Airports??

The nearest major airports (with intercontinental flights) are Edinburgh and Glasgow. There are airports on some islands, but they just get you to those islands.
Aberdeen has an airport, but that is not much nearer. Inverness has a small airport, but AFAIK it is domestic flights only.

For road routes I recommend: https://www.viamichelin.com/
From Skye to Edinburgh airport, it says: 04h42 350 km £37.16 (fuel cost)
The time estimate (04h42) assumes no stops which is unrealistic so add 25% at least.

Are your flights from Edinburgh non-stop? I don't have that option, so I've been looking into starting from Inverness to avoid backtracking. There are direct flights from London (Easyjet, BA) and Amsterdam (KLM), as well as Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Belfast (I have not looked into as much).

The other option I've been thinking about is the Caledonian Sleeper train, London/Inverness or London/Fort William.

When I looked at the one-way car rental fee for Inverness to Edinburgh, it didn't look too bad (hopefully the reverse is the same?).

Hi, Kathy,

There is an airport (airfield) in Broadford, but there are no commercial flights (nor any scheduled flights) from there. You could conceivably fly out of Inverness for Heathrow, Gatwick, Amsterdam, or Manchester, but the hassle involved in taking three flights to get you back to NC are definitely not worth it. From Skye, Glasgow or Edinburgh are only two hours farther away.

You'd be much better off changing your hotel dates. Unless you're financially locked in to your hotel arrangements, you are 10 months out, so hotels and B&Bs shouldn't have any problem with you changing your dates.

It's at least five hours to Glasgow Airport, six to Edinburgh. Don't forget, you still have to get petrol for your hired car (If you don't, they charge 2 1/2 times the retail rate to fill it for you), and return the car. So factor in 30 to 45 minutes for those procedures.

When does school start up again for you?

Glad to hear that the plans are coming along!

All the best,

Mike (Auchterless)

Thanks Chris!!

I'll look at the link you sent!
Kathy

Hi Eileen,

I am hoping our flights will be from NC to New York to Edinburgh and then reverse it on our trip home. We haven't booked flights yet. That will be the last thing we will probably buy. Thanks for your response!!
Kathy

Thanks Auchterless!!
Great info as always!!
Sent you a PM.

Kathy

Hi, Kathy,

You may also want to consider CLT-PHL-GLA on AA. Could possibly be less expensive than going by PTI-EWR/JFK-EDI. Although PTI (GSO)-EWR-EDI on United doesn't look too bad, either.

Slainte!

Mike (Auchterless)

Thanks Mike!!

I will look into those airports. I will also check out Raleigh too.
Kathy

When we drive to Edinburgh from here at the western edge of Skye we allow 6 to 7 hours. You will be travelling during 'the season', so there will be tourists aplenty on the roads and camper vans which tend to cause long tailbacks of cars trying to get a chance to pass them. If you are only coming here to Skye for 1 night I would rethink as it's a heck of a lot of driving on some tricky, narrow roads to get here and you won't have much time to see everything that Skye has to offer. Also the island is much bigger than people think. For example it takes me over an hour to reach the Skye bridge from my house (and I know the roads and the good spots to over take!). Another word of caution - you will need to book accommodation well in advance - at least 3 to 4 months.

Hi Skyegirl,
Thanks for the response!! That is a long way to drive. I wanted to insert Isle of Skye (2 nights) between Oban and Inverness. The problem I am running into is switching dates at our last stop of Airth Castle forward a couple of days. They have no vacancies. I am sure I could switch the other dates forward or find new lodgings. Our itinerary is as of now: Edinburgh - 3 nights, Oban - 3 nights, Inverness - 3 nights, Airth Castle - 2 nights and if we decide to keep it, Isle of Skye - 2 nights, then driving back to Edinburgh to return car and to return home. If I could find another Castle stay (an affordable castle stay) somewhere else, maybe I could switch things around and insert Isle of Skye in between and not at the last of the trip. I am going to keep looking. Any suggestions???

Kathy

Hi Kathy
I am a little bit confused as to why you might go from Oban to Inverness. Unless there is a compelling reason to be in Inverness you could substitute for Skye.

Best wishes

Hi Skyegirl,
The reason for Inverness was to visit the sites. I will send you a PM.

Kathy

just a small tip, do not leave your car in Airport if you moving to somewhere longer then week . It's a bit expensive
You may try to use this service if you are planning to leave your car somwhere near airport. Its working almost for any city, I've used it in Ireland [https://gotoairportparking.com/cork-ap] I think you'll find something for Edinburgh too

Cheers and have a nice trip

We just returned from Scotland, and I would put the Isle of Skye as a priority over Inverness. Inverness is a lovely city, and there may be lots to see around there, but we didn't miss them. We went there to rent a car because we couldn't rent one in Fort William. You might consider 1 night in Inverness (if the sites around there are a priority for you) and 2 nights on Skye.

Thanks padams,
My friend and I have considered staying 2 nights on Ske or at least 1 there and one close by to see everything we want. We were going to use Inverness to see the sights there and the surrounding areas. Our problem in planning is that we really do not know haow long it takes to get to places by car and that hinders choosing locations to stay. I am trying to learn that. I was told by another on this forum that to allow @ 4 hours to get from Oban to Malliag to see the sights and then catch the ferry to Skye. But then its about 2-6 hours to see Old man of Storr and a few castles, before getting down to Kyle of Lochlash for the night. If only we had better understanding of driving times:))) Thanks again for info!!!

Kathy

Hi, Kathy,

Why don't you just stay overnight on Skye instead of Kyle of Lochalsh? If you're going to Skye, you should pay it more than just a flying visit. You could spend four days on Skye, and still not see everything. The main castles on Skye are Dunvegan, Duntulm, and Moil. The latter two are ruins.

If you're working with driving times, it is about four hours from Oban to Mallaig. It can be done in less time, but you won't enjoy it. Ferry from Mallaig to Armadale is about an hour, if you include loading and unloading. Armadale to Broadford is about 40 minutes. Broadford to Portree is about 28 miles, but it'll take you close to an hour if you get stuck behind a big lorry or a caravan.

You could overnight in Broadford instead of Kyle. That would leave you about just over an hour's drive from the Old Man of Storr, but if you plan to hike up to the base, rather than just take photos from the car park, add an extra three to four hours. If you're heading to Dunvegan from Storr, add another three hours round trip. The fastest way would be to backtrack to Portree, then the A87 to Carbost, and the A850 via Edinbane.

I hope that you get this all figured out long before you leave the U.S.

Mike (Auchterless)

Thanks Mike. I will get it figured out. I have about made up my mind to do 2 nights on Skye and then move on to Inverness. I was planning on staying 2-3 nights to see everything around there but after reading others visits to the area, it might not take that long to see the sights around there. We were planning on spending another couple of days maybe after Airth, and if we do, we can use those days to see what we missed, so to speak.

Kathy

We drove from Inverness to Skye and it is not quick driving. Particularly after got on Skye it took us much longer to get from the bridge to Portree where we stayed. The next day we had planned to drive around the Toternish Peninsula, but scrapped it due to time, traffic and weather. We had reservations at Talker Distillery and figured we would miss those if we drove around the top of the island. Instead we visited Dunvegan Castle which we really enjoyed. My suggestion is do not plan too much as traffic will slow you way down. Also, it rained the entire day, so we would not have had many of the vistas you read about. But we enjoyed what we did. My recommendation -- be flexible!

Hi again padams,

Thanks for the info. I actually am rereading RS book on Scotland and am looking at his itinerary. I may use this as my guide. I do not really care to visit Glasgow though, so that may free up some time. The only thing that I have reserved so far is our Castle stay in Airth @ the last of June( hopefully arriving in Scotland early on the 19th). We want to spend @3 nights in Edinburgh and then travel. There are 2 musts on our list - a whale watching tour (both of us) and a visit to Finnich Glen (mostly me, I'm the Outlander fan). The rest are just seeing the major sights and getting to take photos of the beautiful landscapes. I appreciate anyones travel experiences and love suggestions on where to visit and how long it may take to get there. Those are the most helpful.

Kathy