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Scotland Itinerary--11 nights

Posted by (Oregon) on

I am planning a 3 week trip to Scotland and Ireland (mid June through early July.) I have 11 nights for each country. This is a multi-generational trip (my parents are in their mid 70s, my son is 10, and my husband and I.) The impetus of the trip is my mom wants to visit the countries where our ancestors came from and try to see some places that may be connected with our family. Our Scottish ancestors are Campbell, Arnot, Stuart, Forsyth, Wallace and quite a few others. We don't really know a lot of specifics about exact places where our direct ancestors came from (other than that one came from Montrose), but my mom just wants to experience some general regions where the clans were from, even if we don't know exact locations. Top priorities are, in this order: experiencing beautiful places, history and sites of genealogical interest, traditional music, and whiskey. My son loves castles. My parents are not fit/active and cannot do hikes or long or strenuous walks. We will rent a car.

This is my rough draft itinerary: Fly into Edinburgh (3 nights), Inveraray (1 night), Skye/Portree (4 nights), Falkland (3 nights).

Falkland will be a home base for us to visit Stirling, Falkland Palace, Castle Campbell at Dollar Glen, Arnot Reservoir, Dunino Den (my wants to go here), and maybe St. Andrews and Fife villages, only if time allows.

Questions:
1) Thoughts on this itinerary? Originally I was going to include 2 nights at Oban for a day trip to Mull/Iona/Staffa, but I'm thinking maybe of staying in Inveraray instead due to the Campbell connection (and cutting out Oban due to limited time.)
2) After the 1st 3 nights in Edinburgh, we will rent a car to drive to Inveraray but would like to minimize city driving as much as possible. Is it best to rent the car in Edinburgh, or take a bus or train somewhere else (like Stirling or Glasgow) and rent a car there to drive to Inveraray?
3) Driving to/from Skye: We'd like to do the Mallaig ferry one way (to drive along Glenfinnan Viaduct) and go through Kyle of Lochalsh past Eilean Donan Castle the other way. Which route is best from Inveraray and which route would be best for the long drive from Portree to Falkland? Also, we want to drive through Glen Coe on at least one of these drives.
4) I am thinking we will stay in Falkland the final night in Scotland, then drive directly to the airport in Edinburgh and drop rental car there and fly from there to Ireland. It looks like this is about a 50 min drive. Does this seem do-able?

Any other thoughts/advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Posted by
10384 posts

If you did two nights in Inveraray that would give a chance to do Iona/Staffa.

Oban is only an hour from Inveraray.

The route from Inveraray to Mallaig goes via Glencoe, if you route through Dalmally and Tyndrum.
Whether you go via Mallaig or Kyle probably doesn't make much of a difference due to the line up time for the ferry and it's frequency, but Mallaig would be the better route to 'tick off' Glenfinnan. It's a railway viaduct, so you can't drive along it or even beside it. You park up, and see the viaduct in the landscape, with or without a train. And frankly join the other large hordes of other people doing the same.
If going via the bridge to Falkland you wouldn't route via Loch Ness- but via Invergarry, Spean Bridge and Dalwhinnie.

It depends what time the flight is, as to whether staying in Falkland is a good idea, in case you have to divert for some reason via the Kincardine Bridge. I don't know what is at the reservoir but would be inclined, in your case, to prioritise Montrose via Arbroath one way, via Brechin the other. About a 90 minute drive in each direction.

Posted by
961 posts

my wife has some Campbell and there was a "Campbell's not welcome" sign in the Crianlarich near Glencoe ;-)

Posted by
1189 posts

Since you have 5 people in your party, I would just pick up your rental on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Arnold Clark's Sighthill location is a short taxi ride from the city center.

Keeping in mind that 2 in your group are not big walkers, I would take 1 night away from Skye and spend 2 nights in Oban, not Inverary. Even though Oban is only an hour away, staying in Inverary would require a really early start in the morning. You'll need to find parking in Oban and then pick up your ferry tickets at the West Coast Tours' office.

You'll still have plenty of time at Inveraray Castle on your drive to Oban and everyone will have an easy, enjoyable day trip to the islands.

Posted by
1189 posts

If you're willing to give up 1 night somewhere else, you could surprise your castle loving son with a night at Dalmunzie Castle Hotel. A slight detour on your way from Skye to Falkirk, but surrounded by lovely scenery.

Posted by
1522 posts

I would reduce time in Skye or even miss it altogether if your parents are not fit or into walking. It’s really an outdoorsy place with little to do for your parent except see scenery from a car. The surnames you mention are not huge Skye names although there are quite a few Campbells here.

Posted by
10384 posts

It's interesting reading the Clan histories, the Clan Wallace being a lowland clan, mainly from Ayrshire. The Clan Stuart/Stewart being a clan without a chief, but with two principal branches- Bute and Appin. Appin being that area between roughly Oban and Ballachulish, and including the Isle of Lismore.
You can link those nicely by going from Edinburgh to Ayrshire, then across to the Isle of Bute (where Rothesay Castle is a clan castle) then take the Colintraive ferry across to Cowal, and thence drive on to Inveraray.

You can reach Lismore by car ferry from Oban. Sights there include St Moluag's Church (a Cathedral before the reformation- the same as St Giles, Edinburgh).

Also the Battle of Bannockburn at Stirling is one of your clan battles, so visit that visitor centre as well as Stirling Castle.
So you could do a night in Ayrshire, at least one night in Inverary having routed through Bute, preferably also one night there) then two nights in Oban (one for the obligatory Iona, and one for Lismore/Appin) before moving on east.

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