Hi! My husband and I will be traveling May 14-30th in Scotland. We will be spending the first 7 nights in the Highlands at a friend's condo (so those dates are fixed). Here is my itinerary so far:
5/14: Fly into Glasgow, drive to Loch Rannoch Highland Club.
5/15: Rent bikes, take picinic around the Loch to the beach.
5/16: Hike in the area.
5/17: Drive to Aberdeen: 3 hr See Dunnotar, Crathes, and Drum Castles. Spend the night in Inverness.
5/18: See Urquhart Castle. Drive back to Loch Rannoch (condo)
5/19: Drive to Pitlochry (44 min) and then stop at Aberfeldy on the way home. Hike in these areas
5/20: Drive to Gencoe? or hike in area.
5/21: Drop off son at Glasgow airport then drive to Culzean Castle (spend night).
5/22: Isle of Arran. see sights today and tomorrow.
5/23: Drive to Stonefield Castle (spend night)
5/24: Isle of Mull, then on to Skye
5/25:Isle of Skye
5/26: ?
5/27: ?
5/28: ?
5/29: Hotel near Glasgow Airport
5/30: early flight home
With the above itinerary, we'll be staying two nights on Skye. Is that enough? From Skye, should we go to one of the outer islands or drive to Gencoe and Ft. Williams area? Or, do you suggest other places? Also, any suggestions for 5/20? Gencoe or another place? We like small villages vs large cities. We aren't interested in seeing Edinburgh. We will have a car. We like some light hiking, and enjoy scenic drives, historical places, and castles. We have booked two overnight stays in castles for this trip. Also, how much in advance do I need to reserve the ferries?
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
Skye really needs 3 full days, as it takes a while to get round. For your final night, stay either near Oban or Loch Lomond or have another night in Glasgow.
Posted by
OP
US
5 posts
Jennifer, thank you so much for your thoughts!
Posted by
103 posts
Yes, I'd spend longer on Skye. Similarly I'd spend another day on Arran - Once you factor in the time taken getting the ferry there and back you're not going to have much time to see anything on your current schedule. Lastly on 5/24 you seaem to plan to see mull and drive from there to Skye all in a day? I think that's pretty unrealistic tbh, so I would spend another day on mull too.
I don't know how experienced you are driving on the left/in Scotland, but if you're getting straight off a long overnight transatlantic flight then driving all the way from Glasgow to Kinloch Rannoch it's a long drive to do with no sleep/jetlag and some might argue even a little dangerous.
Posted by
OP
US
5 posts
Thank you so much for all of the information. We'll be meeting our son, who lives in the UK, at the airport and he will do the driving the first day to Loch Rannoch, so the driving with jet lag won't be an issue. I can't add more nights to Arran because we have the Stonefield Castle booked for the night of the 23rd. I've changed the itinerary to adding a night on Mull and two nights on Skye. So, the 24th on Mull and the 25th and 26th on Skye. That leaves the 27th and 28th free. I think I'll leave those open and stay another night on Skye or just move on where ever we choose at the time. As for the 5/20 while we're staying in the Highlands; Is a day trip to Gencoe something to consider? Is there another day trip for that day that you would suggest? Other than the week at the condo in the highlands we have booked the two castle stays, a place on Arran, and our last night in Glasgow. The other nights we were going to wing it with B&B's. I thought I'd book the ferries to and from Arran soon since we have the castle stays before and after and will need to be sure and secure a spot on the ferry.j I'll probably book the one to Mull and on to Skye before we leave. We will use the bridge at Skye when we leave the island. I feel like I'm getting closer to finalizing our itinerary and thanks to both of you for your responses!