Please review our 10-day itinerary

I've been to Scotland twice without a car, so I understand your preference. However, I want to point out that the weather can be unpredictable and wet, especially in the western part of the country. With your own car, you'd be more flexible and could head in a drier direction. I originally booked a 1-day tour from Portree, but the weather forecast was poor (and that's the way it turned out), so I canceled at no cost. However, by that time there was no space available on the tour scheduled for the following day. I note that you have only one day in Skye and one in Inverness, so you wouldn't be able to reschedule a tour, anyway.

I acknowledge western Scotland tends to be somewhat less wet in May than in June (per statistics and per my own experience in 2025 vs. 2019), so it may work out fine. Still, Portree has almost 14 rainy days in May, on average.

I was in Portree in June (2019, so pre-pandemic) rather than May. In June it was very, very difficult to get a table for dinner without a reservation. I made it work by being at the door of a restaurant at opening time on two nights and getting Chinese carryout another night. Especially with a party of 4, you should make reservations. I don't know anything about the dinner situation in Inverness and Stirling. Edinburgh is large enough that you'll find something, but if you want to eat dinner at a specific restaurant, a reservation would be very smart.

I wonder whether you'd need to prebook the taxi from Armadale to Portree.

If it were me, I would add an extra day to Skye and condense the Inverness and Stirling portion from 4 nights to 3. Also, as acraven mentioned, without a car, it would be difficult to see all the beautiful places there. Even with a car, three nights in Portree (or thereabouts) would serve you much better. Also Inverness is going to be much easier with a car.

For example, on day 5, you can rent a car in Armadale (I don't think there is a car rental agency in Mallaig) and take the ferry with it over to Portree, then sleep in Portree. Day 6 and 7 would be spent exploring the Isle of Skye. Then on Day 8, you could leave Skye in the morning for Inverness (still with your car). That would give you time to see some of the areas around there like the Culloden Battlefield and Clava Cairns. On Day 9, return the car in Inverness and take the train to Stirling where you can spend the night. On day 10, explore Stirling but take the train into Edinburgh for one final night there. There's a lot more to see in Edinburgh than there is in Stirling.

In terms of how expensive and feasible a car rental would be, I would just go ahead and check with the companies. And honestly, if it were me, I would be driving from Edinburgh to Mallaig and then over to Skye. You'll still see the same scenery, and you'll have a much better selection of cars and agencies to choose from if you pick up in Edinburgh or even Glasgow. And you will have the opportunity to stop at places that are along the way.

That said, there is a car rental company based out of Armadale called Drive Skye. https://www.driveskye.com/

Personally, I recommend Arnold Clark as they are wonderful to deal with, have great customer service, and are competitively priced. I can trust them not to try and push me for extra services I don't need, and they will explain everything in the fine print to you before you leave. You can rent directly from one of their offices or via Celtic Legend. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

https://www.arnoldclarkrental.com/
https://www.celticlegend.co.uk/car-rental/

ETA: I also agree with acraven about making reservations for dinner and lunch while you are there. I was there in May of 2023 and if you didn't make a reservation at least two or three days ahead of time, it didn't leave many food options available. Mostly just pizza takeout or something like that.

I just saw the note about how you wanted a full day in Stirling to visit with a friend who lives there. That makes sense. In that case, honestly, I would just skip Inverness (or just drive through). The area is nice, but it's nothing like the rest of the Highlands. If you skipped Inverness, you could slowly make your way back to Stirling by going through some of the areas with distilleries like Speyside and others. That's a bit out of your way, but if you're leaving Inverness out, it would give you more time to spend on the road.

Of course, there will be other distilleries, and possibly ones that are more convenient for you driving from Skye to Stirling. There are other Scotland travelers that will probably respond with some other options as well.

I can tell you that once you're off the islands, driving in Scotland is much easier. I explored the whole area along the northeast and east coast and the roads were very well kept and almost always two lanes. But even the single lanes were easy to maneuver, and there was very little traffic. And this was the same month you are going.

Thank you, Acraven and Mardee, for your advice! We will give more consideration and research to renting a car for part of the trip, though I am very reluctant to replace the train journey on the West Highland Line. We are also thinking of extending the whole trip by one day. That would allow us to have 3 nights in Portree.

It is impossible to rent a car on Skye and do a one way rental to anywhere off the Island, as the local company can not recover the car from it's drop off point.

Whether even the local companies on Skye would want to accept a drop off on a Sunday is questionable.

You also do not need a car to get to Culloden and Clava Cairns. There is an hourly bus from Inverness City Centre to the Culloden Battlefield.

There is also a bus from Armadale to Portree, which had a better frequency of summer service this year than for many years. But even on the winter timetable there is a connection off the early ferry from Mallaig into the mid morning bus to Portree, so you don't even need a taxi for that leg if you don't want to. That gets into Portree in good time for you to take the afternoon bus which does the circuit of the Trotternish peninsula or the afternoon bus to Dunvegan and back.

For a 1230 flight you need to be checking in at 0930. There is a bus #909 from Stirling direct to the airport at 0705, arriving at 0807, an earlier one at 0620, and a next one at 0825 arriving at 0927.

So you can very readily do the itinerary more or less as written.

If you want to take the train or bus then

And honestly, if it were me, I would be driving from Edinburgh to Mallaig and then over to Skye. You'll still see the same scenery,

That is just not true. The railway route takes you over Rannoch Moor where there are no roads, then on the gorge section down from Tulloch to Fort William you have a way better view (and can both concentrate on it) than if you had driven up the A9 and then down from Dalwhinnie to Fort William.

Whereas the direct route from Edinburgh takes a wholly different route after Bridge of Orchy through Glencoe.

There are different routes, isn31c. The OP is not limited to the direct route.

Mardee, I am fully well aware how many routes there are, but that does not alter the fact that for you to say you see the same scenery from the road as the train is just not true and is actually misleading.

Even just on the 'direct route' both the Glencoe (road) and Rannoch (rail) versions have their absolute merits and in an ideal world you would do both (road and rail), and that is before you consider all the other routes from Edinburgh to Mallaig.

As for distilleries- in Edinburgh you could visit the Holyrood Distillery, or if you want one out in the Country- the Glenkinchie Distillery in East Lothian (the website tells you how to get there easily by Lothian buses, Eve Coaches is now part of Lothian).

From Inverness Balblair or Glenmorangie, both near Tain (an interesting, historic town in it's own right)- both easy to get to by bus or train from Inverness.

Stirling actually has it's own distillery, or there is Tullibardine at Blackford (bus 20 from Stirling) or the Deanston at Doune (hourly bus from Stirling, also on the bus route from Edinburgh to Fort William)

Day 4 & 5 Have you considered a couple nights in Oban? Easy, scenic train connection, great seafood and the Oban Distillery (reserve the tour and tasting ahead). Then take a day tour to Mull and Iona and, possibly, Staffa. No car needed!

Day 6 Again scenic train connection to Maillig. There is not much to see and do in Maillig. I would consider heading to Portree after having lunch in Maillig.

Day 7 Small group day tour of Skye, some include a distillery tasting at Tallisker.

Day 8 Consider the scenic Citylink bus to Inverness. Maybe instead of overnighting in Inverness, have lunch in Inverness and then train to Pitlochry for the night. Explore the town and visit the Blair Atholl Distillery or the fish ladder at the Pitlochry dam.

Day 9 Morning train to Stirling.

Day 10 Take an evening bus to a hotel at Edinburgh airport for an easy departure the next day.

Yes, a car on Skye makes things easier. But, you can accomplish what you want without one.

Stuart, Mardee is not trying to mislead anyone. Of course, you will never see the exact same things driving vs train. But, a visitor with limited time can't possibly see and do it all. Mardee's point is that the OP will still have glorious scenery if they choose to drive instead of taking public transportation.

As mentioned previously, book accommodations and dinner reservations in advance, especially on Skye.

Thanks all for the additional replies! We're getting lots of food for thought.

Day 4 & 5 Have you considered a couple nights in Oban? Easy, scenic train connection, great seafood and the Oban Distillery (reserve the tour and tasting ahead). Then take a day tour to Mull and Iona and, possibly, Staffa. No car needed!

Since we are definitely going to Isle of Skye, would these other islands be different enough to warrant a day of our trip?

I found Mull to be quite different from Skye. Our party of 4 booked West Coast Tours 2 Island tour to Mull and Iona, the historic center of Christianity in Scotland. The landscape was beautiful and the Abbey on Iona was interesting. It was a very relaxing day compared to our couple of days on Skye.

Yes, they are very different, as Jean said. I loved Mull and highly recommend a visit there if you have the time. The town of Tobermory is just a delight, and of course, there is the small island of Iona, the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland, Calgary Beach and much more. Even a day there can be filled with things to do.

Hi, cheaps60,

Just to add my tuppence, DriveSkye rents from Armadale, but you have to return the car to Armadale. If you are willing to tour Skye by car, you could contact www.morrisoncarhire.co.uk They rent out of Portree, but they can pick up and drop off at several other locations, including Armadale and Kyle of Lochalsh.

Given that, you could conceivably have them pick you up in Armadale, which would give you most of day five to explore Skye before settling in at your lodging. You could then have most of the day on Saturday for further exploration, before turning the car in at Portree.

If Morrison's allows a Sunday drop off, you could then drop the car off at the train station in Kyle, and take the train from there.

Having a car on Skye will provide you with more of an opportunity to visit the sites that you want to see, and not be limited by a group tour schedule, nor limited for time at each location.

If you haven't driven on Skye before, and if you haven't driven on single track roads before, I'd recommend hiring a car with automatic transmission. However, if one of your party is used to driving a standard transmission, it's a lot more fun! Have a look at Skyegirl's posts about driving on Skye, for caveats.

Very best wishes for your holiday. Enjoy Skye!

Mike (Auchterless)

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions! Based on the comments and my additional research I made these changes:

• Extended the trip by one day
• Dropped Inverness and the night in Mallaig
• Added a 2 night stay in Oban,
• Lengthened Isle of Skye by 1 day
• Added an overnight in Pitlochry
• We'll rent a car for the Skye portion

I have us traveling from Kyle of Lochalsh to Pitlochry by bus because it gets us to Pitlochry earlier. There is a 5:45 am train but that's not doable for us :) By using the bus instead of the train, do we sacrifice much in terms of viewing the scenery along the way?

Revised Itinerary

Day 1 Edinburgh. 10:35am arrive Edinburgh airport. Bus, tram or taxi to city center. Lodging near city center.

Day 2 Edinburgh

Day 3 Edinburgh

Day 4 Train from Edinburgh to Oban. Explore Oban. Visit Oban Distillery. Lodging in Oban.

Day 5 Oban. Day tour to Mull and Iona. Lodging in Oban.

Day 6 Train from Oban to Mallaig. Ferry to Armadale. Pre-arranged pickup of rental car in Armadale. Lodging in Portree.

Day 7 Explore Isle of Skye. Trotternish peninsula loop. Lodging in Portree

Day 8 More Isle of Skye. Visit Talisker Distillery. Lodging in Portree

Day 9 Pre-arranged rental car drop-off at Kyle of Lochalsh. Citylink bus from Kyle of Lochalsh to Pitlochry arriving early afternoon. Explore Pitlochry. Blair Athol Distillery. Lodging in Pitlochry

Day 10 More Pitlochry. Afternoon/evening train from Pitlochry to Stirling. Lodging in Stirling

Day 11 Explore Stirling with local friend. Lodging in Stirling.

Day 12 Bus from Stirling to Edinburgh airport for 12:30pm flight home

Day 9- Train and bus take utterly different routes. Bus via Loch Ness, train a very rugged more northern route. I like the train route far more.
Day 6- you could take an early 0715 ish summer only bus up the coast to Fort William, then the 1015 steam train to Mallaig if you wanted. Of course you miss Rannoch Moor on the train by that route.

I think this sounds really lovely. Only thing I would say would be try to do the three island tour from Oban (Mull, Iona, and Staffa)- in May you should be able to see all the puffins on Staffa which is a truly amazing sight- you can walk right up to them. Hope you have a wonderful trip.