First time in Scotland!

Have you thought about Dunoon, on the Cowla peninsula and just 'doon the water' from Glasgow. It is reached by a regular car ferry from Gourock. It has a pier, long promendade and was a popopular destination for C19th holiday makers from Glasgow. Read more about it here.

https://www.wildaboutargyll.co.uk/visit/dunoon-cowal/

https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/explore/itineraries/dunoon/#/

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/dunoon/dunoon/index.html

The wonderful Benmore Gardens are just a short drive.

Inverary with its casrtle and jail is just over an hour's drive. Loch Lomond is also doable too

Q3- The nature of the geography and the distances mean that significant travel times on any Scottish itinerary which starts in Edinburgh and then concentrates on the west coast are an inevitability.
Q5- Pitlochry is touristy because for the most part it was built as a tourist town, with the coming of the railway, then the primary means of transport to the area (even for the Lairds). But as in many other such places it is incredibly easy to escape fellow tourists.
The more historical part of Pitlochry is a village less than 2 miles up the hill called Moulin. The village has a well respected hotel. When I go up there I know I am leaving all the tourists behind as soon as I start up the hill. Pitlochry Heritage Centre is actually in the former Moulin Church (Kirk).

But a nearby town with a lot more Scottish History, but way fewer tourists is Dunkeld (and it's sister village of Birnam).

From Pitlochry you could also look at heading out west towards Rannoch- lovely but little known (to overseas tourists) countryside.

Q6- Getting from Edinburgh to Islay by road is basically going round two sides of a triangle. In my mind the far better way to get there by road is to take the base of the triangle- the 2 or 3 ferry route- either Western Ferries Gourock to Dunoon then CalMac Portavadie to Tarbert (Loch Fyne); or Wemyss Bay to Rothesay, then Rhubodach to Colintraive, then Portavadie to Tarbert.
It is no faster, but is just in every way better in my opinion.

The time saving way to get there is to fly from Glasgow to Islay (morning and afternoon flights). On a good day the little flights are a good sightseeing opportunity, as a side benefit. Until you've seen the islands by air I don't think you truly grasp the geography of the west coast.

Tarbert (Loch Fyne) is a possible small town to use as a base to explore Kintyre. Campbeltown (at the bottom of Kintyre) is a whisky region of it's own, and has several (3 or 4) distilleries you can visit. The Isle of Gigha (half way down Kintyre) is an easy day trip, and a good example of a community buy out island (from it's former Lairds) with several good community businesses. Another little town I like a lot on the way across Cowal to Portavadie is Tighnabruaich- a one or two nighter.

Please bear in mind that drink driving laws in Scotland are strict, driving and drinking any measure of whisky are mutually exclusive actions. There are several island companies on Islay who will do private distillery tours for you. I also think you will find the whisky contrast between Islay and Jura (it's neighbouring island, quick ferry hop over) rather interesting.
Islay has two island car rental companies, and a pretty comprehensive bus service, mainly (it seems) by the locals. Islay is a big island with a lot of scenery and places to explore outwith the distilleries. Including travel days then you could readily make Islay cover the whole 5 or 6 days at your disposal.

The time saving way from Islay to Oban for Tobermory is the twice weekly direct ferry from Port Askaig to Oban. I have to say that the thought of Oban being too big is a bit thought provoking. The tourist part (as opposed to where the locals live) is little more than two long streets. Yes it's busy because it is a major port. But again it takes little effort to escape fellow tourists- even in the town itself (go up to McCaig's Tower or Dunollie or Dunstaffnage , or going across to the islands of Kerrera or Lismore on the wee ferries.
Lismore in particular has the nice island cafe in the Gaelic Heritage Centre.

Thank you isn31C! You have given me lots of food for thought. I want to double click on two particular points that you have made.

1. You correctly point out that we are flying into EDI, and yet most of our plans are in Western Scotland. This makes me wonder if we should skip Edinburgh altogether and fly into Glasgow. So far we have booked our flights into LHR and yet to book flights into Scotland. Maybe we should fly London --> Glasgow, and then plan our 10 days West of Glasgow. We love smaller towns over bigger cities anyway so this might not be a bad idea. Any thoughts?
2. Flying into Islay is another great idea to save time. We fly into London on June 4, and can then fly into Glasgow the afternoon of June 4, spend the night near Glasgow airport and then take the first flight into Islay the morning of June 5.

Here's how that itinerary might look like:

1. June 5 (morning) - Glasgow to Islay flight, spend day on Islay.
2. June 6 - Day on Islay, and take the evening flight to Glasgow, and spend night in Glasgow.
3. June 7 - Pickup rental car in Glasgow and drive to Oban and ferry to Mull. Hotel in Tobermory.
4. June 8 - Day on Mull
5. June 9 - Day on Mull.
6. June 10 - Ferry back to Oban and drive to Inveraray. Spend night in Inveraray
7. June 11 - Day in Inveraray
8. June 12 - Day in Inveraray
9. June 13 - Drive to Tarbert and spend day in Tarbert
10. June 14 - Day in Tarbert
11. June 15 - Ferry hop towards Glasgow (between Tarbert, Portavadie, Tighnabruaich, Dunoon, and Greenock)

Not sure what happened to your response, which appeared and then vanished. The site is having intermittent technical problems this weekend (of a certain Seattle/Boston sporting fixture which seems to have created a jinx), perhaps it accidentally fell victim to that.

Anyway yes flying into GLA on 4 June feels a good idea. On 5 June the flight to Islay is at 0755, arrive 0835.

6 June is a Saturday, so there is but one flight out of Islay at 0915, 7 June (Sunday) is a single flight at 1625, then Monday is flights at 0905 and 1825.
Saturday is a day of a ferry from Islay to Oban at 1215, arrive 1620; also a 1530 to Kennacraig arrive 1725, for a bus to Glasgow arrive 2116, via Inveraray at 1919. Next day there is a 1021 bus out of Inveraray to Oban arrive 1138.
Not sure, being a Sunday, if either of the two Oban car rental companies, or either of the two Mull based companies are open for a car on Mull; then afterwards train back Oban to Glasgow.

Or step the whole trip up to start a day earlier, if flights (and hotels?) are not yet booked. That way you avoid the weekend flight shortfall.

Hi all,

So my wife and I went over the plan several times and here is where we are landing. This is our first time in Scotland, and we feel we don't want to deal with the uncertainties/time delays of ferry crossings, so we have decided to skip both Islay and Mull from this trip.

So here's a simple version of the itinerary and we would welcome any tweaks:

1. June 4: Edinburgh (3 nights) - Fly into Edinburgh on June 4 and spend 3 nights there (2 full days, with one of those days potentially used for a Rabbie's day trip)
2. June 7: Aberfeldy (4 nights) - We rent a car in Edinburgh and drive to Aberfeldy (longer route with stops in Stirling and Killin), and spend 3 days exploring the area.
3. June 11: Argyll (4 nights) (Inveraray or some other town as our base) - We drive to our final base somewhere in Argyll. Still not sure what will be a good base but leaning towards Inveraray, and spend the time exploring Argyll.
4. June 15 - Drive to Glasgow, return car, and fly out from Glasgow airport.

Question 1 - Does this make sense? We want to keep it simple and just relax without too much logistics?
Question 2 - What town would you recommend as our base in Argyll? Note we love cute small towns that aren't too touristy.

It makes sense if that is what suits you. There are no rights and wrongs in all of this, only what suits any individual.

As for a base in Argyll. For me, personally, first choice would be Tarbert (Loch Fyne), then in order Ardrishaig, Lochgilphead and Inveraray. Inveraray is only in 4th place because for me the others out compete it. When the day trippers have gone from Inveraray it is a beautiful place, especially down at the pier on the Loch side. So I am not in any way at all "knocking it". Honestly any of those 4 will do you just fine.

Looking at the last sentence about "cute small towns that aren't too touristy" the absolute first place that sprang straight to mind was Campbeltown (mentioned above) at the bottom of Kintyre. You can fly in to the tiny airport there from Glasgow, and there is a local rental car depot. I am just aware that it is a long drive from Aberfeldy (I suspect around 4 hours) and rather over 3 to Glasgow.

But it is another of those flights (I rate it even above the Islay flight) which is just so different to civil aviation as most of us now know it. Of course Campbeltown would be even better if we got back the missing Option 3- the Sunday lunch ferry cruise to or from Ardrossan (from Glasgow). I say the airport is tiny (and it is) yet it has the longest runway in Scotland- and has been a NATO air base, and until 1995 was a US Marine Corps facility in connection with the Clyde Submarine bases.

A few observations.

I wouldn’t consider Pitlochry touristy.

We really liked Aberfeldy.

Killin is really small with some scenic waterfalls. We attended Highland Games in Killin that we enjoyed. Otherwise ????

We stayed in an ancient stone cottage on the banks of Loch Tay. TBH this was the highlight of the trip.

Thank you for continuing to help us isn31c!!

We will spend some time this evening looking at Tarbert as we are completely open to the town we make our base. We also plan to have a car so we will be driving around to other places in Argyll whenever we want to, or alternatively just linger in the town if we like it there. So there’s flexibility in how we spend time in Argyll for sure. The idea of Campbeltown is appealing but the distance gives me pause (and also the notion of taking another flight is something we don’t want to deal with, luggage restrictions etc.)

As we go through this planning process, one thing we both are aligned on now is we want less driving/travel time, and more just being in Scotland time and soaking it in. That’s the main reason we ruled out flights and ferries at least for this first trip.

Thanks @dpoweron!

1. Would you pick Pitlochry over Aberfeldy as your base?
2. The idea of staying at an ancient cottage on a Loch sounds great. Where exactly was this cottage?

I'm sorry to hear that you've dismissed Oban. It's a nice little town to take a break from driving with great seafood, the Oban Distillery and beautiful sunsets . There is easy access to day trips with and without a car to islands including Mull. Or take the foot ferry to explore Kerrera by bike. With a car you could spend a day visiting the ancient stone circles and cairns of Kilmartin Glen l.

Are you planning to drive from Inveraray to Glasgow on the day of your departure? Unless you're flight departs late afternoon I would suggest staying closer to the airport the night before your departure. Road work, accidents and weather can cause problems on that route.

Have a great trip!

I preferred Aberfeldy.

Search Rock Cottage, Fearnan for the AirBnB we loved.

Depending on where you are, have you considered going to one of the Highland Games? They're like nothing you've ever seen before and so much fun. I went to one back in 2023 and loved it. You'll find them between May and September, so it's worth checking to see if there's one around you. Here's a calendar that will show you all the events for the season.

https://www.rshga.org/calendar