Scotland: Edinburgh, the Highlands and the Isle of Skye

1. Day 1: Arrive in Edinburgh

   Edinburgh Airport to your hotel in the centre, then an evening walk up Calton Hill

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

   Fly into Edinburgh Airport (EDI), about 13 km west of the city, and a driver meets you in arrivals for the ride to our hotel in the centre, within walking distance of the Royal Mile. Land by about 2 pm if you can; coming a day early is easy to arrange and gives you a spare day to get over the flight. In the late afternoon your See Sight Tours guide takes the group on a gentle first walk: through Princes Street Gardens below the castle rock, along the Georgian streets of the New Town and up Calton Hill, where the unfinished National Monument and the Nelson Monument look over the whole city, from the castle to Arthur's Seat and the Firth of Forth. The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, and this view explains why. Then we sit down together for a welcome dinner, with a short briefing on the week: what to pack for Skye, how the days are paced and how the group travels.

   Included

   • Private transfer from Edinburgh Airport (EDI)
   • First walk with your guide: Princes Street Gardens, the New Town and Calton Hill
   • Welcome dinner and briefing

   Easier option: Ride a taxi up to Calton Hill with your guide and walk only the level top.

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon walk

   Activity: About an hour and a half on foot, with a short steep climb up Calton Hill.

2. Day 2: Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town

   Edinburgh on foot: the castle, the Royal Mile, St Giles', the closes and the Grassmarket

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Edinburgh
   Day 2 details

   We walk up to Edinburgh Castle for the first entry of the morning, before the queues and the tour groups build. The castle sits on an extinct volcanic plug and has been a royal fortress, a barracks and a prison; inside are the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest building in the city, and the great siege gun Mons Meg. After about two hours there, a local guide walks us down the Royal Mile to St Giles' Cathedral and into the narrow closes and wynds that run off it, where tenements once rose ten storeys high, then down to the Grassmarket and Greyfriars Kirkyard. The afternoon is yours. The National Museum of Scotland is free and a good place to start; the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Real Mary King's Close are optional extras we book ahead at the price shown. The evening is free too, and your guide will suggest pubs with live folk music.

   Included

   • Edinburgh Castle, first entry of the morning
   • Guided walk of the Old Town with a local guide: the Royal Mile, St Giles' Cathedral, the closes, the Grassmarket and Greyfriars Kirkyard

   Optional experiences

   • Palace of Holyroodhouse (extra, booked ahead, price shown at booking)
   • The Real Mary King's Close underground tour (extra, price shown at booking)
   • A ceilidh evening with dinner and Scottish dancing (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Leave the walk at St Giles' and rest at the hotel or a cafe before the afternoon.

   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 inside the castle.

3. Day 3: Stirling Castle, the Hermitage and Pitlochry

   Edinburgh to Stirling, then Perth, Dunkeld and Pitlochry

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Pitlochry
   Day 3 details

   We leave Edinburgh at about 8:45 and are at Stirling Castle, an hour west, for opening. Stirling guarded the lowest crossing of the River Forth and so the road into the Highlands; Mary Queen of Scots was crowned at the castle in 1543, and the restored Renaissance palace shows how the Stuart court lived. From the ramparts you can see the Wallace Monument and the field of Bannockburn. We spend about two and a half hours there, then sit down to lunch in Stirling's old town. In the afternoon it is just over an hour north by Perth to Dunkeld, where a short woodland walk at the Hermitage leads to the Black Linn Falls on the River Braan and Ossian's Hall, an 18th-century viewing folly above the water, among tall Douglas firs. Pitlochry is twenty minutes on. We arrive at about 4 pm, and the evening is free in this Victorian Highland resort town, with an optional walk with your guide to the dam and its salmon ladder.

   Included

   • Stirling Castle, at opening
   • Sit-down lunch in Stirling
   • The Hermitage at Dunkeld: the Black Linn Falls and Ossian's Hall
   • Evening walk to the Pitlochry dam and salmon ladder with your guide (optional)

   Easier option: Stay on the level path to Ossian's Hall, about 10 minutes from the car park.

   More active option: Walk on from the Hermitage along the River Braan to Rumbling Bridge, about 3 km, and meet the van there.

   Free time: Evening free in Pitlochry

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, on castle cobbles and ramps and a woodland path with roots and some mud.

   

4. Day 4: Edradour, the Cairngorms and Culloden

   Pitlochry on foot to Edradour, then the A9 over Drumochter to Ruthven Barracks, Culloden and Inverness

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Inverness
   Day 4 details

   After breakfast we walk out of Pitlochry with the guide, up through the oak woods by the Black Spout waterfall to Edradour, a distillery founded in 1825 and one of the smallest in Scotland, where whisky is still made in whitewashed farm buildings. The tour starts at about 10 and ends with a tasting; drivers' drams can be taken away. The van meets us at the distillery for the run north on the A9, over the Pass of Drumochter, at about 460 m one of the highest main roads in Britain, and along the edge of the Cairngorms National Park. We stop at Ruthven Barracks, built after the 1715 rising and burned by the Jacobites in 1746. We reach Culloden in the early afternoon, well before the visitor centre's last entry, which we confirm for your dates. Lunch is at your choice in its cafe, then about two hours on the battlefield, where the last Jacobite army was defeated on 16 April 1746; the visitor centre tells both sides and flags mark where the clans stood. Inverness is ten minutes on, and we arrive at about 5 pm, with the evening free by the River Ness.

   Included

   • Guided walk from Pitlochry by the Black Spout wood to Edradour
   • Edradour distillery tour and tasting
   • Ruthven Barracks
   • Culloden Battlefield and visitor centre

   Easier option: Ride the van to Edradour instead of walking the uphill wood path.

   More active option: Walk the full battlefield path at Culloden out to the Field of the English and back, about 3 km.

   Free time: Evening free in Inverness

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot: the walk to Edradour is about 3 km, uphill on a woodland path, and Culloden is on level grass and gravel paths.

   

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

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

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Portree
   Day 5 details

   We drive about 20 minutes south-west from Inverness to the boat departure at the northern end of Loch Ness and sail down the loch to Urquhart Castle. Loch Ness is about 37 km long and over 200 m deep, and holds more fresh water than any other lake in Britain; from the boat you see both shores and the hills that close it in. Urquhart, a ruin on a rocky point, was blown up in 1692 so the Jacobites could not use it; we have an hour inside, with the visitor centre film, before the van picks us up. The road west climbs through Glen Moriston and down Glen Shiel between steep, bare mountains to Eilean Donan, about an hour and a half away, the castle on a tidal island where three sea lochs meet. Destroyed in 1719 and rebuilt in the early 20th century, it has a banqueting hall, bedrooms and a kitchen laid out inside. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Dornie beside it. We cross the Skye Bridge, stop at Sligachan under the Cuillin, and reach Portree at about 5 pm, with the evening free by the harbour.

   Included

   • Boat trip on Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle
   • Urquhart Castle
   • Eilean Donan Castle, inside
   • Sit-down lunch in Dornie
   • Sligachan and the view of the Cuillin

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

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

   Free time: Evening free in Portree

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

   

6. Day 6: The Storr, the Quiraing and Neist Point

   Portree to the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, the Quiraing and Uig, then Dunvegan, Neist Point and back to Portree

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Portree
   Day 6 details

   Skye's day tours arrive mid-morning, so we leave Portree at 8 and are at the Old Man of Storr, a basalt pinnacle on the Trotternish ridge, by about 8:20. The path climbs about 3.8 km there and back, and the morning light falls on the rock face. Up the coast we stop at Kilt Rock, where Mealt Falls drops off the cliff into the sea, then take the narrow road over the ridge from Staffin to the Quiraing, a vast landslip of pinnacles and hidden plateaus, for a walk along its path. Lunch is a sit-down meal at Uig or Staffin. In the afternoon we cross to the west side by Dunvegan to Neist Point, where a lighthouse from 1909 stands at the end of a long, steep headland, Skye's westernmost point. This is the island's long day: about four hours of driving on single-track roads, broken by four stops and lunch. We are back in Portree by about 6:30, with the evening free.

   Included

   • The Old Man of Storr, early, before the day tours
   • Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls
   • The Quiraing and the Staffin to Uig ridge road
   • Sit-down lunch at Uig or Staffin
   • Neist Point and its lighthouse

   Easier option: Walk the first ten minutes of the Storr path to the viewpoint over the lochs, and watch Neist Point from the clifftop above the steps.

   More active option: Walk the Quiraing loop over the ridge, about 6.8 km and 2.5 hours, while the group takes the shorter path; the van meets you.

   Free time: Evening free in Portree

   Activity: About 4 hours on foot on rough, often wet hill paths, with a steady climb at the Storr and steep steps at Neist Point. Bring waterproofs.

7. Day 7: Talisker, the Mallaig ferry, Glenfinnan and Glencoe

   Portree to Talisker at Carbost, then Armadale, the ferry to Mallaig, Glenfinnan, Fort William and Glencoe

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Glencoe
   Day 7 details

   We drive south-west to Carbost on Loch Harport for the first tour of the morning at Talisker, founded in 1830 and the oldest working distillery on Skye, with a tasting of its peaty, maritime malt. Then it is about an hour and a quarter across the island to Armadale on the Sleat peninsula for the car ferry to Mallaig, a crossing of about 30 minutes. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Mallaig, a working fishing harbour. The Road to the Isles runs east past silver sands and lochs to Glenfinnan, at the head of Loch Shiel, where Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard in 1745; we walk up to the viewpoint over the 21-arch railway viaduct and visit the monument from 1815. Past Fort William, under Ben Nevis, at 1,345 m the highest mountain in Britain, we reach Glencoe at about 5:30. That is about 3.75 hours of driving in four legs, broken by the distillery, the ferry and lunch. If wind stops the ferry, we leave Skye by the bridge and Glen Shiel, which adds about 1.5 to 2 hours, so Glenfinnan becomes a short stop or is dropped. Tonight is our farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Talisker distillery tour and tasting
   • The Armadale to Mallaig car ferry
   • Sit-down lunch in Mallaig
   • Glenfinnan: the viaduct viewpoint and the Glenfinnan Monument
   • Farewell dinner in Glencoe

   Easier option: Watch the viaduct from the visitor centre terrace instead of climbing to the upper viewpoint.

   Free time: Early evening free in Glencoe before dinner

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot, with a short steep path to the Glenfinnan viewpoint.

8. Day 8: Glencoe in the morning, Loch Lomond and Glasgow

   Glencoe on foot, then Rannoch Moor, Tyndrum, Loch Lomond at Luss and Glasgow

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 8 details

   We start at 8:45 with a guided walk from the Glencoe Visitor Centre through the woods to Signal Rock, about an hour and a quarter, while the glen is quiet. Your guide tells the story of the massacre of 13 February 1692, when soldiers who had been guests of the MacDonalds turned on them. 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 conservation village of stone cottages, at about 12:30. We have our last lunch together there, then a boat trip of 45 minutes to an hour on the loch, in season. Glasgow is about forty minutes on. We drop at Glasgow Airport at about 4 pm and the city centre at about 4:30. Book a flight after about 7 pm, or stay on: we can book a Glasgow hotel.

   Included

   • Guided morning walk in Glencoe to Signal Rock
   • The Three Sisters viewpoint and Buachaille Etive Mor
   • Rannoch Moor
   • Lunch in Luss
   • Boat trip on Loch Lomond from Luss (in season)
   • Drop at Glasgow Airport (GLA) or Glasgow city centre

   Easier option: Skip the woodland walk and wait at the visitor centre cafe, then join the viewpoint stops.

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

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot, on woodland paths in Glencoe and level village lanes in Luss. Book a flight leaving Glasgow after about 7 pm.

   

Wildlife and weather: Scottish weather changes by the hour, so the guide may swap the order of the Skye stops to catch clearer spells, and the Loch Ness and Loch Lomond boats or the Armadale ferry can be cancelled in high wind (we then leave Skye by the bridge, which adds about 1.5 to 2 hours of driving and shortens or drops the Glenfinnan stop). Days are long in May to July, with light until about 10 pm in the north. Red deer are often seen on Rannoch Moor and in Glencoe, and seals and sea eagles are possible around Skye. Midges are worst in still, damp weather from June to September.

• Edinburgh2 nights
• Pitlochry1 night
• Inverness1 night
• Portree2 nights
• Glencoe1 night