Greetings! Me, my husband, and two adult children will have a glorious 12 nights in Scotland (soon! in July). We have our first 3 nights in Edinburgh, then 4 nights are undecided, then 4 nights in Skye, then last night probably nearish EDI airport. My question is how to best spend those 4 nights between Edinburgh and Skye. One option is 4 nights in Glencoe, taking our time to do various walks and sightseeing. Another option is to spend 2 nights in Glencoe and then either 2 nights in Oban (with a day trip to Mull and Iona) OR we could head up to Torridon and/or Applecross before heading to Skye. One last option would be after Glencoe, head to Glenfinnan Viaduct and Mallaig, then ferry to Skye. Thank you for any advice you have!
Posted by
Delaware
1628 posts
Hi, k19722791,
Nice palindrome! I'm assuming that you already have your accommodation arranged for Skye. You are pushing it a bit for arranging accommodation for next month anywhere north and west of the Central Belt. Your best bet at this point would be in one of the major population areas - Oban, Fort William, and Inverness. However, you could still luck out in a less populated area. I'm assuming (again) that you'd be looking for a double and a twin, which is going to eliminate most B&Bs..
If you want the best in Highland scenery, I'd recommend two nights in Fort William so that you can easily visit Glencoe (unless you can find somewhere closer to Glencoe); a night in the area of Lochcarron so that you can visit the Applecross/Shieldaig/Torridon area; and possibly a night in the Gairloch area.
You can take the Skye Bridge on your way to Skye, then the ferry from Armadale to Mallaig on your way off island, so that you can visit Glenfinnan on your way back to Edinburgh.
If you decide to do the Glencoe/Glenfinnan/Mallaig route, there are a couple of hotels in the Mallaig area that may still have accommodation. They are the West Highland Hotel and the Morar Hotel. There isn't a whole lot to do in the Mallaig area, but there are a couple of really good hikes, a beautiful beach (Camusdarrach), and pony trekking on the sands at Arisaig. Also day trips to the Small Isles (Rum, Eigg, Canna, Muck) on certain days. If the schedule is right, you could spend an overnight on Eigg (Glebe Barn) or Rum (Rum Bunkhouse).
These are just suggestions, but I have to say that you need to decide soon, as accommodation in that part of Scotland books up months in advance. Also, if you're planning to take a ferry at any point in your travels, you need to reserve that, as well.
Good luck, and keep asking questions!
Mike (Auchterless)
Posted by
25 posts
Our family LOVED Oban. It's a sweet little town, on a gorgeous harbor. We took the ferry to Iona one day and that was incredible. We stopped at Glenfinnan on the way to Mallaig and Skye. Glenfinnan was awesome, even though we weren't there when the train passed by. Enjoy!