sfmurphys- That is the best news! I cannot believe that I missed that. I feel like I am probably going to end up adjusting my itinerary more than I thought I would!I am really excited about having an extra day.

PalenQ

, I did not know you could have breakfast served to your room>

Well I did have it served in my room but I had a first-class sleeper - not sure about private standard class ones.

TravellingScotland

Hi there,

For your first itinerary.....3 days in Edinburgh is good to start with. No need for taxis in Edinburgh, almost certain to be a regular bus passing your way. Rosslyn Chapel is also on the Edinburgh bus route. Linlithgow Palace also reachable easily by train from the centre if you choose that too. Personally I would think only one of those two would be do-able given how much there is to do in Edinburgh itself.

Glencoe via Stirling is a good shout. The Castle is for most a better attraction than the Monument and takes 2-3 hours at least to fully appreciate so you may feel that you don't have a lot of time left over for both.

Climbing in Glencoe is excellent, as it is on Skye. No shortage of things to do there and you have some ideas already clearly but would say yes to the fairy pools too.

For the return journey I'd look to stop at Oban, Loch Fyne or Loch Awe for a bit of variety after already seeing Glencoe. It is a long journey back so I would agree that an overnight stop at one of these 3 would be a good idea. Oban fills up really quickly even in September so would book well in advance. Lochs Awe and Fyne are absolutely beautiful and will be very colourful that time of year. After that it's back to Glasgow via Loch Lomond, which is not bad either

Hope this helps! Neil

Gordon_R

Re Glencoe: actually there is some logic in swinging past there twice - the weather! I've been through Glencoe several times in the past few years and have only once seen it when it's been clear and not low cloud/rain.

Re Caledonian Sleeper: realise that there are a couple of posters round here who recommend this train service with evangelical zeal at every possible opportunity. Yes, it has some plus points (and certainly a novelty value for those with no previous experience of overnight trains), but you also need to factor in the very real possibility you'll get no sleep due to the noise and movement of the train. The only toilets on board are at the end of the corridors and there is no shower - for that you'll have to use a public toilet at your destination station. I used it once and arrived feeling tired, grubby and in need of a nice comfortable hotel room.

PalenQ

night train efficacy depends on how well you can sleep - most I know find it no problem but folks like Gordon R gtake obviously one overnight train and then call it the ride from Hell, which to him/her it was - but many folks do find them very nice - I've had many hotel rooms that were noisier than night trains.

janisj

>>actually there is some logic in swinging past there twice - the weather! I've been through Glencoe several times in the past few years and have only once seen it when it's been clear and not low cloud/rain. <<

Ah - but then Gordon_R . . . that applies to <u>everywhere</u> in Scotland. That logic would have everyone retracing their route to hit every place at leas twice

I think I visited Skye 3 times before I ever could see anything but the road in front of me and some water through the mist and rain -- but my goodness that third trip was GLORIOUS!

Mimar

There are two main ways to Skye, the bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh and the ferry from Mallaig to Armadale. (I'm ignoring some smaller ferry routes.) The bridge route goes past Eilean Donan, a romantic castle, and near the nice little town of Plockton. The Mallaig route is the famous Road to the Isles; good stops are Glenfinnan, where Bonnie Prince Charlie landed, and its church, assorted beaches, the Glenfinnan railway viaduct, seen in the Harry Potter movies.

So I'd take one one route going and the other route coming back.

Gardyloo

I think one thing to consider is shortening hours of daylight as the month progresses. Driving on Highland roads in the rain is one thing; driving them in the rain and gloaming is another.

For that reason I'd consider moving the Highland and Skye portions of your trip to as close to the beginning as possible consistent with not being a jet-lagged hazard on the road. You might land in Edinburgh but just spend one (or at most two) nights there before taking off into the Highlands.

To keep the driving to a minimum while you're FOP (fresh off the plane) I'd do a clockwise route - Edinburgh - Glencoe - Skye - Great Glen - Edinburgh, something like this - http://goo.gl/maps/8QuhL

Head to Glencoe for two nights, then out the Road to the Isles and the Mallaig ferry to Skye. Three nights on Skye (or two and one back on the mainland) then back to Edinburgh via Spean Bridge and the A9/M90. If you want to use the car for an extra day to visit Stirling or Linlithgow (or IMO better, the East Neuk of Fife) then just stay somewhere near the airport - maybe Queensferry - where the car is less a hassle. Anyway, finally drop the car at the airport, take the tram (!) into the city, spend another couple of nights, then take the train to London (or fly if the numbers work better.)

The idea about blocking time by nights rather than day activities is to allow you to alter things if the weather turns foul. If your "climbing" day at Glencoe isn't on, then do a day's drive down to Oban, through (amazing) Kilmartin Glen, back up along Loch Fyne to Inverary, then back to Glencoe. Or if the weather's uncooperative on Skye, go see if you can see the Black Cuillins, or go look at how the other half lives at Dunvegan Castle. Or go see the palm trees (!) at Plockton and re-live old <i>Hamish Macbeth</i> episodes.

Just personal opinion; Glencoe is impressive, but Glen Etive (at the top of the hill) is equal, and way less crowded.

Glencoe from the car/bus park - http://gardyloo.us/20130613_130Hs.jpg

Ten minutes up the hill, at the mouth of Glen Etive (also the edge of the Rannoch Moor) looking toward Glencoe - http://gardyloo.us/20130613_71Hs.jpg

PageTX

I was out of town and did not have a chance to re-do my itinerary or come back on to comment. I will try to get a new/more in depth itinerary to present to you all. Thanks so much for the comments.

Per the train, I was loving the idea, but the thought of having to leave my room frequently at night to use the restroom down the hall isn't my favorite idea. Do any of the rooms have restrooms? If not then I will stick with flying. I think I would be okay with the noise, I tend to travel with ear plugs anyways.

I had not thought about a back up plan for the hiking times or about how much daylight I would have. Gardyloo...thank you for the route map.

Okay, so I will try to keep all this in mind as I work on a new layout... keep in the fairy pools, look into taking the ferry from Skye (I had planned on using the bridge 2x), maybe stay somewhere other than Glencoe if driving to Glasgow to fly, hike Glen Etive. And Mimar thank you for the suggestions on what to see on the way to Skye.

I am somewhat interested in Oban, at least for it being near Mull since my great grandmother was a McClane. I did not think I had enough time to include that in this trip though, despite her being Scottish making me want to see the country.

janisj

OK -- to throw a spanner in the works . . . Since you are reconsidering some parts of your itinerary anyway . . .

Have you al all considered substituting Mull for Skye? It is a lovely island and then there is Iona and Staffa. Skye is wonderful of course -- but so is Mull and w/ the family connection - - - just another option.

(I LOVE Skye, and love <B>LOVE</B> Mull . . . But that is partly because all 3 times I've been to Mull the weather has been fantastic. Half of my visits to Skye have had dreadful weather. It could easily have been just the opposite - but more of my personal memories of Mull have been better because of the luck of the draw)

PageTX

I have, I don't want to be rushing and travelling at a break neck speed to where I don't enjoy the trip or miss things I could have by slowing down. When did you go to Skye, and when did you go to Mull? Time of year? The dramatic scenery was my draw for Skye, I wanted to see some of the scenery of the highlands. How much time would you recommend for Mull? Would there be anyway to do both or is it best just to do one?

I am currently trying to re-plan things.

janisj

>>When did you go to Skye, and when did you go to Mull? Time of year?<<

Time of year really doesn't matter - unfortunately. I've been on Skye in June when rain was blowing sideways and it was <B><blue>COLD</B></blue> and you couldn't see Kilt Rock standing at the overlook, and in June when it was absolutely gorgeous and you could see 100 miles. (Same w/ Glencoe BTW). I was just lucky that the 3 times I've stayed on Mull were fabulous. Could have been awful - and probably was, a week later.

You really don't have time for both IMO. I just threw Mull into the mix as another option because of your family roots.

Skye is really amazing - but like I said up thread -- I had to visit 3 times before I saw a darn thing

But - that is just the way it is in Scotland. Hopefully you have nice weather whilel you are there.