Monica_Cates

Hello All,
Thanks in advance for any advice!

Ok so my sister, mom, and I are going to Scotland in May landing on the 11th and leaving on the 23rd. I have booked a guest house to stay in from Wednesday the 11th until Monday the 16th a few miles away from Edinburgh like 3-4 miles) it is on the bus route so it should be pretty easy access to from Edinburgh city center I think. We are planning on spending at least 2 days in Edinburgh, a day trip to the Roslyn Chapel & Melrose Abbey area, one day tour with rabbies of Glencoe/Loch Ness, and one day for a trip to Glasgow by bus.

We are then planning on the 16th to travel by bus or train (not sure yet) to Fort William to stay the night and board the Jacobite Steam Train the next day. I was thinking from here to not take the train back but to take the ferry to Skye either that afternoon (or stay the night in Mallaig and take the ferry on the 18th) and have a rental car hire representative meet us at Armadale. From there we were going to drive and explore Skye for 3 days. I was thinking take the Kyle Of Lochalsh bridge back to Edinburgh. Does this sound like a reasonable plan? I need to have time to get back to Edinburgh the night before our flight at least. We are leaving at 12:30 in the day on Monday the 23rd.

Any suggestions and ideas are helpful!
Thanks!
Monica

Michael

I think that Glasgow needs more than one day if one wishes to visit several Macintosh sites, the Burrell Collection and the Kelvingrove museum--all worthwhile endeavors.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7623346603583/

alihutch

And that's just the start of the list....

Monica_Cates

I know. I want to visit more places. I have thought about not doing the steam train. I have heard it is some very nice scenery though. Skye looks beautiful from pictures as well.If any of you have suggestions on other places to visit please give your input. I do want to see Edinburgh and the Scottish borders but besides that as far as day trips or other places to visit please give suggestions! I am just trying to plan it around public transport for the most part. I love anything history related, being outside, national parks, beaches, music, art, castles, and just learning about other cultures. Not so much into the shopping bit really. I mean of course there are a few touristy things I want to see but everything doesn't have to be touristy suggestions.
Thanks!

historytraveler

There are others who can do a much better job with your itineray than I can, but will give a few suggestions to get you thinking in a different direction.

Two days in Edinburgh and those spent on tours outside the city doesn't make much sense. Edinburgh is one of the great cities IMO and deserves more time. You can easily do a half day trip to Rosslyn on your own. How do you plan to get to Melrose? is there a tour that includes both Rosslyn and Melrose? Edinburgh really needs at the very least one full day and even that is giving it short shrift. I'd plan on at least three days.

Skip the Loch Ness/Glencoe part at this time. Go to Glasgow for a full day. I agree even that's not enough time either, but you can get to the Burrell and a few other spots. Spend the night and then take the train to Mallaig. It's the same track as the Jacobite train, so you miss nothing as far as scenery is concerned. If you get an early start (I think a train leaves about 8:30) you'll get to Mallaig about 1:30 in time for a ferry over to Armadale. A car on Skye is your best bet but you can rent there and leave it there. From Skye I'd take the train from Lochalsh to Inverness which is another very scenic train ride and, if you have to see Loch Ness, do it from there on an overnight. Then you can get the train back to Edinburgh. You may actually have a few more days to play with than what I've outlined.

Monica_Cates

I was planning the day trips because I booked the guest house in Edinburgh for May 11th-16th. I was thinking on doing a tour with heart of Scotland tours to Melrose Abbey/Roslynn Chapel and it also includes Hadrian's Wall. St. Andrews is not really a set in stone day trip.I was planning on spending a full day in Glasgow. I might just take a bus or train over to Glasgow on Monday the 16th and then get the 8:30 am train the next morning that you are talking about if it is offered then.I had thought about renting a car instead but this is my first time in Europe so I was not sure it would be the best decision. Do you recommend Citylink or Scotsrail or does it matter?
Thanks!

sheila

OK. A number of things.

First not everyone does things the same way or likes the same things. If that's how you want to spend the 11th to the 16th, who's to say you're not right.

Edinburgh's a great city; you can spend as long or as short as you like in it. You have some of the 11th- which should pretty much be for chilling and orientation- then 5 more days. 3 day trips is a lot if you then mean to leave the city to go to the countryside. _IF_ it were me, I might well do the Rosslyn/Borders, Hadrian's Wall one, and the St Andrew's one. If a third is a day in Glasgow, great. YOu can get an overview of Glasgow in a day, although for me it's much for of a "feel" place, than a "see" place.

Now the bit of your plan which goes wrong is car hire. You can hire ON Skye, but not, I think, for one way hires- they're all little local companies.

My next suggestion is a bit off the wall,a nd you may not want to do it, but.... Why don't you get the very early train from Edinburgh? It leaves at (take a deep breath) 4.50am, and gets into Fort William at 9.54am. The Jacobite leaves at 10.20 and gets into Mallaig at 12.30. Now, there's not a lot to keep you in Mallaig, believe me. So pick a ferry and go to Skye, and get your hire company to pick you up off the boat. Spend the day tootling around, and on one of your Skye days take a run up to Loch Ness- it's only an hour or so from the bridge.

On the 21st, take the bus from Portree to Inverness and then the train to Glasgow. Stay that night and the next in Glasgow. Get the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh on the 23rd, and fly home

historytraveler

I did reread your post and understand that you'll have 5 days in Edinburgh prior to going to Glasgow and that's fine. I originally thought you were only doing 2/3 days there and using those for day trips. So, 5 days ( you'll probably be tired the first so don't plan on too much but have a flexible schedule) along with a couple of day trips, leaving a couple of days to see Edinburgh...fine.

For Glasgow I highly recommend the Burrell Collection, add to that according to your interests, although the Burrrell may well take a half day.

As I said previously, the only difference between the Jacobite train and the regular train is <I> steam</I>. Personally I wouldn't get up that early to get to Fort William in time just to take it, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't be willing to do so. As an alternative, a train leaves Glasgow Queen St. at about 8:30 and follows exactly the same route as the Jacobite getting you into Mallaig about 1:30 in time for the 2:00 ferry to Armadale.

There are a couple of car rental places on Skye, and they can get a car to you at Armadale. When finished with Skye drop the car there and do either as shelia has suggested and go back to Glasgow. Having made Inverness a day trip from Skye. I think shelia's a bit optimistic about only taking an hour, but it certainly can be done as a day trip. Or have car rental people drop you off at Kyle of Lochalsh and take the train to Inverness ( it is a wonderfully scenic route), spend a night there and take the train to Edinburgh, spend night prior to your flight, assuming you're flying out of Edinburgh.

historytraveler

Forgot to add, for car hire on Skye try:

www.skyecarhire.co.uk
www.lochalsh.net/taxi
www.portreecoachworks.co.uk

Fo further train schedule information

www.firstscotrail.com

Mimar

Another thought: pick up a rental car in Fort William (Sixt seems to have an office there) and drive the very scenic Road to the Isles. This is approximately the same route as the train, but you can stop at Glenfinnan, the dramatically stunning location of Bonnie Prince Charlie's uprising. There's a small museum there.

Then continue on to Mallaig and take the car ferry to Skye, etc. With Sixt you should be able to do a one-way rental.

You could even pick up a car in Glasgow, drive north along Loch Lomond and on to Mallaig.

sheila

To be fair to me, I didn't say an hour to Inverness. I can do it in two hours from the bridge, but that's in a rush.

historytraveler

Okay shelia, you're right, you didn't say an hour to Inverness, and I misinterpreted your remark. I honestly couldn't remember how long it took me to get from Inverness to Portree, but I knew it was more than an hour, so I checked aaroadwatch ( IMO, the best website for route planning in Great Britain) and they suggested about 2 1/2 hours for Portree to Inverness and they tend to estimate on the short side. I'm thinking and hopefully remembering correctly that it's about 30 to 45 minutes from Portree to the bridge? Regardless, as both of us have said, it can still be done in a day.

alihutch

YOu can get an overview of Glasgow in a day, although for me it's much for of a "feel" place, than a "see" place.

Jeez, I'm really going to have to get that album of images of Glasgow together....and a list of things to see.
There are day's of stuff to see in Glasgow.....great architecture, history. Not saying do this at the expense of other stuff, as you've got lots of great stuff to see and do.....the Jacobite will be great!