Tentative Scotland Itinerary

Just thoughts:

Two nights in Glasgow is probably an overkill unless it's due to arrival/departure time logistics -- one day of looking around is more than enough.

Not real sure what the attraction of Oban is -- distilleries are all over the place, maybe just stop by one as you go along.

What you might want to consider when leaving Skye is to skip the bridge and spend the day ferry-hopping: Armadale (Skye) -> Mallaig to Kilochan (mainland) -> Tobermory to Fishnish (Mull) -> Lochaline (mainland) and then to Ft William. This does two things (besides making a great trip): gets you to see Mull and also to see Ft William which you probably would have missed. ( -> is my symbol for ferry rather than confusing text in the above routing). Were it my trip, I'd spend the night in Ft William as well -- (even at the the expense of a second night on Skye, and for sure in lieu of two at Oban)

As you leave Inverness, stay on the north side of the lochs and stop at the Monster Museum with the dragon floating in the pool -- it's interesting from a history of the legend standpoint -- there's another similar tourist trap right nearby, but it's not as good. I have no idea of the name of either one. Skip going down into Urquhart Castle, you can see all of it from the road.

When going from Inverness to Skye, go down the Great Glenn / Caledonian Canal past Ft Augustus before turning toward Skye (use the A87 instead of the A887) so you can stop for a while and admire the staircase set of locks in the canal at Ft Agustus -- and dump your pocketbook in the antique shops on the south side of the canal -- there are a couple of good spots to eat as well.

Finally, one more night in London -- you could snitch it Inverness or maybe even Edinburgh.

You are traveling at a great time of a year. The places will be open, but the crowds will be small. I would agree that you don't need two nights in Glasgow. Don't get your car until you are ready to leave Edinburgh.

Getting to Orkney is a long process. One way to do it is to fly straight there from the US and start your trip in the North. It's a long trip, but I've done it and basically, you'll use up your jet lag day getting to Kirkwall. You can rent a car there and spend at least two nights. You'll arrive late in the day on the first night and the ferry from Stromness leaves in the AM. There are lots of things to do in Orkney and if you have people with strong interest in archeology and viking side of Scotland you might want to add a night. We then took the bus to Inverness from Scrabster. We got in late afternoon and picked up our car in town from National.

Inverness is a good base for to go east to Elgin and Speyside, and to see local sights such as Culloden, Fort George Clava Cairns. You could do two or three nights depending on how much time you spend in Orkney. You can check out Loch Ness--Urqhart Castle and the Nessie Tat if you want to.

It is lovely drive to West no matter what way you go. But a really nice way to go is north and west on A832 and then the A890 down to Kyle of Lochalsh. Also, a slight side trip will take you to Eilean Donan Castle. I would stay in Portree on Skye for 3 days. It's a wonderful Island to explore. Do a boat ride to see Loch Curuisk. Find the Broch. Explore the cemetery of kings. Take the Ferry to Mailaig. Take your time getting to Glasgow.

Traveling in September means that you don't need to book all of your hotels unless your heart is set on some particular hotels.

It will be a wonderful trip no matter how you do it. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

Pam

Ed & Pam....Thank you for your suggestions, I will definately take it all in and see what I can work up. If you don't mind I would like to post the itinerary again and get views again.

Thanks
Bev

Holy cow, I missed the Orkney/Shetlands business until I was reading what Pam said!

Orkney isn't so bad, but it's a couple of hours to the ferry from Inverness and a couple more across.

The Shetlands are a whole other program. More of an expedition-grade trip. I went out there hiking a few years ago, devoted ten days to the project and swear I spent more time on the boats than I did walking. Seems like it was more than six hours from whatever that town is in the Orkneys. I think there's a way to do it from Aberdeen, but I have no idea how that works.

The ferry outfit is either Northline or Northlink or the plural of one of those words -- maybe two words instead of compound words.

No matter what you do, you're going to have to rob time from the rest of the schedule somewhere. I like the wild and the old stuff, but it doesn't quite meld with the rest of your trip.

I like your itinerary with 3 nights in Skye. It is my favorite place in Scotland. It's an island, not quite as remote as the Orkneys and Shetlands, but very very beautiful. Oban is a good jumping off point for island tours, but with limited time, I would opt for Skye. There's no way you have time for the Shetlands. However, you can do the mainland of Orkney as a day trip from Inverness. I have not done it, but I understand it is a very long and probably exhausting day. If you really want to see the Orkneys, that is probably your best bet. There are some fabulous places to see there. I was fortunate to be able to spend four days there and loved it, but on a short trip, I would definitely consider the day trip from Inverness.

Scotland is a wonderful place. I hope you have a grea trip.

I would suggest skipping Oban and giving that night to Skye. Skye is wonderful and you'll spend a fair amount of time getting from Skye to Oban and you'll be there for only one night.

While I'm not sorry we went to Glasgow, I doubt I would recommend it. I would think that those 2 nights could be better spent in either Edinburgh, Inverness, or London. From Edinburgh, you can take the train to Stirling, which has a wonderful castle. That would make a wonderful day trip. A great place for dinner and/or a drink is Whistlebinkies, one of our favorite pubs. http://www.list.co.uk/place/13225-whistlebinkies/

Okay everyone here is a revised tentative schedule, let me know what you think...Also thinking of doing 4 nights in Inverness and doing the side trips to Orkney and Skye, Loch Ness ect and omitting the 2 night stay in Thurso/Orkney.

Fly into Edinburgh 2 nights:
get car:
Inverness 2 nights:
Thurso/Orkney Islands 2 nights:
Skye 2 nights:
Glasgow 2 nights:
Edinburgh 1 night (catch train from here)
London 3 nights

I know and understand we are not going to get to see everything but with driving to each base camp we plan not to rush and stop where ever to see sites/villages ect.

Thanks again for your previous advice and can't wait to hear your advice for this new schedule.

Thanks
Bev

Bev: In defense of Oban, I stayed there for 3 nights on a leisurely trip around Scotland and loved it. Particularly worthwhile was the Bowman's tour to Iona. You will ferry to Mull, cross Mull in a bus (with great narration) and take a ferry to Iona, a tiny Island which is the site of St. Columba's Abbey and probable burial place of Macbeth. It was one of the highlights of my whole trip. If you have access to Rick Steve's video of travel to Scotland, it is one of the featured pieces. I also loved Inverness, though I didn't make it to the Orkeneys as I was there in May and it was too early for tours to there. I spent two nights on Skye which is beautiful but driving a car there is a real challenge. Have fun.

Hello Bev,
We are visiting Scotland for the 4th time this summer. I have been planning our itinerary for over a year and will share it with you. (We are mostly staying everywhere for 2 nights---Scotland's distances are large and 3 nights with day trips doesn't work well for us.)

Our trip is preceded by 2 nights in York and 2 nights in Alnwick. Our first night in Scotland is at Melrose (Border abbeys), then 2 nights in Glencoe, 2 nights in Skye via Mallaig ferry, 2 nights to Lewis to see Callanish (you would probably skip this with only 11 nights), 2 nights Wester Ross which is supposed to be the most beautiful part of the Highlands, 2 nights Inverness (Culloden, Clava Cairns, Urquart Castle, Glen Affric, Inverness has good shopping, and if you really want to visit Orkney you can take a very long bus day trip from Inverness), and finally 2 nights in Edinburgh before we fly to Paris--but you could just as easily go to London. Our accommodation is all small hotels and B&B--if you want more details, just ask.

Hi, Bev. I think your new itinerary will work. I would take a night off Glasgow and add it to Skye or Orkney. (I'm not a big fan of Glasgow.) If you can only spend two nights on Orkney, I think I would do the day tour from Inverness instead. It will give you a little less time to see the sites on Orkney, but it will be less stressful if all the transportation arrangements are taken care of and you don't have to drive yourself.

I think you have to decide whether you want to see as many different places as you can without worrying about exhausting yourself, or whether you prefer to go at a little slower pace and feel more relaxed. Most people will tell you to go with the latter, but I've done both and enjoyed both. However, the older I get, the more I'm gravitating to a more relaxed itinerary!