Need help planning 2wk Itinerary for Scotland

I forgot to mention that we will be driving a rental car.

Inverness is a great location to see stuff in Scotland, you are near Loch Ness country and the various battlefields. You need to do a lot of reading and find some sights and villages etc that sound interesting to you. You may decide to add another day to Inverness and take it away from Edinburgh. Also sounds as if you will be in Edinburgh t tattoo time. Definitely worth doing that (may want to buy tickets ahead of time (especially if you are there over the weekend). On the West Coast we also enjoyed just driving along the coast around Ullapool, which is a convenient place. If my source is correct the Braemar games are on Sept 3rd in 2011. Definitely worth trying to see that (or another Scottish games). Advantage of Braemar is that the Queen attends from Balmoral.

Jennifer, There are lots of options. Instead of heading straight to Inverness from Skye, you could drive north and see the northwest and north coasts. It's beautiful scenery. I love Ullapool and there are marvelous gardens as well. In Betty hill there is a wonderful museum about the clearances. You can go down to STrathnaver and walk where the villages used to be. Or you could go out the Outer Hebrides and explore Harris and Lewis. The Callinish Stones, the Viking Mills and Long Houses, and brochs are wonderful plus the beaches. Or you could explore Aberdeenshire and see the castles and galleries and gardens. Or you could go north to Orkney and explore all the stone and iron age sites. You could walk among the Stones of Stenness or the Ring of Brogdar. Pitlochry is wonderful as well particularly if there is something interesting at the Festival Theater. It's worth checking on. I like Dunkeld with it's cathedral, small houses and music bar as well as the local walks. I also like Aberfeldy. Glen Lyon is beautiful. The Scone Palace just north of Perth is very historic. Further south yet, The Trossachs are great. You can take a steam boat ride on Loch Katrine or go take ride out the abbey in the middle of the Lake of Mentieth. The Borders are an interesting area too with the Abbeys and all the history of the reiving culture. Lastly, Edinburgh and Stirling are well worth some time. I think I've given you several months of travel. Tell us where your interests are and we can help narrow it a bit. Or check out Undiscovered Scotland to narrow it for yourself. Pam

I think you've come up with an excellent itinerary, Jennifer. Of course it is hard to go wrong in Scotland. Definitely end your trip with three nights in Edinburgh; it is a fabulous and beautiful city with a lot to keep you busy. When you are in Oban, consider doing the three isle tour that takes you to Staffa, as well as Iona and Mull. It's a long day, but a great one. I liked Staffa even better than Iona. I'm sorry I cannot comment on Pitlochry as I have not been there. I think though, that I would add another night in Skye rather than add a stop between Inverness and Edinburgh. Skye is just beautiful -- my favorite place in Scotland. I'm not sure Kyleakin is the best place to stay. We stayed in Portree and loved it. Have a great trip!

Thank you! You have all given me a lot to think about. Before I had even started to plan this trip, I thought it would be neat to go up to Orkney, but I have not really seen it mentioned in the guide books. I would like to see the ring of Broadgar. Brian, where is your favorite place to stay in Inverness? Also, it sounds like seeing the Braemar Games would be a lot of fun. Any suggestions of where to stay for that? I'm guessing the close surrounding areas are booked up well in advance. Pam, Going and seeing Harris and Lewis sounds interesting. Where do you take the ferry out of to visit them? We are going to want to visit at least one distillery, Rick mentions that the one in Oban is well worth going to. We are of course going to have to see Loch Ness and Culloden while there and we will see Ft. William and Glencoe. Carroll, where do you like to stay in Portree? I have considered doing three nights in the Skye area. It's so hard to figure out how to divide up your time.
I'm sure I have more questions, but I will leave you all with these for now. :)

I would like to second going to the Braemar games. We went 2 years ago and really enjoyed it. The Queen and her family were there along with many bagpipe "bands". I love the villages along the River Dee to stay but it might be hard to find a place but would try. We stayed in Ballateer on a previous trip. We stayed in Aberdeen and joined a multinational tour group for the day trip to Braemar. I think it was thru Royal Scottish Tours. It is about a one hour drive to Braemar On distilleries we have been to the Tobermory distillery on Mull. It might be a little out of the way if you are mainly going to Iona. But Tobermory is a colorful village to see. I would recommend the Talisker Distillery at Carbost on Skye since you will be there also. It is in the Cuillin Hills on the way to Dunvegan Castle. There is a pub in Carbost-Old Inn- for lunch etc. Lots to see and do on Skye.

There are couple of ways. One you could catch the ferry at Uig on Skye to Tarbert on Harris. You can then catch a ferry back to Ullapool from Stornoway on Lewis (Really one island BTW). From Ullapool it's about an hour to Inverness. BTW there is a nice distillery in Pitlochry. One in town and then a small outside of town that is the smallest one in Scotland. Rick Steves writes it up in his book. I've been to Atholl in town and thought the tour was great and enjoyed the tasting afterwards. Pam

Jennifer, We stayed at the Rosedale Hotel on both trips to Scotland. The first time we went was 25+ years ago when they're weren't as many places to stay. We loved it (especially our room with an incredible view of the harbor) and the people that ran it saved our trip by finding a rental car with a automatic when the place we reserved with told us their two automatics were both out (They didn't think we'd care even though we requested automatic. However, neither of us knows how to drive a manual.) On our last trip three years ago, we felt we just had to stay there again. Although it is under new ownership, we still loved it. But just so you know, I did not research places to stay like I normally do, so I can't say it's the best place or best value. It is well run and the views are still gorgeous. We did both the Orkneys and Lewis and Harris on our last trip and just loved both. I don't think you are going to have time for both unless you drop one or two other stops. We did not do either Edinburgh or Inverness on that trip. The Orkneys are so remote you take up a good part of a day getting up and back. (We went by ferry.) It's definitely a unique place and worth the time, but on a first trip to Scotland, you might have trouble fititng it in. We wanted to stay overnight on Lewis and Harris, but could not work it out because we were going to be there over the weekend, and there are no ferries to or from the island on Sunday (at least there weren't three years ago). However, you can do a day trip from Uig in Skye on Saturdays. It's a long day, but a really great one. You might look into that if it works out that you will be in Skye on a Saturday.

Jennifer, there truly is a wealth of things to do and see in Scotland. I find myself reading the other suggestions and thinking, yes, she needs to go to Kilmartin Glen and climb the hill to see the Fortress of Dunadd. Then I have to rein myself back in and remember that you only have two weeks and you're off to a good start already with your plan. I like Inverness partially because I enjoy going to hear music. I also really like Edinburgh. I know that there are some that find it too touristy, but for me it's the capital. It's where so much of the history happened. It and Stirling played such key roles in the rise of Scotland as a nation in the Wars of Independence. It helps you understand the geography. Speaking of understanding the geography, I recently re-read Lassie Come Home before giving it to a young nephew. Once you've driven around Scotland, you can better understand how hard it was for Lassie to go home. You start to realize all the lochs that she had to around. It's a lovely story too. ; ) Pam

Ok, so we have some reservations set and we are definitely planning on spending the first three nights in Oban, then two nights in Portree, three nights in Inverness and two nights in Edinburgh and our final night somewhere close to the Glasgow airport. This leaves two nights unaccounted for. What would you all suggest? Are we going to want to stay one night some place between Inverness and Ediburgh, if so, where would you suggest? Should we perhaps do that and then add one more night on to the Skye area? We were both interested in going up to Orkney, but I'm thinking with just two unaccounted for nights, that might be a little too ambitious. Heading out to Lewis Island off of Skye would be interesting also, but again, not sure if we have enough time to fit that in? You have all been so much help, thank you.
Jennifer

We love to stay at the Caringorm Hotel in Aviemore. It is between Inverness and Edinburgh- in the Caringorm Moutains. There's lots to see and do. There is a funicular up Mt. Caringorm for some lovley view of the area (and the only Alpine enviornment in the UK), a restored Steam Train that does roundtrips alongside the Spey river, the Rothmurchie estate with walks, canoeing, and horseback riding, a reindeer preserve, a heather center, a microbrewery that does tours (and samples), and much more. The Caringorm Hotel looks like a miniture castle outside and a hunting lodge inside and has THE BEST resturant.

Toni, That really sounds wonderful. We are supposed to drive from Oban to Portree in one day, is this going to be too much with all there is to see along the way?

Jennifer, we had no trouble driving from Oban to Portree in one day. Just make sure to reserve the ferry over to Skye in advance.