[Closed] Scotland visit- where's best.

West coast.

How about an island?

Arran is easy.

How long for?
Any activities or pastimes you enjoy while you are here?

Glencoe / Ballachullish / Onich

Edit: unless they are in to Outlander, in which case Inverness for Loch Ness, Clava Cairns and Culloden (with a day trip to Rothiemurchus / Ardverickie if they want to see some of the outdoor sets.

Skye is also/always popular with American visitors.

Cumbernauld, truly stunning.

[quote=Nobberinthefridge ]Cumbernauld, truly stunning.
And the home of the Outlander film set!!!!

Monday to Friday, driving up from London.
They're used to long drives mind.
Thanks for the suggestions, gives me a place to start googling.
Keep em coming.

Mainly walking, but I'll take a bike if I drive.

Skye is quite nice. Has all of the Scottish stuff - lochs, mountains, castles, ferries etc. Usually seems to be popular with Americans. Sligachan is a nice pub. Plus some easyish lower level walks.
Its long way to drive from London. The sleeper train to Inverness or Fort William would be nicer.

Loch Lomond ticks all the boxes. It's easy to get to, plenty of pubs and the scenery is stunning. There's Ben Lomond to go play on too.

thinking Loch one side, mountain the other.

[smug] That would be my house then 🙂 [/smug]

Have you/they ever been before? If not then as Scotroutes say Glencoe / Ballachulish etc. is as good a place to start as anywhere else, you can go up to Mallaig area for a nice bit of coast, down to Oban and across to Mull, plenty to do really.

If they only have five days and they're driving to/from London in that time then they're not actually going to have much enjoyable time in Scotland. It's not distance so much as the meandering and busy nature of the roads. That would certainly put me off heading to Skye (which is a shame).

The sleeper looks amazing!
Agreed, driving takes too much of the holiday.
I guess sleeper then hire car is the answer.
Expensive though, but a real experience.
I'll check flights as well.
Fly to Glasgow then drive to Loch Lomond an option.

Edit
Yeah flights dirt cheap, what about Arran, that doesn't look far from Gladgow, Is that nice?

Fly to Glasgow then drive to Loch Lomond an option.

Definitely - Loch Lomond is about 15-20 mins from GLA, Glencoe less than 2 hours, and that 2 hour drive is worth doing in it's own right.

It's lovely but then you are factoring in ferries too (time/cost)

Fly to Inverness, hire car, drive to Skye. Go via Loch Ness and Kintail, return via Applecross and Torridon.

You'll thank me later.

TGA and SR, thanks I'm googling now. Arran looks okay, but not amazing.

Holy shit Glencoe looks incredible.

Oh my god, Skye!

Yeah. This was the view from my van last weekend

[url= https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1619/26141320525_d4a5b23bd9_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1619/26141320525_d4a5b23bd9_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/FQ26QR ]P1030008[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/ ]Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr

I think you might want more than five days 🙂

[img] [/img]

2 hrs in the car from Glasgow airport gets you here.

Aye, but it [i]always[/i] rains in Glencoe.

Look...
[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4044/4528154585_b79cc0b6a3_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4044/4528154585_b79cc0b6a3_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/7U8YAM ]Mim[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/ ]Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4035/4528160687_5e20425587_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4035/4528160687_5e20425587_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/7U91pZ ]A wee paddle[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/ ]Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr

[url= https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6070/6032054553_ece16ca8cb_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6070/6032054553_ece16ca8cb_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/ac2REz ]2010-04-13 23-45-11[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/ ]Colin Cadden[/url], on Flickr

You're not wrong.
Can't imagine what it must be like to live near that.
Makes me want to do a Regi Perrin and move up.

To be fair, it usually does. But the sunny days make up for it, and it's impressive in a different way on those dark brooding days. I like it whatever the weather. Aviemore's not too shabby either though 🙂

Arran looks okay, but not amazing.

The thing about Arran is it's sort-of a miniature version of Scotland - it has all the bits, just smaller and in one place.

Perthshire, Pitlochry etc. Fits the bill, doable hills, scenery, lochs, easy to get to from Edinburgh. Twee tartan shops aimed at an American tourist, distilleries.

I'd thank scotroutes now... 5 days, don't drive. Fly to Inverness as Colin said.

Scotland is bigger thank you think....

scotroutes - Member
It's lovely but then you are factoring in ferries too (time/cost)

Fly to Inverness, hire car, drive to Skye. Go via Loch Ness and Kintail, return via Applecross and Torridon.

You'll thank me later.

+ another, do this!

Yup,Scotroutes has closed the thread. Kintail hotel is a not bad stopping point as well. View over towards the Sisters,good food and local ale.

Second the area south of mallaig, around arisaig and camusdarrach. Beaches truly amazing, great ww2 history in the area in a cracking little museum in arisaig, with very interesting Special Operations Executive bits in there. Yanks would love that. Easy, short trip to Eigg (climb An sgurr?) or Muck to experience island life. Visit Glenfinnan on the way too - great history stuff in stunning location and see the steam train pass over the Harry Potter viaduct!

I think Torridon (with a trip to Skye, via Plockton) would be great too, but the first suggestion is pretty accessible. And watching the sun go down over the islands from that part of the world is breathtaking.

Okay, so it's looking like Inverness/ Skye/ Scotroutes trip.
Is it worth splitting it into a couple of hotel/ bnb stops or heading straight to Skye and exploring from there?
Also, if anyone has any ideas around accomodation. There will be six of us, and don't really need posh.

What about the West Highland Retreat at Lochailort?

Particularly good if you are travelling light with hand luggage only. Just don't put your scotch egg down on the sofa without a plate underneath it 🙂

Instead of barrelling straight to Skye across the bridge I'd suggest stopping here:

[url= http://www.glenelg-inn.com/ ]Glenelg Inn[/url]

Then getting the wee ferry over to Skye the next day from just up the road, it's a nice spot to stop with good views of the island and the inn has a good atmosphere with live music and what not.

Giarloch beech or any where up the west coat of Scotland for stunning coast line and tropical looking beaches and clear blue water (the water IS cold). For mountain biking highly recommend trails at Bonar Bridge (OS map look for ariel mast north side of the A road)

Danny Mackaskills film The Ridge was shot on Skye. It's a must watch if going that way. Skye is ace, but then so is most of scotland

Good shout re Glenelg Ferry. Sometimes see Otters running about there on the shore

Bookmarking for pub recommendations

Surely if they are Yanks then Balmoral and Edinboro should be on the list. Oh and money to buy vast amounts of tartan.

Lots of great spots - Black Isle is very lovely as well, Rosemarkie, Dornich, Golspie etc and you can whip inland for some mountains. Good pubs up there too 😉 Applecross peninsula and surrounds, Skye etc.
As said, fly to Inversneckie and hire a vehicle, its not far to the good stuff from there. And buy some Smidge.

They are yanks, live in NY and go upstate to the mountains often. They are very outdoorsey, and not very tartaney.
Come to think of it, they see a lot of big mountains, but not a lot of rugged coastline, so we are on a winner here.

Smidge?
Oh crap will it be full of midges?

Glenelg ferry is a good shout though it does mean missing Eilean Donan and the (IMHO) wonderful Skye Bridge approach.

Midge season appears to start in May.... but a breezy day and Smidge sorts them out.

Seems pointless adding any more suggestions, but I'm going to do it anyway and suggest a visit to Port Appin/Castle Stalker.

My parents live just down the road but every time I visit Port Appin I'm struck by just how tranquil and beautiful it is. There's also a restaurant on top of the hill overlooking Castle Stalker and Ardnamurchan, has to be one of the best views in the Highlands on a good day.

Edit: actually since Glenelg is already on your radar and your friends are keen on hiking, I couldn't recommend Beinn Sgritheall strongly enough, amazing views from top, feels like 1000m straight down to the sea!

Thanks, some great suggestions there.
Will google.
Main thing is booking flights, then sort out the details.

SKYE - some epic routes and scenery and and fairly untapped as yet for mtb'ers. I've just started up a Bike Shop / Hire business and hope to develop an awareness of some of the routes and hopefully get some spade work in too! 😀