Advice on 11-day Scotland Itinerary

I'm really confused. Your title says 11 days, and your post seems to be a jumble of different itineraries, with some days double-booked, 18 days total.

You might wish to revise your post. Otherwise it's pretty near impossible to offer feedback.

Sorry, it posted before I completed it. Hope it now makes sense.

Well, I agree with Lane in that it's a little confusing. Let me rehash this itinerary, though. It does make it easier if you count the nights instead of the days.

Day 1: Arrive and sleep in Edinburgh
Day 2: Sleep in Edinburgh
Day 3: Sleep in Edinburgh
Day 4: Sleep in Ullapool (Continue with Rabbies)
Day 5: Sleep in Ullapool (Continue with Rabbies)
Day 6: Sleep in Portree (Continue with Rabbies)
Day 7: Sleep in Portree (Continue with Rabbies)
Day 8: UNK
Day 9: UNK
Day 10: Sleep in Glasgow
Day 11: Sleep in Glasgow
Day 12: Leave for home

So you are thinking of leaving the Rabbies tour on the last day in order to see Culloden and Clava Cairns? That would be difficult because you'd have to get to Inverness and then get a tour to see Culloden and CC. Have you checked with Rabbies to see if they have a tour from Inverness to those sites? Or someplace else?

I'll be honest. I enjoyed seeing Culloden and Clava Cairns, but if I had to go through all that just to get there, I'd back out. It's not worth it. They are nice but compared to some of the incredible places in Scotland, they're not that nice. :-)

I would focus on spending more time in Edinburgh and/or Glasgow. There are so many wonderful places to see around there, like Stirling Castle, the town of Stirling, Leith in Edinburgh, and so on.

Lane and Mardee, thanks for commenting. Sorry for the confusion. Quoting from the tour’s itinerary probably made it more confusing.

Although I really would like to go to Culloden and Clara Cairns, I suppose that’ll have to happen on another trip, given the logistics. Rabbies does have a one-day tour of Glen Affric, Culloden, and Clara Cairns, but it’s from Inverness.

I’ll revised the itinerary to spend the night of Day 8 either in Edinburgh or Glasgow. I’ll plan to be in Glasgow for Days 9 and 10 and make plans from there.

On Day 5, you could either leave the tour, get the Citylink bus back into Fort William at 1543 changing to another Citylink for Inverness, arriving at 1840.

Or, if willing to sacrifice Glencoe (a bit of a shame but if needs must), jump ship at Fort William and take Citylink to Inverness at 1235, 1335, 1435, 1635 or 1735.

Or go back to Edinburgh that night. of Day 7. Then the 0838 train on Day 8, arriving Inverness at 1206 (or Citylink at 0710 arriving at 1111), Put you case at a Stasher (or similar) then the local hourly bus to Culloden, walk round to Clava, bus back from Culloden into the city. Pick up your case and check in to your hotel.
Citylink run hourly from Inverness to Glasgow- for the 3 hour 40 minute journey- much the same time as the train. And Flixbus also run 2 or 3 times a day.
So you could have most of Day 9 in Inverness, before taking an early evening train or bus to Glasgow- last train is about 8pm. last Citylink bus also 8 pm.

Thanks for the bus and train information. I was thinking of leaving the tour at Fort William and making my way to Inverness, but I don’t think all the hassle to get there and make my way back to Glasgow a day later is worth it. I needed some input on the logistics to make up my mind. It’ll be on the list for another trip. I’m sure I’ll have a long list before the trip and a much longer one after.

The tour ends on Day 8. I’ll either sleep in Edinburgh or make my way to Glasgow. I’ll then have about three days to explore more of Edinburgh or Glasgow and other places nearer.

Again, thanks.