tec

I'm in the midst of planning my first trip to Scotland and am looking for some help/reccomendations. It is an overdue honeymoon and we are planning on renting a car. Open to any and all suggestions on routes/hotels/must-see places/walks/or stops along the road.

Our itinerary at the moment includes:
2 days Edinburgh
2 days Craigellachie (is this a good place to stay? looks nice online - thinking of exploring whiskey trail and some castles in the area perhaps?)
1 day Inverness area (thinking of staying in Tulloch Castle -- is anyone familiar with it? We want to spend a night in a castle and this looked like it would fit in with our itinerary, but definitely open to suggestions)
3 days on Skye (thinking of staying at the Atholl House, but open to suggestions or endorsements)
1 night somewhere between Skye and Glasgow (perhaps Fort William -- welcome ideas and lodging reccomendations)
1 night Glasgow

Thank you!

sheila

The Craigellachie Hotel is super. You'll love it.

"whiskey". very, very important tip. LOSE THE "E".

I've lunched at Tulloch Castle. OK, I'd have said rather than stunning. I'm sure someone else stayed there a few years ago. Have you tried a search?

I found it:-http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1346220&numrespon ses=4&start=0&keyword=157&searchText=t ulloch

I'm not a Castle person, but from what others have said here, maybe Castle Stuart is a better option? I answered this question before here:-

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...chText=tulloch

3 days on Skye (thinking of staying at the Atholl House, but open to suggestions or endorsements)

What's your budget? Personally I LOVE Hotel Eilean Iarmain. If you like food, consider the House over By at the Three Chimneys. Or the sligachan if you want the crack (honeymoon? perhaps not...)

NOT Fort William- a glorified rail head with an aluminium smelter. Try the Pierhouse at Port Appin, or the Lochmelfort, south of Oban.

Glasgow; depends on budget. One Devonshire Gardens? Or Malmaison

kcw214

We recently returned from a very similar honeymoon trip. My recap is buried somewhere on the boards.

Craigellachie is fine but overpriced IMO. Not quite luxurious, not quite cozy. The bar however, is wondrous and amazing and a destination in and of itself.

Don't spend three days on Skye. There really isn't enough to do. We spent two days and both though it was one too many - plus we drove over the entire island and saw everything. On the mainland you can go a lot more places, but the bridges and ferries to the islands are expensive. On Skye, though, I would recommend Viewfield House. A lovely Victorian mansion with an aura of the Raj (elephant foot umbrella holder). We felt like we were staying in an Agatha Christie novel.


In/outside Inverness I cannot recommend highly enough Braelangwell House. A beautiful Georgian house, lovingly restored by the wonderfully friendly owners. About 30 minutes outside Inverness. One of my favorite B&Bs of the trip.
http://www.btinternet.com/~braelangwell/


Between Skye and Glasgow, I would suggest Oban (we just passed through it, but were charmed), or for a splurge, either Ardanaiseig or Taychreggan on Loch Awe. We stayed at Taychreggan and it was just so beautiful, and we dined so well.

angel_UK

In Glasgow we stayed at the Copthorne which is now called the Millenium hotel and looks even better than when we stayed there.It was in a good position,served hearty breakfasts and had a lovely conservatory on the front of the building overlooking the square.
www.milleniumhotels.com

We really enjoyed our tour of the Glasgow School of Art and also did a tour of an old tenement building which has been preserved as it was in (I think)the 1950's,but can't think of the name of it at the moment.You would find a leaflet on it in a tourist office I'm sure.

tec

Thank you all for your help and suggestions! I've gleaned so much information from this board and I'm having a great time planning our trip. One quick question - unfortunately, our travel plans had a kink and on our last night (which we were planning on spending in Glasgow) we now have to fly to London to catch a flight home from there the next morning. Two questions arise from this -

If we stay at the Pierhouse in Port Appin, will we be able to drive to Glasgow in time for an evening flight (looks like we can from aa, but thought I would double check)?

Will we be missing any absolute "must-see" by skipping sights in Glasgow? This is our first trip to Scotland, but we feel certain that we will be returning.

Thanks to all!

sheila

In a rush you could do Port Appin to Glasgow in about 3- 3 1/2 hours.

If it were me, I'd ditch a Skye day for a Glasgow one, but if you're coming ack you could save Glasgow for then. It's a bit of an acquired taste anyway.

Girlie

Hi Tec. We had a wonderful Scotland trip last September and spent 6 days on the Isle of Skye and certainly found lots to do. Guess it depends on your interests. We spent 2 days in Portree, 2 days in Dunvegan and 2 days at the Flodigarry Country House Hotel. We did stay one night in Oban and could have spent another 1/2 day there easily. Stayed at the Glenburnie House which is a lovely property - highly recommend - had a beautiful room overlooking the water. Agree with Sheila - not Fort William! Glencoe area is very scenic and dramatic.
Glasgow was okay - certainly doesn't have the charm of Edinburgh which we loved. Hope you have a wonderful trip.

tec

Girlie - where did you stay in Dunvegan? How was it? Thanks!

Girlie

Tec. We stayed at the Dunvegan Hotel mainly becaused we wanted a hotel on the loch. We had a lovely, large comfortable room with a great view. The staff is very friendly, great breakfasts and the pub meals are good. They do have a main dining room but we didn't try it. My husband and I did a great walk from the hotel all along the loch (on the road to Glendale)up to the Three Chimneys (approx. 10 miles return) The views were awesome - it was a perfect day. Don't think I would want to stay at the Three Chimneys but I hear the food is good.
I can also recommend to you our place in Edinburgh which was great - the Castle View Guest House, on Castle St. and only 2 blocks to Princes St. Awesome location. Very friendly owner and we had a super room "Balmoral" very large, beautifully furnished and a huge window with window seat and a view of the castle. The breakfasts were excellent - only drawback is no elevator so you have to take the stairs to the top floor but it is worth it. Any other questions I would be happy to answer.

memejw

Hey Girlie,
How much was the Castle View per night? Was there a minimum stay?

Thanks!

Girlie

Memejw. I think it was approx. 95 pds per night incl. full breakfast. I don't remember any night minimum but there may be a 2 night. We stayed 3 nights so I never asked. I have the website written down somewhere and will look up and post to you later.

BPA

Sheila and others - on our trip this June, we are planning to stay just south of Glasgow near Kilmarnock on our way north to Skye. We plan to leave early after breakfast and head for Mallaig via the road to the isles. It looks to be about 4 to 4 1/2 hours. We are trying to decide whether to stop short of Mallaig for the night or instead catch the 5:00 pm ferry over to Aramadale so that we can stay on Skye for the night (perhaps in Broadford at the Limestone Cottage). So that means we need to be to Mallaig no later than 4:30. We don't want to rush ourselves to catch the ferry, but assuming we limit our stops and sightseeing (drive through Glen Coe, stop at Glenfinnan, other short stops ???), is it reasonable to think that we can make the 5:00 ferry? Thanks for your input.

sheila

Absolutely reasonable. Just watch your timings

BPA

Wow, that was fast. Thanks for the quick reply. Do you have any suggestions for stops along the way? Lunch suggestion? Also, does the 4 to 4 1/2 hour estimate sound about right to you without stops? If so, and we add 2 hours for stops/lunch, then that means we need to leave that morning by 10:00 - sooo, if we leave by 9:30, we should be ok.