England and Scotland Itinerary

Posted by Bruce on 06/22/22 11:12 PM

Two seniors arrive from SFO on Sept 13th in London. We plan to stay 2 nights 13-14 and head to Scotland by train and we plan to use Inverness as our base. We thought 2 nights 15-16 in Edinburgh and 5 nights in Inverness 17-21. Planning on taking Isle of Skye and Jacobite and West Highland tours from Inverness each will be a full day.. That will leave us with 2 full days in Inverness. We then spend 2 nights in Glasgow 22-23. Take train back to London 24-28. We come back home on Sept 29. Does this seem like a reasonable Itinerary? If anyone has any suggestions. We both will have a Britrail Pass.

Thanks Bruce and Bettie

Posted by Allan

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

06/22/22 11:28 PM

4624 posts

I'd add nights in Edinburgh and/or Glasgow and not leave any open days in Inverness. It's a great location for your day tours, but not for much else.

Posted by outshined78

06/23/22 09:15 AM

103 posts

Although Inverness is officially a "city", it's really a large(ish) town with a population of about 50k. It's a pleasant enough place, but I don't think most people would say that there's a vast amount to see and do in the town itself.

In comparison (depending on how you define the boundaries /population) Edinbirgh is roughly 10 times the size of Inverness and Glasgow is about 20 times its size!....and imo they both have proportionally more to see and do as well.

As such, unless you have very specific/obscure things you want to see in Inverness, I'd agree that you should cut the 2 free days in Inverness and add them to Glasgow and/or Edinburgh. Although you've scheduled 2 nights in each, once you factor in the train journeys to/from London (4.5 hours) and to/from Inverness (just under 4 hours), then that's going to eat quite a lot into your time in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Edinburgh city centre is compact and can be mostly walked. However, many of the most popular sites and attractions in Glasgow are not in the city centre and are spread out in other neighbourhoods, so, depending what you want to see, you need to build in time to get to and from these attractions by public transport as well as time to actually see them.

Posted by wasleys

Lincolnshire, UK

06/23/22 04:31 PM

2320 posts

Are you relying on public transport in Inverness? If so, both the Kyle of Lochalsh and Thurso/Wick lines are worth doing. They are both very different and the scenery on both is good. You will need to allow for a full day for both.

How are you etting to Fort Willaim for the Jacobite Steam train? Is depending on bus, it won't get you there in time. Are you committed to teh Jacobite? The scots rail Fort William to Mallaig service runs along the asame route and is cheaper (You can use your rail pass too) It has a much more frequent timetable and you could do it in a day from Inverness using the bus to Fort William.

Posted by Bruce OP

06/23/22 05:23 PM

32 posts

Thanks, for the reply's. We have booked the Jacobite Train and Highlands tour out of Inverness on Sunday Sept 18 and the Isle of Skye Tour on Wed Sept 21 which takes up two full days. We are seniors so we do need to pace ourselves between two 12 hour day tours. We will have a Britrail Pass that we could use for Sept 19 and 20th to travel out of Inverness if we get bored. I have been to Edinburgh and Glasgow before so a full day of touring each city would be fine. We leave Inverness on Sept 22 and Leave for London on Sept 24 .

Thank You Bruce and Bettie