Hello all,
Looking to travel to Scotland with my husband May/June 2020. I would like recommendations on how to get from one place to the next. We are interested in traveling:

1.Edinburgh to
2. Inverness to
3. Fort William to
4. Mallaig to
4. Loch Lomond to
5. Glasgow

Very interested in taking the rail for the longer rides (particularly The Jacobite Steam Train and The West Highland Line). What other recommendations for getting to the other places? We are not against renting a car if that is the best way. Thank you!

Also, side question, would it be easy to get a taxi from Inverness to Dufftown? Very pricey?

OK - That isn't an itinerary -- it is a list. >>We are not against renting a car if that is the best way. <<. Train rides are fine but can be counter productive depending on where you are going. For instance the Jacobite is great -- but it is NOT general transportation. To take the Jacobite you need to stay one night in Ft William (which is basically a lost night). You have to take it out to Mallaig and then 90 minutes later get back on and travel back to Ft William -- an entire day spent out and back over the same route and entailing either the night before or the night after in Ft William

How long do you have for the whole trip? And why specifically Inverness, Mallaig, and Ft William? Then we can make useful advice.

>>Maybe go to Mallaig first and ride the train into Fort William? <<\

You need to do some research -- that simply is not possible/practical. Mallaig is way out at the end of the line so you;d have to drive out there, leave the car, take the train to Ft William, stay the night then take the train back to your car the next day . . . OR . . . drive to Mallaig and stay the night Then ride to Ft Willima and back the same day. Just not feasible.

OR . . . instead of riding the Jacobite - you could drive the very same route out to Mallaig seeing the train several times along the route INCLUDING CROSSING THE VIADUCT!! (which you can't do when sitting inside the train) then cross on the ferry over to Skye and stay a couple of nights.

What history in Ft William? It really isn't a very historic place.

Also- re Loch Ness . . . it is 'the famous one' because of Nessie but isn't even in the to 30 of scenic Scottish lochs (probably not in the top 40 or 50). As lochs go it is on the meh side. Same for Inverness - a lovey city to live in - lots of commerce etc. But as a nice place to visit on a limited time in Scotland - not so much.

Loch Ness monster was invented my the false media back in the 30 s to sell papers. You are more likely to find Nessie in Chicago than Scotland

As a confession (I'm a huge fan) and with absolutely no disrespect intended for the OP, I sometimes wonder about the influence wielded by the TV series Outlander on visitors to Scotland. (For those who aren't familiar with the tale, it's a lengthy story about an English woman who is on holiday with her husband in postwar Scotland. She walks up to some standing stones near Inverness and is whooshed back in time to 1743, where she is sucked into Jacobite Highland society, and goes through numerous adventures and falls in love, Culloden looming. Drama ensues.)

In the novels and series, both Inverness and Fort William play key roles. Inverness uses the lovely Fife town of Falkland as its TV stand-in and Fort William is depicted as home to a massive castle/prison, with Blackness Castle near Edinburgh as its CGI source. And the Skye Boat Song has been adapted as the series' theme music, even though the series never touches Skye.

"Fort William" in Outlander



and "Inverness"



Sadly, the reality is that neither Fort William nor Inverness look anything like their TV equals, even taking into account 250 years of change since the '45. Both are fine enough places to get a Big Mac or fill the car's tank, and both are extremely important central places to their regions - commercial, medical, educational, transport hubs and all that. They're also both very close to some terrific scenery (Fort William more than Inverness IMO) but as stand-alone destinations, well... meh.

For the OP, I think a car is going to be your best choice, and if you want to ride the Jacobite (as opposed to seeing it from the outside, as they're mutually exclusive) then you can take a full day to do so - leave the car in Fort William and return to it that night. You could stay someplace near Fort William, such as Glen Coe, or perhaps Glenfinnan (which the train transits) - in June there will be copious daylight.

With a car you could do a simple loop like this - https://goo.gl/maps/ibHVB8jvkGNgKHzG8 which includes the Fife coast, St. Andrews, Dunnotar Castle and the Spey whisky country, followed by Inverness, Fort William, Glen Coe and Loch Lomond, perhaps with a day trip on the Jacobite from Fort William out to Mallaig and back.

Or you could include a day or two on Skye, like this - https://goo.gl/maps/E7SmeZnZSDb4KonK8

Google the places on the maps or use Undisovered Scotland, a terrific all-in resource for visiting the north. https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/

If the weather turns bad then you just get on with what you were planning to do unless it is snowing/foggy/blowing a gale and your aim is to bag a Monroe in sandals.

The Jacobite is 43 GBP return, 65 if you go 1st class. It needs booking a long time in advance and is always packed. You could pay for a oneway and get a normal train back. save money by booking that well in advance too.

We struggled with a similar itinerary (for May 2020). We have decided to take the train from Glasgow to Fort William. Stay 2 nights in Fort William with the steam train to Mallaig on our full day. Given that these are the first 2 days of our trip and we will be jet lagged we aren't too concerned about not doing very much (and are happy to not be driving). We will then take the bus to Inverness to pick up our rental car for the rest of our trip, followed by the train from Inverness back to Glasgow.

Jackie44: Just do understand that for the best part of two FULL days you will be sitting on trains and even with the lovely scenery that will be a loooooong boring / nap filled / confining slog for a lot of those two days. AND wasting two nights in Ft William on top of it.

OBrusov, we took the Jacobite on our first trip to Scotland 12 years ago and it was totally worth it for this family of HP fans. It wasn't rainy but it was FREEZING (we were there in late May and it was so cold and windy we could hardly walk around Mallaig during the "layover").

Loch Ness has Urquhart Castle, which we enjoyed quite a bit. We did not stay in or near Inverness so can't comment on that (we did Loch Ness as a day trip from Skye because the kids wanted to go there). And seeing as how Scotland has some of the most beautiful scenery on earth, even a "meh" loch is pretty scenic.

Jackie44, janisj is absolutely the Scotland expert here, but I don't think your plan is horrible. The train to Ft. William won't take the entire day so you'll be able to stretch your legs a little once you get there. The train from Ft. William to Mallaig and back did take a full day, but it was a lot of fun. But I am wondering why the bus to Inverness. Have you considered picking up a car in Ft. William instead?

Re: renting a car in Fort William:
We couldn't find a reasonable rental that would allow for pick up in Fort William and drop off in Inverness. That would have been our preference. If you have the name of one, please let me know.

>>Have you considered picking up a car in Ft. William instead?<<

That s not an option.

I had totally missed the bus to Inverness and train back to Glasgow bit so now it is most of the day to Ft William on the train, all day out to Mallaig and back on the train, then a long slog to Inverness on the bus - THEN another long train ride from Inverness to Glasgow. How long will you have the car and are you ONLY going to and around inverness? Spell out your whole itinerary because I can't think of many plans where it makes any sense to drop the car in Inverness and take yet another train. Are you going to visit any other parts of Scotland other than Mallaig and Inverness???

First of all, OBrusov my sincere apologies for hijacking your post. It was never my intention; simply to commiserate with you on the difficulty in organizing transportation in that particular area and to share what we have chosen to do.

Secondly, janisj well actually, just see above. I was not looking for a critique of my own itinerary. It is a 15 day trip and we have researched it thoroughly and are satisfied with our choices. Also, this is not our first rodeo.

Happy travels everyone.