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Private driver for the scenic route from Glasgow to Oban?

Posted by (Orange County, CA) on

We are hoping to do the three-island tour out of Oban and plan to stay the night before and of the tour (late July 2024).
There are four adults in the group.

Is it reasonable to hire a driver to take us from Glasgow to Oban, but stopping to explore at Loch Lomond and Glencoe on the way?
Or is there a way to do a train trip in stages so we can visit these Highland stops? We'll be messing with a bit of luggage, so that's a complication.
We can take the train back to Glasgow.

We are intimidated about driving ... but you might be able to talk us into it if there is a place to rent outside of Glasgow city center.

Thanks for any advice!

Posted by
7976 posts

The train doesn't route through Glencoe due to the geography. If you wanted to do that it would have to be on the long distance coach-bus.
But with luggage exploring Glencoe would be hard.
Loch Lomond is a vague stop with a number of possibilities on the west shore- Loch Lomond Shores (at Balloch), Luss (probably where you are thinking of) or Tarbet.

Most people rent cars from Glasgow airport- on the western edge of the city. You are straight out onto the freeway/motorway from there, cross the Erskine bridge then highway all the way. So no congested city traffic to deal with. Luss, in July, will be where you hit congestion. In season the village gets far more visitors than it can handle. The highway bypasses Luss. Balloch or Tarbet would be better options in July IMO if driving yourself.

By car Glencoe is over shooting Oban, in that you have to come back south again. But you may encounter issues with dropping the car in Oban due to the lack of national rental companies in Oban.

Posted by
16315 posts

My suggestion is to contact a company like Rabbies. They are a small tour company that can also put together a custom tour for you.

Or you may find that one of their regular scheduled tours may work for you. The company is highly touted on this website and I have personally taken a few of their tours.

They take no more than 16 people on each tour.

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