Scotland - recommend me an itinerary

[RubyBlueZ4MC]

Hello!
Considering a 4 night trip to Scotland in late September with the other half. Will fly up from London and rent a car. I've only been on a short trip to Edinburgh/St Andrews about 15 years ago, keen to see much more this time, Highlands, Isle of Skye...Wondering if any of you nice people and locals can recommend me a 4-5 day trip that starts and ends in Edinburgh/Glasgow with places to see/stay?
Thanks!

 

[mr wilks]

Cairngorms is a place i enjoy going back to in Scotland , north of Edinburgh taking the road from Pitlochry via Glenshee ski station to Braemar & Balmoral , rugged wild & pretty much why Scotland is a draw for me , the other big names LochNess , Loch Lomond , Inverness were ok but not places i would go back to very touristy but then we all have different wants from a trip north of the border .
If you find yourself needing somewhere to stay near Pitlochry ( approx 1hr20 from Edinburgh ) i can recommend the Inn on the Tay
http://theinnonthetay.co.uk/

 

[Boris]

West coast is fabulous anything north of Fort William and you cant go wrong

 

[Anonymous]

I'll buy you a beer in Edinburgh

 

[Anonymous]

Edinburgh up the A9 through Pitlochry and Aviemore to Inverness. Across to Skye then down the west coast through Glencoe and Loch Lomond to Glasgow. Back to Edinburgh airport from Glasgow is only 45 mins but car.

 

[buzyg]

Edinburgh up the A9 through Pitlochry and Aviemore to Inverness. Across to Skye then down the west coast through Glencoe and Loch Lomond to Glasgow. Back to Edinburgh airport from Glasgow is only 45 mins but car.

My wife and I did that route on our push bikes many moons ago. Great route. Sky is my personnel favourite. Look up the fairy pools on google. A great little walk your gran could manage it. But what a magical place.

Pretty much any where North West of the Great Glen has fantastic driving roads and plenty of places the other side too. Set your compass to North and just enjoy what you find Ruby. :wink:

 

[hopz121]

Have a look at the NC500 route Ruby, one of the best coastal routes in the world.

There is a caterham hire place near the route too so you could hire one of those for a few days if that took you fancy

 

[Marlon]

We have a week booked on Skye a couple of weeks after, would be interested to hear your experiences when you return

 

[RubyBlueZ4MC]

Thanks guys these are all really helpful! Greg this is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for:

Edinburgh up the A9 through Pitlochry and Aviemore to Inverness. Across to Skye then down the west coast through Glencoe and Loch Lomond to Glasgow. Back to Edinburgh airport from Glasgow is only 45 mins but car.

Hopefully we can all meet up for a beer if we have some time there in Edinburgh
Keep the suggestions coming people, its all really useful.

 

[RubyBlueZ4MC]

We have a week booked on Skye a couple of weeks after, would be interested to hear your experiences when you return

Are you staying on Skye the entire trip? Is there much to do? I did think about this option.

 

[RubyBlueZ4MC]

Cairngorms is a place i enjoy going back to in Scotland , north of Edinburgh taking the road from Pitlochry via Glenshee ski station to Braemar & Balmoral , rugged wild & pretty much why Scotland is a draw for me , the other big names LochNess , Loch Lomond , Inverness were ok but not places i would go back to very touristy but then we all have different wants from a trip north of the border .
If you find yourself needing somewhere to stay near Pitlochry ( approx 1hr20 from Edinburgh ) i can recommend the Inn on the Tay
http://theinnonthetay.co.uk/

That area looks lovely mr wilks, will take this route into consideration, thanks

 

[RubyBlueZ4MC]

Have a look at the NC500 route Ruby, one of the best coastal routes in the world.

There is a caterham hire place near the route too so you could hire one of those for a few days if that took you fancy

Mike would be well up for that, thanks for letting me know

 

[hopz121]

Have a look at the NC500 route Ruby, one of the best coastal routes in the world.

There is a caterham hire place near the route too so you could hire one of those for a few days if that took you fancy

Mike would be well up for that, thanks for letting me know

He would indeed, here is there website

http://www.highlandcaterhamhire.co.uk/

 

[Marlon]

We have a week booked on Skye a couple of weeks after, would be interested to hear your experiences when you return

Are you staying on Skye the entire trip? Is there much to do? I did think about this option.

We are breaking the journey with a night at the Ballachulish hotel (west coast near Glencoe) on the way and on the way back, which leaves 5 days on skye. Really looking forward to the driving - the journey from Glencoe to Skye is lovely (A82 - A87), we have done it once before but not in the Zed

 

[MrPT]

I would do NC500 clockwise from Edinburgh, except cut back down after Tongue, through Grantown-on-Spey and head back to Edinburgh via Glenshee (The Old Military Road). The far North West is absolutely awesome.

 

[jimmybell]

Just did a week in Scotland in my new toy trying some of the NC500, happy to recommend stuff / places to stay if you have an idea where you're going to be.

I'd avoid the A9 for anything other than House of Bruar ('Harrods of the North', treat it like a fancy service station that serves lobster&chips and premium tourist products), from Edinburgh take old military road up in to the cairngorms as soon as you can (via Braemar/balmorral...wave at the queen), stop at a distillery, then continue on up to wherever north.

Avoid Loch Ness beyond stopping to say 'ive seen it'.

100% if you can try to go north west coast, the scenery changes again in volume+scale from southern highlands etc. One of my fav roads is Glasgow->Fort William -> Mallaig (then take the ferry to Skye, its more fun than the bridge, bridge on the way out).

On the way off Skye, stop at Eilean Donan, it's touristy but actually pretty decent to walk around for £7.50 or whatever it is.

Would also recommend Applecross (and associated mountain pass and resident fluffy mountain cows) if you can, also trying to make it up north towards Ullapool/Unapool is worth it.

If renting a car, make it a comfy one do more miles happily - you'll get to see much more

Some pics of mine on the 'gram, i'll add more in the next day or two: https://www.instagram.com/jimmybell/

 

[patriot66]

We have a week booked on Skye a couple of weeks after, would be interested to hear your experiences when you return

Are you staying on Skye the entire trip? Is there much to do? I did think about this option.

We are breaking the journey with a night at the Ballachulish hotel (west coast near Glencoe) on the way and on the way back, which leaves 5 days on skye. Really looking forward to the driving - the journey from Glencoe to Skye is lovely (A82 - A87), we have done it once before but not in the Zed

Stayed at the Ballachulish (Balahoolish) Hotel about 15 years back. It was very good. Lovely old-fashioned afternoon tea in a huge Victorian drawing room looking out over the sea. Don't know what it's like these days.
I've had a few adventures on Skye over the years. Wonderful and amazing place ! Plenty to keep you entertained for a week. I would recommend visiting Elgol - go on a clear/sunny day and take your camera for amazing photos of The Cuillins across the sea. Take a look at Kilt Rock, Old Man of Storr, The Quiraing - incredible landscape seen in quite a few movies, Talisker Distillery - only one on Skye, Glen Brittle and The Fairy Pools - take your trunks and go for a swim. Camp at Glen Brittle campsite by the beach with The Black Cuillins towering behind. If you walk up the headland path from the site you can see a Viking canal that joins the sea to Loch na h-Airde. Walk or mountain bike the valley from Sligachan Hotel to Camasunary Beach, stay the night in the bothy by the beach and return the next day, etc etc ....

 

[Bottom]

I stay near Ballachuilish, commute from Ft Wm to Kyle and Inverness once a week and Portree a few times a month. The roads are ridiculously busy with tourists this year, try to get out and on the road as early as you can if you want to actually enjoy your driving.
If you're staying at Ballachulish make sure you do the Kinlochleven circle, the Scotsburgring. There's a nice wee cafe (Crafts and Things) at Glen Coe you can park the missus in while you have a blast round the 'ring

 

[Marlon]

Thanks Patriot & Bottom.
I had the Kinlochleven circle in my sights :wink: Surprised that the roads are going to be so busy 1st week in October?
Thanks for the insights into Skye Patriot - obviously the Fairy Pools will be top of my list

 

[Bottom]

It's possible that they'll quiet down a bit by October, but there's no sign of it happening yet. I'm afraid that the warmth of the welcome for tourists is starting to get a bit strained! Being stuck in a traffic jam every night for an hour to get the 12 miles home is a bit of a PITA.

There's another fantastic bit of road over from Spean Bridge you've got a choice to go south to Dalwhinnie, if you want to do a quick blast over to House of Bruar, which is worth a visit. Or you could take the north route through Kingussie and on up via Aviemore on to Grantown on Spey which is a nice wee market town. From Grantown there's a brilliant road up to Nairn, which can be lovely and quiet. Then a quick run over to Inverness from Nairn if you fancied.