Hi folks!
Canadian here looking for itinerary advice for a trip to Scotland in August.
We have a portion of the trip planned. We will do Edinburgh for 4 nights, pick up the car and drive to Inverness for 2 nights (not exactly sure what to do around Inverness yet - any advice here welcome also), then drive to Skye (Portree) and stay for 4 nights ending Aug 11. We then want to be in Glasgow for the night of August 16.
That leaves us four nights in between (Aug 12-15) where we are really confused about our itinerary. We would like to explore Mull, Oban, Iona, Staffa, Glennfinnan viaduct, and/or the Glencoe area [if too many places, something could be dropped]. We will have a rental car. We also have booked a B&B in Oban (for Aug 14-15); it is cancellable, but there's a fee to cancel and B&Bs seem to be filling up so we most likely want to keep it anyway.
From what I've been researching I am thinking about two options...
OPTION 1:
Aug 12 - Depart Skye. [Do Glennfinnan on the way from Skye to Kilchoan? unsure.] Take Kilchoan ferry to Tobermory. Explore Tobermory. Stay in Tobermory or somewhere else on Mull.
Aug 13 - Drive to Fionnport, take ferry to Iona. Explore Iona. Return to Mull and explore Mull more. Maybe Staffa too? Stay in the same place as Aug 12.
Aug 14 - Explore more of Mull in the morning to afternoon. Take Craignure ferry to Oban before the evening. Tour the Oban Distillery and town, have dinner. Stay in Oban.
Aug 15 - Day trip from Oban to Glencoe, maybe a hike somewhere. Dinner/sleep in Oban.
Aug 16 - Drive from Oban to Glasgow, return car.
OPTION 2:
Aug 12 - Depart Skye. Drive through Glenfinnan to Glencoe. Explore Glencoe with remaining time. Overnight in Glencoe/Fort William area.
Aug 13 - More exploring of Glencoe, probably a hike somewhere. Ovenight in Glencoe/Fort William area.
Aug 14 - Drive from FW/Glencoe to Oban. Tour the Oban Distillery and town, have dinner. Stay in Oban.
Aug 15 - Day trip to Mull/Iona/Staffa by doing a tour from West Coast Tours or Staffa Tours. Dinner/sleep in Oban.
Aug 16 - Drive from Oban to Glasgow, return car.
The advantage of Option 1 is that it lets us see more of Mull, which seems lovely. The disadvantage is that there's some backtracking involved with going from Oban north back up to Glencoe (which would have been close to Glenfinnan). The advantage of Option 2 is that there's a bit more hiking involved, and logistically it seems a little easier--for instance, we wouldn't have to coordinate the ferries as well, but the disadvantage is that we probably won't get to see/explore much of Mull.
For those who have been to Tobermory - is it worth a stay? Is there much to see or do there?
For our interests (in case it helps), I find myself falling in love often seaside/port towns/cities, so hence my interest in Tobermory (e.g. I loved visiting Whitby in England). We do like hiking also -- we are not super serious hikers, but we do enjoy a moderately strenuous hikes from time to time. And of course we like good scenery and food.
Hoping for any advice on which one of these would be better! I've been bouncing these ideas in my head, with not much resolution and I can't decide which one to go with. Or maybe there's some other option that I haven't thought about. Any advice is appreciated!