Day Trip from Edinburgh

I think a day tour with a company like Rabbie’s will get you more into the Highlands than a train will. I took this tour last month and really enjoyed it. The scenery was spectacular!!

https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-edinburgh/day-tours/loch-ness-glencoe-highlands-day-tour

Thank you!!!

Rather than going all the way I might catch an Inverness bound train as far as Pitlochry - about a 2 hour train ride.

It's a substantial sized Highland village or small town (depending on your point of view). A lot of the stations north of there have a confusingly irregular service.

The next station with frequent service is Aviemore, about 3 hours from Edinburgh. In that extra hour you will have been through some stunning Highland scenery.
From Aviemore one opportunity which has just started two weeks ago is the Cairngorm Mountain Railway (the railway has been reopened longer, but the bus has only just started) . There is now an hourly double decker bus- the Highland Adventurer #30 from outside the station.
This takes you through an area of Lochs and Forests with many stop off and walking opportunities to the Base Station, from which you can take the funicular railway up the mountain.
Yes that would be a pretty long day, but I think is worth it.
Aviemore is a good supply base, but nothing more than that, in my opinion.

Thank you for the information!

Be warned, you can't leave the top station on the Cairngom Mountain Railway and have to stay in the Station building. (All to do with protecting the environment - having seen the damage visitors cause on the top of Snowden, I can understand the need for this.) There is a view point. There's also a cafe (reasonable prices too) and shop selling expensive gifts and clothing (definitely no tat). There is a short 270˚ 'immersive exhibition'. I watched this and the photographty was superb but the camera panned across the screen making me feel sea sick...

The trip takes about ten minutes and the railway is built in stilts above the surface. It's an interwsting experience if you've not been on a funicular railway before.

Thanks for the information! 🚂