We'll be in Scotland for two weeks: 21 Aug. to 5 Sept. My husband will golf whenever he can. Otherwise, we'll be sightseeing together. We're just beginning our planning, but have already booked some hotels/B&Bs:

Day 1-3 Edinburgh
Day 4 not yet booked
Day 5-8 Nairn (our base for the Highlands)
Day 9-11 St. Andrews (golf,sightseeing)
Day 12-15 not yet booked
Day 16 fly home from Glasgow 8AM flight!

Where can we fit in a visit to Isle of Skye? Should we shorten our Nairn stay to fit in Skye after Edinburgh? Also, if we take the scenic train from Edinburgh, where and when best to rent a car -- Fort William? Would we need a car on Skye? Other places we're considering after St. Andrews: Iona/Mull, Stirling, Glasgow. (Would prefer to drop off the rental car before Glasgow.)

I've bought several guidebooks and am researching visitscotland.com, undiscoveredscotland.com and fodors.com, and other websites. Because Scotland sounds overwhelming beautiful and bountiful for travellers, I'm having a difficult time planning an itinerary that doesn't try to cram everything in one trip! Any thoughts/advice/suggestions would be very much appreciated.

why not try the island of islay rather than mull /iona. it has a great golf course at machrie

When you're in Edinburgh, eat at The Witcher - about a block from the Edinburgh Castle. Wonderful! Also enjoyed the Scotch Whisky Tour which is in the same block.

We took the train to Mallaig, then ferry to Armadale. We rented a car from a firm in Kyle, who picked us up at Armadale. We kept the car for 3 days on Skye (you DO need a car there) then dropped it off at Kyle and continued onward via train.

Hi AnnieKath. Good itinerary.

If it were me, I'd go to Blairgowrie on your 4 th day. Rosemount, just outside Blair, is one of our better courses and it's a nice base for places like Glamis Castle, Perth, Glen Shee, Scone Palace

Nairn Is a bit east for the Highlands proper but it does have the advantage of not one but 2 championship golf courses And you could easily cross the Moray Firth and see the Black Isle.

You could quite easily add a day to Nairn and do a long day trip to Skye. It's only about 1 1/2 hours' drive (well, 2, maybe). It's a lovely drive, too.

I second the suggestion of Islay, although there's an interesting course on Colonsay as well.

You are jinking about a bit. Nothing wrong with that, but if you want more input you might tell us which bits are cast in tablets of stone because we might be able to reorder stuff for you a little

I think the name of the restaurant in Edinburgh is The Witchery, not Witcher, sorry.

I agree w/ Sheila that you are to-ing and fro-ing a bit. from the way you word your message, it appears the only open days are 4 and 12-15. if so you are traversing back and forth up and back a lot.

Edinburgh, north to Nairn, south to St Andrews, west to Skye, south to Glasgow.

Can you adjust your dates/order of things? If so, you could work out a more efficient route, see all the same things and quite a bit more.

Just as one example: Edinburgh > St Andrews (which is a very short drive) > Nairn > Skye > Stirling/Loch Lomond area > Glasgow. This is a loop that covers more territory but with a lot less back tracking.

Thanks for all your ideas! I appreciate it.