Thoughts on our itinerary

It's hard to give a good bit of feedback, because I've been to some, but not all, of the places you are considering. So I can't say X is better than Y.

I will say I really enjoyed Pitlochry as a base for doing some delightful, and mostly level, hikes. You say "mild walks," so I'm not sure what qualifies. One day I took the train to Dunkeld and Birnam, visited Birnam Oak, and hiked the Fiddler's Path along the River Tay. (This could be as mild as you want, since you can turn around and head back to town at any point.) Dunkeld Cathedral is also worth a visit, and as Rick Steves and Fodor say, the town is appealing and beautifully preserved. It was a very short train ride from Pitlochry (about 15 minutes). Since you'll have a car, you could drive.

The other hike I did started and ended in Pitlochry. It combined two hikes: Loch Faskally and Linn of Tummel. This was a much longer hike (about 5 hours), but again, you can shorten it to your taste.

Enjoy Scotland!

Arrochar is a lovely wee village to stay, on the shores of Loch Long (just away from the tourist crowds) with several places to eat, including the great restaurant in the old Church at the railway station between the two villages (Arrochar and Tarbet).
The only though would be that the village IS in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park- the thing being that the NP is a hybrid- Loch Lomond and the Trossachs are two different places.

Thus while I would unhesitatingly recommend Arrochar as a place to stay, it is not ideal if your emphasis is on the Trossachs. For that purpose Callander would be better. I like Callander but it does get pretty busy. Somewhere else in the area such as Aberfoyle might be a better bet.

There are always compromises in these things. Callander/Aberfoyle are on what some see as the nicer route to Oban (via Lochearnhead) but then Inveraray is a short diversion off it, whereas Arrochar is directly on the Inveraray route.

And offer me a straight choice between Pitlochry and Dunkeld, and I'm going to choose Dunkeld any time.

Also I wouldn't stay in St Andrew's with a car- I would probably choose to stay in one of the East Neuk towns, such as Anstruther.

In the Borders I'm not really going to even try to split the various towns- Peebles is as good as any of the others.

I don't think Option B is that rushed, at least it isn't one night stays. Personally I would swop a night off either Tobermory or St Andrew's to reinstate 3 nights to Peebles.

That is a difficult choice...

Glasgow can be done as a day trip on the train from Edinburgh.

Looking at Glasgow to Tobermory - that is going to take up most of the day to get there - it’s going to be about 3 hours drive (allow plenty of time for slow traffic! and check in time is 30 minutes before the ferry sails). Looking at the current timetable you will probably be pushing it to make the 12.15 departure and the 14.15 departure is probably more realistic so you are unlikely to reach Tobermory before 4pm.

I like the choice of Arrochar as it also gives access to places like Inverary (with its castle) as well as the Cowal Peninsular with the wonderful Benmore Botanic Garden and possibly across to Bute. you could spend a day exploring Oban area along with Kilmartin Glen and into the top of the Kintyre peninsula . 2 nights in Arrochar doesn’t give a lot of time there.

If going for the second itinerary. My suggestion would be to cut Peebles from the itinerary and add an extra night to Tobermory and one to Arrachar OR add two to Arrochar... (and that is coming from someone who really likes the Borders area too...)

I see from your posting history that you've planned a few Scotland itineraries over the years. So it sounds like you've done a good bit of research already.

Can you fly into Edinburgh and out of Glasgow or vice versa?

Have any already decided which courses you will play? Many, many years ago we golfed at several local courses, not the big names, and always received a warm welcome and found each place to be a different experience with beautiful views.

Besides visiting castles, would you be up for staying in an authentic castle? There are several lovely places. In 2023, near Oban, we stayed at the 17th century Barcaldine Castle which now operates as a B&B. Oban gives you easy access to the islands of Mull, Iona, Lismore, Kerrera by ferry. The Oban Distillery is in town along with several castles/ruins in the area and wonderful seafood restaurants. There are several golf clubs less than an hour from Oban including the scenic 9 hole Craignure Golf Club on Mull and the Glencruitten Golf Club just outside of Oban.

Or look at Aberdeenshire with its many castles. Leslie Castle is now a guesthouse. Your less than an hours drive to the Speyside Cooperage, many distilleries including Balvenie and Glen Gairoch and loads of castles from the beautiful Craigievar Castle to the ruins of Dunnottar Castle on the coast as well as golf courses along the coast with fantastic views like Cullen Links and Cruden Bay.

Something that may be of interest to your group: community-owned pubs.
https://camra.org.uk/community-pubs

Thank you for the replies- they are very helpful! 3 out of 4 of us play golf, so going to a local course would be fun, but we’d probably play just once. We’d have to rent clubs too which hopefully isn’t a problem.

I think we have to choose between going to Mull or going up to Perthshire. In earlier itineraries, I did want to go to Ballater- thought we’d like going to Stonehaven and doing the walk to Dunnotar. But then I thought we’d be driving too far. For the same reason, that is why we are skipping Skye. Could we skip staying in Peebles and just do a Borders tour from Edinburgh? Yes, but with 3 nights there we could see Peebles and Melrose, go visit Abbotsford and Mellerstain House, and maybe also go to Berwick or St Abbs etc.

I love the idea of staying in an actual castle! We will look into that. Maybe we should skip Glasgow for this trip too- I’m more interested in smaller local places. Plus, we are already staying in Edinburgh.

Could we skip staying in Peebles and just do a Borders tour from Edinburgh?

Yes there's no reason not to do that. Distances aren't that far and you can easily hit teh high spots in a day. Have a look at the Border Abbeys or Selkirk and Langholme suggestions on the Undiscovered Scotland website.

Thanks for the feedback! I’ve made some changes- if we don’t stay in Border’s area but just do a day trip from Edinburgh, there’s more time to visit other areas. I really didn’t want to miss seeing Glasgow either, and now it’s included at the end.

Edinburgh - 4 nights
Anstruther- 3 nights
Arrochar- 3 nights
Tobermory- 3 nights
Inveraray- 2 nights
Glasgow- 2 nights
17 nights

This seems a more relaxed pace. Can’t wait to go!

I don't know about renting clubs, but if you can get round that Iona has a Golf Course. It may not be on most people's itinerary but it could be memorable to play there (I believe they accept visitors).
I can't see if visitors can play there, but Tobermory also has a Golf Course at the back of town. It's history is fascinating, as it was associated for many years with the West Highland Hotel. In turn the West Highland Hotel was built for David Macbrayne's steamers at a time when Tobermory was a major calling point for the ferries to the Outer Hebrides.

Thanks for the information! I’m having trouble deciding where to stay in the Trossachs. After Anstruther, we possibly can stop for a couple of nights in Dunkeld to see that area. After that, I’m thinking staying at either Callander or Aberfoyle (or Killin perhaps?) and seeing along the way Crieff and Drummond Gardens. Another activity that sounds fun is renting an e-bike at Loch Katrine and then cycling back- also, Stirling Castle is also invitingly close. And when we go to Tobermory, I’d like to go via Glencoe and take the Fishnish-Lochaline ferry to Mull. So Callander or Aberfoyle or Killin for 2-3 nights, or somewhere else nearby? A good hotel & restaurant in a pretty spot sounds great. With our itinerary continuing to get longer, I’m not sure we can have stays in both Dunkeld and Inveraray unless we take nights away from somewhere else. If we eliminate Inveraray, that means we won’t see the castle & the area & we’ll have a longish trip from Tobermory to Glasgow. Maybe just doing lunch in Dunkeld is a better bet.

So,
Edinburgh- 4
Anstruther- 3
Aberfoyle/Callander/Killin- 2
Tobermory- 3
Inveraray- 2
Glasgow- 3
17 nights

Okay, changed this up a bit. One place/area missing from previous plan was Glencoe. We now we are going there if we do something like this:

Edinburgh - 3 nights- possible day trip to Borders
Glasgow- 2 nights
Inveraray- 2 nights
Tobermory- 3 nights- get to Iona too
Glencoe- 2 nights
Aberfoyle- 2 nights- bike rental and steamboat ride on Loch Katrine
Anstruther- 3 nights- Fife villages, St. Andrew’s, Dunfermline
17 nights

This itinerary gives us reasonable driving distances, we see a variety of areas, and we immerse ourselves in plenty of history and have a fun mix of cities, small towns, seaside villages, castles and gardens and whiskey! Inveraray could just be a 1-night stay- although it is nice to have all stays being at least 2 nights. If we did that, where should we add that extra night? Add it to Edinburgh or Glasgow? Or increase our time in Glencoe? We’d like to see Stirling Castle, St. Fillans, Drummond castle & gardens; open to any suggestions. Thank you!

Our itinerary is changing again, and now we are planning to skip Mull and Glasgow. The idea is to have 5 bases with 3 nights at each one. This lets us see places at a more relaxed pace and even have some no travel days if we want.

Edinburgh - 3 nights
Callander - 3 nights
Grantown- 3 nights (go via Glencoe)
Pitlochry- 3 nights
Anstruther/St. Andrew’s- 3 nights
15 nights

On the drive from Callander to Grantown, we’d like to take A82 and go via Glencoe and Aviemore.

The e bikes at Loch Katrine are a great idea.

You may not be aware that you can also cycle down to Inversnaid on Loch Lomond and do a boat trip from there up to the head of the Loch. The hotel is now a big bus tour hotel (for Lochs and Glens tours), but still a good place for refreshments.

Lochs and Glens usually take their guests across Loch Lomond from a private dock, but when that is not possible they are bussed down the Loch Katrine road.

We've all but lost it, with people's apparent modern dependence on the car. But in times past Loch Katrine used to be part of the three Lochs day tour from Glasgow.
There was bus transport from Glasgow to Loch Katrine, then the full Loch cruise then bus or walk down to Inversnaid, boat over to Tarbet, bus to Arrochar, then steamer down Loch Long back to Glasgow. (Arrochar Pier is now closed and unsafe, but 2 or 3 days a year the Waverley still does the Loch Long sailing from Arrochar Marina). It would have been a spectacular day out.

But at least to Inversnaid for the head of the Loch cruise it is very worth doing.

Once upon a time the Maid of the Loch also steamed the full length of Loch Lomond from Inversnaid to Balloch as another superb option- now impossible to do. I missed that before she was taken out of service.

For people who use public transport we have a summer bus back from Glasgow to Loch Katrine, so with buses from Arrochar to Glasgow it is possible to closely (if not exactly) recreate the old route. I have actually done it (a good few years ago when the postbus ran to Loch Katrine) and it really was one of my more memorable Glasgow based days.

While Grantown on Spey is hardly a bustling metropolis it is a town- for more of the village you were after, have you thought about Carrbridge, Boat of Garten or Nethy Bridge as alternatives?

Okay, we are narrowing in on itinerary. Still trying to keep it around 15 nights (which can be increased), and going for longer 3 night stays if possible but also minimizing drive times, here goes:

Edinburgh - 3 nights

Anstruther- 3 nights
3 hr 15 min to Pitlochry

Pitlochry- 3 nights
3 hr 50 min to Tobermory

Tobermory- 3 nights
1 hr 47 min to Oban

Oban- 1 night
2 hr 42 min to Glasgow

Glasgow- 2 nights

This gets us to different regions, whisky, castles, gardens, seaside villages, etc. I realize drive times will be longer than what map software lists; the longest drive is going to Tobermory. I added one night in Oban to break the drive to Glasgow and it also to see Inveraray and St. Conan’s Kirk. On the drive to Pitlochry, I’d like to go thru Crieff for Drummond gardens.

If you are interested in history then between Crieff and Pitlochry you could add the short diversion to the Scottish Crannog Centre at Kenmore.

To add some different scenery you could route from Pitlochry north via Laggan to the Corran Ferry (2 hours), across on the very short Corran ferry then 1 hour 15 minutes to Lochaline for the turn up and go ferry to Fishnish on Mull, or the 2 hours to Kilchoan for the turn up and go ferry direct to Tobermory.