Rabbie's, Timberbush or Hairy Coo for 3-day Isle of Skye/Highlands tour from Edinburgh

Interesting question. Welcome to the forum. I hope some members can offer some insight. I look forward to reading.

Haven’t used a tour company since I rent a vehicle, but Rabbie vans seemed to be everywhere we went.

I’m not much help because I’ve only taken a couple of day tours this past May with rabbie’s. I was very happy with them and plan to take longer tours with them in the future.

I believe rabbie’s is max 16 people. I would not want more than that. My only issues on the tours were with chatty people. So, the less people the better. 😊

We did a tour with Rabbie's and were quite pleased. Our guide was great!

Your choice as to whether you'd like to concentrate more on the Highlands. I would rather spend that short time going to Skye and Iona (if your tour goes there) and stay in Portree rather than Inverness.

If it were me, I would take one of the tours that stays in Portree if I only had 2 nights.

I did a 3 night tour with a different company 10 years ago. That tour spent 2 nights in Portree and 1 night in Inverness. Skye was definitely the highlight of the trip.

I would also choose to stay in Portree, which I did last year. I’ve never taken a tour so I can’t speak to that.

Rabbies will get you to places that the full size coach cannot go. Lots of single track roads on Skye and the big coaches tend to avoid some of those, whereas I see Rabbies mini buses all over the place. They also have a very good reputation locally (Skye) as they send their drivers and other staff to repair eroded foot paths etc off season. Their drivers have good road etiquette too. Obviously my perspective is as a local here on Skye, but if I wanted to book a tour I'd go with Rabbies.

All have their pros and cons.
I'd put Hairy Coo in last place because there's two nights in Inverness and you don't get to stay on Skye. Inverness to Skye and back again in one day would be quite some going if you want to see much of Skye at all.

Timberbush and Rabbie's both look good in their own ways to me. Timberbush do stop in Tyndrum (shoutout to The Green Welly Shop) so that's bonus. Rabbie's would win hands down, just for the small buses and the number of people on here that have enjoyed their tours.

Thanks so much for all your feedback. Rabbie's it is!

My wife & I plus another couple just did the Rabbies 3 day tour from Edinburgh. 2 nights in Portree in a B&B. The B&B was great. Overall we liked the smaller coach. It was pretty comfortable. They leave from the Edinburgh bus station. We were staying close by so we walked over using Google maps. We got the "You have arrived" notice & no bus station in sight....because it was underground!

The guide was pretty good. It took him a bit for us to get used to his schtick. He ended up being OK. Be prepared it's 9 hours on the bus the 1st & 3rd days. Plenty of stops. Frankly I was dreading the return trip...of 9 hours! The small coach did get us into some smaller stops.

*we may have been spoiled by our guide just before on a 7 day Ireland tour