Hello all! It's more than a year yet to my trip to Scotland - planning it for September 2009 - but we all know the planning is half the fun!

I've been reading hundreds of pages of your trip reports, questions, advice, musings, and am already so grateful to everyone.

I have just started putting together the outline for our trip. Your thoughts on it are much appreciated. Nothing is at all set in stone. This is just a shell which I know will undergo much change. I have tried not to put too much into any one day but I know my eagerness to see everything can sometimes blind me to reality, so if some day is too much please let me know (as I know you will!). I also am still fuzzy on whether the route is reasonable, especially toward the end.

Also, I'm curious whether people believe this could be done via public transportation. I will drive if that's best, but my one prior left-side-of-the-road experience was hairy at best!

I'm starting with this - note also that the number of days is still undecided but I went with 17 for now:

Day 1: Arrive Edinburgh in a.m.; afternoon Edinburgh
Day 2: Edinburgh
Day 3: Leave Ed.; Visit Stirling Castle; Perth/ Meigle pictish stones/ Scone Castle; end in Grampians somewhere
Day 4: Grampian castles (how many is too many to see in one day? Which are best? Right now looking at Dunnottar, Fraser, Kildrummy, possibly Balvenie, Fyvie)
Day 5: Highland games - trying to figure out how to arrange schedule to see either Blairgowrie or Pitlochry games
Day 6: Last bits of Grampian castles; drive to Inverness area
Day 7: Inverness / Loch Ness area
Day 8: Through Glen Affric; Ullapool; ferry late in day to Stornoway on Isle of Lewis
Day 9: Lewis: Callanish Stones, Dun Carloway; late day ferry to Skye
Day 10: Skye
Day 11: early morning ferry to Mallaig; Glencoe, Ben Nevis, Loch Linnhe; end of day ferry to Mull
Day 12: Mull
Day 13: Ferry to Oban; Kilmartin Glen; Inverary, Trossachs
Day 14: To border Abbeys
Day 15: Border Abbeys; return to Glasgow
Day 16: Glasgow
Day 17: Fly home

Again, this is completely fluid - all comments welcome and desired! Thanks much!

Just a few comments to get you started:

- That is one HECK of a lot of travel so if you can squeeze in another day or two it would help.

- You would have to hire a car since much of your route would be impossible by public transport.

- Make sure your plan doesn't have you hitting Lewis/Harris on a Sunday since they take the Sabbath very seriously and just about everything shuts down.

Now - about your castles - - Your list covers from Dunnottar on the far east coast to Balvenie up in Dufftown and a LOT of territory in between. I personally would not plan a route to Dunnottar starting up through Perth and on north from there. My favorites would be Dunnottar, Crathes, Cragievar, Huntly and Balvenie. Fraser, Fyvie, Kildrummy and others are great too - but maybe just one step down.

Maybe consider:

- Edinburgh, 3 days

- up the east coast. Dunnottar, Crathes, Craigievar. 1.5 days

-Then Huntly and on to Dufftown/Balvenie. 1.5 days

- Over to the west coast (<i>possibly</i> out to the Hebrides). 3 days

- Then Skye. 2 days

- Mull 2 days

- Then Glen Coe, the Trossachs, Stirling. 2 days

- Then Glasgow and home.

Possibly cut out Mull (though it is one of my VERY favorite places) and add those 2 days to other legs of the itinerary.

Hmmmmm.... I really don't want to cut out the Border Abbeys (considering I may have a friend to visit there too), so looks like I need to do some re-working ....

Good thoughts, thanks!

I've got it! I'll quit work and just travel!! LoL I wish! Okay, on to plan b...

I have enjoyed vacations where I spent most of my time on a train or a ferry, watching lovely scenery out the window, and I enjoy contant-motion driving vacations through lovely countryside, but I have to say that in my all too brief journeys in Scotland, what I enjoyed most there was walking in the Highlands, and -- because the weather is so dynamic -- lingering in a place to watch the view transform over lake or sea or heather, as the clouds and sun and mist moved across them.

I really wouldn't want to barrel through the isles and the highlands like you are planning, and I consider myself a restless traveler (although not much of a sightseer).

No doubt I missed a great deal of Scotland by staying on Skye for a week. But I was never bored. And I had a car. And I only saw half of Skye!

If you've got close to 20 days, I'd spend at least 4 of them in just one lovely place, get off the wheels and out of your seat, and take some long walks, in the morning, in the afternoon, and sit down on a rock once in a while and take in the view.

Yikes - reading through your list I <u>totally</u> missed the Borders day.

That makes your plan even MORE hecka travel

I really REALLY love the Borders and yes, you should try to squeeze them in. But that makes the time out on the islands even harder to work in.

Of course it is better to stay a week at a time in one place - and my typical trip to Scotland is 3 to 4 weeks w/ two weeks in two base locations and the rest moving around every 2 or 3 days.

One thing to factor in - on most of your itinerary you are talking about 30 mph give or take. And maybe even slower since you won't have a sidekick to navigate for you.

So - as hard as it seems - I would drop the outer Hebrides. They are absolutely wonderful - but so is every other part of your route.

17 days =

• 2 full day in Edinburgh
• 2 days in the Borders (you could hit the main Abbeys in one day but there is so much more - like Traquair House, Abbotsford, St Abbs Head and lots more)
• 2 days on the NE coast and Aberdeenshire for the &quot;Castle trail&quot;
• 3 days in the North (Invernesshire and the west coast)
• 2 days on Skye
• 1.5 days on Mull (inc. Iona and Staffa)
• 2.5 days in the Trossachs (also inc. glencoe, Stirling, Loch Lomond)
• 2 days Glasgow and packing for home

Then if you can manage any add'l days - DON'T add more destinations - add time to Edinburgh and/or Skye, and/or Mull.

This plan means you really only have 2 or 3 really long driving days and the rest are pretty easy.

That sounds like a really good shell to start from - thanks!! I'll see if I can work with that.

I know I could regret moving every two days, so I need to think that over. It is definitely nice to have a base to come &quot;home&quot; to.

I will have two others with me - no idea yet whether they'll be willing to drive!

Off I go to think .....

There are some wonderful old houses in the Borders. Mellerstain and Floors Castle come to mind. Both are near Kelso and , to my mind are much better to visit than yet another ruined abbey. Both can be accessed by Googling them. Manderston house is another great place. It is near Duns on the East side and is the only house in the world with a silver staircase.

I would recommend at least two full days in Edinburgh.

And we &quot;did&quot; the Isle of Skye in one very long day. Really all we got a chance to do is drive through and stop for photos. I was really jealous of other that were out for a hike and had more time.

Just want to add this link to my thread for anyone else who might be looking in the future for dates of Scottish Highland Games:

http://www.albagames.co.uk/Highland_games2000.htm#Games

or if that link doesn't work, the home page:

http://www.albagames.co.uk/

To get yourself into the mood, put the following into your Google search box:
YouTube-Highland
Cathedral,tigeranger
Click on the first box.
If it doesn't bring a lump to your throat, you are emotionally dead

Hi Suspire,

Have fun plannnig! Keep in mind that there are thousands of B&amp;Bs everywhere, so you don't have to plan exactly where you are staying every night of the trip before you go.

I can address the Lewis/Skye portion, having just got back from there. I concur with everybody else who is trying to get you to slow down and spend more nights at each place. No matter how nice the scenery is, if you are pressed for time, exhausted and starving, it just isn't fun. I think Lewis is too big and interesting for just a day trip, so if you can fit one overnight on Lewis; add the Arnol Blackhouse to your itinerary; it's on the same loop road as the Stones and Dun Carloway. OR: I'd nix Lewis completely to spend more time on Skye; it's gorgeous and very big; it deserves at least 2 overnights.

I am biased but an idea would be to base yourself in Stirling for a few nights and from there you could cover Edinburgh, Perth, Pitlochry on a day trip basis either by train or car.

This could be less hastle than having to find new accommodation each day.

Enjoy your trip.
www.kilronan.co.uk

haha! Suspire, you travel like we do! Because we don't manage to go overseas very often, we cram as much in as we can. I absolutely LOVE Scotland and I think the places you want to go to are great.

I must say though, that I agree with the posters who have encouraged you to spend more time around Edinburgh / Sterling. If you are interested in history - which we are - we found it very useful to stay just outside Edinburgh for a week as there is an enormous amount to see and do around there. It is also very beautiful.

I'll tell you what we did in 6 days around that area. We hired a car and stayed at Kilconquhar Estate and Country Club in Fife and this enabled us to do day trips without having to move base every few days. We loved every minute. This is what we did while we were there:

Day 1: St Andrews Cathedral ruins and museum. St Andrews Palace ruins.

Day 2: Glamis Castle, the Angus Folk Museum, the Meigle Museum (full of wonderful Pictish Stones), and Scone Palace. Scone palace is really something and it is home to the Stone of Scone - the crowning place of the Scottish Kings. A funny thing happened to us there. A very well dressed lady came up to us and had a long chat. It turned out she was the Countess of Mansfield (Scone Palace belongs to her). A few months later a friend sent me the brochure for Scone Palace and it contains a picture of us, with her, in it! LOL

Day 3: Edinburgh Castle, St Giles Cathedral, Gladstone's Land, Palace of Holyrood House, and the Scottish national Portrait gallery.

Day 4: Horse Riding around Kilconquhar. The scenery in this part of the world just takes your breath away.

Day 5: Blair Castle - the piper outside the castle played Scotland the Brave for me! Pass of Killiecrankie, the Queen's view at Loch Tummel, and Pitlochrie.

Day 6: Doune Castle, Stirling Castle, Argyll's House, Church of Holyrood, the Wallace Memorial, and Bannockburn Heritage Centre.

Have fun planning your trip!

Thank you all! I do need to remind myself there's no law against returning - if I don't get it all in on the first trip, I'll just &quot;have to&quot; go back!

I'm finding some great festivals and fairs, too, and want to find time to fit those in as well. I love things like that, that get me involved in the community and local flavor (literally and metaphorically!). I think the decision to drop the outer Hebrides is wise. One day I'll just come back and do an all-islands trip - Hebrides, and those others which I haven't been researching enough to have on the tip of my tongue yet ... Orkneys and Shetlands?

Still having a great time planning ... thanks again! I'll be back!

Dear Ozziez, a common mistake, however the town is Stirling, not Sterling.

suspire, I think you could do this trip without a car by using public transportation, small tour groups and a private guide/driver from time to time. A car would be better, but still manageable without. It would take much more research to figure it out

suspire, after 4 trips to Scotland, we are still hoping for an all-islands trip! It was going to be in June 2009, but now it looks like we might have to wait until 2010... and there are so many wonderful islands that we will never fit everything in!

That is one heck of a trip, i am not sure if you will be able to see everything in that time frame. I mean there is so much to see and do you may want to consider cutting back on the number of places and just concentrating on a few main ones.

Edinburgh, Stirling, Loch Ness and Glasgow would give you plenty of sights and scenray to enjoy for a trip.

If you are thinking of public transport then use http://www.travelinescotland.com and the journey planner for working out your route. But trains and buses are expensive and rarley on time so bare that in mind.

As for gathering information on Scotland, the official webiste is http://www.visitscotland.com, you can order broachures on various areas from there and also book accommodation (although they charge a few for that).

Some good independant websites are:

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk
http://www.hotelsininverness.net
http://www.roomsinscotland.com

Hopr you have a great trip and get some good weather!

Just on castles - we saw quite a few in a 3 week trip in 2006 and our favourites (in no particular order) were Cawdor, Glamis and Dunrobin castles.

To us a good castle is one which has many rooms open to the public - I always feel cheated if about 5 out of 100 rooms are open. And I can see how people lived in it.

As to how many is too many in one day - any more than 2 would be too many for me and donīt think we have ever done more than 1 but depends on how much time you have I guess.

fa2008 - great links, thanks much! I'll check those out. Eliza3 - thanks for your thoughts on castles. There are so many, it's hard to whittle them all down to a manageable number! I appreciate your insights.