Please sign in to post.

Scotland Itinerary Help

I'm planning a trip for my parents for their first time in Scotland. After the Rick Steves' England Tour, they are planning on heading up to Scotland for an additional 17 days. I'm hoping folks can tell me if what we're planning is too ambitious or if i shoudl trim/add time anywhere... Thanks!!

  • Day 1: Train up to Edinburgh from London
  • Days 2-4: Enjoy Edinburgh
  • Day 5: Morning train to Glasgow and spend the day in Glasgow
  • Day 6: Pick up rental car and drive to Oban
  • Days 7 & 8: Spend both nights in Oban with one day trip to Iona & Mull
  • Days 9: Drive to Glencoe for a morning visit, then then drive to Isle of Skye (spend night in Isle of Skye)
  • Days 10 - 12: Explore Isle of Skye and Isle of Harris, sleep in Isle of Skye (total 3 night in Skye)
  • Days 13 - 14: Drive to Inverness for 2 night visit (side trip to Culloden)
  • Day 15 - 16: Drive to Stirling (stop in Pitlochry along the way. Should we sleep there 1 night?)
  • Day 17: Drive to Edinburgh for flight home
Posted by
1058 posts

Hello Leejay

I think you will find it very challenging to explore Harris as a day trip from Skye. The ferry timings usually make this nigh on impossible (although I don't know when you are coming so can't check schedules for you). Have a look at www.calmac.co.uk for the ferry schedules. The one you want is Uig/Tarbert.

Unless Inverness and Culloden are particularly important you might find it more interesting to substitute them for Lewis & Harris, spending two nights there, and then going from Skye to Stirling (about a 5 hour drive) direct.
There are beautiful, white sand beaches on Harris, and some fantastic prehistoric standing stones on Lewis (it's to all intents and purposes one island!). So maybe 2 nights Lewis & Harris, then 3 nights Skye?

Personally, I think Pitlochry is nicer for an overnight than Stirling. It's a pleasant little town.

Depending of the time of the flight home, you could either drive to Edinburgh airport from Pitlochry, or you might need to base yourself at a hotel nearer to the airport for the final night. I'm a cautious traveller when I need to catch a flight, and I'd probably allow a couple of hours to get to the airport from Pitlochry.

I don't know when this trip is, but I can tell you that accommodation on Skye gets booked up months ahead.

Best wishes
Jacqui (Skyegirl)

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks so much! They are headed there in June, arriving in Edinburgh around the 6th. Both Culloden and Harris are super important to my Dad. Isle of Harris is where his people are from and he is fascinated with the history of Culloden. I don't think he really wants to do much on Harris, just see it. But I don't think I can sub Culloden for it. Ferry times don't look too bad, but maybe it would be best if they spent one night there instead of Skye. They had been thinking of leaving the car on Skye...

Posted by
1376 posts

Hi, leejay,

There are only two days during the week (Monday and Saturday) when the CalMac schedule allows more than 30 minutes on the ground on Harris, so your parents would be better off staying overnight. Public transportation on Harris is not great, so they'd be better off taking their car. Unless your dad's relatives came from the village of Tarbert, they'd need a car to get about. Most of the roads on Harris, with the exception of the A859, are single track with passing places.

The ferry voyage from Uig to Tarbert is very pleasant, and it's often possible to see whales, dolphins, and porpoises during the sailing.

I can recommend the Harris Hotel for their overnight, or the Luskentyre Lodge if they're looking for B&B accommodation. Best (and most reasonably priced) evening meals are at the Hotel Hebrides.

If you don't mind my asking, where on Harris do your dad's relatives hail from?

Mike (Auchterless)

Posted by
3119 posts

You've got an awful lot of destinations listed for 17 days. I'd suggest skipping Glasgow, and keeping your option open to skip Stirling on the way back. What time of day is your outbound flight? You don't want to be driving from any significant distance where a snafu with traffic or road repair could delay you.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks all! Flights haven't been booked yet, so Stirling direct to Edinburgh or Galsgow could both work! No idea where on Harris my ancestors came from, so an isle exploration could be good.

Posted by
103 posts

I replied earlier, but for some reason it's disappeared! Don't know if anyone else can see it?

Glasgow airport has daily direct flights to JFK and Newark, so may be of use to you. It may be no difference, but may be worth checking in case flights are cheaper or to save the one-way rental fee.

It might help us make recommendations if we knew more about your parents interests - For instance, someone said skip Glasgow - if your parents are into city stuff like museums/galleries/architecture etc then this isn't very good advice, but if they're very focused on countryside/scenery/highland castles etc then maybe it is (although in that case I perhaps wouldn't spend 3.5 days in Edinburgh either).

Here's my last post, sorry if repeating:

Day 5 - It's a short train journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow, but nevertheless by the time they check out their Edinburgh hotel, get the train through etc, they'll not have much time to see much in Glasgow - The city is markedly larger than Edinburgh and the attractions are more spread out so I'd add a little more time there. Even if they took the train through from Edinburgh in the late afternoon or evening of day 4, that would at least give them the whole of day 5 in Glasgow.

Day 6 - You don't mention where they're picking the car up from, but I'd strongly recommend Glasgow airport. Picking up in the city could be quite stressful with the one-ways and bus lanes etc, whilst the airport is on the right side of the city for heading to Oban - you exit right onto the freeway that takes you across the Erskine bridge and onto the road to Oban and the Highlands. You can get from the city to the airport by cab (about £20) or the airport bus (https://www.firstgroup.com/greater-glasgow/routes-and-maps/glasgow-airport-express).

Days 10-12- 3 nights isn't enough to see Skye and Harris imo. I'd either stick to just Skye or add at least a day more.

Days 13-14 - Inverness may be called a "city", but its really a town of 60k people (making it about 1/10th the size of Edinburgh and 1/20th the size of Glasgow). As such, there's not actually much to see in Inverness and I wouldn't recommend spending 2 nights there personally, 1 is enough at most imo. They could even skip Inverness and drive straight to Pitlochry and stop to see Culloden on the way - although admittedly this would be a long drive for one day.

Day 15-16 - Again, Stirling isnt that big and there's not that much beyond the castle and Wallace monument imo, so its probably not a 2 nighter. Id maybe do 1 night Pitlochry and 1 in Stirling the night before flying home.

Day 17 - Dont know if flights are booked yet, but Glasgow airport is a similar distance from Stirling as Edinburgh. If the car's picked up from Glasgow they could save the one-way rental fee by handing the car back there and flying home from there - GLA airport is a major airport too with direct US flights.