Itinerary Overview: (May 29 – June 14)
Flew in and out of Glasgow from Portland, Oregon
Days 1-3: Edinburgh
Days 4-5: Speyside
Days 6-8: Orkney
Days 9-11: Skye
Days 12-14: Islay
Days 15-16: Glasgow
Day 17: Departed GLA 10:15AM

Summary: This was our first trip to Scotland and it was a whirlwind. We wanted to see as much as possible, knowing we couldn’t see it all. We got a good taste (figuratively & literally) and certainly the fever to return – soon and often! We covered a lot of territory so weren’t able to stay in any one place for long and each stop deserved more time. I admit, our basic itinerary was designed around a list of distilleries that we wanted to visit – which we did: 7 tours (Balvenie, Aberlour, Highland Park, Talisker, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Bowmore) and 8 other visits/tastings (Strathsaila, Glenfarclas, Glenmorangie, Clynelish, Laphroig, Caol Ila, Bruichladdich, Auchentoshan). In retrospect, it’s amazing that we saw any other sites, considering we also managed to squeeze in 4 brewery tours (Black Isle, Orkney Brewery, Isle of Skye Brewery, Islay Brewery). The brewery tours were informal visits with the brewers being most gracious in offering their time and taking us through the facilities. My husband brought along some very special Oregon microbrews to share with them, and that seemed to be appreciated. In general we were happy with our accommodation choices and would stay at most places again. It was fast and furious…but no regrets. Spectacular weather certainly aided in the enjoyment. We fell in love with Scotland and look forward to many return visits.

EDINBURGH
Logistics:
• Arrived GLA 6:45 Friday AM, took taxi to Edinburgh and arrived around 9AM
• Stayed at the Lauriston Park B&B (easy walking distance to Castle and all Old Town sites)
• We pre-arranged to check into our room upon arrival (paid for previous night) and were able to shower, rest, and have breakfast before setting out for the day’s activities. This has always worked great for us on long international flights and was worth the extra charge this time too.

Highlights:
• The Castle! Wow…it rises up out of the rock like a living being.
• Sandy Bell’s Pub…great folk music!
• Weather was incredible…never expected to get sunburned in Edinburgh.
• Cadenhead’s Whisky on the Royal Mile…very knowledgeable and helpful staff. You can fill small personalized bottles as gifts (or as nice tasters to consume on your trip!)
• Haggis, neeps, & tatties – I liked it! I was told MACSWEEN is the best…

Lowlights:
• Getting lost trying to find/climb Arthur’s Seat. It didn’t sound difficult, but we managed to lose our way and found ourselves at a nice country park with a small duck pond and very tired feet. Many people were at that park intentionally; we just tried to blend in. Don’t even ask about trying to get a taxi…
• Royals who did not consult with us before making their visit to Holyrood Palace…eliminating our chance to walk the halls of history…at least on this trip. : (


SPEYSIDE - GRANTOWN ON SPEY
Logistics:
• Picked up Rental Car at the Edinburgh airport along with GPS that REALLY paid off. We named her “Mary Queen of Scots” (but you say it in a Monty Python way) and she never let us down, although she got a bit confused between Orkney and the mainland. Before long she got her bearings and caught up with us.
• Drove north and detoured through Fife to visit the lands of my ancestors, headed to East Neuk and up the coast via Anstruther, St. Andrews, Stonehaven (stopping too briefly at Dunnottar), and then cut West through the Grampians to Grantown-on-Spey.
• Stayed at Kinross House B&B in Grantown-on-Spey

Highlights:
• Stomping around my ancestral homelands (Cash Feus area) and looking for possible family graves in the Strathmiglo church burial ground (circa 16-1700’s). No luck, but it was fun. Great monkey puzzle tree.
• Falkland Palace
• Fish & Chips at the Anstruther Fish Bar
• Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits all around as we drove up into the Grampians…kind of magical…and we didn’t kill one! That took considerable skill on the part of my husband who was swerving to miss them. Made me think of Watership Down.
• My first Distillery Tour (Balvenie) - I was put to work tossing barley on the malting floor. Well done tour. Glad we did that one first because they thoroughly explained and demonstrated the entire whisky making process, from barley to cask.
• Nice dinner at the Ugie House Hotel in Keith – salmon
• The Craig Bar (Grantown-on-Spey) and owner, Robbie. Good pies AND entertainment - if you consider non-stop, colorful banter and insults by a slightly inebriated barkeep entertainment. We did, so it was great fun!
• Culloden – very moving and awe inspiring. Visitor Center is nicely done and well worth the time.
• Clava Cairns – our first taste of Neolithic Scotland…much more to come on this trip

Lowlights:
• Our only close-call driving was pulling out of the parking lot from the Culloden visitor center…we were distracted and looked the wrong way - almost deleted a motorcyclist. Fortunately, he was skilled and able to swerve and recover. It was a good reminder for us to get the proper mindset EACH time we got in the car. Very thankful we didn’t hurt anyone.

ORKNEY
Logistics:
• Drove through Inverness, across the Black Isle, and up the North East Coast of Scotland to Thurso/Scrabster.
• Took the 7PM North Link Ferry from Scrabster to Stromness – arrived Stromness at 8:30PM.
• We made all of our ferry arrangements online before we left – no hassle, no sweat. Very easy ferry terminal process…they know what they’re doing.
• Stayed at the Harbourside Guest House B&B in Stromness (across the street from the ferry terminal).

Highlights:
• On the drive North from Speyside, we lunched at the Royal Marine Hotel/Restaurant in Brora – very nice Cullen Skink.
• Ferry ride over to Stromness was beautiful – sun shining on Old Man of Hoy
• Orkney is a Neolithic wonderland – Skara Brae, Standing Stones of Stenness, Ring of Brodgar, Maeshowe (loved the Viking grafitti), Tomb of the Eagles – were all amazing.
• Other ancient sites that we enjoyed – Brough of Birsay, Brock of Gurness
• Kirkwall area – St. Magnus Cathedral (small center across the street shows a nice movie about the history of the cathedral), The Earl’s Palace (ruins), The Italian Chapel, Highland Park Distillery
• Orkney Brewery in Quoyloo (small brewery in the middle of pasture lands making world class beers)
• Hanging out in the pub listening to local musicians

Lowlights:
• Wish we planned time to stop and tour Dunrobin Castle near Brora on the North East Coast. It is beautiful…we only had time to walk around the grounds and down to the beach. This would be a nice area to spend some quiet R&R time…hmmm.


SKYE
Logistics:
• Left Stromness on the 9AM ferry for Scrabster. Arrived Scrabster 10:30AM and headed along the Northwest Coast to our first destination (Smoo Caves) on this long driving day. We ultimately arrived at our B&B on Skye about 8PM.
• Stayed at the Peinmore House by Portree. (Country-house feel, nice grounds, loved the sheep!)

Highlights:
• Picturesque driving along North East Coast and heading inland through the Highlands…lovely.
• Great early evening views of Eilean Donan castle …wedding party arriving as we left, so got to hear a piper for a bit.
• Short stop in Plockton (we are big Hamish MacBeth fans, so it was fun to see some of the sites)
• Stunning views everywhere on Skye: Black Cuillins, Red Cuillins, Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, Fairy Glen - rainbows every day
• Hiking up Old Man of Storr – this would be considered a walk for locals, but was a hike for us
• Hanging out at the Pier Hotel bar in Portree and dog-sitting for a nice local fellow. When said dog‘s tail knocked my glass off the table, her owner bought us a round. Turns out the fellow was born and had lived some time at the Peinmore house where we were staying. (The bar was recommended by the bar-tender at the Stromness Hotel as a fun, local hang-out. It was. Great fisherman stories to be heard and in a short time we were made to feel welcome among the local crowd in this tiny but lively establishment. )
• Dunvegan Castle – nothing creepier than that dungeon just off the lovely sitting room.
• Good laugh: Walking along rocky beaches looking for shells and seeing tons of periwinkles…then paying an enormous sum to eat those same periwinkles at the Three Chimney’s Restaurant the next day. Ha-ha on us!!

Lowlights:
• none


ISLAY
Logistics:
• Took the 8:50AM CalMac Ferry from Armadale to Mallaig. Arrived Mallaig 9:20AM and drove south via Glencoe and Oban to Kennacraig. Took 6PM CalMac Ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen, Islay. Arrived Port Ellen 8:20PM.
• Stayed at the Port Charlotte Hotel, Port Charlotte, Islay

Highlights:
• Glenfinnan Monument – gorgeous scenery! Standing at the monument I could almost picture the clans marching down the valleys to the meeting point…goosebumps. We also enjoyed viewing all the plants and mini-monuments representing individual clans. We were too early to climb the tower.
• Glencoe – “lost again” We decided to take the mile-or-so loop around the park grounds of the Visitor’s Center to see the supposed remains of one of the cottages. Never saw anything like that and ended up back in the parking lot. Oh well.
• Castle (aaaaaaaargh) Stalker – Just stopped for a quick peek and photo op (we’re Python fans too)
• Kilmartin Glen – we want more time here on another trip. Many, many ancient sites to explore
• Islay - Whisky heaven…Ardbeg has a great café for lunch even if you don’t do whisky. Lagavulin gave out nice tasting glasses with their tour. Enjoyed every distillery tour…this is clearly a family business on Islay (despite the mondo-corps that generally own multiple distilleries). I love hearing the stories from each distillery.
• Islay - Portnahaven – seafood dinner at “the” pub/restaurant in town. We drove by early afternoon and almost missed the place, but when we came back for dinner it was quite obvious that it was “the” place to be…people were sitting all around outside (beautiful evening) and we barely got a table inside. Very rustic and small pub, but the food was excellent and nicely presented. We sat near a couple and decided they must be speaking Gaelic…turns out they were Swedish. : )
• Islay - Walking the Strand Beach – beautiful, large, white sand beach.
• Islay – Talking with Paul, the brewer of Islay Brewery, at the Port Charlotte Hotel Bar and at the Brewery. Very nice fellow. Also got to meet Norma Munro who works at the Brewery and has a beautiful voice…ask for her CDs!
• Islay - Bowmore was a nice town – for a shorter stay like ours it would make a good centrally located base. We stopped in to see the interesting murals on the wall at the Bowmore Hotel. They were done by a local artist, but I can’t find much about them.
• Islay – other great places we visited: Finlaggan, Kildalton, Islay Woolen Mill, Bowmore Round Church

Lowlights:
• none


GLASGOW
Logistics:
• Took the 9:45AM CalMac Ferry from Port Ellen to Kennacraig. Arrived Kennacraig 12:05PM . Drove North Eastward via Inverary, up and over the Rest and Be Thankful, down Loch Lomond to GLA to return the car. Transferred by taxi to hotel.
• Stayed at the Kelvingrove Hotel, Glasgow (fantastic location and great value)

Highlights:
• Inverary – lunched at the George Hotel. I’d love to stay there some time.
• The drive around Lock Fyne was so picturesque; I’d also like to spend more time in this area.
• Mugdock Country Park (East Dunbartonshire) – stopped here to see my husband’s ancestral homelands. His paternal grandmother was a Graham (family emigrated from Scotland in 1800’s), so we wanted to visit the Mugdock Castle, the ancient seat of Clan Graham. Quite a nice park to walk through and I must say he looked right at home at the Castle door.
• Glasgow: met up with local Glaswegians (we have a mutual friend in Oregon who put us in touch) for an amazing city tour. He and his wife showed us around town, including a tour of the Glasgow School of Art (during the senior show, so there were exhibits on). He and our mutual friend are both graduates of the School of Art, so we got to hear many insider stories of their student days.
• Glasgow: other sites on our walking tour: University of Glasgow and museum, The Mackintosh House at the Hunterian Art Gallery, walked along the River Clyde, The Tenement House museum, lunch at Oran Mor, The Winter Gardens, walked down the main shopping district of Buchanan Street (bought Argyll socks at the House of Fraser…seemed appropriate).
• Wrapped up our last evening in Glasgow (and Scotland) with dinner at a great Indian restaurant walking distance from the hotel (Mother India) and then a night of local music in a pub. Perfect end to a wonderful day.

Lowlights:
• none

Lowlights: none. Great report, thanks for posting.

Makes me want to go back to Scotland. We loved Islay also, although we didn't make it to nearly as many distilleries as you did.

Wonderful! See, its never too late . . .

"<i>Mugdock Country Park (East Dunbartonshire) – stopped here to see my husband’s ancestral homelands. His paternal grandmother was a Graham (family emigrated from Scotland in 1800’s), so we wanted to visit the Mugdock Castle, the ancient seat of Clan Graham. Quite a nice park to walk through and I must say he looked right at home at the Castle door.</i>"

I about spit my tea all over my monitor when I read "Mugdock". May be a first here on Fodors - at least for several years. I'm a Graham too. My first visit to Mugdock was years and years ago, long before there was a country park. And before GPS. We found it just tramping through unmarked fields. It was in a terrible state w/ warning signs and overgrown brush. Been to the park a few times.

My Mom has a lovely water color of the castle . . . .

Thanks for this great report! I noticed you put Loch Fyne on your list of places to return to - we spent a week there in 2006 and just loved it. Until we can get back I will just have to enjoy other peoples' trip reports.

Thank you.

" The Castle! Wow…it rises up out of the rock like a living being. " Great line and so true!