scotland trip
 

I will be in Scotland for three weeks + four days starting June 25. I have the first week planned between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The last week I a renting a cottage near Ulapool, and plan to visit Inverewe Gardens as a day trip from there. I have been struggling with how to map out the week in the middle. I will be picking up a car at the Edinburgh airport. I definitely want to visit the Trossachs, Fort William train ride to Mallaig and Isle of Skye. I am also interested in St. Andrews. I welcome any suggestions as to sequence and length of stay to visit these places on my way up north. Thank you

OK - w/ a week you could squeeze in that much but I'd need a bit more info. Is your arrival in Ullapool at the end of this week? And where do the extra 4 days fit in?

The train trip is a bit of an issue (but certainly doable) since you'd have to take it both ways to get back to your car. I <i>might</i> consider taking the train as a day trip from Glasgow. You could take the train to Mallaig and the next one back and be back in Glasgow in the early evening.

Trish, you are so fortunate! That's about my favorite part of the world to be in, having lived in Helensburgh for a few years. We returned recently, and went back to some of our old haunts in some of the quieter stops between Glasgow and Edinburgh, north of the Trossachs.

We stayed for a couple nights at a very nice B&amp;B in Killin, and used it as a launching point for exploring that area. (good food at the Killin Hotel, too!)

You should also include Blair Atholl, Pitlochry, and Callander in your plans. You didn't mention it, but Perth is a nice city, and worth a visit to see Scone Palace.

I'm not too sure about your sequence of travel, but all the above sites can be done on a cross-country week heading toward Ullapool from Edinburgh, or from Glasgow heading toward Inverness (and then to Ullapool in a roundabout way).

Cheers! (there are many distilleries of fine single malts along the way, too, so take time for some of those visits, too)

Were it me, (and I'm assuming you have 9 days for this), I'd take a two days and an overnight in the East Neuk of Fife, drive west to Aberfoyle, early evening of the second day, and &quot;do&quot; in time to drive to somewhere like Ballachulish. Unless you get someone to take the car to Mallaig for you, you pretty much have to take the train from Fort William and back. You're back in Fort William by 4pm so yo should drive north and stay the night in Glenelg. Get the little ferry over to Skye and spend two days there, then on the second day, cath the 6pm boat to Lochmaddy, spend the next day in the Uists, catch the 4pm boat from Berneray to Harris, overnight in Harris, see a bit of Harris and Lewis the next day and get the evening boat from Stornoway to Ullapool.

If that catches your fancy, check the actual days for the ferry timetables since they vary from day to day. Especially note, you can't get off Lewis on a Sunday.

The week I am referring to is from Monday thru Saturday pm when the rental starts (near Ullapool). We then have three days to return to Glasgow airport.
I have not been able to find East Neuk of Fife on my map, could you give another reference?
Thanks for your help!

East Neuk isn't a town -- it is the entire eastern bit of Fife -- the Fishing villages, St Andrews, Falkland, etc . . . .

OK - now e know you have 6 days to get to Ullapool and then 3 days back to GLA.

How many days will you be in Glasgow during your first week? If long enough, I'd still consider doing the train ride as a day trip from Glasgow. Could not be easier. But doing it either on the week up or the 3 days back would also work.

W/ just 6 days you could go from Edinburgh to Fife and stay in one of the fishing villages (Crail or Anstruther maybe) Mon/Tues nights to explore all around.

Then west to near Aberfoyle/Callander for Wed/Thurs nights to explore Stirling, the Torssachs, Loch Lomond, etc.

You <i>could</i> do the train on Friday and then Friday afternoon/evening drive up north a bit (Invergarry or near Inverness. It will be daylight until about 11 p.m. - no worries about driving in the dark)

Sat afternoon arrive in Ullapool.

The for your 3 days back south from Ullapool go down towards Plockton. From there and over to Skye for Sat night, maybe Sunday night too. And from there you'd have a day/night to get to GLA which is easy.

Typos - sheesh :)

Trossachs . . . . .

Thanks janisj, I like your ideas. We only have two days in Glasgow. Here's my latest thought. Take your suggestion and drive to the Fife area and spend the night. Especially since it will be my first day driving on the other side of the road, it will be nice to have a short trip. Then drive through Perth to the Pitlochry area and spend the night there. Day three we will drive to Ft William and do our own driving to Mallaig and on to Isle of Skye and spend two nights there. Day five drive along Loch Ness and spend the night near Inverness. Day six up to Ullapool.
On our return, drive east of Inverness along the coast and spend one night somewhere near Keith. Next day go to Balmoral Castle, then on to someplace near Aberfoyle. Spend two nights there exploring the area, then on to Glasgow airport and maybe even a hotel right near the airport for our last night. It makes it so much easier to plan all this with your help, so I'm still interested in your opinions for our trip. Thanks again for your time and interest.

OK - sounds like you are considering dropping the train and driving the route. The drive is also magnificent.

Taking off from your new ideas. Try to avoid multiple 1-night stops since you lose a lot of packing/unpacking/checking out/ checking in time.

Think about this routing:

-Mon/Tues in Fife
-Wed near Callander or a bit farther NW from there like near Crianlarich.
- Thurs/Fri on Skye
- Sat drive along the west coast up to Ullapool.
- Sat/Fri Ullapool
- Sat/Sun stay along the Dee (you will have had time to spend a day exploring some of the area near Inverness during your Ullapool week. So no need to stay overnight there) Or you could spend one night on the Dee and one near Pitlochry
- Monday A hotel on Loch Lomond or right at GLA.

You make a good point about staying in places more than one night.
What do you mean &quot;along the Dee&quot;?
Do you have any suggestions for where to stay on Skye?

The Dee is the river where Balmoral is. I only included it because you mentioned Keith and Balmoral. Deeside is a major tourist region w/ villages like Ballater and castles like Balmoral, Braemar, and Crathes

For Skye - I'd just contact the tourist information office when you are in Glasgow or Edinburgh and have them book you a place. Or you can google places on Skye and find all sorts of B&amp;Bs. If you want to be in a town - Portree is the only one on the Isle.

I don't know where you are on this, but one suggestion based on your own last route:-

&quot;Day five drive along Loch Ness and spend the night near Inverness&quot;

I'd go to Applecross, Gairloch or Poolewe instead.

Thank you for your suggestion Sheila. We were planning on exploring that area during the week we will be staying near Ullapool.

What is your advice for getting a good map for all this driving we'll be doing? Should I wait until I get there and buy one in Glasgow/Edinburgh? Do you recommend a certain one?

I'd wait to get a road atlas until you are in Scotland. They are available Stateside - but cost nearly 3 X as much. Every garage, news agent, book shop, gift shop etc will have them in stock. Most of the time you can buy one on special in a garage/petrol station for about &pound;4-5 - whereas at Borders/Barnes &amp; Noble they will be $20-$25

There are good ones by AA, A to Z, Michelin, and many other publishers.

What janisj is talking about is a book type atlas rather than a folding map. They are typically for the whole UK. They have much more detail than a folding map, making them invaluable on small roads and in small places! I usually also have a folding map of all Scotland to get the &quot;big picture&quot; - especially when I'm planning.

Good suggestion - Pick up a folding map of Scotland (or the whole country) before you leave home just to get the big picture. But do promise us -- you won't try to drive using just the folding map :)

Trust us -- not fun!