Scotland 8 Day Itinerary

Hi, Emma,

I'm a bit confused - will you have a car for the six days after you leave Edinburgh, or will you be taking the train to Inverness and hiring a car there? If that's the case, you'd have to hire from one of the major car hire companies, and arrange for a one way drop off after you return to Edinburgh.

If you plan to have the car for the entire six days, you could satisfy your train urge by taking a day trip to Plockton out of Inverness. It's a beautiful ride, and the village of Plockton is a gem! Parking in Inverness would be about 8 pounds for the day.

If you're returning from Skye via Glencoe, you could take the bridge over to Skye, then take the ferry from Armadale to Mallaig on your return journey. That way, you won't be taking the same road twice.

Best wishes, and Happy New Year!

Mike (Auchterless)

Hi Mike,
Yes, we would plan to pick up a car in Inverness. Not sure yet where we would return it but it definitely would be a one way rental as we wouldn't plan to return to Inverness. Inverness is more so serving as a pit stop to get us to Skye because we don't love the idea of driving all the way from Edinburgh to Skye (and we like the train option). We likely would just return the car in Edinburgh as we'll need to return there for our flight home anyway. As you suggested, we could also consider using the train to do a shorter day trip elsewhere, but we hadn't considered that so far. Thanks for your input!

You could take the train from Edinburgh to Kyle of Lochalsh (change at Inverness) and rent from Skye Car Hire.

Then drive over the bridge, drop off the car afterwards at Armadale (£50 surcharge), take the ferry over to Mallaig, then train Mallaig to Glasgow (change for Edinburgh), or-
Train to and from Fort William (Edinburgh to Glasgow, change, GLA to Fort William). Then rent from Fort William Car Hire. Drive on to Skye via the ferry, then off by the bridge or vice versa.
That option means doing the same train line twice.
But the morning train arrives at Fort William at around noon. So that would be time to drive down to Glencoe and back and then across to Skye.

Or do that on your departure day- Skye to FW to Glencoe and back to FW, and the early evening train to Glasgow for Edinburgh.

Both are often what are called 'Mom and Pop' businesses on here- which could be seen as a benefit as they are customer focussed more than the big companies- to whom you are little more than a number.

Hello
We are also planning our trip to Scotland in April, but for 9- 10 days. We are trying to avoid renting a car. We are flying into London and taking the train to Edinburgh. We are using two tours - a one day tour and a two day tour - from Edinburgh to see Hadrian's Wall and area northeast of Edinburgh (including Balmoral Castle, Dunnotter Castle, and Aberdeen). Then we will take the train to Glasgow and taking the West Highland Line to Mallaig. (haven't booked that yet). The West Highland Line is supposed to be a beautiful train trip. Then we are hoping to take the ferry from Mallaig over to Armadale. I'm worried because I read that sometimes the ferry to Mallaig doesn't always run (due to weather). We are debating if we should rent a car on Isle of Skye. We are doing - hopefully - a boat trip off of Isle of Elgol - the first day and we've booked a one day tour around the area out of Portree for the second day. We are then figuring out now how to get ourselves to Fort William (probably a bus from Portree) to pick up the Caledonian Sleeper (just booked that) - which also picks up passengers at Inverness - to go to London (we decided to fly into London and take the train to Edinburgh, and then return to London on the sleeper). So, right now we are researching:
a.). if the ferry at Mallaig isn't running, what are our options?
b.). do we rent a car - for Isle of Skye - or do we just get ourselves from Mallaig to Portree and use that as our base and get taxi/buses down to Elgol for the boat trip, pick up our tour of Skye in Portree and then start our return to London via first bus from Portree to Fort William and then the overnight sleeper to London.

So, we are focusing on Edinburgh and Skye but doing lots of trains as we are really into train travel (let the tour guides take us to multiple places we are interested in . . ).

Very confusing tho figuring it all out, but fun.

Good luck with your trip!
The very nice gentleman who just helped me book our overnight train cabin from Fort William to London - he said he lives in Portree - recommended I google midges repellant. FYI

Hi suzannerecane
Please could I respectfully request that you start another thread for your questions rather than piggy backing on the original thread. Your questions are slightly different from emmajduncan0's questions.

Hi Emma

The suggestions made by Mike (Auchterless) and isn31c are both really good options for you. If you like trains then the journey to Kyle from Inverness is wonderful as is the line from Mallaig to Fort William. You could also look at Morar Motors and Morrisons for car rental on Skye if you decide to rent on the island.

Best wishes
Jacqui (Skyegirl)

Hello Skyegirl,
Thank you for helping me learn the appropriate way to use this forum. I appreciate it.
Suzanne

Hi, Suzanne,

Several things which may help you in your travels - first of all, getting around Skye without a car is a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. If you are taking the ferry from Mallaig to Armadale, you may be able to take the Stagecoach number 52 bus to Broadford, and transfer to the CityLink 915 bus to take you to Portree. However, the ferry and bus schedules do not always mesh, so you may be stuck for a while in either Armadale or Broadford. Not that there's anything wrong with that! However, there's not a whole lot to do in either location while you're waiting.

If you're taking the train from Glasgow to Mallaig, you may arrive too late in the day to be able to make the bus connection out of Armadale. In that case, having an overnight in Mallaig would be necessary, then taking the first ferry out in the morning.

On your return journey, the Caledonian Sleeper does not travel to Inverness. It goes straight down to Glasgow, then on to London.

There are two separate companies which operate boat trips out of the village of Elgol: Bella Jane and Misty Isle. Were you planning to visit Loch Coruisk, or do a full or part day tour with AquaXplore (Bella Jane)? In either case, if you're staying in Portree, you'd need to take a taxi to Elgol, as the Stagecoach 55 bus from Broadford won't get you to Elgol in time. However, if you're finished your voyage by 4:25, you could take the 55 bus back to Broadford, and pick up the CityLink bus from there. Again, if you're stuck in Elgol, there's not a whole lot to do, except for gazing at the gorgeous view up Loch Scavaig, or having a cuppa at the Elgol shop.

If the ferries from Mallaig aren't running (and they don't often cancel - I've crossed in a gale!), your only option would be to either wait a day in Mallaig, or take the train or bus to Fort William, bus to Inverness, and train to Kyle of Lochalsh or bus to Portree.

Finally (for now), if you're travelling in April, you don't need to worry about midges. They don't usually make an appearance until mid-May!

Have a wonderful time in Scotland! If you're thinking about hiring a car, see Stuart (isn31c)'s advice above.

Best wishes, and Happy New Year!

Mike (Auchterless)

Suzanne.

To add to the above- if you are doing the Mallaig to Armadale ferry pre book, even as a foot passenger. Then if there is an issue CalMac should contact you. Then if the ferry is cancelled you can abort the trip at Fort William, and take the Citylink bus.
Also the train has free wi-fi so check the CalMac website as soon as the train leaves Glasgow in case they forgot to text or e-mail), and check the route status. If the trip is cancelled or subject to doubt then as above, bus from Fort William instead.

At the moment foot passengers have the last laugh on that route. The ferry has serious engine problems, but Cal Mac have a passenger only charter on a wind farm support vessel.

I think it's a shame that you are now booked on the sleeper ex Fort William. You could instead have varied the route and scenery by taking the Portree to Inverness bus #917 and picking up the section of the sleeper train which starts in Inverness (and joins the Fort William and Aberdeen sections at Edinburgh).

You could also have done the bus to Kyle, picked up the afternoon train from there to Inverness, connecting into the sleeper.

You might have been better off staying in Broadford, as the afternoon Armadale bus ends it's run there, and there is an early 0710 Monday to Friday bus from Broadford to Elgol, arrive 0800, and a 1630 bus back to Broadford (but no further).
There are also two buses at 0800 from Broadford into Portree for your tour- school services which also take ordinary passengers.
Back from Portree to Broadford you either have the afternoon school buses or the Citylink bus.

The schools are closed for Easter from 7 April to 21 April.