Scotland Rick Steves 8-day vs 13-day tours

You will have to do what seems best to you. Some will like your idea and others won’t.

My choice would be the 13 day tour. More time to truly explore Ireland, more time to get to know your fellow travelers, and less tiring. I did a back to back tour for the first time last year. While many people like this approach, I found I didn’t enjoy the second tour as much as the first. I did a 14 day followed by an 8 day and keeping up the tour pace for that long of a time began to take a toll.

I’m mid 60’s and quite active, but I found it a little too much.

My experience is differently than Carol’s. I’ve done a number of back to back tours and enjoyed them. I liked the combos better when I was changing cultures…like Scotland and France rather than one in England and one in Scotland.

With the 8-day you’d miss Glasgow and Oban. When I did the Scotland tour it started and ended in Edinburgh so have never been to Glasgow. We had 2 nights in Oban and on the full day did the ferry to Mull and Iona. It was pouring rain so I probably did not have the best experience plus the wind was coming up and we had to clear off Iona by 3 as the ferry was shutting down after that. So…A full day of ferry/bus/ferry/ferry/bus/ferry for about an hour and a half on Iona. Now there is a free day in Oban plus the Mull/Iona day.

I’d say if doing the 8-day tour enables you to do a France tour, go for it!!

I think an 8-day tour (which I believe is really not much more than six days of touring, right?) Is terribly short for Scotland even when you have the considerable advantages of professional guiding and dedicated transportation. I'd go with the longer tour and probably add on some extra time elsewhere in Scotland. I spent 26 days in Scotland--traveling independently, which is definitely slower there--and I had to make hard choices. My travel mate opted for only 19 days in Scotland and four years later is still frustrated about what she missed, which was extra time in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

We did the heart of Portugal 12 day then the 8 day Barcelona/ Madrid tour last fall. It saves on airfare to kill two birds with one stone! But, I prefer city tours if only going for 8 days and at least two weeks for a country tour.

Recently back from the 8 day tour and while it was fantastic, I do feel we missed out on some of the more stunning scenery and other major sights by missing the west and northern parts of the highlands. (We didn't have the time this year to take a longer trip) I know Rick always says "assume you'll be back", but with my list of places yet to see I'm not sure I'll be able to. So the parts of Scotland I missed will, I fear, be forever lost.... I say if you have the time, add on the extra few days so you won't regret what you missed. As it is, there's so much to see you probably will want to see even more anyway.

Assuming I'm looking at the right tours - the week tour just covers the east side of Scotland. The two week tour also includes the west with its better scenery as well as places like Iona and Glencoe, Stirling and the Cairngorms as well as a working sheepdog farm. All appear regularly on the tick list of places to be seen.

It gives a much better experience of Scotland. While understanding the rationale behind covering two places with one air fare, there is the danger you short change both.

I agree with those who vote for the 13 day tour. I spent 23 days in Scotland in May of this year, and could easily have spent twice that amount. As wasleys pointed out, you will be missing some of the best parts of Scotland; including Stirling, Iona and Mull, the Highlands, and so on. They are so beautiful and should not be missed.

Definitely take the longer tour and you will be glad you did. If you take the shorter tour, you'll just have to go back again later as it will definitely call you back. We would be happy to spend a month there if circumstances would allow it.

Neither six nor eleven days is enough to explore Scotland (or France for that matter). If you’ve got 2 weeks, I’d spend all of it in Scotland. All tours zoom around the country, skimming only what someone else thinks you should see. At least with 13/11, you’d be seeing more of your first choice country. Yes, you’ll need another airfare next time, but I’d encourage you to think quality over quantity.

I was on the final 10-day tour of Scotland in the fall of 2019, which was similar to the current 13-day tour. My tour didn’t include Glasgow, but I extended my trip and went there on my own. My opinion: I was awestruck by Glencoe, and it’s not a place that one would easily venture to on one’s own. I also adored Glasgow; it has a very different vibe than Edinburgh. I was less of a fan of Oban and Iona, the latter largely because it’s a long day of travel.

Granted, I’m a friendly stranger on the Internet, so my opinions matter much less than your interests, preferences, and priorities. Getting to do tours of Scotland and France back-to-back sounds like a great opportunity as well.

We almost always schedule back-to-back RS tours. It helps justify the flight cost and changing time zones issue for us. We've done these combos: Rome & Andalucia; Ireland & Tuscany; Greece, Santorini, & London (the last two on our own); Southern Villages of England & London. This fall we're doing 8 days in Scotland then the 10 day Paris & the Heart of France tours. The toughest part for us is getting to know everyone's names in 7 or 8 days. Otherwise, we do enjoy it. The one-week tours in cities are the most tiring, although the Ireland & Tuscany tours were both very physically challenging (which we didn't count on) but we enjoyed them both. If you're spending the big bucks to fly Business (as we do), it doesn't make sense to just spend 8-15 days in Europe. You're barely over jet lag when you turn around to go home. We are retired and hoping to do as many RS tours as we can before a health issue or our joints tell us it's time to stay home. So we are driven by a certain goal. Good luck making the choice!

We've been on several RS trips and love them. On a few of those trips, we've had people doing their 2nd of back-to-back tours. Quite often those people by mid-way thru the 2nd trip were exhausted and started sitting out of activities. Perhaps schedule some downtime days between tours to rest and recharge before the 2nd tour.

We arrive a couple of days early before the tour and sometimes stay another day or two after the tour. We're doing the 13-day Scotland tour at the end of May 2024.

For the last few years we have done back to back RS tours, usually one longer and one shorter with a few days in between to rest and a few days at the beginning to get over jet lag. This works out to about 4 weeks in Europe and makes the cost of flight more manageable. We took the longer Scotland tour in 2018 and loved it.