Im traveling to Scotland for 11 days in May (flying in and out of Inverness) and plan to spend 4 nights in Edinburgh and 6 nights in Inverness. Couple questions to ask that's difficult to make a decision on:
1) We plan to rent a car for 1 day and drive from Inverness to Edinburgh (allowing about 6-8 hours for drive). Are there any suggestions on places to stop along the way worth seeing in that time frame? Im traveling with my 70 yo father so climbing isn't in the cards.
2) The rest of the trip we plan to walk, take the bus, or travel by train. Is a train pass worthy for our trip or should we buy the advanced pay as you go? (we will take train to Glasgow, Inverness, and surrounding areas; and use bus when in city). Also, is there a bus pass we can by so we can hop on bus as we please without worrying about carrying exact change? What is difference between Scottish CityLink and Stagecoach?
3) Most of our stay is in Inverness and we plan to take part in the Speyside Whiskey Festival. After doing that, we will have 3 full days and plan to see Culloden, Cawdor Castle, Clava Cairns, and Urquhart Castle. Are their any other Highland towns/sites within a 1-2 hour train/bus ride that we should see? Or worthy of a 1 night stay? Or if Inverness is not that exciting...perhaps we could do a stay in Isle of Skye but wondering if thats cramming too much in.
Thanks for help and suggestions!