Scotland Tour for a Week

We have been to England twice and Scotland once but never to Ireland

You might want to ask about Ireland on the Ireland forum, noting that most of Ireland is not in the United Kingdom.

I recently got back from 5 weeks in Scotland. I loved almost every square inch of it, so it's hard to recommend any particular part of the country.

I will say, though, that the area that surprised and impressed me the most was between Inverness and Dunkeld. I stayed 3 nights in Aviemore. This was a convenient base for exploring Cairngorms, but not a particularly interesting place to stay. If I had it to do again, I'd stay in Kingussie. I then stayed in Pitlochry for 3 nights and took a day trip to Dunkeld one day. I did some superb hiking out of both Pitlochry and Dunkeld.

I've just been reviewing and organizing my photos from the trip, and the most stunning pics I took are from those six days.

That said, Skye is also beautiful, and there is much to see there. I didn't get to Angus.

If one were to read my post carefully, one would discover that I am not asking for information about England or Ireland, only Scotland. Thanks for the information about the places you have traveled. I will do some research and see what that area may be like. I appreciate your help.

It's not clear if you are willing to rent a car, or are intending to rely on public transport.

But either way I'm unsure whether with just a week at your disposal essentially spending a day getting to Skye and a day back (whether driving or using transit) is a wise use of your time.

You may find it useful to review this thread of earlier today, as I think it provides a useful framework to you as well- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/scotland/is-5-nights-in-oban-in-1st-week-of-october-too-much

I am not sure how much of Mardee's particular itinerary can readily be done by transit. Given recent comments on this forum about us spoon feeding people, and providing too much detail I would point you to traveline scotland to try to plan.
In Angus I would propose Glamis Castle, the towns of Montrose and, especially, Arbroath as being worthy of your time. A bit further north, near Stonehaven, you also have the spectacular Dunnottar Castle.

Working south there is lots of history and a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum to visit in Dundee.
Then you work your way through Fife through St Andrews and the fishing villages of the East Neuk.

On the way down you could divert at Aberdeen to Braemar if that interests you.

You need to pick and choose out of all this as I have given you well over a week's itinerary. Much of this would certainly be a lot easier with a car.

What we really need to come up with is something really special for your 50th wedding anniversary.

At one stage you are presumably coming to Edinburgh for at least one night, if only for a flight. One suggestion, if your budget allows, would be a night on The Fingal- a luxury floating hotel docked near the Royal Yacht Britannia (near but very much round the corner from it- Leith Docks are big).
Definitely a splurge.

A week is not a lot of time so you will have to decide what interests you the most. We are currently traveling through Scotland, and I can recommend visiting Skye. The scenery is amazingly beautiful and very unique. We are spending 4 nights here and taking our time doing a driving route around Skye. Yesterday we drove around the Trotternish Peninsula and stopped at many stunning places and did some short walks. Today we will driving around the Waternish Peninsula.

We also loved our 2 nights in Anstruther on the Fife Coast. It’s a lovely fishing village, and we visited a few other fishing villages, and walked along the coast in St. Andrews. Also did a short walk along the Fife Coastal Trail in Crail.

Nairn, on the coast near Inverness, is a very pretty seaside town where we spent 3 nights.

We are traveling with a rental car. I personally would not want to rely on public transportation to see Scotland, but some people do. We talked to a man last night at our hotel in Skye and he is traveling by train. They had to take a train, ferry, and then a taxi to get from Ft. William to Portree.