Struggling with a 5 day itinerary in Scotland

We spent 2 weeks in Scotland in June 2022. Oban isn't that thrilling in itself and I'd consider it more of a place to stay to do daytrips elsewhere such as Iona and Staffa, but you don't have a lot of time for that. One of our favourites was a trip to Stirling Castle from Glasgow. We spent about 5 hours at the castle.

*One thing to consider is that driving will take you longer than what Google Maps suggests. We found a safe estimate was to add 1/3 to the time when you get into the Highlands.

We just returned from 16 nights in Scotland. Unfortunately, you really don't have time to do Skye justice, and as Alan says, it takes longer to drive in Scotland, and especially on the Isle of Skye, because of one-track roads and potholes. We spent 4 nights in Portree on Skye so one day doesn't do it justice.

When you leave Glasgow, I highly recommend driving to Glen Coe and staying somewhere there. We stayed at the Glencoe Inn in Glencoe Village. Glen Coe's scenery is spectacular. It will take your breath away! We loved Skye, and the scenery is stunning, but we all agree Glen Coe ranks #1 with us for scenery. Then Skye is #2. Another possible place to stay in Glen Coe is the Clachaig Inn.

While in Glen Coe, I recommend driving down the 12-mile Etive Road to Loch Etive. The road ends there. The scenery is spectacular and the mountain sides are covered in rhododendrons. (Not in September, of course, but still a beautiful drive.) This is where the James Bond movie Skyfall was filmed. Glen Coe is a walkers/hikers paradise. We spent 2 nights here and I wish we had an extra night.

Because Inverness is a busy commercial city, I was going to suggest that you stay in Nairn, a pretty seaside village about 30 minutes from Inverness. But I see that you fly out from Inverness at 5:30AM so that wouldn't be convenient for you.

On your way to Inverness, I highly recommend visiting Urquhart Castle ruins on Loch Ness. The setting is stunning!

We didn't do the Jacobite Train or Scotrail. But, honestly, I don't think that is necessary. If you go to Glen Coe, you will see spectacular scenery while driving.

Here's another vote for Nairn, less than half an hour outside of Inverness. We stayed in Tali Ayer B&B and wished we had planned more than one night just because the hosts were so helpful and the house itself is so lovely. It has good access to Culloden Battlefield (very good visitor centre), Cawdor Castle, and the Clava Cairns.

Assuming you will rent a car out of Glasgow so as not to be burdened with it in Edinburgh and Glasgow cities? I would rent out of the airport, which is in Paisley, not Glasgow proper. Ask the agent which signs to follow at the roundabouts leaving the airport to get onto the M8 Motorway northbound to the Erskine Bridge and Dumbarton. Once on the motorway, by the compass you should be going north, not east. (We got on heading east toward Glasgow once. Not fun.) At the bridge it branches off to the A898 and then the A82 toward Dumbarton. At Balloch (southern end of Loch Lomond) there's a huge roundabout with a big sign so you can't go wrong headed to Loch Lomond and points north.

On Loch Lomond you can take any of several short cruises. See Cruise Loch Lomond and Sweeney's Cruises. If you go out of the village of Luss (which we did and enjoyed it very much), be aware that the exit off the A82 for Luss is one small sign. If you blink you might miss it. Luss has a generous-size pay & display car park right by the dock, and pay toilets. There are also some nice gift shops.

We loved Inveraray and can recommend Brambles for daytime meals as well as lodging. Inveraray Castle is beautiful inside and out -- for some reason the RS guide doesn't give it a very exciting review, but we loved it.

On the way to Oban at Loch Awe is the Ben Cruachan "hollow mountain" hydropower visitor centre, with great exhibits that will appeal to anyone with half an interest in science. You can also take a tour under the mountain, though we didn't do that. https://www.visitcruachan.co.uk/

If you stay at Kyle of Lochalsh, I can recommend the Dornie Hotel as affordable, clean, and friendly. I wouldn't try to do the Jacobite steam train that same day, though. We stopped in Fort William just to take pictures of the train as it pulled out. Just outside Fort William, we also stopped at Old Inverlochy Castle (a ruin with a perfect view of Ben Nevis) and Neptune's Staircase at Banavie.

The scenery along the Great Glen Fault (Fort Augustus etc.) is awe-inspiring.

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness is great, with walking tours and costumed reenactors at various times. But be aware it's a ruin -- dress for the weather. At nearby Drumnadrochit is the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition, a science-based experience about the "Nessie" monster.

Hope this helps!

Staying at the Kyle isn't a good way to do the Jacobite. If it's sold out then you can do exactly the same journey for far less money on the ordinary scheduled diesel train, and will still see the Jacobite at Fort William, Mallaig or Glenfinnan, depending which train you take. Or even drive alongside the steam train on the adjacent road.
Day trips from Oban would be more Mull, Iona, Staffs etc.

I think you are trying to do far too much in the time you have.

It's unclear at what point you are going to have car. Are you renting a car on Day 4 in Glasgow and returning it at the airport in Inverness?

If I were you, with your time constraints, I would skip Oban and skip Skye. Assuming you have a car on Day 4, I'd drive to Glen Coe and stay there for two nights. You can see the most scenic places in the Highlands on an easy day trip from Glen Coe.

Rather than riding the train for the sake of riding the train, you can do an easy day trip from Glen Coe to Glenfinnan and time your visit with the arrival of the Jacobite train at the viaduct there.

Glen Coe is a very small town. If you prefer someplace with more services, you can stay in Fort William. It's not fabulous in itself, but it has a lot of hotel and restaurant choices. You can do the same day trip from there as from Glen Coe.

In his Scotland guidebook, Rick suggests an excellent scenic drive through Glencoe.

Have a great trip!

By the way I didn't know Inverness had a departure as early as 0530.
If they do you certainly want to return your car the previous night and stay at the airport hotel.
You don't want to be worrying about a very early transfer from Inverness or anywhere else by taxi or uber.
The hotel will cost what it costs.

All was going well until I got to the end of day 4...

Day 5 is way off beam. Oban just doesn’t make sense for Skye, but it does for Mull. Mull is less on the tourist radar than Skye but is just as good. It makes a lovely day trip from Oban - about 90 minutes on the ferry to Craignure. (This close to September, you are more likely to find accommodation in Oban than on Mull). Do book the car on the ferry asap . In a day you could drive for the foot ferry at Fionnphort for Iona , or drive up to Tobermory and, if time allows, to Dervaig and Calgary.

Day 6 drive from Oban to Inverness via Glencoe and the Great Glen. Do Urquhart Castle for its views of Loch Ness. Ignore all the Nessie stuff which is mainly aimed at the gullable tourist. Depending on what time you get to Inverness, do the short drive out to Clava Cairns .

With a 5.30am departure, I would book a hotel at the airport and hand in the car the night before. (Nairn is nice but impracticable if you are flying out at 5.30am. )

Skye deserves its own trip and there is no way you can fit in the Jacobite train this holiday. To be honest, unless you are desperate to go behind a steam train, book the regular Scots Rail train. It goes along the same track, and is a lot cheaper! Scenically the line is very good and worth riding,althoughas already pointed out, the road follows the railway line for most of the way. (The Kyle of Lochalsh Inverness line is too and I’d be hard pushed to say which I prefer.)

Great comments and questions, all! Thank you so much for all of this feedback, this is so helpful.

Car rental: Yes, we would be picking up a car on Day 4 in Glasgow to use from that point on, heading towards the Highlands at that point.
Inverness flight: I misspoke, I said 5:30 am but that is in fact my spouse's time that he told me to make sure we get to the airport on time for a 7:00 am flight :)

It's good to know that driving will take longer than what Google maps suggests, so thank you for pointing that out!

I'm definitely in the brainstorming stage for what to do and where to stay on Day 5-the Skye and Oban ideas were separate, so thank you for the suggestions and thoughts on those different possibilities. Thanks for the Glencoe suggestions, we're now looking at that as a possibility! Might as well cough up a little bit more for a beautiful stay in Glencoe rather than save a bit of cash and staying in Oban...Regardless I think I'm hearing from you all that Skye would be way too rushed with the time that we have and not pleasant. Regarding Day 4-5, I guess I was thinking of Kyle of Lochalsh as a cool place to spend time in (proximity to Eilean Donan castle and more), I wasn't thinking so much of the train for that one. But I wonder if it would make sense to do Glencoe as suggested after Glasgow, and then do the train after Glencoe, then make our way further north to Kyle of Lochalsh or somewhere similar, or just return to Glencoe for our second-to-last night.

Point well taken on simply going to watch the train arrive-that could be just as enjoyable. I'm really torn... I worry that I will be deeply jealous of the passengers on such an iconic ride. But this also could be one of those things that we could decide the day before if we just do the Scotrail line-not a big deal to get a ticket.

Hmmm. So now a possible revised itinerary would be:
Day 1: arrive in Edinburgh from London train. Have about half the day left to explore.
Day 2: explore Edinburgh
Day 3: take train to Glasgow. explore Glasgow for the day.
Day 4: pick up car, drive to Glencoe (lots of stops)
Day 5: Glencoe area night 2 OR drive up to Kyle of Lochalsh, make lots of stops, stay there overnight. (Maybe possibly do the Scotrail West Highland line this day to and from Fort Williams, then driving from Fort Williams to Kyle of Lochalsh-but again, open to suggestions!)
Day 6: drive from wherever we stay on Day 5, check out Loch Ness etc., arrive in Inverness by 6:00 pm
Day 7: fly out at 7:00 am.

Thank you again, everyone! I did not expect to get so many great responses.

For me Kyle of Lochalsh wasn't special in any way. It's primarily a place to stay when there's nothing convenient/affordable/available on Skye itself. Kyle is one of the few alternatives to always-booked-up Portree for people using public transportation. It's also close to Eilean Donan castle and the cute town of Plockton (the latter has a rail link, but that's meaningless if you have have car). I don't know of any reason to stay in Kyle if you have a car and aren't using it as a base for exploring Skye. There must surely be more charming places to stay.

Eilean Donan Castle is a stop and take a photo place and is always busy. The castle was rebuilt about a hundred years ago and the inside just doesn't live up to the outside. If you are coming back to on another hpolioday to 'do' skye, then leave it for that. Agree that Kyle is a pleasnant enough place but there is nothing special about it as a place to stay. Plockton is delightful but reached down a narrow winding road and doesn't have a lot of accommodation.

Even with a 7am flight I'd still plan to stop at an airport hotel.

Accept and don't try and See EVERYTHING this trip. Keep driving distances to reasonable amount per day as you need time to get out of the car and enjoy the scenery. You don't want to spend hours gazing at it through the windscreen (especially if you sare the driver who will have to concentraste on the road not the scenery...).

When planning I like to allow 25% on google driving times and then add on time for comfort breaks, food and other stops. You don't want to end up driving against the clock to get between points.

Come back and explore more next visit! One of the problems with a forum like this, you get so many wonderful ideas, that it becomes almost impossible to try and do them all!!