NO car travel, looking for drivers/ companies

Hi, Jan,

A couple of questions and observations before e start:

By "Porters", do you actually mean Portree? If not, where are you planning to stay?

There is not much accommodation on Iona. There are two small hotels - the Argyll and the St. Columba. Most visitors who are there for three nights stay in Fionnphort, and take the ferry over each day.

You said that you are travelling in May. Have you made accommodation arrangements for your holiday?

There are several companies which offer private tours of Scotland. You can probably find one that will take you from one destination to another, but given your itinerary, it is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find someone to stick with you the whole time. Also, you'd have to pay for that person's accommodation and meals as well as your own.

As a start, you could try contacting the Hairy Coo tour company. They operate out of Edinburgh. If they cannot provide what you are looking for, they may be able to make some suggestions. Their e-mail address is contact@thehairycoo.com The telephone number from the US is 011 44 131 2125026. Have a look at their website.

I certainly appreciate your sense of adventure! You will especially appreciate Findhorn.

Best wishes for your plans. Let us know if you are successful in arranging travel to everywhere you want to go.

Mike (Auchterless)

p.s.: No, it's not crazy!

Thanks for the recommendation for drivers. I’m thinking I will have to piece these segments together. I did mean Portree ( crazy auto correct). We booked all accommodations back in November and are happy with what we got. I’ll check into this company. Last year we got a car for traveling Ireland and it just created alot of stress. Hoping to avoid having to do that again.

Hi again, Jan,

Based on my experience, you'll find driving a rented car in Scotland a little bit easier than in Ireland. However, both can be stressful if you're not used to driving on the left and shifting gears with your left hand. Best to avoid the stress and enjoy having someone do the driving for you.

All of your destinations can be easily reached by bus and train. The only one which could be a problem would be getting from Portree to Iona. That would involve bus/taxi, ferry, train, bus/taxi, ferry, bus/taxi. The Fort William to Oban bus only operates twice daily, so you'd probably need a taxi for that part of the route. However, you wouldn't see as much from a taxi, as the driver would most likely not be interested in stopping wherever you'd like.

With a private driver, you could take the road from Inverailort to Kilchoan, then the ferry to Tobermory. That would be a much more scenic route than the A830/A82/A85.

Once again, best wishes and good luck!

Mike (Auchterless)

It does look like Rabbies would be able to put something together, but would likely be very expensive for the whole trip. Are you willing to take public transportation for part of it? I am not an expert, but it seems like ScotRail has easy routes between Edinburgh and St. Andrews, and from St. Andrews through Aberdeen to Findhorn.

Inverness to Portree is a route done by many tour companies, so that may be the best option, but Portree and Iona seem very difficult to connect via set tours or public transportation. Maybe a private tour from Inverness through Skye and to Oban is your best option, with the tour either bringing you all the way to Iona, or using West Coast tours/public transport to get you from Oban to Iona and back.

I hope that helps and I wish you luck!

Skye is pretty much impossible to see by public transport. The main Citylink bus will get you from Inverness to Portree, but once there you are stuck. The local buses operate based on getting kids from the far flung corners of the island to high school in Portree. There are a few local tour companies Skye Jeep Tours is one such. They will create a tour around your wishes and do pick ups in Portree and Broadford mainly.

Good Luck! I think this will be pretty challenging to put together without a rental car for at least some of the time.

Best wishes
Jacqui (Skyegirl)

You can get from Portree to Iona in the day-
depart on Citylink from Portree at 0730, Fort William a 1035 (the Glasgow bus); change bus,
Fort William d 1230,
Oban a 1403
Oban d 1555 by ferry Craignure a 1645. (there is a 1415 but unless the Loch Frisa is running late it's too tight a connection.
(there is a bus meets the 1645 arrival at Craignure, which is a summer timetable bus only, so not on line yet, but alluded to on the CalMac timetables)- the last ferry to Iona at 1815 waits for that bus.
There is no reason to think that West Coast Motors won't run that bus this year, as it has run for very many years (30 or more that I know of) and CalMac believe it is going to run.
The EDI- St Andrews, St Andrews to Findhorn, Findhorn to Portree and Iona to Glasgow legs are all very easy by public transport.
EDIT 14 March 2023- The summer bus connecting with the 1815 ferry to Iona is now confirmed as running- departing Craignure at 1700.

What if you get a driver who is annoying? Can you replace him/her?

Thank you all for the great suggestions. I have figured out some train connections that will work and a few tour groups. I'm checking with "the hairycoo and Rabbies for a driver for parts. We may have to just get a car for a few days. You have all been so helpful and I thank you. Looking forward to this adventure.
Jan

A bit late, but I just saw this company https://invernesstours.com/ linked elsewhere on the forum, and it sounds like one of their custom tours would be perfect for you. With 4 people splitting the cost, the price should be very reasonable.

the recommendations elsewhere on the Forum for inverness tours are older. There are four, 3 of which in different threads are by the same person who always said that she was planning on using them some months later than her posts. She never came back to give a review.

There is one other post by a more regular contributor who gave the name amongst others.

It may be worth looking around for reviews before choosing them.

I don't have any knowledge of these folks but wanted to help paint an informed picture.

I'd not heard of Inverness Tours before, but checking on Trip Advisor, they do get very good reviews (although a lot are from first time posters.)

I know this is late. I thought this person might be of help. We hired Elizabeth for 2 separate days of touring Aberdeenshire last year. She was fabulous! Very good driver and very personable. I don't know if she does trips this wide spread, but you could ask.

https://aberdeenshiretours.net/

Hi Jan and all,
My husband and I are visiting Glasgow June7--9 for a conference, taking the train from Edinburgh, and before that from London. We just love train travel:) BUT: on June 9, we are heading to Craigendoch Lodge for 3 nights, and there is no public transportation, and we are not comfortable driving ourselves. Am looking into the recs in this forum, but wondered if any of you know of drivers for hire in Glasgow who would take us and then come back to get us? Thanks in advance for your help! (I'm new to the forum here, but have used Rick Steves' planning for years!)
Cathy

Can you clarify where Craigendoch Lodge is, I am wondering if it's a typo and you meant to put Craigendarroch Lodge at Ballater?
If so there is certainly transit to Ballater- train to Aberdeen, then bus. In fact the bus goes almost to the door.
By the way the Bus fare to Ballater from Aberdeen is £11.50 each way, but very unusually for a local bus you can buy a period return, valid for 28 days, for £21.10 each.
By the way this is another case where Rome2Rio has a load of nonsense.
This is the full timetable for the bus from Aberdeen to Ballater-
https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/North%20Scotland/Bluebird/Deeside%2016%20Aug%202021.pdf

Hi, Cathy,

By Craigendoch Lodge, are you referring to Craigendarroch Lodge, near Ballater? If so, there is definitely public transportation to there. Train to Aberdeen; bus to Ballater. Aberdeen's railway and bus stations are adjacent to one another, so you would only have a short walk from the train to the bus.

The hotel should be able to arrange to pick you up once you arrive in Ballater. If not, there is taxi service available. If you take the bus to the end of the driveway, it's a bit of a hike up to the Lodge, so you could either have the Lodge pick you up at the end of the driveway, or meet you at the old railway station in Ballater.

If there is a Craigendoch Lodge, let us know where it is, and we can help you with transport information. One of our contributors, isn31c, has an encyclopedic knowledge of all means of public transport in Scotland, and will definitely be able to plan your route.

Best wishes and good luck!

Mike (Auchterless)

If it is Craigendarroch in Ballater to which you refer then this website will help planning your journey by public transport.

www.travelinescotland.com

HI all, yes, I missepelled! I am referring to Craigendarroch Lodge, near Ballater:) Thank you all for your recommendations! I am on it with train and bus! SO looking forward to visiting:)

I'll step in now a bit late. I hope this isn't too long or too late. I have often hired private tours to take us on day trips when the three of us in our family travel. I find that I much prefer them to group tours. I know many love Rabbie's and I'm sure they're fine for most, but I have preferred the private and taxi tours that we've taken that for three of us haven't cost much more than the cost of three of us taking a group tour. (We did go on a Rabbie's tour once, and it was fine.) With four people, you may even save money when booking a tour just for your group since you usually won't be paying a fee per person, but rather per trip. One of the best money saving strategies I've found is to research taxi companies. Many taxis can be hired to take people on day trips for a fairly reasonable amount. Some will even have suggested itineraries on their websites. We hired a taxi driver in St Andrews that my husband met on one of the golf courses. We had some very specific sites that we wanted to see and he was willing to take us wherever we wished within the number of hours he allotted for our day out. Taxi drivers are usually not licensed tour guides. They provide transportation from one point to another, but in the taxi tours we've taken, we've had great conversations with the drivers about life in their neck of the woods. I like to do a lot of research for our trips, so we don't mind not having an actual tour guide. You might want to check out Iconic Tours in Edinburgh. I've been following this business for several years since I tried to hire him for a tour seven or eight years ago. He couldn't do it that day, but suggested a friend's touring company (Local Eyes) which was great. I love some of the tours that Iconic Tours has created though. He does both day trips and overnight trips. I would love to go out with his company some day if we manage to stay in Edinburgh again. Since Iconic Tours was booked, we used Local Eyes tours out of Edinburgh and very much enjoyed our day, tailored to our interests. In addition, my sister-in-law booked Local Eyes for a couple of walking tours in Edinburgh and was quite happy. (I believe she even took her guide out to dinner at the end of one walking tour!) Last spring we hired a private guide out of Inverness (Aye Tours)...and gained from them the information on where to find working farm dog demonstrations and we booked a taxi tour (Highland Mini Tours) out of Fort William that took us to Glen Coe, Eilean Donan Castle, and one or two other spots before dropping us and our luggage in Portree...so a tour and transport so our next destination! Finally, I should say that I always check reviews of every service we use for touring...except for the taxi driver in St Andrews...but we had already gotten to know him before we hired him for our day trip.

I suggest you also check with the places you plan to stay overnight. We did that when we were planning our trip to Ireland, and one recommended the most wonderful driver (who paid all his own expenses for overnight stays) and who was incredible in the way of telling us a bit about Ireland, making a few surprise stops at places he knew we would enjoy (we loved them). I basically sent him a map ahead of time with a bit of an outline/timeframe for what I had in mind...he then asked if he could telephone (during the call he suggested a few tweaks, which were spot on). We enjoyed him so much, friends of ours hired him a couple of years later. We even had him visit for dinner when he was in the US. (If anyone is wondering about him for Ireland, I believe he is now retired, as he email no longer works.)

But, you might luck up with similar results. For our friends, they were going to Dublin, too (outside the range of where our driver was able to go), but he quickly recommended another driver for that segment, and our friends were delighted with that driver, too.

Quality lodging places generally know who is good and will generally only recommend reliable people.

Hi again, Jan,

There is another way of getting from Portree to Fionnphort (for Iona), but it would involve staying overnight in Tobermory.

7:30 a.m. Citylink bus from Portree to Fort William, which arrives at 10:35 a.m.

That would give you enough time to putter around Fort William for a bit, before catching the 1:50 Shiel bus to Kilchoan. It arrives at the Kilchoan ferry terminal at 4:25, in time to catch the 4:45 CalMac ferry to Tobermory. The ferry does wait for the bus to arrive.

The ferry arrives in Tobermory at 5:20 p.m., which is unfortunately too late to catch the last bus for Fionnphort. As the last ferry to Iona departs Fionnphort at 6:15, even a fast pre-booked taxi would probably not get you to Fionnphort in time. So a night in Tobermory would be in order. Or Fionnphort, if you want to get an early start going to Iona.

That's probably not too much of a help, but I wanted to put it out there, just in case.

You may also want to consider one of the taxi services in Kyle of Lochalsh. You should definitely be able to find a company willing to drive you to Kilchoan or Lochaline, where you can take the ferry to either Tobermory or Fishnish. From there, you can take the West Coast Motors 495 bus to Craignure, then the 496 bus to Fionnphort. The last bus out of Craignure meets the last ferry to Iona.

With four of you travelling, however, that's a lot of shifting of luggage. You could try getting a taxi out of Kyle all the way to Fionnphort, by way of Kilchoan or Lochaline. It's a beautiful drive, and with four of you travelling, it may end up costing you not much more than public transportation.

Getting from Fionnphort to Glasgow will be a piece of cake after all that. West Coast Motors 496 bus to Craignure, ferry to Oban, then train to Glasgow. The railway station in Oban is next to the ferry terminal.

Best wishes once again!

Mike (Auchterless)

Or last night I updated my post of 13 February timed at 2.10 pm (above) for the summer bus schedules- for Citylink Fort William to Oban, ferry to Craignure, last bus to Iona, thus Portree to Iona is possible in one day, now.

Craignure to Fionnphort bus

Oban to Craignure ferry

Iona Ferry

Scottish Citylink

The other possibility, to take in the remotest and most spectacular part of the West Highland Railway is to depart Fort William on the train at 1140, Crianlarich 1327/1418 Oban 1528 then 1555 ferry as below- this can be booked on the day, if the weather is good, and the trains are running. As per next post it can also be booked, on the day, as Fort William to Craignure so you are not delayed standing in line to buy a ferry ticket at Oban

By the way Scotrail do a through fare from Craignure to Glasgow, which includes the ferry, that is valid for any train on the day

If you booked an advance Oban to Glasgow fare and either ferry was late, then your train ticket is gone. Book a through fare and you are covered for any delay on either ferry.

Book ahead and you can pick that up from any ticket machine before travel.

The through train fare from Craignure has now been withdrawn.