Ideas for 2 adults traveling without car in June trying to see most in 8 days

Honestly, without a car I would stay in Edinburgh the whole time and pick from the variety of guided day trips available from there. It sounds odd, but you will probably see more this way. Trying to use public transport to see the sights will only eat up your time, and won’t likely get you to what you want to see as trains and buses cater to commuters, not tourists. Glasgow is only an hour by train from Edinburgh, so that would be easy to do, but the guided day trips do a great job of combining several sights into one trip.

Have a look at Rabbies, a number of us have had good experiences on their tours.
https://www.rabbies.com/en

Hi, Traveldreamer,

I'm with Anita on this one. If you're flying in to Edinburgh, I would spend the first day and a half (arrival day plus the following day) there. Same with Glasgow.

A day trip to Stirling would be a good idea. You could visit the castle and the Wallace Monument, since you are a Braveheart fan. The statue of the Mel Gibson interpretation of William Wallace, which formerly resided in the Stirling Castle car park, was moved in 2021 to Glebe Park, home of the Brechin City Football Club. Strangely, the statue was vaguely reminiscent of one of those blow-up sex dolls which frequently appear on British sitcoms.

A good idea, as Anita suggested, would be to take a tour with one of the many tour companies which operate out of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Rabbie's, Hairy Coo, and Timberbush are the tour companies most frequently mentioned on this forum. The Rick Steves' tours are generally longer than the time which you have on the ground in Scotland. It would be best to take a three day tour which will take you in to the Highlands, so that you can get a sample of some of Scotland's best scenery. That will give you some ideas for your next visit to Scotland, which will be longer. (Even though you say that you doubt that you will ever be able to go back, you will be hooked once you visit Scotland!)

So, a day and a half in either Edinburgh or Glasgow; a day in Stirling; two days in either Edinburgh or Glasgow, whichever you missed on your arrival; and three days on a tour. And there's your week solved!

Best wishes, and good luck!

Mike (Auchterless)

I have 8 nights in Edinburgh planned for next month and there is plenty to keep you busy.

There’s lots to see in Edinburgh and I have several easy day trips by train on my list of possibilities: Dunbar, North Berwick, Dunfermline, South Queensferry/Dalmeny, and Stirling.

I wasn’t going to, but I ended up signing up for one of the rabbie’s day tours that goes into the Highlands. Will be a long day on the bus, but hopefully worth it.

https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-edinburgh/day-tours

I also signed up for a Mercat walking tour—the new Witches, Trial and Truth. They offer several other tours.

https://www.mercattours.com/tours/history-walks

One thing I prefer about the guided day trips like Rabbies is that they explain what you're looking at while driving and at stops, with context including history. Without that knowledge, while driving or using public transportation, Mary and I are often asking each other, "what's that?" over and over again. Anyway, my two pence.

Like Carrie we're doing some things on our own, and also doing some walking tours.

Public transportation is effective for getting between some larger cities, but wont go to the nature locations that make the highlands famous. For 8 days I'd suggest using Edinburgh as a home base and do 1 day in Glasgow, 1 day in St. Andrews, 1 day in Stirling, a tour through the highlands (1-2 days, rabbies seems popular here), and spend the rest of your time in Edinburgh.

The Isle of Skye is pretty far from Edinburgh, so there are single day tours, but they don't actually spend much time there. It may be worth doing an overnight trip or taking a highlands tour that focuses more on Glencoe area (epic cliffs) or the Cairngorms/Speyside (for forests/whiskey). Also, you should look into events happening while you are in Edinburgh. I am also traveling in June and was ecstatic to learn that the Royal Highland Show is happening while I am there June 22nd-25th.

Braveheart

Filmed in Ireland.

I truly do appreciate all of your kindness in giving your thoughts and ideas! It means a lot that you took your time for me. I have taken them into consideration and booked a tour with Rabbie for Skye and Highland tour and will use the other days for day trips our of Edinburgh and leisurely walking around Edinburgh. Thank you all and enjoy your day!

We loved our tours with Wow Scotland. They would be an excellent alternative to Rabbies. We also took the train from Edinburgh to Inverness. Was a lovely trip and made a nice launch pad to Skye, etc.

Traveldreamer, looking forward to your trip report. Keep us posted and have a wonderful time!