Unexpected trip opportunity for 3-week trip this July

There are some day trips from Edinburgh to the Hadrian's Wall area although to me that might be better saved for a trip where you are seeing Yorkshire and Northumberland. Take a look at Rabbie's tours. (edited to correct an Autocorrect...eye roll)

I loved Orkney in 2023 and am headed back there in less than 2 weeks. It is an amazing place and with 3 full weeks you've got enough time you could add it in. I'd go for no less than 3 nights for 2 full days and more is always better. DO check on hotels before you get too far in to planning as this was fairly difficult a few months ago. You will want to rent a car here. I don't drive in Europe but I'm doing a multi-day tour so I don't have to. There is some public transport that some people can make work but honestly if you have the ability to drive I'd default to the car-centric American view and just rent a car and be done with it. Then you are not faffing about waiting for the once an hour bus to come by.

The tourist information site orkney.com is a wealth of information!

Do start looking at the temps in Scotland. They look so wonderful right now! Highs of 59F or so which just sounds great with the mini-heat wave we are having in the Inland Northwest.

What a fun time you are going to have!

The Fringe Festival pretty much takes over Edinburgh for most of August. It's the largest performing arts festival in the world, and is really fun. However hotel rates jump up, and availability dwindles. Just info for your planning.
Safe travels!

A couple of things to start while I weed through your very chatty post (you'll fit right in with the Scots).

There is limited lodging on Skye which gets booked out months in advance. If Skye is important to you start looking and booking ASAP. If you can't get a room in Skye, no worries. Scotland has a lot to offer.

If Jacobite train is a priority, again book ASAP. It is mostly sold out for the rest of the year. As I type this, I only see seats available for your trip on July 20. If you book this, that will dictate the start of your trip. In that case, take the train from London to Glasgow.

With 3 weeks, I would start in Glasgow and head along the west coast through the Trossachs or Edinburgh and head along the east coast via Stirling and Aberdeenshire or the Cairngorms. Whichever way, go beyond Inverness up to the North Coast and come back south the opposite coast ending down in The Borders before going to Edinburgh or Glasgow for a couple days before getting your train back to London.

There are several island experiences you could have depending on lodging availability beside Skye. Pam has mentioned the Orkneys, there is also Aran, Mull, Lewis and Harris.

I think at this point, pick your number 1 priority and build your trip around that.

The time efficient way to do Hadrians Wall is to stop off at Newcastle or Carlisle in either direction. It is entirely possible to do the Wall as a whistle stop tour in the day then continue North or South in the evening.
There is also no good reason why you can't stay the night in Carlisle or Newcastle - far more likely to have late availability than Haltwhistle or Hexham. Haltwhistle is 30 minutes by train from Carlisle, Hexham just a bit more from Newcastle. The Hadrian's Wall bus runs between the two railway stations.
In Carlisle at the moment stay at the Station Hotel (roadworks are making getting to other hotels a little bit challenging.
Likewise the time efficient way to do the Jacobite is the Caledonian Sleeper to Fort William, then a direct connection into the Jacobite, then the bus to Oban when you get back to Fort William.
Then the isles cruise next day.
However the normal service train covers exactly the same route as the steam train.
If you have stayed in Carlisle the previous night there are a couple of trains to Glasgow at just after 0900 which provide a good connection into the lunchtime train to Mallaig. I do suggest giving a day to Carlisle for the Castle, the Tullie House museum, the Cathedral etc. You may get lucky and match with a day when there is a guided walking tour of the city by a blue badge guide.
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs are a combined national park but two different areas. By boat trip on the Loch I assume you mean Loch Lomond.
However, if you have a car far better is the boat trip on the old steam ship the Sir Walter Scott on Loch Katrine in the Trossachs.
Likewise, if driving to Oban Kilchurn Castle and Loch Awe are actually on one of the possible routes. Due to on going work you can't actually access Kilchurn currently - just see it from the shore.
Another island experience is Islay- you can fly there from Glasgow and rent a car on the Island. Both companies will only rent automatics to Americans.
Likewise Arran is categorically not the only possible island experience close to Glasgow. The Isle of Bute is another great one, and much more accessible than Arran. From Bute you can ferry hop to Oban (or Islay), just as you can from Arran.

Well you've left it late but you already know that! You might get lucky and tick two boxes if Kinloch Lodge on Skye has rooms for your dates. It's a lovely historic place - a sort of mini castle, on a loch with mountain views, nice rooms, great people and excellent food and a decent base from which to explore Skye. It is rather spendy, but then you're coming in peak season and will be lucky to find anything in Skye. If they are full then Edinbane Lodge might be an alternative on Skye, but without the mountain views.

Oh my goodness, you all are amazing! So much great information in such a short time. I have to study my maps to see exactly where you're describing in your posts. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

@jeanm - Yes, it was wordy. I figured it was better to give more info than have you ask questions. Besides, I like to talk. :)

Hi, melrowgo,

It looks as though there are still a few rooms available at the Dunollie Hotel in Broadford during your time frame for Skye. It's not the Ritz, but if all you need is a place to lay your heads, it's not bad. Breakfast is included in the rate. Their car park is a mess, so you'd probably have to park down by the Co-op. In July they're overpriced for what you actually get, but it's Skye in high season, so you pretty much have to take what you can get, if you can find nothing else.

Although Broadford is about a 45 minute drive from Portree, you can get just about anywhere on Skye if you get an early start each day. Plus it's an easy drive to places like Elgol, Kyle, and Plockton.

I'd recommend making reservations directly with the hotel. Try for a sea view (actually it's Broadford Bay) if possible. There are several restaurants in Broadford, including at the hotel.

Good luck!

Mike (Auchterless)

It was briefly mentioned above, but you might consider trying to get on a tour (something
I normally don't do, but did in Scotland) such as Rabbie's, and others to access the areas
away from Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Advantages:
- they do the driving, so you don't have to, and you access places you might not otherwise
get to
- while the cost of lodging is additional to the tour cost, they will book lodging for you if you
want them to (could be a big advantage given the timeframe)
- since you are starting late in your planning, perhaps picking a tour and going where they go
will make things a lot easier for you rather than trying to string together an itinerary on your own.

Disadvantages:
- there are specific departure dates and many of them may be sold out by now.
- it's a bus (but comfortable)

Rabbie's gets many upvotes from this forum (including me). Spending time in the cities on your
own and doing tours to see the outer areas might be a way to put it all together.

Considering your flights in/out London, and assuming you will spend a night or two in London on
the way in, you have a little over 2 weeks to spend in Scotland total. With your time constraints,
I would not try to "do it all", also taking your walking issues into account.

Thank you again to everyone who has replied to my initial post. Here's another "wordy" post giving an update on our trip planning thus far:

• I booked lodging on the Isle of Skye first as I figured it would be the most difficult to secure during prime season (at least at a price we could swing). Unfortunately, the only time we could get a 4-night stay at an affordable property was right after our time in Edinburgh. This dictated the timing of everything else and will make our route look more like a figure 8 than in a big circle
• Thanks to the tip about the Fringe Festival from @Pat, we moved our stay in Edinburgh to the beginning rather than the end of our trip. (Thanks Pat!)
• We decided to eliminate Glasgow this trip as part of several "we need to cut something" decisions

• I was able to find a cool inn in a remote section of the upper Highlands that fits the bill for our wish to "spend 3 nights at a lodge or old stead with iconic sweeping views of mountains and/or a loch". It includes breakfast and dinner, which is good since it would be drive to get food. Since we've found this place, we've decided not to visit Cairngorms NP. (See previous reference to the need for cuts.)

• We decided we really wanted to go to the Orkney Islands, so we have allocated 3 nights there

• @shoeflyer, we have visited London a couple of times before, and though we'd be happy to spend time there again, we're only staying in London (well, Heathrow area) the night before our return flight. We arrive at LHR around 06:30 on July 17 and plan to take a train to Edinburgh sometime around noon that same day

So, here's our rough itinerary, with lodging booked for the first 3 locations already:

• 7/17 arrive LHR, take train to Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 4nts)
• 7/21 pick up rental car at EDI and drive to Isle of Skye (Portree area, 4nts)
• 7/25 take a circuitous scenic route from Isle of Skye to Kinbrace in Sutherland (Kinbrace, 3nts)
• 7/28 take ferry Gill Harbor to St Margaret's Hope in Orkney Islands (stay on Mainland Island, 3nts)
• 7/31 take same ferry back, drive down eastern shore as far as Inverness, then follow the shore road by Loch Ness and other lochs across the "spine" of Scotland to the Loch Lomond NP area. Undecided whether to use one location (Fort Augustus?) for two nights and another (Tarbet?) for three nights, or find one central spot as a base for 5 nights. In whichever case, we'd like to explore this area, including some of the following: 3-island boat trip from Oban, Jacobite train from Fort William, Loch Lomond and The Trossacks, Glencoe Valley, Falkirk Wheel, Dunnator Castle, Eilean Donan Castle, Stirling Castle, Loch Awe, Fairy Pools. (???, 5nts)
• 8/5 drive to EDI to drop off the rental car, train to LHR (Heathrow area, 1nt)
• 8/6 depart 09:45 LHR-JFK-CLT

This is still rough, but it has taken shape pretty quickly thanks to input from your posts. I still have a lot of research to do, and I plan to go back through all of your posts again this weekend. Any and all thoughts/ideas/suggestions would be most appreciated!

Sounds pretty good. A couple of comments....

1. Personally I'd opt for two bases for your Fort Augustus/Tarbet question. The things you want to see are pretty spread out.

2. Unless there are other pools I don't know about, the Fairy Pools are on Skye.

3. You'll see Eilean Donan castle as you head to or from Skye. It's about 15 minutes from the Skye Bridge on the A87.

Dunnottar Castle is a real outlier on this trip.

I am not sure how to efficiently build it in. I suppose you would go by Loch Tay, Blairgowrie and the A90 then afterwards down to Edinburgh going over the Kincardine Bridge for Falkirk late afternoon. Empirically that feels like a lot of driving in the day.
I'm unsure if it's worth it TBH.

It isn't exactly the same but on that theme of dramatically located castles maybe Tantallon Castle at North Berwick near Edinburgh could fulfil the same end.

Falkirk you build in to your transfer to Edinburgh as you are pretty much going past it anyway with a minor diversion.

Looks like you have a good plan.

When you're up north try to visit the wonderful Strathnaver Museum in Bettyhill to learn more about the Highland Clearances.

For your 5 nights, I agree that you should split nights in 2 places.

For a unique stay near Oban, we enjoyed Barcaldine Castle. We used it for our base when taking the 2 island tour to Mull and Iona.

If you want to ride the Jacobite train, book ASAP. They still have some standard seats available Aug 1-3.

Eilean Donan is a nice photo op from the outside.

And I agree Dunnotar Castle is an outlier.

When checking car rentals, look at Celtic Legend. Very easy to work with. They use cars from Arnold Clark. Compare rates with both companies. Sometimes one or the other offers the better deal when you add in any extras.

And book ahead for dinner reservations, especially on Skye. Even pub dinners should be to be reserved.

This is such great advice, and I so appreciate your taking the time to reply. Thank you!

I hadn't realized Dunnottar Castle was such an outlier. I saw it on a couple of travel segments and thought it looked like a place worth visiting. It's been cut. Also, didn't notice the Fairy Pools were on Skye, so thanks for that. (My sister & BIL told us how much they liked them, not exactly where they were.) Good suggestion about dining reservations. Unfortunately, I don't know anything yet about good dining options in the places we're staying, so that will be my next task after all lodging is booked. Normally, we walk an area and find tucked away places that locals go (found some amazing places in Turkey that way), but we also haven't traveled in high season.

My current task is deciding where to stay for the 5 nights at the end of our itinerary, and whether to do 3 nights in the northern part of our area of interest and 2 nights in the southern portion, or vice versa. I appreciate the concensus that splitting is better than 5 nights near the center.

I look forward to other suggestions anyone has!

Planning update:

• More cuts had to be made, so we took out the Jacobite train and the multi-island boat trip from Oban
• We booked 2 nights near Glencoe and 3 nights near Cove on the shores of Loch Long
• Still to book: 3 nights in the Orkney Islands and the last night at a hotel near Heathrow

Currently, here's our itinerary:

• 7/17 arrive LHR, take train to Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 4nts)
• 7/21 pick up rental car at EDI and drive to Isle of Skye (Portree area, 4nts)
• 7/25 drive a circuitous scenic route from Isle of Skye to Kinbrace in Sutherland (Kinbrace, 3nts)
• 7/28 take ferry Gill Harbor to St Margaret's Hope in Orkney Islands (Mainland Island, 3nts)
• 7/31 take same ferry back, drive down to Glencoe via Loch Ness (Glencoe, 2nts)
• 8/2 enjoy Loch Lomand & The Trossacks park area (Cove, 3 nts)
• 8/5 drive to EDI to drop off the rental car, train to LHR (Heathrow area, 1nt)
• 8/6 depart 09:45 LHR-JFK-CLT

Any further suggestions for places to explore in the areas above and/or suggested driving routes continue to be appreciated. Lastly, any great places to eat in these areas that you'd recommend (they don't have to be fancy), I'd love to hear them.

THANK YOU!

You will absolutely need to book dinner reservations in Skye. There are no 'tucked away places that locals go' because in season the locals are too busy working in B&Bs, hotels, restaurants, running boat trips etc. :)

Gasta, at the Skye Candles Visitor centre does excellent and imaginative pizza and you don't need a reservation for 2 people, but you will be lining up. It's worth it.

Also in Portree is Scorrybreac which is fantastic - book now. Otherwise it's Caberfeidh, the Antler Bar, Isles Inn, Sea Breezes, all of which you'd need to book.

If you want fine dining there's also Edinbane Lodge and Lochbay (1 Michelin star) but they are a 40 minute or so drive from Portree or a very expensive taxi ride and would also need to be booked now.

I enjoyed the Edinbane Inn, in Edinbane on the outskirts of Portree. It is a very nice pub with good food, and sometimes has local music; especially on the weekends. You will need to reserve ahead. As Skyegirl said, just about every restaurant or pub will need to be booked ahead or you risk not getting seated. Even for lunch. And especially in the summer.

Another dinner place I loved was the Bracken Hide, which is right outside Portree. The food was incredible and there was a beautiful view outside the huge windows. It was really a lovely place, and I would definitely go back.

I hope you enjoy the beautiful Rosneath Peninsula, it's far too long since I've been over there.
It is really nice over there.
One thing you might like to do is to visit the Linn Botanic Garden- be probably the first forum member to do so.
It is wonderful to see a rebirth of these gardens after so many years- see their website for the back story.
Another possibility is to take the foot ferry from Kilcreggan to Gourock, change to the foot ferry to Dunoon and then visit Benmore Botanic Gardens.

Take the 1452 Avanti train from Edinburgh, and alight at Watford Junction for the Rail Air Bus to Heathrow thus avoiding the cross London transfer.

Currently that is just £36 Advance Fare to Watford Junction.
That allows you a relaxed start from Cove.

@skyegirl: Point well taken about the locals being too swamped to have a night out for dinner! Shows I'm not used to traveling in high season.

@ isn31c: Thanks for the excellent suggestion of using Watford Junction to bypass the city transfer. The train you suggest will get us in fairly late, so it's possible we'll take one a bit earlier. Whether we take that one or an earlier, knowing to get off a Watford Junction was +1! Also, I looked at the Linn Botanic Garden site and am not entirely sure it's open. Perhaps it will be by August?

All: Great suggestions on some places to eat. I'll look into all of them. Any suggestions in Edinburgh or Glencoe?

A few thoughts,

I believe the only earlier direct train to Watford Junction on 05 Aug departs Edinburgh at 8:52, all others would require a change.

Have you checked to see if you could return your car rental to Glasgow and take the train from there?

Even up North, cafes and restaurants in the small towns would be booked up at lunch.

2 restaurants we enjoyed in Edinburgh in 2023- Howie's at Waterloo Place and the more casual Makars Mash Bar with 2 locations. The one at 9 Bank Street takes reservations.

Yes the 0852 and 1852 from Edinburgh call at Watford Junction, as does the 0800 from Glasgow Central. They are the only ones to do so. However both the 0800 and 0852 are really too early for car rental return, which would probably be best achieved at either airport.
At Edinburgh you can in principle return and rent cars at Waverley station. I am far from convinced from personal experience that entering Edinburgh from the M8 direction that is a good idea. It works better from the East Lothian and Galashiels directions.
To and from East Lothian (and Northumberland) I actually think Waverley is a good rental option as the road out is really not too bad.
In principle you could take the 1434 from Glasgow Central and do a same platform change into the 1452 at Carlisle or Lancaster. But there is no available fare to do that. The reason is that a faster connection to Watford Junction at the same bargain Advance Fare is offered by Avanti changing back into a London North Western Train at London Euston. The same applies to every one of the hourly trains from Glasgow through the day, from 4am to 6pm.
Even with that counter intuitive change I am convinced that is normally the best way from the West Coast route to Heathrow.

Especially as there are two different buses from Watford Junction to Heathrow - the rail air and the Green Line. I'm not too fussed personally which I end up on.

And I don't personally see the point of returning the car to Edinburgh (an extra hours drive) then LNER half hourly to Kings Cross for a cross London route to Heathrow.
The 1852 has no Heathrow connection, as it arrives too late.