First Scotland Trip Itinerary - Advice Appreciated

Inverness isn’t really a tourist place although it’s a pleasant enough town. I’d head south to Aviemore for a night or two instead. Stops there and Pitlochry will give you a feel for the Highlands. There are plenty of distilleries but they tend to be away from easy public transport so an off the wall idea would be Auchentoshan just outside Glasgow, it’s a great tour and it could be done by bus or Uber.

In Glasgow you don't even need to go out of town now to find a Distillery. There is also the Glasgow distillery- https://www.glasgowdistillery.com/

I think it's the first distillery in Glasgow for almost a hundred years- if memory serves me right the last one burnt down in a spectacular blaze.

No three days in Inverness is not too long- there are lots of options of day trips from the city, by public transport. But if you were following Heart of Scotland you could stay in Nairn or Elgin instead. There is a bus route out of Elgin which has no less than ten distilleries on it- see this thread- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/scotland/speyside-without-a-car-is-it-possible-or-are-we-nuts

(you are just staying in Elgin/Nairn as opposed to Aberlour on that thread).

You can even get to the Crannog Centre by bus. It needs a bit of planning but Sweeney's Garage #91 gets you there from Aberfeldy and you reach Aberfeldy from Perth. Ideally spend the previous night in Aberfeldy, going up on an afternoon bus from Perth.

Like Mail, I'm not a huge fan of Inverness. It's a functional town rather a place full of tourist highlights.
His/her idea of spending a night or 2 in Aviemore is a good one, especially if you enjoy hillwalking.
It's a pity you can only spend a couple of nights in Edinburgh...you'll barely be able to scratch the surface of one of the world's most attractive, interesting, historical and multi layered cities.

I understand you only have 9 nights though, so choices have to be made 🙂

Thanks for the feedback! Think maybe I could plan to just use Inverness as a base for a day trip or two, and then move to Aviemore... Thought I'd leave Isle of Skye for next time when I could plan farther ahead, but maybe a one-day trip to the Isle of Skye (Rabbies) would be worth doing.

Dalwhinnie is another distillery you can visit by public transport- by train from Inverness and Aviemore. Also the Dalmore Distillery by bus from Inverness

That's a good idea about using a Rabbies tour to see Skye since you won't have a car. They're a good company and come highly recommended here.

Will, the idea of a Rabbies tour is good but I don’t believe they have a one day tour of Isle of Skye. There is a wonderful 4 day tour of the Isle of Skye and West Highlands, but that’s not exactly what you asked for. I travelled in Scotland by public transport and day tours in 2022 and this 4 day tour was one of the highlights of my time in Scotland. Something to consider if you wanted to rework your timing for this trip, OR keep this in the back burner for the next one. Here is a link to the 4 day tour I took.

https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-edinburgh/2-4-day-tours/isle-of-skye-the-west-highlands-4-day-tour

P.S. I see there is an Isle of Skye tour by Rabbies, but it is 3 day tour. Peruse the website a bit, you might find something else that doesn’t take as much time.

Inverness is a nice town but also a transportation hub. Easy train and bus service to various parts of the highlands and afield. The other Rabbies tour I took was a one day out of Inverness to Clava Cairns Culloden and Glen Affric. It was a very nice mix of ancient history, learning of the battle at Culloden and of the Highland clearances and then there was a wonderful stop at a Caledonian pine forest with nice walks along a river/stream with fabulous views of the forest and countryside. Here is the link:

https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-inverness/1-3-day-tours/glen-affric-culloden-clava-cairns-1-day-tour

As I'm a bit of an Inverness fanboi, let me chime in that 3 days there is by no means too many if you enjoy excellent cuisine, great Highland music and beautiful scenery. It's one of my favorite places. There's spectacular golf to be found in and around Inverness as well. Finally, I'll echo Linda's discussion about Rabbie's Tours and how ideal Inverness is as a hub for taking them.

I will say that during my two weeks in Scotland a year or two ago the best music we heard was, indeed, in Inverness.