Pitlochry....or???

You could contact the Pitlochry tourist information centre and ask them if they could suggest a solution for you.

I've been to Pitlochry a few times and it is pretty enough, but extremely busy. My last visit was September 2018 and I thought given the time of year it might be quieter than earlier in the season, but it wasn't.

https://www.visitscotland.com/info/services/pitlochry-icentre-p234421

I thought you were going to hire two cars for this trip?

Thank you Sownack! The two cars were just for our village tour up north....the rest of our trip we are hoping to do by train.
We are considering staying the night in Pitlochry...looks like there are several choices, but good to know it might be busy! Our most likely timeframe is around the 22nd of September.

....or....is there another good place to stop for a night between Inverness and Edinburgh? Just for charm's sake?

We stayed the night there because we wanted a place to break up the driving between Edinburgh and Skye - and we stopped in Falkland to explore the town and castle. We also did the nearby Falls of Bruar hike since we were in the area. Pitlochry is charming enough but I wouldn’t go out of my way to stop there. I’m assuming you’re seeing highland scenery beyond Inverness and I’d say you could probably use the time there more than in Pitlochry but I don’t know your full itinerary.

I enjoyed Pitlochry and visiting Blair Castle about 6 miles away. I am not sure about train travel as we had a car but from their website: "Travel to Blair Atholl by rail, the train station is within walking distance of the castle. Local bus services from Pitlochry drop off on our forecourt." This was one of my favorite Scottish Castles. It is not so grand on the outside but so much history and items inside. You can also take Pony treks on their sturdy highland ponies around the castle if you are so inclined. Book ahead. Scenes from the castle were used for the PBS show Victoria and they have a lot of stage items in the rooms. We stayed at the Athol Palace hotel but don't do it. It was one of the worse hotels we stayed in. They gave us a really ugly basement room with crooked pictures, a dirty bathroom, and scaffolding out the window. A higher room may be ok - but it was a bad stay for us.

Margaret

So here is our plan: we have the northeast part of Scotland/Speyside all worked out, then we are traveling from Elgin/Inverness down to Edinburgh by train. We thought it would be nice to break up the trip with an explore to one of the smaller, more historic areas on the way.....and it makes sense to stay the night since we will have our luggage with.
There are six of us traveling together and we are open to just going straight to Edinburgh if there is not a worthwhile stop. It will be late-ish September.

Hmmm. Hopefully someone can give you better advice than I can. We enjoyed Pitlochry. Reminded me a lot of Estes Park in Colorado. It didn’t ooze historic charm to me like some places but we were honestly in town just long enough to eat dinner and sleep. Falkland oozes small village, historic charm but it’s very small and I don’t think you’d be able to easily overnight there via public transportation. I loved Edinburgh so I would be inclined to have a extra night there.

Oh! I forgot - we also visited Edradour distillery by Pitlochry and it was wonderful. If you’re interested in whisky, then that could completely make stopping in Pitlochry worthwhile to you.

rcf that explains :-)

Pitlochry is largely a Victorian town, which developed into a tourist resort after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the area in 1842 and bought a highland estate at Balmoral, and the arrival of the railway in 1863. Much of the architecture is typically Victorian so it does not ooze historical charm as Falkland or other places might.

You would probably have to get a taxi up to Edradour if you wanted to do the tour. It takes about an hour to walk there from Pitlochry. It is a good tour and on our visit they allowed people to take away their tasting glasses which was clearly worked into the admission price, but a nice touch all the same.

We walked/hiked to Edradour from Pitlochry. It was a beautiful day and we loved the scenery. The tour at Edradour was our favorite of the 4 distillery tours we took.

Not sure about the luggage.. but Pitlochry has a nice castle (Blair Castle) and distillery (Blair Athol) to tour and sample whisky as well.. Both are great ways to learn more about the history of Scotland! Even if you don't tour Blair Castle, the grounds are lovely to walk around at!

Sorry, I'm not much help with the luggage storage.. I wonder if you could contact a hotel or bnb in the area and offer a couple quid to store your bags

Good luck planning your trip! The trains in Scotland are efficient and nearly always on time.. so you may not even need to add a pitstop!.. bring a bottle of wine and just enjoy the ride!

Cheers,
ArboursAbroad