Greetings fellow travelers! My husband and I will be in Scotland late August to mid September. We’ll see Edinburgh and Glasgow, then we’re doing the West Highland Way. We seem to be overwhelmed by choices regarding what to do next. The plan currently is to pick up a rental car in Inverness and spend the remainder of our trip (about a week) driving around, and we'll eventually need to get back to Edinburgh. For this trip, we’re drawn to places that are remote and beautiful, with opportunities for comfortable places to stay and really good food. The Albannach Inn in Lochinver is really yelling at me. If we go to that area, we’ll also check out Loch Assynt and Ardvreck Castle (I’m a McLeod). We’re intrigued by taking a ferry to an island, but I’m not sure if our time would be better spent in another area (Cairngorms?). It’s hard to tell from books and websites where we can go to get away from the hustle and bustle. I welcome any and all suggestions. Thanks!

I especially like the far north - Durness, Eriboll, Tongue... not a lot of tourist infrastructure but enough, and some marvelous, remote, spooky places.

Here's a wee trip report I did last year covering a very rapid re-visitation to the north: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...n-scotland.cfm

You don't say how long you will spend in Edinburgh plus Glasgow, but hopefully not fewer than 5 days total (even that will barely scrape the surface of these two amazing - and very different - cities). Then there's the West |Highland Way, which if you go all the way to Fort William will take you probably 6 or 7 days. SO I'm not sure you really have a week left for car touring.

Let's assume for now that you do have a full week left, starting in Fort William, and your interest is in wild, remote places away from crowds (me too). How about a bit of island hopping? I would pick up a car in Fort William, then drive to Skye via the "Road to the Isles" and the Mallaig ferry. Spend 2/3 nights on Skye, then take the CalMac ferry over to Harris/Lewis for a couple of nights. Then return to the mainland via the Stornoway to Ullapool ferry. From there take another couple of days to meander (via Loch Ewe and Inverewe Garden if time permits) back down to Edinburgh.

Gardyloo: Thanks so much. Your trip report is amazing and just what I had in mind.
Gordon: Thanks to you too. I'll definitely look into the islands. I was looking at hotel websites on Skye and saw that the first two weeks in September are considered high season, which cooled me to that idea. Do you happen to know what high season actually means there? Slightly more crowded than normal, or does everything get booked up? We're doing the WHW in 7 days, then we'll have about 6.5 days after that.

<Assuming the Fodor comment fascists don't cut this one>

Dunrobin Castle, Glenmorangie distillery - both north from Inverness. Nice drive up from I'ness. Cawdor Castle the (not quite) home of MacBeth is in the I'ness area, as are Culloden Battlefield (just google bonnie prince charlie) and the Clava Cairns.

>>Do you happen to know what high season actually means there? Slightly more crowded than normal, or does everything get booked up? <<

High season just means they charge summer rates. Skye never really gets all that crowded.

None of the places I suggested get remotely crowded...

Seriously, do look into some island hopping up the west coast (best bit of Scotland in my opinion, and, apart from Skye, often overlooked by many foreign visitors who never stray far beyond Fort William and Loch Ness). It's great fun - the CalMac ferries are part of the adventure and not expensive.