Pap of Glencoe...

Walk Highlands is a very good resource for hikes such as the Pap of Glencoe. This site suggests 3.5 to 5 hours round trip. You can search the Walk Highlands site to find other hikes in the area. They are graded by distance and difficulty, as well as the bog factor - in other words how wet underfoot the walk might be.

That is for the round trip, see here- https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/fortwilliam/papofglencoe.shtml

But how do you plan to get there?- drive or bus-

By bus you leave EDI at 0800, arrive 1245, leave 1942 arrive 0027 next morning,
OR depart 0345 arrive 0913, depart 1442 arrive 1938

By the standards of this forum that is an extraordinary journey for a walk.

Driving it is at least 3 hours in each direction, plus the walk- an 11 hour day as a base minimum.

Thank you for your input. I'd rent a car leaving by 9am and and drive 3 hours there. Spend around 6-7 hours (including hike) and drive 3 back arriving around 10pm after a 13 hour day. Is that too much?

If you're happy with that length of trip that's what matters. It's just important that you go into it with your eyes open. You are leaving Edinburgh after the morning peak traffic on the M8 and across Glasgow is over. You may not be aware that there is a car hire desk actually at Waverley station which could be handy. Whether I would want to drive out of the city centre rather than pick up at the Airport is a different and personal question.

I can't criticise having done a 15 hour day trip on Tuesday and a 38 hour through one way trip with all but no sleep last Tuesday.

It's just that this forum is very conservative on the whole in it's day trip philosophy.

I've met with amazement that I wasn't breaking a Cumbrian Coast to Hadrian's Wall day trip with an overnight somewhere- a trip which is literally round the corner for me- 2 hours each way.

I was thinking I'd use Turo for the car hire. I can either have the car delivered to me (for a hefty fee), or I can go pick it up (Uber or taxi) for free. You've got me thinking it might be better to go pick it up so I won't have to a rental drive out of the city center.

I'm hoping someone will chime in on the difficulty of the hike itself. What I might have given "3 boots" in my 20's might merit "5 boots" now that I'm in my 60's if you know what I mean.

Glencoe deserves more time - it is one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland. The drive through Glencoe, especially if you are heading north, is spectacular! If you decide to extend your hike day to include an overnight, we highly recommend Kings House Hotel which also has a good restaurant.

Only you can assess the walk, you know your experience and ability, we don't.

On the walk highlands website (referenced above) you can see lots and lots of pictures of the walk from a number of people who have done it.

I am also in my 60's and I know that it is well beyond my abilities, but there are long term health reasons (dating back to when I was 14) in my case which make that so, in particular regarding what footwear I can wear.
In my home area of the English Lake District I have over the years done such walks (if not of this length). The difference being that I know here when to turn back and what I can risk, and have pushed that to the absolute max (some may say recklessly). It is just different for me in the Highlands of Scotland.
Likewise in the former Yugoslavia I did rigorous walking in unsuitable footwear, but knew exactly my limits. In that case trying to ascend a summit of just over 10,000 feet I had to turn back at about 9,950 feet. An accident to a member of a walking party who were shadowing me later that day (having summited) showed that my decision was right, if so frustrating.

My two cents…
First, I’m so excited for you!
Next, a few more thoughts. My husband and I visited last year, and Glencoe was one of our favorite areas. We spent most of our trip near there, starting out in Edinburgh for two days.

We then rented/hired a car at the Edinburgh airport after taking the airport tram from near Waverly Station. We drove to Fort William that day.

We too picked up our car around 9 a.m. What we weren’t counting on was waiting almost an hour for our car despite a reservation time. With your tight schedule that day, I’d suggest planning for things like this. Plus side: we were glad we drove from the airport vs the city center.

Also, it’s true what people say in this forum. Google maps isn’t reliable for drive time estimates. It did take longer.

As for the hike itself on our Glencoe day, we didn’t try that particular one. Instead we chose a short one (Signal Rock) and spent the rest of the day driving the glen (and seeing the visitor center). It wasn’t a sweeping, iconic hike, but we got the best of both worlds. We got to take our time and see more.
We too relied a lot on Walk the Highlands for planning. Such a great site. I do think their difficulty ratings are geared more toward those who do these challenging hikes regularly. Ideally, we wanted to do one of the more epic hikes but weren’t convinced we could complete one and still see other parts of the Glen in one day. I still think it was the right decision for us. For context, my husband and I were in our late 40s at the time and had completed a trail marathon a little over a year prior and were still running long distances at the time of the trip.

But it may be your dream to focus on experiencing the hike rather than seeing more of the whole glen. Like it was suggested previously, you could always start the hike and then turn around if time grows short or the terrain is different than expected.
Speaking of, what time of year would this be? I’m thinking of the amount of daylight you’ll have to work with.
Whatever you decide, happy travels!

Thanks for everyone's input. We're not going until June, and right now my lean is to try the hike (I'll have a contingency plan if the weather doesn't look favorable). I'm already reasonably fit, but will be training in advance of the trip.

I did the hike about 7 years ago in my early 60s.It's a tough slog on an often eroded but clear path.The final top is rocky but it's very simply ascended..no exposure or difficulty at all.Fabulous viewpoint.
As long as you are reasonably fit and used to hiking uphill for a couple of hours, you should be fine.Wear good hiking boots with ankle support, I always use poles.It's a very popular hike hence some sections are eroded..essentially loose, gravelly terrain with small boulders.

My own write up of my experience here:

https://annestravelsandhikes.com/2017/08/21/the-pap-of-glencoe/

You could also consider Buachaille Etive Beag or Beinn a Chrulaiste.