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Scotland Day Trips/Bus Tours

Posted by (Texas) on

I'm looking for advice on which bus tours to use. I am looking at planning 2 day trips out of Edinburgh and either 2 day trips out of Inverness or one day trip and one 2 day trip. I am leaning towards Timberbush. Their availability and price works great. Has anyone used Timberbush? Are they good?
I do have an aunt in Scotland who indicated the coach tours are a great way to sight see, but she did not have one to recommend.

I have largely decided on what I want to see, now its which company to use.
I am considering from Edinburgh the St Andrews Day Trip and the Alnwick Castle with Lindisfarne Day trip.
I am also considering from Inverness Isle of Skye Day Trip and a Highlands with Jacobite Train Day Trips. But also in the running is the 2 day trip from Inverness to the Isle of Skye.

Along the way I have days set aside for exploring on my own.

Posted by
27112 posts

Rabbies is the company most often mentioned/recommended here, but I haven't taken any of its tours.

Posted by
6315 posts

If you key in the word "timberbush" in the search bar on this forum, you will find about 25 or so posts that discuss this tour company. One is a terrible review of Timberbush, but that was about 7 years ago. However, recently someone else mentioned that Timberbush cancelled their tour at the last minute. https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&filter=Travel+Forum&query=timberbush&utf8=%E2%9C%93

Rabbies, on the other hand, has gotten excellent reviews here so you might want to check them out.

Posted by
1321 posts

LisaCallie, I have taken two bus/van tours in Scotland with Rabbies in September 2022 - and recommend them highly. One tour was out of Inverness to see Culloden, Clava Cairns and Glen Afric (1 day). The other tour was out of Edinburgh of the Western Highlands and Isle of Skye (4 days). Our guides on both tours were amazing. You could tell that the guides really love their country because of the way they each described the Scottish culture and how they relayed some of the clans’ histories and stories. The van was a 16 seater but our group was smaller - there were 10 of us for the 4 day tour. I’m sorry, I do not know anything about Timberbush.

You will love Scotland.

Posted by
2945 posts

LisaCallie, we've booked several Rabbie's tours for July. They often sell out and why take the chance? They offer refunds if you cancel at least 48 hours in advance, minus 10 percent. Better safe than sorry, imo.

Rabbie's do not cancel tours due to minimum numbers, but of course any tour could be cancelled by some extraordinary event.

Posted by
2375 posts

Rabbies uses 16 passenger mini buses. I have used them once and will probably use them again some day.

I'm not positive, but I think Timberbush uses larger vehicles.

Posted by
6539 posts

By far, the company we saw most during our recent Scotland trip was Rabbies. Maybe I noticed it more because it’s mentioned frequently on the forum, but it’s busses we at the popular spots.

Posted by
4097 posts

I'll also recommend Rabbies. We used them for two tours last June from Edinburgh.

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