Scotland - help with itenerary

When we took a driving trip a couple of years ago, I used Secret Scotland to research and bought one of their itineraries. It gave us many ideas for routes and stops that we would not have otherwise discovered.

I also used Secret Scotland to do an itinerary. They were very good at letting me know when I was trying to do too much in a day. Scotland looks like a small area to those of us who will drive over 500 km on a long weekend to visit family, but not all the roads in the highlands are freeways, so it can take longer than you think to get somewhere, and using a company that knows the local conditions is a good idea. Just email them what your interests are and they will help you come up with an itinerary, and give you specific instructions on which roads to take, where to turn etc. I was very happy with my itinerary, and it was a very reasonable price. I only got lost because I get left and right mixed up! I would not skip Glasgow, I quite enjoyed it, but you are limited with time so it will depend on what you want to focus on. I did a loop trip starting in Edinburgh and ending in Glasgow.

We are going on September 9. The couple going with us wants to work our way up to Skye and back.
Joe

Visit Scotland is also a good web site for planning itineraries. They divide into regions so you can easily visit all the local castles, etc. Glasgow has some world class museums and art galleries that would be great for that rainy day. You must know that "everyone" wants to go to Skye...making it very crowded. There are other places with great scenery. Also check Historic Scotland which will give you most of the Castle info. Bon Voyage

I'm looking forward to seeing Glasgow myself next summer, but in planning how much time to spend there it may be helpful to know that quite a lot of the city's key sights are closed or questionable:

• Glasgow School of Art: closed due to a catastrophic fire that essentially destroyed the building. Some Mackintosh-related tours of the city are currently suspended.
• Burrell Collection: Closed for refurbishment until at least 2020.
• People's Palace: currently closed due to safety issues. It may reopen before your trip, but the garden/greenhouse will remain closed.
• Hill House (in Helensburgh): currently closed while they build a protective external shell. May reopen before your trip.
• Paisley Museum and Art Gallery: closed until 2022. (This is a more minor sight, included here for completeness.)

Thank you all very much.
Joe

We are doing a 14 day tour---but you could cut Orkney out and other days here and there and get 10.
Edinburgh (1 day)-->Pitlochry (1 day)-->Inverness (2 days)-->Orkney (2 days)-->Ullapool (1 day)-->Isle of Skye (3 days)-->Fort William (2 days---because we are doing the harry potter train for a day)-->Oban (1 day)-->Glasgow

Thank you all again. Perhaps my friend here is not quite right about Glasgow...maybe we should not skip it. Museums and galleries are really not our thing...is there more than that in Glasgow to make it worthwhile?
Thanks!
Joe

Thanks for all for your ideas. So if we were to spend one full day in Edinburgh and one day in Glasgow (day trip via train from Edinburgh), what sights would you recommend in each city? We probably do not want to spend hours in museums and galleries. Or would you recommend staying in Glasgow and do a day trip to Edinburgh?Thanks again!

One day seems rather short for Edinburgh (based only on my reading--my first visit there will be next July), so I wouldn't take a day for a side-trip to Glasgow. There's never enough time to go everywhere worthwhile; Glasgow will be just one more place that doesn't quite fit into your 10-day trip. At least that's how I would think of it.

The Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery is a great place to visit in Glasgow. They have some Macintosh works. Some do not realize that museums also feature interactive historical exhibits, musical concerts and theater events and not just stuffy things. Also check the World Heritage web site for other interesting places to visit.

If you say one distillery visit is enough, then I highly recommend Edradour, outside Pitlochry (which is a charming town right on the A9, north of Edinburgh). We stopped there as we drove from the Isle of Skye to Edinburgh. We had 3 distillery tours before this one, and all four of us agree Edradour was the best! I highly recommend the Glencoe area; we walked the West Highland Way, and that area was definitely my favorite. We flew into Glasgow as the WHW starts just north of there; we really enjoyed the Glasgow Food and Drink Tour (but then, we are generally not art museum folk).

If museums and galleries are not your thing, then I would skip Glasgow. However, if you like castles you might enjoy a day trip to Stirling from Edinburgh as Stirling Castle is fantastic. Assuming you are planning to rent a car you could do Stirling on your way north from Edinburgh before taking in Pitlochry (Edradour distillery is a good one, smallish and fairly traditional). You then have options to head north to the Cairngorms and Inverness, or north west via Dalwhinnie across to Skye (worth at least 3 nights if you enjoy hiking in spectacular scenery). If you don't want to head so far north you could go west from Edinburgh and explore Oban and Mull. My advice would be not to be too ambitious in terms of changing accommodation every night as you'll spend most of trip packing/unpacking and driving. Give yourself time to really get to know a particular area and the trip will be more worthwhile and actually probably more relaxing.

So if we work our way northeast from Edinburgh and cut over to Skye and then work our way back down south b to Edinburgh, what are the must see castles along all that way. We want to see some really cool castles. Thanks.

Hi, Joe,

Check out my answer on your other thread. If you do decide to visit the castles in the Northeast, Skye would be about a six hour drive from Aberdeen, via Inverness. Of course, that doesn't include stops for food and toilets.

In response to the Glasgow question, several of the major sites in Glasgow are currently shut down or under repair, as others have noted. I don't know when you've scheduled your holiday, but there's a possibility that the People's Palace may re-open sometime next year. Also, the Cathedral, Necropolis, St. Mungo's Museum, and Provand's Lordship are all within walking distance of one another. The Riverside Museum is pretty awesome, as well.

Central Glasgow used to be a great place to shop, but Sauchiehall Street has been pretty much devastated as a result of the fire, and Argyle Street/Trongate has become fairly run down. Buchanan Street still retains some of its former glory, and you are always sure to find some great buskers. The former "Shopping Z" has become the "Shopping L." St. Enoch's Center is still worth a visit, unless Debenham's has closed since my last visit, and Byres Road still has a lot of good shops.

Also, if you're looking for an interesting village, I'd highly recommend Plockton, which you can visit on your way to or from Skye.

Once again, best wishes for your holiday!

Slainte!

Mike (Auchterless)

If you're looking for a more modern interpretation of "castle", check out Inverary (turrets added 1877): https://www.inveraray-castle.com/

We spend a lovely three days there, driving around the area, picnicking near Dunadd, taking boats out on Loch Awe, etc.

My first trip out of the US last May.......We spent 4 days around Edinborough, stayed in a great cottage in Lasswade. One day in Edinborough. One day driving East to Craigmillar Castle, Tantallon Castle (breathtaking) then down to Lindisfarne in England. One day to Doune and Stirling. Then drove via Oban (one distillery visit) to Kilmartin Glen for 5 days staying again in a lovely cottage. Trip of a lifetime! Check out Kilmartin Glen! Did a day trip to Loch Awe, Kilchurn Castle. One to Arichonan and Castle Sween via Crinan Canal area. Beautiful area with a lot of ancient sites.....

Our path to Skye (arriving from England).
We bypassed Glascow and made our way to Oban. We were sleeping in our "Spaceship" van and stayed in a birch forest (Fearnloch) full of deer, squirrells and foxes just out of Oban.
From there up to Glencoe/GlenEtive. Nice drive out through Glen Etive to the Loch Etive.
Then onto Fort William/Glen Nevis. Stopping for a look around the Mamore Forest near Kinlochleven. From Fort William we did a side trip to Glenfinnan, the viaduct from the Harry Potter movies. Also visited Neptune's Staircase and I did a morning run up Ben Nevis. The Ben is worth the climb if you don't mind a good steep hike. Only a 14 km roundtrip with about 1300 metres elevation gain. A 2 hour run for an old geezer like me. My wife hiked half way up and back in 2 hours. Glen Nevis area is lovely.

From there along the 82 then onto the 87 through the scenic and historically significant Glen Shiel.
We stayed at Shiel Bridge. Nice hiking trails around there.
From there it is a short trip to Eilean Donan, the most photograhed of Scottish castles. We were lucky to visit early morning as it was becoming crowded as we left.
Also near Shiel Bridge is Glenelg which has some Brochs and also a ferry to Skye.
We drove on from Eilean Donan/Dornie over the bridge to Skye.
We did a slow loop around Skye (advantage of sleeping in the "Spaceship").
I found the far north of Skye the most interesting.
We also took the ferry across to Raasay, guided across the water by a pod of dolphins.
We loved little Raasay. We climbed up Duncaan for some extraordinary views. We also drove the famous Calum's Road.
From Skye we headed north along the wonderful West Coast including the awesome drive over to Applecross. You will have to leave that one for another time though.
I am not sure whether anyone has mentioned midges. Make sure you buy yourself a midges mask and "Skin so Soft" spray to protect yourself from the little demons.

Thanks to everyone. Marna...did you all go to Skye?
Joe

Hi,

Last summer, myself and 2 friends did the following itinerary. We felt it was a good pace because we didn't drive the whole time and stayed at least two nights in each place (except Glasgow, but one night was plenty).

Arrive in Glasgow - stay night (look around in the morning before we left)
Stirling Castle on the way to Edinburgh - Stay in Edinburgh (2 nights)
Drive through St. Andrews and tried to go to a Highland Games event on the way to Inverness - Stay in Inverness (2 nights)
Drive passed a few castles on way to Isle of Skye and did Tomatin distillery tour - Actually stayed on Raasay Island for 2 nights
Drive to Loch Lomond - Stay 1 night
Fly out of Glasgow the next morning.

I think you have a few more days than we did, so you could probably fit one more place in there nicely. It was a good driving trip in that it wasn't too much driving at any one day. We felt like we saw a good portion of the country without rushing to see everything.