Scotland for Three Generations: Edinburgh, the Highlands and Skye

1. Day 1: Arrive in Edinburgh

   Edinburgh Airport to your hotel in the centre, then Princes Street Gardens

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Early welcome dinner
   • Stay in Edinburgh
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Edinburgh Airport (EDI), about 13 km west of the city, and a driver meets your family in arrivals for the ride to our hotel in the centre, a short walk from Princes Street. Land by about 2 pm if you can; with children and jet lag, coming a day early is easy to arrange. At about 4:30 your See Sight Tours guide meets everyone in the lobby so the children can put names to faces, then leads a gentle, level walk through Princes Street Gardens under the castle rock, past the floral clock and the Ross Fountain, with benches all the way. The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. Dinner is early, at about 6 pm, so the youngest can be in bed on time: a welcome meal together, with a short briefing on the week, what to pack for Skye and how each day is paced.

   Included

   • Private transfer from Edinburgh Airport (EDI)
   • Meet the group and your guide
   • Level walk through Princes Street Gardens
   • Early welcome dinner and briefing

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel and join the group at dinner.

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon meeting

   Activity: About an hour on foot on level garden paths, with benches.

2. Day 2: Edinburgh Castle and the Camera Obscura

   Edinburgh on foot: the castle, Castlehill and the Royal Mile

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Edinburgh
   Day 2 details

   We walk up to Edinburgh Castle for the first entry of the morning, at about 9:30, before the queues and tour groups build; grandparents who would rather not climb the Royal Mile ride up by taxi with the guide. The castle sits on an extinct volcano and children like it for its cannons, the great siege gun Mons Meg, the prisons of war where captured sailors carved their names, and the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels. After about two hours we cross Castlehill to the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, where a Victorian rooftop camera projects live views of the city onto a table, and five floors of optical illusions keep every age busy for an hour. Lunch is your choice on the Royal Mile. The afternoon is free: the National Museum of Scotland is free to enter and has a dinosaur skeleton and Dolly the sheep, or rest at the hotel. Dinner is on your own; your guide suggests family-friendly places with early tables.

   Included

   • Edinburgh Castle, first entry of the morning, with your guide
   • Camera Obscura and World of Illusions

   Optional experiences

   • Dynamic Earth, the science centre below Arthur's Seat (extra, price shown at booking)
   • The Real Mary King's Close underground tour, for ages 5 and up, under-16s with an adult (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Ride a taxi to the castle esplanade and stay on the lower, level areas inside the castle.

   More active option: Climb Arthur's Seat in the afternoon, 251 m, about 2 hours up and down from Holyrood, with your guide's directions.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Edinburgh

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on cobbles and steep streets, with steps and ramps inside the castle.

3. Day 3: The Falkirk Wheel, Pitlochry and Aviemore

   Edinburgh to the Falkirk Wheel, then Perth, Pitlochry and the A9 to Aviemore

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Aviemore
   Day 3 details

   We leave Edinburgh at about 9 and drive 45 minutes west to the Falkirk Wheel, the only rotating boat lift in the world, which turns to carry boats 24 m between two canals. We ride it on a boat trip of about an hour, so the children see the whole wheel lift them up and set them down again. North of Perth the road enters the Highlands, and we reach Pitlochry at about 12:45 for a sit-down lunch on the main street. Afterwards a short woodland walk leads up through oak trees to the Black Spout, a waterfall of about 60 m with a viewing platform. The last leg, about an hour on the A9 over the Pass of Drumochter and along the edge of the Cairngorms National Park, brings us to Aviemore at about 4:30. That is about 3 hours of driving in three legs, none over about an hour and a quarter. The evening is free, with an early dinner on your own and, where the hotel has one, a swim.

   Included

   • Falkirk Wheel boat trip
   • Sit-down lunch in Pitlochry
   • Woodland walk to the Black Spout waterfall

   Easier option: Stay in the van at the Black Spout car park, or have coffee on Pitlochry's main street.

   Free time: Evening free in Aviemore

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot: a level canal basin at Falkirk and a woodland path with a gentle climb to the waterfall.

   

4. Day 4: Reindeer, the beach at Loch Morlich and the wildlife park

   Aviemore to the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre at Glenmore and Loch Morlich, then the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Aviemore
   Day 4 details

   A day built around animals and a beach, with only about an hour in the van. We leave Aviemore at about 10:15 for the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre at Glenmore, home of Britain's only free-ranging reindeer herd, and join the herders' 11 am hill trip, which runs daily. It takes about 1.5 to 2 hours in all: a walk of about 30 minutes each way on a rough path, and time among the reindeer to feed them by hand. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Glenmore at about 1, and then there is an hour on the sandy beach of Loch Morlich, at the foot of the Cairngorms, for paddling and stone-skimming. At about 3 we reach the Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig, run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, with animals of cold and mountain places such as snow leopards, Scottish wildcats and polar bears, which we confirm for your date. Visitors to its reserve stay in their vehicle; whether our minivan may drive it is confirmed at booking, and if not, we walk the level main paths. We are back in Aviemore at about 5.

   Included

   • Cairngorm Reindeer Centre 11 am hill trip to the herd
   • Sit-down lunch in Glenmore
   • The beach at Loch Morlich
   • Highland Wildlife Park

   Optional experiences

   • Kayak or paddleboard hire at Loch Morlich (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Stay at the Reindeer Centre while the hill trip goes up, then take it easy on the Loch Morlich beach and on the benches at the wildlife park.

   More active option: Walk part of the path round Loch Morlich through the Caledonian pine forest while the group is on the beach.

   Free time: Evening free in Aviemore

   Activity: About 2.5 hours on foot: a rough, sometimes boggy hill path to the reindeer in the morning, sand at the beach, and mostly level park paths in the afternoon.

5. Day 5: Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle and Eilean Donan to Skye

   Aviemore to Inverness and Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, then Glen Moriston, Glen Shiel, Eilean Donan, the Skye Bridge and Portree

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Portree
   Day 5 details

   This is the trip's longest day in the van, about 3.75 hours, so we split it into three legs of no more than about an hour and a half, each ending at a castle or a meal. We leave Aviemore at 8:45 and drive north by Inverness to Urquhart Castle on the shore of Loch Ness, arriving soon after opening. Loch Ness is about 37 km long and over 200 m deep, and the children can scan the water for the monster from the ruined tower. After about an hour and a quarter we head west through Glen Moriston and down Glen Shiel between steep mountains to Dornie, for a sit-down lunch beside Eilean Donan, the castle on a tidal island where three sea lochs meet. Inside are a banqueting hall, bedrooms and a kitchen laid out as they were. Then we cross the Skye Bridge and arrive in Portree at about 4:30, in time for a walk round the coloured houses of the harbour before an early dinner on your own.

   Included

   • Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness
   • Sit-down lunch in Dornie
   • Eilean Donan Castle, inside
   • The Skye Bridge

   Easier option: Stay in the upper visitor area at Urquhart, which avoids the steep path down to the castle.

   More active option: Climb the Grant Tower at Urquhart for the view along Loch Ness.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Portree

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot, with a steep path and steps at Urquhart and narrow stairs inside Eilean Donan.

   

6. Day 6: The Old Man of Storr and Skye's dinosaur coast

   Portree to the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock and Staffin, then back to Portree

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Portree
   Day 6 details

   A short driving day on Skye, about an hour and a half on single-track roads, with the afternoon free. We leave Portree at about 8:45 and reach the Old Man of Storr, a basalt pinnacle on the Trotternish ridge, before most day tours arrive mid-morning. The path climbs about 3.8 km there and back, and families walk as far as suits them: the first viewpoint over the lochs is about 20 minutes up. Up the coast, Kilt Rock is a short level walk from the car park to a fenced viewpoint where Mealt Falls drops off the cliff into the sea. At Staffin we look for dinosaur footprints in the rocks at An Corran beach, visible at low tide, which we plan around for your date, and visit Staffin's small dinosaur museum. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Staffin, and we are back in Portree by about 2:30. The afternoon is yours: a wildlife boat trip from the harbour, a swim, or a rest.

   Included

   • The Old Man of Storr path, walked as far as you like
   • Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls viewpoint
   • Dinosaur footprints at An Corran beach, Staffin
   • Staffin Dinosaur Museum
   • Sit-down lunch in Staffin

   Optional experiences

   • A wildlife boat trip from Portree harbour for seals and sea eagles (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Watch the Storr from the roadside viewpoint by Loch Leathan and stay on the level path at Kilt Rock.

   More active option: Walk the full Storr path to the foot of the pinnacle and on to the upper viewpoint, about 2 hours with the guide.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Portree

   Activity: About 2.5 hours on foot, on a steady, rough climb at the Storr if you go up, and a slippery rock shore at Staffin.

7. Day 7: Sligachan, the Mallaig ferry and the train over the Glenfinnan viaduct

   Portree to Sligachan and Armadale, the ferry to Mallaig, then the train to Fort William

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Fort William
   Day 7 details

   We leave Portree at 9 and stop at the old bridge at Sligachan, under the Cuillin, where the guide tells the legend that bathing your face in the river brings eternal beauty, and the brave try it. Then it is about an hour and a quarter in all to Armadale on the Sleat peninsula, for the gardens of Armadale Castle and the Museum of the Isles, before the car ferry to Mallaig, a crossing of about 30 minutes. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Mallaig, a working fishing harbour. In the afternoon the whole family boards the train to Fort William on the West Highland Line, about an hour and a half by lochs and silver sands and across the Glenfinnan viaduct, the one the Hogwarts Express crosses in the Harry Potter films, while our van carries the bags. Driving today is only about an hour and a quarter. If wind stops the ferry, we drive round by the Skye Bridge, about 3 hours with a lunch stop, and refund the train. Farewell dinner in Fort William is at about 6.

   Included

   • Sligachan old bridge and the Cuillin view
   • Armadale Castle gardens and the Museum of the Isles
   • The Armadale to Mallaig car ferry
   • Sit-down lunch in Mallaig
   • Train from Mallaig to Fort William over the Glenfinnan viaduct
   • Early farewell dinner in Fort William

   Optional experiences

   • The Jacobite steam train in place of the regular service, when its timetable and seats allow (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Sit in the castle garden's tearoom at Armadale instead of walking the woodland paths.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Fort William before dinner

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot on garden paths at Armadale; steps up into the train carriages.

8. Day 8: Glencoe, Loch Lomond and Glasgow

   Fort William to Glencoe, then Rannoch Moor, Tyndrum, Loch Lomond at Luss and Glasgow

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 8 details

   We leave Fort William at about 9 and are at the Glencoe Visitor Centre half an hour later. A short path through the woods leads to Signal Rock, and the guide tells the story of the massacre of 13 February 1692 in a way that suits the children. Then we drive up the glen, stopping at the viewpoint for the Three Sisters and at Altnafeadh under Buachaille Etive Mor, before crossing the open bog and lochans of Rannoch Moor, where red deer often graze by the road. The road runs south by Tyndrum and down the west shore of Loch Lomond, the largest lake in Britain by surface area, to Luss, a village of stone cottages with a pebble beach, at about 12:30. We have our last lunch together, then a boat trip of 45 minutes to an hour on the loch, in season. Glasgow is about forty minutes on: Glasgow Airport at about 4:15, the city centre at about 4:45. That is about 3.25 hours of driving, the longest leg about 2 hours. Book flights after about 7:30 pm.

   Included

   • Glencoe Visitor Centre and the walk to Signal Rock
   • The Three Sisters viewpoint and Buachaille Etive Mor
   • Rannoch Moor
   • Sit-down lunch in Luss
   • Boat trip on Loch Lomond from Luss (in season)
   • Drop at Glasgow Airport (GLA) or Glasgow city centre

   Easier option: Wait in the visitor centre cafe during the walk, then join the viewpoint stops.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Glasgow after the drop, if you are staying on

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot on woodland paths in Glencoe and level lanes and a pebble beach in Luss. Book a flight leaving Glasgow after about 7:30 pm.

   

Wildlife and weather: Scottish weather changes by the hour, so the guide may swap the order of stops to catch drier spells, and the Armadale ferry, the Falkirk Wheel boat or the Loch Lomond boat can be cancelled in high wind (if the ferry stops, we leave Skye by the bridge and the train is refunded). Days are long from May to July, with light until about 10 pm in the north, which helps children who wake early. Reindeer are out on the hill all year; red deer are often seen on Rannoch Moor, and seals and sea eagles are possible around Skye. Midges are worst on still, damp days from June to September.

• Edinburgh2 nights
• Aviemore2 nights
• Portree2 nights
• Fort William1 night