Scotland 2024

I haven't done a Rabbie's tour, so I can't comment on that.

I did some hiking both in Cairngorms and in Perthshire (as well as elsewhere in Scotland -- I was there for five weeks), and my favorite hikes were around Pitlochry and Dunkeld. As an English lit aficionado, you might enjoy seeing Birnham Wood, just outside Dunkeld. That's also closer than Cairngorms. Also right on the train line. (Cairngorms is best with a car I think.)

Check out WalkHighlands.co.uk to see which hikes sound most interesting to you. The ones I did (all easy) were these:

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/perthshire/linn-of-tummel.shtml

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/perthshire/salmon-ladder.shtml

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/perthshire/birnam.shtml

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/perthshire/larches.shtml

Be aware that accommodations are booked additionally and paid separately from Rabbies Tour price. This is explained on their site.

Kathleen thanks! I did see that on their site :-)

Edinburgh hotel rates go up a great deal during August because of the Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe Festival. I haven't been able to find the festival dates for 2024, but they end on August 27 and 28 this year.

Linnae, I would definitely go for the tour. It would be hard to do Mull and Iona without a car. Bus transport is not always readily available so you would be doing a lot of waiting. And it's even worse on Skye. I think a Rabbies tour sounds ideal.

Here are some reviews and comments about that particular Rabbies tour that might be helpful:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/fell-in-love-with-the-scottish-highlands-skye
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/scotland/tours-from-edinborough

And one from TA: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g186525-d654641-r280980623-Rabbie_s-Edinburgh_Scotland.html

Acraven, good tip! I'd probably be looking at dates at the very end of or just after the festival in August into September-hopefully aligning with Labor Day in the US to take advantage of at least one paid federal holiday and reduce the PTO days from my own bank I'd have to use :-D

In the overall scheme of things, a 5 day tour isn’t a bad idea, but you can do this on your own solo if you want. You could take a West Coach Motors tour from Oban to Mull and Iona - it gives you a bit more freedom with timings. Then, if you wanted to do a bit more on your own, you could leave the tour at the ferry and catch the bus to Tobermory for overnight. Then it’s a long but interesting (and not difficult) day of public transportation from Tobermory to Armadale on Skye. I think Lane picked up some really great-looking tours (and someone else I can’t remember) locally on Skye?

Nothing wrong with the 5 day Rabbies Tour at all - just depends on how you want to go about it. You lose part of the guiding advantage but most likely save money.

Just a note on weather up here on Skye. Bearing in mind that Scottish weather is at best unpredictable and often somewhat damp, I'd recommend May over August anytime. August seems to often be very wet and in fact the last few days would bear that out in bucket loads of absolutely torrential rain. May, while sometimes showery is a lovely month with spring flowers, lambs and often a fair bit of sun. Later in September can also be good, but August would not be my choice.

Rabbies get good reviews.

Jacqui (Skyegirl)

By public transportation from Tobermory to Armadale you would end up coming back to Oban eventually en route, as there simply isn't another way. You can't go over from Tobermory to Kilchoan as there isn't a ferry early enough to meet the daily bus.
Unless by chance your trip coincided with the annual repositioning journey of Paddle Steamer Waverley from Oban and Mull to Armadale sometime in late May/early June.
Without a car though the Armadale route to Skye is quite tricky, once on Skye.
The bridge route is far better.

I've taken a few one day tours with Rabbies and will take more in the future.

You get plenty of time off the van. The driver/guides are very knowledgable and friendly.

I am even looking at a couple of their multi-day tours because you get commentary from the guide, can sit back and enjoy the view, and will able to see more in the same amount of time as trying to do it on your own.

And I'm usually an independent traveler.

isn31c, thank you. I did this route July 2022 (ferry Tobermory - Kilchoan, bus to Fort William, train to Mallaig, and ferry to Armadale). Sounds long and was an early start but went without a hitch. I wasn’t aware the times/routes had changed as the 7:20 ferry and 7:56 bus is still on the Calmac and Shiel bus websites for this summer.

That ferry is the least of it now, if it's not cancelled due to weather or on a tidal timetable, or broken down.
Yes Texas travel mom is right in principle but it is now really hard work.
Hinging a whole travel day on a once a day connection, starting with a ferry is high risk.
The bus from Kilchoan currently has an indeterminate arrival time in Fort William, due to diverting round the Loch owing to the saga of the broken down Corran ferries, now many months old.
When you do get to Armadale the bus timetable is terrible now. You can only connect on sensibly on a non schoolday. On a school day you can only get to Broadford, then have a 2 hour wait for a bus which has come from Fort Wiliam over the bridge!!
For the same reason Armadale is no longer a place to tour the island from by bus due to the very bad current service.

Because of the Skye bus service, or lack of it, I would take a very deep breath before doing it in 2023 and I do lots of mad, unhinged things by public transit, including my current trip.
On island you would now realistically need a car or some kind of tour arrangement if taking that route.

Really the Rabbies 5 day tour sounds a very good option.The

By transit now I would take the Knoydart mail boat trip or a small isles round trip from Mallaig in the afternoon, stay in Mallaig overnight then an early ferry next day for the single Armadale to Portree bus.
That also covers you for if you had to divert via Oban due to a ferry issue.

It sounds like the tour is the way to go! Thanks for the insights! Now I need to figure out how out the best way tp fill up the extra few days besides that and the days in Edinburgh. Time to dig more into the guidebooks!