14 day itinerary

Rosslyn Chapel is very easy to reach via a public bus. I think it's a 40-minute ride and then a short walk. This would be more flexible than signing up for a tour, not to mention cheaper.

Do you have a special reason for heading to Aberdeen? I haven't been north of Dundee on the eastern side of Scotland. It seems you'd save some driving time if you stuck to the western half of the country once you pick up the car.

Just a few thoughts; I spent 17 nights in Scotland during May of this year. Have you visited Edinburgh before? Three nights there leaves you with just two full days-it may be challenging to fit in the three day trips you plan and leaves you no time for the city itself.

Look carefully at the "fine print" for day trips to Stirling Castle. Some allow little time to actually visit the castle; many do not include castle admission so you have to arrange for that on your own. I stayed for four-plus hours (including a short lunch break). It is easy to visit on your own. Take the train from Edinburgh Waverly to Stirling, then walk uphill or take a taxi to the castle (split four ways it should be inexpensive). Stay as long as you like!

Your drive from Aberdeen to Skye (Portree) will be long. Google says approximately 4 1/2 hours-ha, ha! We found that we needed to add at least 25 percent to Google's driving times. The legal speed may be 50 or 60 mph, but you will quickly realize that isn't realistic. Plus you will want to make a few stops along the way!

For Kirkcudbright that is obviously Train to Dumfries, then presumably family meet you at Dumfries, rather than you having to take the public bus forward.
Depending on the connection at Carlisle that'll be around 4 1/2 to 5 hours.
Train Kirkcudbright (Dumfries) to Edinburgh- the faster route would normally be back to Carlisle, then to Edinburgh (rather than Dumfries to Glasgow Central, then across to Edinburgh). You should be there by lunchtime, so I would do Rosslyn Chapel in the afternoon, leaving my bags at left luggage at Waverley station. On the public bus it's close on an hour in each d0irection, booking the Chapel for the 3.30 pm slot.
The best way to do that is to add a 'Plus Bus' ticket onto your rail ticket from Dumfries to Edinburgh- which is £3.80 all day bus and tram use (£2.50 with a railcard) rather than £5 if bought on the bus on the day- 2023 prices obviously but plus bus is always cheaper than buy on the day.
So that leaves the other two days free for Stirling and St Andrews.

Skye (near Dunvegan) to Aberdeen airport took me 6 hours the last time I did it. So that's basically all day. Mull would take you even longer to get to from Aberdeen. Unless you have a compelling reason to visit Aberdeen then personally I would take a more central route north (e.g. Stirling, Pitlochry, Cairngorms national park then cut across west at Dalwhinnie).

On Skye bear in mind that if you stay anywhere other than Portree, Broadford or Dunvegan you will be using your rental car to go out for dinner. Even Portree (our only town) is basically very small with not too many eating options.

For a decent hotel walking distance to Glasgow airport terminal you might consider the Holiday Inn Express. The rooms are clean, comfortable, inexpensive and the sound proofing is very good with no airport noise. It's a shorter walk to the airport terminal than the Premier Inn and cheaper and more modern than the Holiday Inn (not express).

Jacqui (Skyegirl)

Unless you have a great reason to go, I wouldn't bother with Aberdeen itself.

And if you are going there, I would go to St Andrews on the way rather than use up time in Edinburgh - there's lots to do in Edinburgh

For Roslin take the 37 bus - it's about 55 minutes and a two minute walk, There are guides at the chapel - you don't need a tour

The 37 to Rosslyn- you need to ensure the right bus- to Penicuik (Deanburn)- as alternate buses on the route divert before Roslin to a place called Easter Bush.
There are 4 buses an hour- 2 to each destination- so half hourly to Roslin- here is the current timetable..
By a years time that may well have changed!!

For a decent hotel walking distance to Glasgow airport terminal you might consider the Holiday Inn Express. The rooms are clean, comfortable, inexpensive and the sound proofing is very good with no airport noise. It's a shorter walk to the airport terminal than the Premier Inn and cheaper and more modern than the Holiday Inn (not express).

I will second this recommendation. I recently stayed at the Holiday Inn Express at Glasgow Airport, and loved it. I'm just going to copy what I wrote in my trip report here:

Holiday Inn Express Airport Hotel: This hotel rocks! It was really spacious, great pillows, very clean, comfortable bed and lots of towels. It’s a quick 3 minute walk to/from the airport. They also serve dinner. You just go down to the bar and order it, then it’s served to you at the table. It was very good - I had chicken makhani and sticky toffee pudding with a beer. The staff was very friendly and helpful.

Breakfast is included and has great hours. You can get a continental breakfast starting at 4 am, and a cooked breakfast starting at 6 am. Lots of food options there as well. The staff was very nice and very helpful. I would not hesitate to stay here again.

Thanks for all the input! Will definitely check out Glasgow airport suggestion! We will research aberdeen more, one of main reasons we wanted to go there was Balmoral . We definetly need to do more research about train to kirkcudbright from London. Since submitting this I have read so much about avoiding Heathrow , is that just for connections ? I thought it would be reasonably easy to get a train from airport to where ever we end up for lodging in London or at least Victoria station Also reading about driving in highlands and the road situation which is a bit concerning! If confident US driver will we be ok? Thanks so much! Lots to do!

I've flown in and out of Heathrow often, with no difficulty. It wouldn't be my first choice of airport for a connection, though. It's large airport, so if you go carry-on only, you may be carrying/rolling your luggage quite some distance.

Looking more closely at this you will only have one full day (Day2) in London. Might it be worthwhile getting a ticketed connection to Glasgow through Heathrow or Gatwick (whichever airport your TA arrives into), then staying overnight at the Holiday Inn Express at the airport, or in the City Centre.
The train option you are not going to get quality time with the family. I've just looked at the 501/502 bus timetable Dumfries to Kirkcudbright. I hadn't realised that it now takes almost 90 minutes for the journey, as you have to change in Castle Douglas (or Gatehouse of Fleet) now- changed about a year ago. No through service. except very late at night and on Sunday. So in essence it will take most of the day to get from London Euston to Carlisle (3.5 hrs hourly), hourly train Carlisle to Dumfries, then bus.
So I would suggest taking a rental car from Glasgow Airport on Day 2, driving down to Kirkcudbright, giving yourself an extra day in the South West with the family (for the history, scenery and yay, Castles), driving up to EDI on Day 4 calling at Roslin for Rosslyn Chapel (village and Chapel have different spellings), then returning the car at EDI airport.
Days 5 and 6 use transit in Edinburgh.
Then another rental EDI-GLA for Days 7 to 14.

Thanks so much for input, we have changed our itinerary below
Day 1-3 London remains same( 2 nights)
Day 3 train to Edinburgh
Day 3-5 Edinburgh ( 3 nights )
Day 6 -9 Inverness ( 2 nights) pick up car in Edinburgh}
Day 9 -10 Skye (2 nights)
Day 10 Lock Lomond 1 night
Day 12 Kirkcudbright ( relatives) 1 night
Day 13-14 Glascow (2 nights)
Day 15 fly out of Glascow

We have our lodgings and flight and now looking at specifics. Would like any recommendations of nice moderate hikes in Inverness, Loch Lomond area, good Whisky distillery in Inverness area, and best Castles to see at our destinations. We have discussed a day tour in skye as opposed to driving ourselves and any input is appreciated! Thanks so much!

Check out Walk Highlands for hiking. Walks are graded by difficulty. For a distillery you could visit Dalwhinnie which is on the main A9 from Edinburgh to Inverness.