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Highland games/itinerary?

We're going to Scotland from late July to mid August (11 days), and want to see Edinburgh, some highlands--esp Culloden, maybe Glasgow, maybe Skye--mostly by public transportation. And we'd really like to see a Highlands games gathering. There's one on Skye on Aug 3 and one in St Andrews on July 31. I'm concerned that Skye will be overwhelmed with tourists because of the games, and hard to actually see the games because of the crowds. I'm concerned that going to St Andrews takes us sort of out of the way of a loop to the other places we want to see. Then there are possible games way up in the Highlands--which sound fun because they're smaller, homier, but also way out of the way. Any thoughts about how to do this? Any recommendations for which games to see? And is Glasgow worth a couple of days? Thanks!

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5678 posts

First of all, it's difficult to do Skye with public transportation. You would either need to rent a car, stay near the event and walk or take taxis. There may be bus service, but you will want to plan that carefully.

Secondly, have you looked at the VisitScotland site to see what Games are scheduled during your time? I look at August 1-10 in this search. I think that there may be another site that lists them. You might enjoy a smaller towns games. Have you ever been to them here in the US? I would say that the ones at Newtonmore are pretty centrally located just off the A5. You can take the train Kingussie. You can probably find some place to stay there that is close to the games.

What the places do you want to see.

With your limited time, I would recommend a day trip to Glasgow via the train from Edinburgh.

Pam