8-9 nights in Scotland: 2 or 3 bases with no car?

I really liked Glasgow and will always recommend some time there. It's also an easy train ride to Stirling so you wouldn't have to waste money on a Rabbies tour to there if that is on your agenda. I'm curious which Rabbies you're considering from Inverness. Personally I found Inverness dull but our day trips were enjoyable, but we had a car.

Instead of Inverness, have you considered basing in Oban on the West Coast.

Spend 3 nts Edinburgh

Train to Oban via Glasgow and the West Highland Line, stay 3 nts

1. 1 day explore Oban (Dunstaffnage Castle, Dunollie Museum and Castle Ruins, Oban Distillery, War & Peace Museum, wonderful seafood restaurants)
2. 1 day tour to the islands of Mull and Iona and possibly Staffa with West Coast Tours

Train to Glasgow, stay 2 nts

This would give you lovely highland scenery plus an island experience without spending several days in a row on a tour bus for hours.

On Option 1 you don't have to return to Edinburgh for Dublin. Aer Lingus start flights from Inverness from 21 May. They also fly from Aberdeen, which is a direct hourly bus ride from Inverness with Ember Bus.
The buses run 24 hours a day.

If you do go to Oban there are two other dead simple island experiences you can have - Kerrera (ending at the Marina for a meal, then their shuttle boat direct back to Oban), and to Lismore. Lismore is way overlooked on this forum.

If you really want to get to know Iona don't take the West Coast Motors Tour there, as you only get 2 hours or so on the island. Take the massively cheaper public bus (now only £2 per person each way) and it gives you over twice as long on Iona- importantly getting you there before all the tour buses. So that allows you time to visit the Abbey and the north end or westside beaches- to properly get to know the island.

Lismore has history in St Moluag's Cathedral (now a Parish Church) with a lot of history there, and has a pretty good cafe at the Heritage Centre. It is a very good thing that the tour companies can't get their buses onto either ferry to Lismore (or the one to Kerrera), nor can they work out how to monetise the Lismore experience as they do for Iona.

If you want to take day tours, or have the best options for public transport, stay in places that offer the most. In this case Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow.

Use day tours for places not easily reachable by public transport. While you can get to Stirling Castle by public transport from Edinburgh, a tour will also include stops at Loch Lomond and the Kelpies. Yes, you can find public transport to all of these, but taking the tour will help save lots of time. When you have limited time, time is precious.

I've taken the Rabbies tour to Stirling Castle out of Edinburgh. You first stop at the Kelpies, then off to Loch Lomond with time to wander around the lake and have lunch, and then the afternoon at Stirling Castle.

Thank you to all of your for your replies.

Allan, thank you for your recommendation for Glasgow. In response to your questions, I haven't yet identified which particular tours from Inverness that I would take; I've just read that there are a lot of options.

jeanm, I hadn't considered Obam as a base, but now I am interested. I will explore that option further.

isn31c, thank you for the information on other options for flight departures; I will give those a closer look. I'm also going to look at the various options you mention for excursions from Obam. I really like the idea of having more time on Iona.

Frank II - thank you for sharing your tour experience.

So it sounds like I can get by without backtracking to Edinburgh, but now I have to decide on Inverness or Obam plus Glasgow. You have all given me good information to explore.

Louise, make sure you're researching Oban, not Obam.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks jeanm, that’s what happens when I type from my phone- I didn’t realize it was autocorrecting to the wrong name 🙄