Scottish Highlands

I recommend getting a car. Particularly with four people. The alternative is to base yourself in Inverness and take day tours. Personally, I prefer the freedom and flexibility that the car gives me. Plus you can get to places that the tours don't go to. I would recommend that you base yourself in the Inverness area. You can stay in Inverness itself, or Nairn, or the Black Isle, or Beauly. From these locations it's easy to make day trips to the west, north and east.

But that said, what are your interests? Do you have golfers? Then you wan to add Dornoch to your list. See the cathedral and go golfing. Those who don't golf could drive a bit further north and see Dunrobin Castle and the nearby Broch. Do you like history? Then you need to visit Culloden, Fort George, Urqhart Castle, and the Clava Cairns. Are you interested in whisky? Then you'll want to tour some distilleries. Plan to head to the Spey Valley or tour some of the other distilleries in the area. If you want to walk (hike in American) there a tons of areas to go to in the west--Torridon or near Loch Maree, or Glen Afric--or to the south and the Cairngorms--Rothiemurchus estate has walks and bike riding--or you can explore areas to north and east. Let me know if you are interested in other suggestions. If you like music there are wonderful venues in Inverness for live music. If you want castles, Cawdor Castle is nearby. Or you could head west to Skye and Eilean Donan, the castle most often pictured and use in the Highlander movies. ; )

Hope that this gives you some suggestions. I recommend looking beyond Rick Steves guidebooks if you are just interested in the Highlands. Look for the Footprint Guides or other companies that are specifically for the highlands.

Pam

May and early June are supposed to be the best months to visit the Highlands---we asked that question of our B & B hosts at each stop.

We just finished a 10 day car trip around the highlands and were delighted with our itinerary (which I planned for over a year) and with all of our B& B choices.

After one night in the Borders, we spent two nights each in Glencoe, Skye, Lewis, Wester Ross, and Invermorriston (for Loch Ness.) Our focus was mainly scenery, although we also visited stone circles and ruined castles and monasteries.

While it is nice to stay three nights at a location, we found that the two night plan allowed us to see more sights without backtracking so much.

If you want more detail, let me know.

It snowed when we went to Scotland in April; but mostly it just rained off and on. We still had a marvelous time. We are middle age, too. Four people would benefit greatly by having a car. You can easily do a loop through the highlands...it's most scenic by following the lochs. The rail lines don't go everywhere when you go north of Edinburgh. Have you thought about doing the Borders? There are really a lot of real castles and fine estates and ancient churches south of Glasgow and Edinburgh. This where most of Mary Queen of Scots history took place.
New Lanark, Castle Douglas, Stirling, Melrose. Dumphries is the home of Bobbie Burns and is a great place to stay. Check out the Scotish National Trust site for some great leads.

Braemar and plockton.
S

Hey, Susan: what do you know about the self catering log cabins near the two places you mentioned? I found some on the Insider's guide to Scotland. K

Scotland's way too large for an 8-10 day trip by rail. You'll need a car. The ETBD Scotland tour is excellent!

We've done many,many trips of 8-12 days in Scotland and we only use rail and buses. Invereness makes a great base for several days. From there you can get day trips to a large part of the Highlands- including Orkney, Isle of Skye and Eliean Donnan, Urquart Castle, Glencoe, Great Glen, etc. We also like Aviemore for a few days- again lots to do and can use local buses and trains to reach other areas.

With 8-10 days you could "do" Inverness and area (4 days), Aviemore (2 days), and Glasgow (2 or 3 days).

We fly into London (only direct flight out of Charlotte), spend one night usually, then train to York and one night or sometimes train all the way to Edinburgh. Have flown to Edinburgh or Inverness after landing in London a time or two. We usually went in late July and early Nov/Dec because of my schedule as a school adminstrator.

Feel free to PM me for specifics.

Thanks to everyone for your input-I needed it! Nancy

BTW you can fly direct to Edinburgh and Glasgow from Newark. Both are great airports to fly into and are much easier to deal with than Heathrow. Check out this link: http://www.visitscotland.com/guide/travel/travel-from-overseas/travel-from-north-america/ Of course, you'll need to double check with the airlines to see if routes are still valid.

Pam

Hi
Sorry - don't know about log cabins. Saw you were thinking of April. June better. April can be cold. Note - think Braemar holds the lowest temp in the UK! UK only really warms up in last couple of weeks May (in Scotland). Still, prepare for variable temps. Book EARLY esp Plockton. If you're in Braemar, near Skye, Mull, etc try to go to a Highland games. Castles good - I loved Duart on Mull as a child (castle in When the Bells Toll film). If you like gardens then are beautiful gardens called ??Threave in SW Scotland. Also, nearer Aberdeen (not major tourist area) we have Crathes castle and gardens, Castles of Mar (an architectural style), Glentaner Estate near Aboyne (has some little estate cottages). If you're looking for a hotel in Aberdeen the Atholl is great (a small independent hotel with brilliant breakfasts). But, Aberdeen is not really a tourist area (it's agriculture, OIL, OIL and more OIL ...). If I can help more specifically I've lived here most of my life and spent tons summer hols in the Highlands. You'll have a great time.
s :o)
(PS peak summer can have midges - no assoc diseases but very itchy).

Thanks everyone, I am still reading all things posted for ideas and advice.

Hi Nancy,

I've done 2 trips during the 3rd week of April to Edinburgh and had terrific weather. It's all relative, of course, but coming from New England weather to 45-50 F temps was just great.

Certainly good chance that it would be "warmer" to do Edinburgh and south to the Borders area.

I wonder if you could book just first nights and last nights of the trip and then use the Tourist Offices to help you book places after you arrive, letting you drive north or south depending on the weather.

Cheers.

Came back last month our Scotland trip... 4 adults, arrived Glasgow and stayed 2 nights to acclimate after flight from San Diego. Lots to see there and enjoyed the nontouristy feel. Then, picked up our rental car and drove to Oban for 2 nights (loved it), then to Portree in Isle of Skye (wouldn't go again, but had heard so many positive things about it though weather didn't cooperate so hiking was out for more than just a bit, still enjoyed distillery, castle, and good pubs), on to Inverness which was a nice city, loved Cawdor Castle, walking along the river), then Pitlochry (cute town, saw their regional theater, nice hiking ala Rick Steves book, wonderful distillery tour, nice drives), and finally to Edinburgh where we ditched the car. We spent two nights in each locale and felt we had time to see things and time to relax. Drive between towns ranged from 2-3 hours at the most. We never wanted our driver to feel he couldn't enjoy, so we always stayed in B&Bs in center of towns and then walked most places. We did stay in hotels in Glasgow and Edinburgh so we'd be central. With 4, driving is fine. We did take train to York after Edinburgh, buying tickets about 11 weeks ahead for very reasonable, then same on to London. Those places there is no need for a car, but it sure was nice in Scotland to have more flexibility.