In early May, my daughter and I plan to take the train from Edinburgh to Oban and spend two nights in Tobermory so we can go on an all-day whale watching trip. Once we arrive in Oban, we want to take the tour of Iona. Do we take the ferry to Craignure in Mull? Does our luggage go with us on the tour bus? How do we get from Craignure to Tobermory? I'm confused by the ferry schedules. Secondly, we also want to tour the Isle of Skye. Once again, I would appreciate any advice you have on transportation. Should we consider renting a car in Oban? Thanks for your help.
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New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
There is not very good transportation on Mull. Had you thought of renting a car? You really need one to tour Skye as well. If you had a car you could drive to Oban, and then either spend the night there or take the ferry directly to Tobermory. The drive from Tobermorey to Fionnphort is about two hours. It a bit more from Oban because of the ferry. You take a passenger ferry over to Iona. Then you can do a beautiful drive up to Skye. If you are stuck with the train, then I would email one of the tour companies and see what their advice is. If they use the same bus to take people from Oban to Fionnphort and back, then you can likely leave your luggage on the bus. There are buses from Craignure to Tobermorey. Not every ferry is met. See the local bus schedule. To get to Portree Skye from Oban you would not take the train. You would take the bus. It's a 4 and a half hour trip vs 3 and a half in a car. Stagecoach claims it's easy to get around Skye on their buses, but I am highly skeptical. Here's the Stagecoach website. It's no where nice and clean as the Mull one.