noratravel

Thanks to all for your advice planning our trip. I'm good on the first part, with a week based in Edinburgh with two day trips (1 = Stirling by train; 2 = Rosslyn/Borders w/ Rabbie's). So now it's on to the next phase with a rental car.

So now I need some input on the next two days -- where to break the tour for two overnights and where to stay... Would love to stay two nights in one central location, but not sure this is feasible. And would like to throw in one distillery (Janisj - you suggested Glenfiddich for a good tour, though not p'haps the best whisky!. We'll hit Tallisker on Skye too. We're not big drinkers, but hey: it's Scotland!!!!!)

Here's what we're thinking now:

Check out of Edinburgh, pick up rental car (at airport?) >
Drummond Castle Gardens >
(Glamis?)
Dunnottar>
Drum>
Crathes>
Craigevar>
(Fraser?)>
(Glenfiddich Distillery?>
Culloden/Clava Cairns >

Next leg of trip will be down Loch Ness headed to Skye.

We won't do full tours, some may be photo ops or tea/lunch stops. (Or if you say TOO MUCH we'll start editing.)

Thanks all!

yodababe

Couple of things about the rental car. If you are planning to have it during your week in Edinburgh, know that the ongoing city tram work has the roads all kinds of messed up. I drove there and it was not fun at all. So if you can avoid having a car there and take public transportation instead, you will probably be happier for it (and it will save some money too!)

Also, you may want to have the rental car instead of taking the train. Trains are pretty expensive and you might save money by having the car instead of getting train tickets. It is worth checking out before you make any final purchases.

Taking the car from the airport avoids city traffic and that is a good thing.

If you are driving from Edinburgh to Inverness, a nice stop along the way is Blair Castle and the Blair Athol whiskey distillery. Dalwhinnie distillery is also along the way, as is Carrbridge with a good photo op of one of Scotland's famous arched stone bridges right as you enter town. There is a nice cafe with local produce there as well.

Culloden Moor is a good visit, the museum is quite expensive but very interesting. You really need a few hours to do it justice, and the gift shop is excellent. Note that you need to put Culloden Moor in your nav system because Culloden village is about 10 minutes away from the site.

Clava Cairns is only about 10 minutes past Culloden Moor down a single-track road, it is really worth the visit. That should take an hour tops, the site is small but impressive.

If you want to do a boat tour of Loch Ness, Jacobite Cruises leaving from the Clansmans Wharf about 1/3 of the way along will allow you to do one or two hour tours rather than the all day ones leaving from Inverness.

The little village of Drumnadrochit, a couple of miles past the wharf has a pub (Fiddler's) that has some of the best and rarest whiskies in Scotland available, they have stuff from distilleries that aren't even there anymore. And Fort Augustus (50 miles past Inverness down the loch) has a selection of excellent restaurants.

Hope that helps. Sounds like you have a great trip in the works!

noratravel

Thanks so much, Youdababe! No car in Edinburgh. Only after that part of the trip is over. We were only going to do Stirling by train while we were still based in E'burgh.

We are trying to balance out the cost of an add'l night in a B&B plus the car versus "free" overnight in Edinburgh plus the train.

Perhaps we could do Stirling in the morning and Drummond Castle Gardens, then an overnight somewhere closer to our mini-Castle tour?

But I'm really looking for suggestions for stop overs.

noratravel

Check out of Edinburgh, pick up rental car (at airport)
Drive to Drummond Castle Gardens;
Glamis
Dunnottar>
Drum>
Crathes>
Craigevar>
(Fraser?)>
(Glenfiddich Distillery?>
Culloden/Clava Cairns >

Next leg of trip will be down Loch Ness headed to Skye

noratravel

Oooops. Don't know how that posted itself, sorry!
So here's what I'm thinking.

Road trip
Check out of Edinburgh, pick up rental car (at airport)
Drive to Drummond Castle Gardens
On to Dunnottar via Glamis

Overnight: where? Can we make it to Glendavan House in Dinnet?

Next day:
Drive to Drum
Crathes
Craigevar
Overnight: Back to Glendavan House

Next day:
(Castle Fraser)
(Glenfiddich tour -- we can hit another distillery elsewhere if this takes us off route)
Culloden; Clava Cairns
Inverness (lunch?)
1 hr boat trip Loch Ness

We will then be headed to Skye. So the question is, do we want to stay overnight in Ft Augustus or Invermoriston (sp?)before driving on to Skye via Plockton?

janisj

Drummond Castle Garden is the odd man out in your list. It would be quite a detour before heading over to Glamis.

maybe consider a slight change - skip Stirling while staying in Edinburgh. It is an easy/cheap train ride but another option could've be: Edinburgh to Glamis to Dunnottar and into the castle trail. Staying anywhere along the Dee would be good. Glamis and Dunnottar that day and stay that night near Banchory or thereabouts on Deeside. The next day hit the other castles and then drive towards Inverness. Stay that night somewhere between Inverness and Nairn/Elgin.

Whether you visit glenfiddich is up to you - but one distillery is pretty much like the others so I might skip it and wait til Talisker.

Anyway - on your return trip from Skye toward Edinburgh at the end of your trip you can fit in the trossachs/Stirling/Drummond Castle.

Or, you could still do the day trip to Stirling by train from Edinburgh - but fit in Drummond while exploring the Trossachs/Killin/loch Earn etc enroute back from the west coast.

janisj

Didn't see your last post (the site locked up on me while I was posting)

There is no way you cold manage Drummond castle, Glamis and Dunnottar in one day. That could easily be five hours driving time plus at least 2 hours at Glamis, 2.5 hrs at Dunnottar and probably one hour or more at Drummond. Just too far and too much for one day. If you wanted to fit something else on the Glamis / Dunnottar day, then Edzell Castle lies between the two and also has a lovely garden.

indy_dad

I see that Glendaven House has really good reviews on TA. It was on our list but we opted for something more economical since we needed two rooms.

We stayed at Heugh Head Mill B&B. I'll get some more details on my TR in the next day or so. It was fine, if a little homey.

http://heughheadmill.co.uk/

Glendaven will be a little bit away from the majority of the restaurants along the A93, but that might not be such a big deal.

As you know, janisj knows Scotland -- she hasn't let us down.

noratravel

Janisj - I really like the idea of doing Stirling at the end of the trip! Great idea, thanks. Originally I was trying to fit in the Bannockburn re-enactment, so Stirling needed to at the start of the trip. But since you (and others!) have warned us about the potential for huge crowds, my travelling friend and I decided to skip that! So we'll miss the start of the uprising, and focus on the tragic end instead.

And it's all your fault Janisj that I've fallen love w/ Drummond Castle Gardens. You mentioned it as one of the best gardens, and I've had a travel crush on it ever since.

I wonder if we could do a day trip to the Gardens, via Culross! (Yes, I know, I've got to let go of something... sigh). Gawd, by the time I get there, I will have all the blurbs from the guidebooks (now totalling 7), memorized.

OK, getting better and better.

A year. I have to wait a YEAR!!!! I want to go now.