Inverness to Skye to Edinburgh - Best Scenario

Posted by MikeyDo on 07/18/23 11:34 PM

We are taking the LNER direct from London to Inverness on a Thursday evening in early October. Our desire is to make a brief visit to the Isle of Skye before going to Edinburgh by Saturday evening. Here are the choices we are considering:

Scenario 1: Rent car Friday morning first thing, drive to Isle of Skye, heading for the most remote areas of interest first (itinerary to be determined, and working our way back to spend Friday night near Breakish. Saturday morning we would continue progress back toward Edinburgh and turn in car at an Edinburgh location Saturday night. (Best Arnold Clark location to be determined)

Scenario 2: Similar to above but return car to Inverness in time to catch train back to Edinburgh.

Scenario 3: Don't rent a car. Just stay in Inverness Thursday and Friday nights, take a 12 hour day trip to Isle of Skye on one of the small group tours, head to Edinburgh on Saturday at a time to be determined.

Open to suggestions and critiques. This will be our third visit to Scotland, but our first to rent a car. Thanks!

Posted by auchterless

Delaware

07/19/23 01:43 AM

1429 posts

Hi, Mikeydo,

I'd go with option two, unless you had specific places you wanted to visit enroute to Edinburgh.. If you return the car in Edinburgh, you'd have a one way drop off fee. However, you'd be saving two (?) train fares. I don't know which would end up being less expensive.

There is so much to see on Skye - you really need more than your allotted less than 24 hours, some of which will be spent sleeping. You need to choose two or three sites which you want to visit. As others will tell you, Skye is a lot bigger than it looks on a map. Many of the roads are single track with passing places. But that doesn't mean that you aren't going to have a great visit. Take your time, and enjoy the scenery. If all you have time for is a drive by visit, then it will certainly whet your appetite for a longer visit to Skye on your fourth visit to Scotland!

If you haven't already reserved accommodation for Breakish, I can heartily recommend Strathgorm. Great hosts; breakfast that will last you the whole day! We have stayed there on our last six visits to Scotland.

Safe travels!

Mike (Auchterless)

Posted by GT

London

07/19/23 10:38 AM

81 posts

I'd aim to stay longer on Skye - it's a surprisingly big island with lots to see

And I would do the car hire to and from Inverness - I would take the through the middle train route that follows the A9 route

Posted by MikeyDo OP

07/19/23 01:56 PM

21 posts

Thanks for the replies. I've got two votes so far for rent and return to Inverness.

Other than saving the one-way return premium, are there other compelling reasons to avoid driving back to Edinburgh?

For what it's worth, here's how we got to even considering this scenario: In our previous visits, we've alway spent a few days in London, taken the train to Edinburgh, and flown home from there. We've loved the train trip and considered it a highlight. This year I thought we'd break it up and spend a night in York. When I floated a quick trip to Isle of Skye as a possible alternative, my wife was hooked. That's how we ended up considering this short and somewhat harried trip to Skye instead of any equally short but less harried visit to York.

We want to get back to Edinburgh by Saturday evening. We have a church we like to visit as well as making the Stockbridge Market.