Early stages of planning family trip to Scotland for September 2027. 9 of us total. 2 very active seniors, 62, 5 mid 20 yr olds, and 2 children, 4 and 1 yrs old. Any suggestions from families that have traveled with a large group? We are mainly outdoor people, love history, hiking, nature, not shoppers at all! How did you find accommodations for a large group? Travel arrangements within Scotland? Any other tidbits of advice or insights? Any places or towns that you loved and would suggest as a must see? We plan to fly into Edinburgh to start. Probably stay 2 weeks total. Thank you for any positive, insightful, helpful comments. (Yes, we all have passports)
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
2085 posts
With so many people to wrangle, I would say move as little as possible. The trains go nearly everywhere, and the kids will travel for free (assuming the ages indicated are not their current ages but the ages they will be next year). Depending on how many train journeys you intend to take, you might want to get rail cards (probably two Friends and Family cards, but check here: https://www.railcard.co.uk
Will you stay in Edinburgh at all or just head out to the countryside? Either way, use your preferred site (mine is AirBnB) and filter for your group size, needs and budget, and see what you find. With young kids, I'd say you want a house or apartment, rather than a hotel. IME, AirBnB has made it harder to search without dates. Here's a great-looking place I found near Fort William, accessible by bus/taxi:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/740890537318912683?adults=7&children=1&infants=1&location=Scotland%2C%20United%20Kingdom&search_mode=regular_search&category_tag=Tag%3A7765&check_in=2026-12-11&check_out=2026-12-16&pets=0&photo_id=1511060498&source_impression_id=p3_1786124561_P352EWbaRidLs16E&previous_page_section_name=1001&federated_search_id=87952324-5d60-43a8-8b88-9505bb7da1a7
The price shown is for a December stay. It's too soon to check the price for September 2027.
Posted by
557 posts
Transport: a group of 9 without luggage would be easy, rent a 9 seat minivan The problem is they don't have much space for luggage. Most recommended scottish rental company Celtic Legend describes a 9 seat van as perfect for four golfers with luggage and clubs! Are the two kids with same parents? If so the easy solution is that foursome gets one medium sized car, the other five and the luggage get a 9 seater. All you need then is someone skilled enough to drive the van on roads where Scots drive vehicles that big. Start watching Youtube driving in scotland videos.....
Accomodation. A whole house is fairly easy to find but possibly not for odd nights, so you should look somewhere like north side of Perth with easy access in all directions (and a large supermarket for food shopping) and use it as a base for the whole time. Unless you wanto spend spme days in Edinburgh in which case do that at either start or end and use central Edinburgh hotels for those nights (without vehicles). Google hotel house rental perthshire
Flights: you got that bit right already! Glasgow as plan B.
Posted by
OP
49 posts
Yes! We want to stay in Edinburgh for a few days. And yes, children are with same parents. So very helpful comments and suggestions. Will rely on others throughout the year as I update plans. So excited! Probably will keep travel to a minimus. Go to one or two other areas and stay there for several days.