Former tour members of ETBD Scotland, use of free time

Hi Anne and Andy, I just did this tour last July. I arrived in Edinburgh two and half days early to do some 'stuff' around the city that wouldn't be included in the tour. I'm not sure if you have planned extra days? Even if you didn't plan extra days, I recommend taking the bus out to Leith (which has now morphed into a part of the city) to tour the Royal Yacht Brittania. It's about a 15 min. bus ride from Princes St. The entrance is actually upstairs at the back of a mall, so don't be surprised when you get dropped off there. ;) I also decided to take a one-day bus tour and go visit Roslyn Chapel and then on down to Hadrian's wall in England. This was with 'Heart of Scotland' tours. There are several other companies who do this as well. For the stop in Inverness, we had the late afternoon/evening to ourselves so we went to 'Hootenany' and caught an informal ceileigh. We just sat and listened to the music. Also just walked around the city for while and went to this cool old bookstore, that I think is listed in Rick's book. For Portree, we were only there for a long lunch stop. If you like photography, you may want to make it down to the waterfront to get the classic 'Portree' shot of all the colorful homes. Or, there's lots of little shops there - you can just shop. Actually, I would have preferred a few more hours there. I'll just have to go back. ;) In Iona, there really isn't anything else to do. The whole island is only 3 miles around. You can go to the church and then come back to the ferry dock. Have fun talking to the locals! I'm sure you'll have a GREAT time. I really enjoyed this tour. Anne D. was our guide and she was terrific! She has a wonderful laugh and reallly knows her history and loves her country!!! ENJOY!

Inverness is a great place to do "window" shopping (or real shopping). Very nice feel to the downtown shopping area. But i would also jump at a folk song dance evening