Scotland Tour - Odysseys’ vs. OAT

Posted by Scdub (California) on 07/08/26 04:58 PM

I am looking at the guided tours of Scotland. Sadly the dates for the RS tour do not work so the RS tour is out.
The dates would be the tail end of June 2027 to end in time for the Tour de France grand depart in Edinburgh.

I have never taken an OAT tour but have taken several Odysseys tours and for the most part, they have been good. I wonder if anyone has taken the Odyssey’s Scotland tour. I am ok with its itinerary (includes a lot of key sites) but it does not go out to IONA or Mull (as RS’ and OAT’s do) so i wonder if I am missing a lot? There is a lot less free time with Odyssey’s in general and I am ok with that. I have looked at the OAT reviews and the RS scrapbooks..sigh. Those scrapbooks are so helpful is getting a sense of the tour. Odysseys, on the other hand is very cagey with any public reviews. I am hoping someone has some feedback on this Odysseys tour. My general sense is that Odysseys is more “culture-sheltered” with less “hiking” while OAT focusses more on local people/culture and RS is the middle with a balance of the 3 (sites, culture, hikes)? Perhaps someone who has taken both OAT and Odysseys tours can chime in on general differences.\

Thank you.

Posted by CJean

Ontario, Canada

07/08/26 05:19 PM

7445 posts

Sorry, I can't help with OAT's tour, but we did the Odyssey tour in 2024. I really, really enjoyed it. Both our guide and driver were friendly and knowledgeable. Very helpful with suggestions or directions for things to do in our spare time. There was little to no hiking on our tour, just walks. I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by "culture sheltered". It was because of our great impression of this tour that we took their Egypt tour the next year.

Posted by ChinaLake67

NorthCarolina

07/08/26 07:50 PM

1282 posts

I'm also interested in this as we are debating the same - we are also highly considering CIE Tours this time as we have many friends who rave about CIE. Will be interested in following this post. We, of course, are looking at RS tours also, but lately have been underwhelmed with the food options on our RS tours, but absolutely love the tour itself.

Posted by Pam

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA

07/08/26 07:50 PM

17334 posts

"I am ok with its itinerary (includes a lot of key sites) but it does not go out to IONA or Mull (as RS’ and OAT’s do) so i wonder if I am missing a lot?"

This may be an unpopular opinion for those who have done the RS tour but I thought the Mull/Iona day was not worthwhile. Too much bus/ferry time, weather severely impacted this day.

Here's how it went on my tour: Boarded the ferry in Oban for Mull. At the port in Mull were met by our tour bus in the rain. Drove hell for leather down Mull to the ferry site for Iona with no stops. Boarded the ferry over to Iona and were told because of a storm moving in with high winds forecast the ferry captain was doing the 3P trip back over to Mull but that would be the last one for the day. We were to be back at 230 to meet our guide and board. We had about 1.5 hours on Iona....enough to walk to the Abbey, look around and walk back. No time for lunch, not that we needed it. The guide arranged for the bus driver to go get sandwiches for a picnic lunch on the bus on our return. As we headed back to Mull harbor we again did not stop anywhere along the way as the guide was concerned about the return ferry to Oban being cancelled and did not want us to miss our sailing.

So....while I enjoyed Iona's cultural heritage, I did not enjoy the day mostly spent on bus and ferry. Your opinion might be different but I would not take this tour just because Iona was included.

And sorry, I haven't taken tours with either of your top contenders.