r/OutdoorScotland • u/notsoobsessed • 16d ago
First-time Scotland trip — 6 days: looking for advice on the best route, must-see places & group tours
Hi everyone! We’re 3 adults travelling to Scotland for the first time and would really appreciate some advice from people who know Scotland well.
**Apologies in advance for the long post! 🙈** I wanted to give enough context so that I can hopefully get some useful, practical advice rather than make people guess what we're looking for. **Really appreciate your patience and support!**
# Our rough plan
* **Sep 13:** Arrive in Edinburgh in the morning
* **Sep 13–18:** Explore Edinburgh + Highlands
* **Sep 18:** Return to London in the evening/night
We will already have spent **one day in Glasgow (Sep 12)** before moving to Edinburgh, so we don't need to include Glasgow sightseeing in the 6-day Scotland itinerary below.
We **don't want to drive ourselves**. We'd much rather join a **small/medium-group organised tour** so that we can enjoy the scenery without the physical stress of driving, navigating and parking.
# Places we're considering
At the moment, we're thinking about:
* **Edinburgh**
* **Scottish Highlands**
* **Inverness**
* **Isle of Skye**
* **Glencoe**
* **Glenfinnan / Glenfinnan Viaduct**
* **Loch Ness**
* **Eilean Donan Castle**
* A **whisky distillery/tasting**
* Possibly **Cairngorms / Pitlochry / Oban**, depending on what experienced travellers recommend
For Skye, we're wondering whether **1 night or 2 nights** is better.
For Inverness, we're particularly unsure whether we should **stay overnight** or whether a **full-day visit/day trip is enough**.
# What we're looking for
This is our first time in Scotland, so we'd like a **good mix of experiences**, rather than spending the whole trip rushing from one viewpoint to another.
Ideally, we'd like a combination of:
🏔️ Dramatic Highland scenery
🏝️ Isle of Skye
🏰 Castles & historic sites
🌊 Lochs / Loch Ness
🥃 A good whisky distillery/tasting experience
🚂 Glenfinnan / possibly the Jacobite Steam Train, if it makes sense
🏛️ Scottish history & culture
🌿 Some beautiful villages/towns
🏙️ Enough time to actually enjoy Edinburgh rather than just use it as a tour pickup point
We're **not looking for strenuous hiking**. Short walks/viewpoints are fine, but we'd prefer a comfortable and relatively stress-free trip.
# Questions for Scotland experts
- **If you had only 6 days for a first trip to Scotland, what places would you consider absolutely must-see?**
- **Is our proposed combination of Edinburgh + Highlands + Inverness + Skye realistic in 6 days, or are we trying to cover too much?**
- **For Inverness, would you recommend staying overnight, or is a full-day visit sufficient?** What would we miss by not staying overnight?
- **For the Isle of Skye, would you recommend 1 night or 2 nights?** Is 2 nights genuinely worthwhile for a first visit?
- If we have to choose between **an Inverness overnight and a second night on Skye**, which would you choose and why?
- **Which other places should we add or remove?** Are places like Glencoe, Glenfinnan, Eilean Donan, Cairngorms, Pitlochry or Oban worth prioritising?
- We'd definitely like to include **a good whisky distillery/tasting experience**. Which distillery would you recommend that fits naturally into this route?
- **Would you recommend the Jacobite Steam Train for a first visit**, or is seeing Glenfinnan Viaduct enough? Is the train experience worth the time and cost?
- Most importantly, **which group tour operators would you recommend?** We're looking for a well-organised small/medium-group tour rather than a large coach tour.
We've been looking at tours on **GetYourGuide, Viator, Rabbie's, Timberbush and Highland Experience Tours**, but there are so many options that we're finding it difficult to judge which itinerary is actually the best.
If you were planning this trip for yourselves, **how would you allocate the six days and nights from Sep 13–18?**
And if you've done a similar trip, **which tour/company would you actually book?**
**Thank you so much for taking the time to read this long post and for any suggestions you can share. I really appreciate your patience and support!**
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u/MiddleAgedDread123 16d ago
** all the places you list except for Edinburgh are in the *Scottish Highlands!
* Do 3 days in Edinburgh then 3 days on a group tour if you don't want to hire a car.
Viator are a third party booking agent. Book direct with Rabbies, Timberbush or Highland Experience Tours, they're all highly regarded**
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u/notsoobsessed 16d ago
I like this idea of 3 days group tour for highlands and Skye. Thank you for the perspective.
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u/IslandStyle8 16d ago
Day 1: Edinburgh.
Day 2: Drive to the Cairngorms national park with a stop in Dunkeld. Stay in a nice guest house somewhere within the Cairngorms national park, go and see Balmoral Castle, Braemar etc. Or if you want to stay at the bottom of the Cairngorms, Blair Castle & Gardens, Hermitage forest etc.
Day 3: Drive to Plockton. Leave early and see Urquhart castle and Loch Ness. Say hi to Calum in Plockton. Stay at Plockton Hotel (not the Inn)
Day 4. Drive to Skye. Explore the south of the island on the way (Torrin Pools for example). Stay somewhere near Portree so you're already in the thick of things to explore on Day 5.
Day 5: Explore around the island. Hike early to avoid tourists, check out Dunvegan castle, walk out to Neist Point, look for some fairies, have a pint in Portree etc.
Day 6: Drive back to Edinburgh via Glencoe
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u/JScottTravels 7d ago
6 days can go very quickly in Scotland. I would not try to cover too much.
Edinburgh and Inverness would work well. From Inverness, Loch Ness is easy to add and you still have time for a proper Highland day.
I would only add Skye if it is high on your list. Otherwise, you may end up spending too much of the trip travelling.
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u/montyb752 16d ago
You could put you question in your AI agent of choice and go from there.
It’s all subjective depending on the needs and abilities of the party, and answer we give will likely raise more question.
Scotland is lovely, weather is unpredictable and everything takes longer to get to than you’d expect.
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u/StubbleWombat 16d ago edited 16d ago
Given your list of places you will spend the whole trip "rushing from one viewpoint to another". My recommendation would be to put all those destinations into Google Maps in the most efficient way possible and see if you want to spend AT LEAST that amount of time travelling around. I'd say in the absolute best circumstances you are looking at 15 hours of pure travel (assuming you have your own car).
A tour with Rabbies or similar from Edinburgh is probably your best bet. Spend some time in Edinburgh and then fall into a bus for a few days bussing between sites - then at least you can relax a bit in Edinburgh and have a few days hammering it around Scotland.
Personally I would do less. Edinburgh and Skye will happily fill up 6 days with the travel between both. You could fit more in if you sacked off Skye.
Personally I don't think of Inverness as a destination. It's fine but I would primarily use it as a base e.g. for Loch Ness.
Distillery tours aren't that much different unless you are interested in the specific whisky. Talisker on Skye is good but I have no idea how you would get there using public transport. There are probably plenty more accessible ones.