Planning a month in Scotland June 5-July 3 driving trip.
Glasgow 2 days Oban one day Mull 2 days Iona one day Glencoe 2 days Invergarry one day Skye 2 days Lewis and Harris 3 days Ullapool one day Durness 2 days Inverness 2 days Stirling/Perth 2 days Edinburgh 3 days Glasgow 2 days..
Any suggestions for car hire accomodation thinking 117 pounds/$200 canadian max per night b and bs per couple.
also would like to take the jacobite train from fort William to Mallaig but i see they are not taking bookings at this time.When would be a realistic time to book this steam train?
I kmow I am looking for a lot of information.Is my time frame realistic driving these distances and catching ferries?
I will appreciate any feedback.Thank you
Ron Anderson

OK -- that is really fast paced. When you say 'Mull 2 days' -- or 'Edinburgh 3 days' - do realize that to get 2 days in a place requires 3 nights, 3 days = 4 nights, etc. (Iona would be the exception since you would visit it from Mull and it is a 10 minute foot ferry)

So adding up your 'days' -- you are talking a 44 or 45 night trip -- not just under one month. 4 weeks sounds like a lot of time but it isn't really enough to cover as much territory as you've laid out.

A few other comments -- I personally would not split up the Glasgow days. If you are flying in/out of GLA I'd arrange my itinerary to do Glasgow at the beginning and then stay somewhere scenic within easy commute of GLA the final night before flying out -- like along Loch Lomond or nearby.

Two nights on Mull is woefully inadequate -- three nights is much better and would give you 1.5 days for the (very large/slow driving) island and about half a day to explore Iona.

If by 2 days on Skye you mean 2 nights -- that nets you ONE day for the very large and very slow driving island . . . which is almost 'why bother territory.

IMO/IME you need to cut quite a lot -- probably the outer Hebrides, and the very far north at the very least. On any of the islands and in the far north you would be lucky to average 30 MPH - and 25 MPH in some places.

So prioritize which regions are on your 'must list' and cut most of the rest. Back to the drawing board I'm afraid

In my opinion, somewhere between no and hell, no. You will be spending most of your time seeing the world through the car windows.

What do you plan to do when you get to these places? Just look around and say, "Huh," then move to the next one? Or some local walks or hikes, or a photo expedition?

I'd consult a source like Undiscovered Scotland and see which of your destinations might be sufficiently like some others that you could simplify the route and reduce the list. Otherwise I fear you'll be dizzy and unsatisfied by the end of this marathon.

I'm not a Scotland expert, but I think this is unrealistic. Too much time spent driving, waiting for ferries, riding ferries, and not enough time seeing each place. As near as I can tell, you're including the time to reach a place in the time you have to see/explore the place. (Which, for instance, means you don't really have two days on Skye.)

The first thing I suggest is that you plot out the itinerary day by day and include the travel time (and logistics) for each transfer. If you're using Google for drive times, consider them only suggestions. Each drive will take much longer, in some cases much. much longer.

Random thoughts: Two stays in Glasgow, and more time in Glasgow than Edinburgh?... It sounds like you are 4 people. I hope everyone knows how to pack light and SMALL. You'll need a car with a large boot/cargo area.... I don't think you want to drive into Edinburgh. Perhaps return the car on arrival, and then train to Glasgow.

Ha. The experts can type faster than me...

I admit I didn't read to the bottom of your full OP -- and went straight to working out the actual logistics of your plan.

Just saw the "also would like to take the jacobite train from fort William to Mallaig but i see they are not taking bookings at this time.When would be a realistic time to book this steam train?: . . . Unless you cut a full day from somewhere else you can flat out forget about the Jacobite! It eats up nearly a full day round trip and if you take the first train out of Ft William you will have to stay over night there.

You are really really underestimating how slow the travel is and how much there is to see on alll of these places. And it does seem here are more than two of you since you say 'per couple'. No -- just no. Two people need more time than someone traveling solo, and 4 people need yet more time. Different body clocks, different interests, some dashing though meals / some lingering over sticky toffee pudding and after meal drinks/ some scrambling up to the Glenfinnan Viaduct/some huffing and puffing up the hill.

We were all typing as fast as we could

Does show there are a lot of great minds on Fodors!

These allocations of days seem quite random…it would be better to indicate what you want to achieve - for example, 2 days in Glencoe.Not that y someone can’t make good use of that time but unless you plan on some decent hiking, once you come off Mull then it’s fairly easy to see Glencoe as you head further north.One night at most I’d suggest if you want to go up the chairlift, do a shortish walk, spend some time going down Glen Etive etc.
Otherwise, if you spent a part day around the glen you could make for Invergarry (the Glengarry Castle Hotel is a gem) as that is not a huge distance from Glencoe.That breaks up your journey to Skye comfortably.

Skye, like Mull , also needs more time.I’d take time from the generous allocation you've given my home city, Glasgow.Two full days will let you see its finest sights IMO, though it depends if you want to use the city as a base for, perhaps, a trip to Ayrshire for the wonderful Culzean Castle.

The Outer Hebrides and the Far North are outstanding for scenery and sights and are amongst my favourite areas of Scotland.Actually, the main roads are pretty good and particularly sweeping and fast north of Ullapool to beyond Scourie but as janisj has mentioned , the coastal sections are single track, extremely winding and need time.
We spend a lot of time on the beautiful Outer Hebrides, single track roads are pretty quiet and quite a pleasure to drive with big open vistas.The main road round South /West Harris is a dream.

I’d also tend to save time by cutting things short in Inverness, Stirling and Perth though again, it would be useful to hear more detail about your plans in and around these places and why they have that time allocated to them/what your interests are.I’m not saying that there isn’t enough to see/do there; as with most places in Scotland you could certainly build a very enjoyable and varied holiday around any of them.

Very quick since I'm dashing out for the afternoon . . . Yes the far NW and the Outer Hebrides are absolutely wonderful . . . but to fit them in you will have to significantly cut elsewhere. As far as the Perth/Inverness/Stirling jaunt. Lots of interest near Inverness but the city itself is -- well, a CITY and you'd do better staying somewhere like Nairn or Grantown-on-Spey or other places (IF you have the time to spend any there at all for Culloden, Cawdor Castle, Fort George, maybe the Black Isle, etc. Perth is semi-meh (nice town but not as scenic as some other areas -- Scone Palace is interesting though. And Stirling is mainly the castle so no need to stay over night there. Either visit on the drive through or as an easy day trip by train from Edinburgh.

Basically what some of us are saying is you are trying to fit a 6 or 8 week trip into 28 days.

Thanks to one and all for your replies.some revision is in order
We are not planning to do any long hikes does that affect our time spent for example on Skye?Or any of the orther places visited.I realise we do not want to spend too much time in a car getting to places and finding we dont have enough time there.Any further comments useful.
Can we book accomodation 9 months ahead?
Thanks
Ron

Hi guys
we are 2 seniors 70 plus planning a month in Scotland.I posted our provisional itinerary which i realise is unrealistic for only a month.
I wonder is there a coach/train company which would let us see Skye Mull and the north route 500 even under shorter time than onr month.I would also love to do the steam train from fort William to Mallaig but could do this separately.
I am not sure I want the stress of driving.I am English but have lived in Canada for the last 40 years.Thanks
Ron

I was working on the assumption no long hikes or major treks on foot were in the mix. (yes, I do know what 'assuming' can end up )

No -- that doesn't affect any part of your overly ambitious itinerary. Lets just look at Skye for one example . . . No Hikes. Just car visits, getting out of the car at major beauty spots, visiting Talisker, visiting Dunvegan Castle and walking through the gardens, walking on one or two beaches. OK -- definitely low exertion - right? Say you stay in Portree . . . based in Portree driving up around the Trotternish Peninsula/a few of the main beauty spots, Dunvegan, Neist Point, Talisker, Glenbrittle -- this would include the 'busiest' parts of Skye but would take two FULL days (i.e. three nights) and you'd be in the car a MINIMUM of 6.5-7 hours over the two days. That's butts in seats time -- not including the hours of actual sightseeing, meals etc. And there may be parking issues at several of the main beauty spots.

Or the drive from Ullapool > Durness > Thurso > Dunbeath > Dunrobin > Inverness will involve about 8 hours car time without stops. Your plan has Ullapool > Durness on one day and Durness all the way to Inverness two days later. Just Durness to Inverness will take at least 6 hours if you go around and down the east coast.

There ain't no quick routes anywhere on the islands or rural parts of north/central Scotland.

Oh jeeze . . . I took so long writing the above, I didn't see your post #11.

YES -- absolutely!! Take a look at some of the tours offered by Rabbies. They do everything from one-day to 2+ week small group tours (never more than 16 passengers). They have tours starting from Edinburgh, Glasgow and (fewer) from Inverness or Aberdeen covering every corner of Scotland including the outer Hebrides and places like Northumberland/northern England. Very highly recommended You could combine 2 or 3 Rabbies tours with some independent touring in between.

https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours

Sensible not to drive the NC 500 yourself. It is overloaded now, lots of caravans, campervans, big RVs doing it as well as bikes, motorbikes and cars plus of course the locals just trying to get around. It can get very busy and some of the roads are just not up to it.
It was a good idea at the time no doubt but kind of ruined by its own success. We drove it a few years ago in our 6m campervan, in May, and it was busy, and frustrating as many of the campers/RV were rentals, being driven by people with no experience of such vehicles or narrow roads, who would just troll along, blocking the road regardless of the jam behind them, never pulling over into passing bays to let other pass, or even to let oncoming vehicles though.
Rabbies always gets a good write up on the forum, and I think you will both enjoy your tour more if one of you isn't having to concentrate on the road!

Back again.wondering if we(2) should think about train travel for part of our itinerary e.g. glasgow to fort William -Malaig to get to Skye and the west highlands/north route.perhaps coupling with some of Rabbies coach tours.I think I have to reconsider driving myself.I have not driven on the left since I left England 40 years ago.Thanks for the hewlp.Really appreciate cyour replies

Ron

Taking the train from Glasgow to Ft William to Mallaig will just complicate things (a LOT)

Once you ride the ferry across from Mallaig to Armadale you will be in far SW Skye -- without a car and getting to other parts of the island means using the really inadequate (and slow) bus service.

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about doing some driving -- people who have never driven on the left manage just fine, and you have the advantage of having done so even being years ago.

Thanks Janis.My friends ancestors are Macdonalds and there is a museum in Armadale devoted to the clan so that is deifinitely a stop.To explore the rest of Skye by car seems the best option.We would like to restrict driving to a minimum if possible and train/Rabbies coach the trip to other regions on our itinerary.Am I being too paranoid about driving??

Is it possible to rent a car on Skye ? Armadale?

The Clan Donald Centre/museum is well worth a visit.

Armadale is a tiny place - no rental cars. A couple of Skye garages do rent out their cars. But realistically if you plan on driving at all (and you probably will want to drive in any rural areas you don't hit via Rabbies tours) -- you will need to rent from a city or major airport -- at EDI, or GLA or in Inverness or Aberdeen. Inverness is good for getting a car for Skye.

If you really don't want to drive to Skye -- Rabbies does offer a few tours that include the Isle.

You can certainly rent on Skye and they'll bring the car to Armadale.

I do think you're being a bit paranoid about driving but it's also difficult to say because visitors from abroad post different things about their experiences driving here.Some find it absolutely ok, others do remark on how much narrower our roads are and find that stressful.Really busy traffic is not the issue though there can be hold ups (relatively short usually) given inexperienced camper van drivers or people not using single track roads properly.

You really are best with a car on Skye though there are also local operators who run small scale day sightseeing trips throughout the island.That might be a good bet for you too.

There are many coach operators who will do tours of the areas you mention too.Rabbies, Timberbush, Explore Scotland etc tend to be smaller minibus tours.But there are much larger coach tours available also.

Just to add..my husband and I drive that NC 500 route fairly regularly - once per year (and in less than 10 days time , again) and have never found it to be particularly busy at all.Many of those roads are quite empty though certainly busier than they used to be but it's still all relative.