Scotland: Whisky in Speyside and Islay

1. Day 1: Arrive in Edinburgh

   Edinburgh Airport to your hotel in the Old Town, then the Royal Mile on foot

   • Dinner
   • Stay in Edinburgh
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Edinburgh Airport (EDI) and a driver meets you for the 30-minute run into the city. Land by about 2 pm to make the afternoon. If you land later, you miss the Royal Mile walk and the introductory tasting and join us at dinner; arriving the day before is easy to arrange. Your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at the hotel and walks you up the Royal Mile, the spine of the Old Town between the castle and Holyrood, with its closes and wynds dropping steeply either side. Near the castle esplanade we stop for an introductory whisky tour and tasting that maps the five Scotch regions, Speyside, Highland, Lowland, Campbeltown and Islay, so you know what you are tasting for the rest of the week. The guide explains how the days run: who drives (never anyone in the group), how tastings work, and how to take a dram home instead of drinking it. Dinner tonight is together, at a restaurant a short walk from the hotel.

   Included

   • Private transfer from Edinburgh Airport (EDI)
   • Royal Mile walk with your guide
   • Introductory whisky tour and tasting of the five Scotch regions on the Royal Mile
   • Welcome dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Edinburgh Castle, if you arrive the day before (entry not included)

   Free time: Free until mid-afternoon, depending on your flight; land after about 2 pm and you miss the Royal Mile tasting

   Activity: About 1.5 km on foot on the Royal Mile, uphill on cobbles towards the castle.

2. Day 2: Over the Highland line to Speyside

   Edinburgh to Pitlochry, then the A9 to Grantown-on-Spey, The Glenlivet and Aberlour

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Speyside
   Day 2 details

   We leave Edinburgh at about 8:30 and cross the Forth on the Queensferry Crossing, then run north past Perth into the Highlands. Pitlochry is our first long stop, about an hour and a half out: a short woodland walk above the town towards the Black Spout waterfall, then a sit-down lunch on the main street. After lunch the A9 climbs over the Pass of Drumochter and along the edge of the Cairngorms National Park to Grantown-on-Spey, where the river that names the whole region comes into view. Our first Speyside distillery is The Glenlivet, in a high, quiet glen once known for illicit stills, for a tour and tasting in the middle of the afternoon. From there it is about half an hour to our hotel in Aberlour or Craigellachie, where we stay two nights. The evening is free: most village hotels here have a whisky bar, and the guide will point you to the ones worth the walk.

   Included

   • Short woodland walk above Pitlochry towards the Black Spout
   • Sit-down lunch in Pitlochry
   • The Glenlivet distillery tour and tasting

   Easier option: Stay in Pitlochry's main street for coffee instead of the woodland walk.

   Free time: Evening free in Aberlour or Craigellachie

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot, on woodland paths and distillery floors with stairs.

   

3. Day 3: Casks, Glenfiddich and Glen Grant

   Craigellachie to Dufftown, then Rothes and back to Aberlour, a short loop in the heart of Speyside

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Speyside
   Day 3 details

   A whole day in Speyside with little driving. We start at the Speyside Cooperage in Craigellachie at 9:30 or 10, depending on the tour slot we book ahead: from the gallery you watch oak casks being taken apart, charred and rebuilt by hand, which is where much of a whisky's colour and flavour comes from. Dufftown is ten minutes on, a small town with several working distilleries around it. Glenfiddich, still owned by the family that founded it in 1887, takes us through its stillhouse and warehouses, and our tour there ends with a warehouse tasting drawn from the cask (if a different distillery hosts it on your dates, we tell you when we confirm). Lunch is a sit-down meal in Dufftown. In the early afternoon we drive to Rothes for Glen Grant, a Victorian distillery with tall, slender stills and a garden behind it, for a tour and tasting. We are back in Aberlour by about 4:30 and the rest of the day is yours: the Speyside Way along the river, or a dram by the fire.

   Included

   • Speyside Cooperage visit, Craigellachie
   • Glenfiddich distillery tour with a warehouse tasting, Dufftown
   • Sit-down lunch in Dufftown
   • Glen Grant distillery tour and tasting, Rothes

   Easier option: Skip the Glen Grant tour and rest at the hotel; the guide picks up a sample for you if the distillery allows.

   More active option: Walk the Speyside Way from Aberlour to Craigellachie and its 1814 Telford iron bridge, about 4 km each way, in the free late afternoon.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Mostly on your feet indoors, about 2 hours of standing at the cooperage and Glenfiddich; three tastings in one day, each with a drivers' dram kit if you would rather take it home.

4. Day 4: Down the Great Glen to Oban

   Aberlour to Inverness, down the east shore of Loch Ness by Dores and Foyers to Fort Augustus, then Fort William and the coast road to Oban

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

   This is the long day, about five hours of driving, and we chose it over two one-night hotel changes. We leave at 8:30, pass through Inverness and take the quiet east shore of Loch Ness, stopping on the beach at Dores at the north end of the loch, then at Foyers for a short walk down to the falls. The road climbs over the hills to Fort Augustus, where the Caledonian Canal climbs out of the loch through a flight of five locks; lunch is a sit-down meal there, and you can walk the locks while the food comes. Fort William sits under Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, and on a clear day the summit shows above the town. The last hour follows Loch Linnhe south through Appin, with a photo stop for Castle Stalker on its tidal island, into Oban by about 5. Five stops break the drive into legs of about an hour. Oban is a harbour town, and the evening is free for seafood by the pier.

   Included

   • Loch Ness from the beach at Dores
   • Short walk to the Falls of Foyers
   • Sit-down lunch at Fort Augustus by the Caledonian Canal locks
   • Ben Nevis views from Fort William
   • Castle Stalker viewpoint at Appin

   Optional experiences

   • Oban distillery tour in the town centre (booked ahead, at your own cost)

   Easier option: Stay by the van at Foyers rather than walk down to the falls.

   Free time: Evening free in Oban

   Activity: The longest drive of the trip, about five hours, with short walks at each stop. The Foyers path is steep steps.

   

5. Day 5: Kilmartin Glen and the ferry to Islay

   Oban to Kilmartin Glen and Tarbert, then the CalMac ferry from Kennacraig to Islay

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Islay
   Day 5 details

   We head south from Oban at about 8:30 to Kilmartin Glen, one of the richest prehistoric landscapes in Scotland: a line of burial cairns and standing stones runs down the valley floor, and you can walk between them on level grass. After about an hour and a half there, we drive on along Loch Fyne to Tarbert, a fishing harbour on the narrow neck of Kintyre, for a sit-down lunch. Kennacraig, the ferry terminal for Islay, is ten minutes away. The van goes on the CalMac ferry with us and the crossing takes about two hours, down West Loch Tarbert and across the Sound of Jura, with the Paps of Jura rising to the north. Sailing times change by day and season, so the order of lunch and Kilmartin may flip on your date; if the sailing is early, we shorten Kilmartin to the main cairns and take lunch on board. We land at Port Ellen or Port Askaig in the late afternoon and drive to our hotel on the island for two nights.

   Included

   • Kilmartin Glen cairns and standing stones with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Tarbert
   • CalMac car ferry from Kennacraig to Islay, with the vehicle

   Easier option: Stay by the van at the first cairn rather than walking the whole line.

   Free time: Evening free on Islay

   Activity: About 2 km of level walking on grass at Kilmartin; the ferry has a cafe and lounge.

6. Day 6: The Kildalton coast: Laphroaig, Ardbeg and the cross

   Islay's south coast to Laphroaig, Ardbeg and Kildalton Cross, and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Islay
   Day 6 details

   The south coast of Islay east of Port Ellen holds three famous peated whiskies within a few kilometres of each other, joined by a footpath. We start with the first tour of the morning at Laphroaig, where you see the floor maltings and smell the peat smoke that defines the island's style, then finish with a tasting. Ardbeg is next, for a shorter tour, its own tasting and a sit-down lunch at its cafe in the old kiln. In the afternoon the road narrows to single track through woods to Kildalton Cross, a carved stone cross of the late 8th century standing in an old churchyard, one of the finest early Christian crosses in Scotland. We are back at the hotel by about 4, with time to walk the shore or visit Lagavulin's shop on your own. Tonight is the farewell dinner, local seafood if the boats have been out.

   Included

   • Laphroaig distillery tour and tasting
   • Ardbeg distillery tour and tasting, with a sit-down lunch at its cafe
   • Kildalton Cross and the old chapel
   • Farewell dinner on Islay

   Optional experiences

   • Bowmore or Kilchoman distillery tour in the free late afternoon (booked ahead, at your own cost)

   Easier option: Ride the van between the distilleries and skip the walk to the chapel ruins.

   More active option: Walk the Three Distilleries Path from Laphroaig past Lagavulin to Ardbeg, about 3 km on a surfaced path beside the road, and meet the van for lunch.

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   Activity: Two tastings today; drivers' dram kits where offered. The Kildalton road is single track.

7. Day 7: Back to the mainland, Loch Lomond and Glasgow

   Islay ferry to Kennacraig, then Inveraray, the Rest and Be Thankful, Loch Lomond and Glasgow

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 7 details

   We take the morning ferry back to Kennacraig, about two hours. The sailing that gets us to Glasgow on time may be the first of the day, which can mean leaving the hotel at 6 or 7 am with breakfast packed or on board; we confirm the time with your dates. From Kennacraig the road follows Loch Fyne to Inveraray, a planned Georgian town on the shore, where we stop for lunch. Then we climb through Glen Croe to the Rest and Be Thankful pass and drop to Loch Lomond at Tarbet, following the west shore south to Luss, a conservation village of slate cottages on the water, for a last walk by the loch. We drop you in the city centre near George Square by about 4:30 pm, or at Glasgow Airport (GLA). Book a flight leaving after about 7 pm, or stay on in Glasgow; Islay to Glasgow flights also exist if you would rather fly back from the island at your own cost.

   Included

   • CalMac car ferry from Islay to Kennacraig
   • Lunch in Inveraray
   • The Rest and Be Thankful pass
   • Loch Lomond and Luss
   • Drop at Glasgow city centre or Glasgow Airport (GLA)

   Activity: An early start is likely, set by the ferry. Book a flight leaving after about 7 pm.

   

Wildlife and weather: Expect rain and wind on some days in any month; the distillery days are indoors, so weather matters most on the day 4 drive and the ferries. May, June and September bring long, mild days. Seals and seabirds are common along the Islay shore.

• Edinburgh1 night
• Speyside2 nights
• Oban1 night
• Islay2 nights