Thank you all for the wonderful information that I have gleaned on this site! My husband, myself and our two adult children will be traveling in Scotland for ten days in late May 2026. Our itinerary is partially based around attending The Highland Games in Pitlochry and The Garden Fair in Scone as we enjoy getting a feel for the culture and meeting people when we travel. We are traveling without a car which is going to work out well, except for the end of our trip which involves getting from Portree to Perth. We are thinking about hiring someone to drive us between these two points with perhaps making some stops to see things along the way. Any suggestions for a private car hire or places to stop along the way?
Itinerary.
Day
1 Edinburgh settle in
2 Edinburgh
3 Edinburgh day trip to St. Andrews all golf at Balgove (train)
4 Edinburgh
5 Edinburgh day trip to Pitlochry Highland Games (train)
6 To Isle of Skye changing trains in Fort Williams to experience The Jacobite Steam Train to Mallaig
7 Portree ( will join an island tour)
8 Portree (will join an island tour)
9 Travel to Perth, Sleep in Perth (Here I need Help)
10 Attend Scone Garden Fair, Train to Edinburgh
11 Depart Scotland
Posted by
Washington DC
29519 posts
Although I think it might be somewhat less costly to make arrangements for a Portree-Perth transfer directly with a Scottish transportation provider, there is a third-party company called "DayTrip" that serves as an intermediary between people with needs like yours and local service providers in many countries. Several people on the forum have used DayTrip and reported favorably. There is an option for sightseeing stops along the way (at an additional cost, naturally). You can check out the website at daytrip.com.
The Search function on this website doesn't handle a search for "daytrip.com" well, so here is a list of links produced by a Google search for the term on this forum: Google search results for "ricksteves.com/travel-forum daytrip.com".
Posted by
Lake District, England
10606 posts
There is a seasonal Portree to Perth Citylink bus service which last year started on 20 May (and runs to end September)-
The 1035 bus from Portree arrive Fort William at 1340 (that part runs all year). Leave Fort William on the #913 bus at 1600 (bound for Edinburgh via Lochearnhead), Perth arrive 1919.
So it should be the end of the first week of service.
On the Jacobite you will have to buy a return ticket, even if only going one way to Mallaig.
Stagecoach bus #3/3a runs hourly on a Saturday from Perth to Scone Palace, from 0855 to 1455, last back at 1504. The 58/58a also runs, and that has later journeys at 1533, 1733, 1913 and 2218