Skye tours from Inverness - Wow Scotland, Happy Tours and others

Posted by Andy Scott (California) on 05/12/19 07:37 PM

My wife and I have a very short trip to the UK in July to attend a wedding in London. We were originally going to visit Edinburgh and make 2-3 day trips from London to see Oxford, Cambridge, and maybe Yorkshire, since we have seen London on a prior visit. We have decided to drop Edinburgh, and instead are thinking of flying directly to Inverness, making a day trip to Skye, and returning to London. Our thinking is that Skye and the Highlands may give us the true flavor of Scotland more than Edinburgh, in the limited time that we have.

Rick Steves mentions several tour operators in Inverness. Has anyone taken a day tour offered by Wow Scotland or Happy Tours or others? We'd like to make the most of our day trip.

Posted by Frank II

Freedonia

05/12/19 07:59 PM

16304 posts

I did a one day tour last week from Inverness to Skye and points in between. I traveled with Rabbies. Excellent tour. Long day (8 AM pickup and return about 8 PM). The drive between Inverness and Skye is amazing and they return a different way so you get two different sceneries.

https://www.rabbies.com/en/scotland-tours/from-inverness/1-3-day-tours/skye-eilean-donan-castle-day-tour

Book early as this is a popular tour and they only take 16 people.

Posted by Andy Scott OP

California

05/13/19 01:42 AM

174 posts

Thanks Frank!

I'm comparing the Rabbies tour with the one from Wow:

https://wowscotlandtours.com/tours-from-inverness/isle-skye-tour-inverness/

Can you tell me if Rabbies covered the same as the Wow itinerary? For example, Wow spends 30 minutes in Quiraing, and 10 minutes @ Urquhart Castle, but I don't see that level of detail in the Rabbies itinerary.

Posted by Frank II

Freedonia

05/13/19 05:27 AM

16304 posts

They are pretty much the same except the Rabbies tour has a smaller bus that can go to more places. (16 vs 30)

What you do will depend on the weather. We were lucky and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Our guide told us that on very bad days he changes the itinerary because going up to some of the higher locations would have us engulfed in clouds and not able to see anything. Plus the drive up to some of the locations would be dangerous. They are very narrow roads.

I also noticed with WOW tours you don't actually visit Eilean Donan castle but just get photos from the outside. On Rabbies you stop to visit. It was very interesting and done in the morning on the way to Skye.

I saw other tours buses that day--smaller ones--but none of WOW's.

Posted by Skyegirl

Isle of Skye, Scotland

05/13/19 08:16 AM

1293 posts

I live on Skye and have never seen a WOW bus! We do however, see plenty of Rabbie's buses and we like them as they send their drivers here off season to repair footpaths that have been eroded by tourists in the summer. It does seem an awfully long way to travel for a day trip though.