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Scotland & the Isles of Skye, Mull & Iona: Details & Itinerary

17 days (16 nights)
Land Package: Starts in Edinburgh, finishes in Glasgow
Monday, August 27 – Wednesday, September 12, 2012.
Land only: $4,725. Land & Air (out of Vancouver): $6,375 Single Supplement: $640
**See Optional below

Famous Black Cuillin Mountains - click to enlarge

Scotland is a country of great diversity. Best-known for its wild, romantic Highland scenery, it has many lesser-known parts which are equally as attractive both historically and scenically. There are the lovely, rolling borderlands with their ruined castles and abbeys, stark memories of more turbulent times; beautiful coastlines with gorgeous beaches—which would be lined with hotels were it not for the temperature of the water!

Inverewe Gardens - click to enlarge

There are lovely gardens with exotic plants, courtesy of the Gulf Stream, found far further north than would be expected; heritage villages which have been carefully restored so that we can see what life used to be like; and enough fairy-tale castles, with many different styles of fascinating architecture, to satisfy any keen photographer—not to mention the Whisky trail.

Many tours of Scotland cover the major tourist attractions. We cover the "majors" and much, much more, including the smallest distillery in Scotland! But we concentrate on the small towns and villages rather than cities, visit as many sites as possible made famous by novels, films and TV movies, and stop for pub lunches wherever possible.

Included in the price:

  • Airport transfers for those arriving and leaving with the group
  • Accommodation and transportation (up to 35-seater coach) for tour length
  • All breakfasts and dinners as specified in the itinerary
  • Admission to all attractions as per itinerary
  • Porterage - one bag per person in and out of hotels
  • Gratuities except as noted below
  • Escort throughout

Not included:

  • Airfare and related taxes
  • Lunches, unless specified
  • Any Insurance
  • Personal requirements, laundry
  • Gratuities for driver and escort/guide - if you wish

**Optional — Edinburgh Extension.

The dates for this tour have been arranged thus because nearly everyone who wants to go on the 2012 Scotland tour wishes to either attend the Royal Military Tattoo and/or spend some time in Edinburgh prior to the tour; and as the Edinburgh Festival will also be taking place the city will be an especially exciting place to visit. We attend the Tattoo on Saturday, August 25, and the rest of the time in Edinburgh will be on your own to explore.

3 nights extension + Tattoo ticket = $560
Single Supplement: $275

 

Optional Extension:

Aug 23

Today we fly from North America overnight to Edinburgh, arriving the next day.

Aug 24

Today we arrive at Edinburgh Airport where we make one group transfer to our lodgings near the city centre. The rest of day is free to enjoy Scotland's historic capital.

First of 3 nights: Chancellor's Court Halls of Residence, Edinburgh University or similar. No meals.

Aug 25

Today is free to enjoy Edinburgh. You may wish to start with a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour to orient yourself in this great city. At this time Edinburgh will be hosting the world's largest arts festival. Performances are to be found everywhere, including in the streets. This evening we enjoy the spectacular Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo on the esplanade of the castle.

Second of 3 nights: Chancellor's Court Halls of Residence, Edinburgh University or similar. No meals.

Aug 26

Today is another free day to visit highlights such as Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Mile.

Last of 3 additional nights: Chancellor's Court Halls of Residence, Edinburgh University or similar. No meals.

Aug 27

This evening the rest of our group join us to start the main tour.

 

Main Tour:

Day 1 (Mon 27)

This afternoon we arrive at Edinburgh Airport where we make one group transfer to our lodgings near the city centre. The rest of day is free to enjoy Scotland’s capital as it hosts the world’s largest arts festival. Performances are to be found everywhere, including in the streets.

(Overnight) Chancellor’s Court Halls of Residence, Edinburgh University.  Dinner

Day 2 (Tue 28)

This morning we transfer from Edinburgh to New Lanark. We stay in a truly stunning hotel overlooking the River Clyde. It is a conversion from an original 18th century cotton mill set in the middle of a fascinating World Heritage Site. After a guided tour, we have free time to enjoy this factory town which was a new model of worker/management co-operation in its day. The whole town is now a museum. You may also like to enjoy a lovely walk through the forest to the nearby waterfalls.

(Overnight) New Lanark Mill Hotel, New Lanark.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 3 (Wed 29)

Creetown Gem Rock Museum - click to enlarge

We depart for dramatic Culzean Castle where Eisenhower had an apartment, then stop at a “farm shop” for lunch, before visiting the amazing Creetown Gem Rock Museum, which houses one of the finest privately owned collections of gemstones, crystals, minerals, gemstone objets d'art and fossils in Britain. Our hotel tonight is in Dumfries.

(Overnight) Aston Hotel, Dumfries.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 4 (Thu 30)

Our first stop is Caerlaverock Castle, an unusual 13th-century triangular fortress, one of the finest medieval moated ruins in Scotland, which was seized by Edward I in 1300. The rocks it is built of are amazingly colourful!

Then we have a beautiful drive through the Scottish borderlands to visit Abbotsford, the original home of Sir Walter Scott. We continue to the attractive little town of Melrose, where we see the ruins of Melrose Abbey, a Cistercian Abbey begun in 1136, redone in ornate Gothic style and then decimated again in 1543. One of the most famous of the great Borders abbeys, it is now one of the most beautiful ruins in Britain, and herein lies the heart of Robert the Bruce.

(Overnight) Buccleuch Arms Hotel, St. Boswells.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 5 (Fri 31)

Culross - click to enlarge

Near the attractive market town of Kelso, we visit Thirlestane Castle, one of the most popular castles of the Borders. Home of the Maitland family since the 13th century, it is most remarkable for its rich plasterwork. With its magnificent Baroque features, it surely looks like a fairy-tale castle.

We continue for the "shock village" of the Royal Burgh of Culross with its palace and heritage village, the nearest thing to a 16th century time capsule anywhere in Scotland. After a fascinating visit to this unusual village, we continue on to the lakeside resort of Kinross.

(First of 2 nights) Windlestrae Hotel, KINROSS.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 6 (Sat 1)

St. Andrews Cathedral - click to enlarge

We have a short photo stop at the picturesque fishing village of Pittenweem and then visit the attractive harbour resort of Anstruther, before continuing along the coastal route of Fife to St. Andrews, famous for its golf courses and Prince William & Kate(!), with free time to explore the town, ruined castle and cathedral. In the afternoon we visit Falkland ancient village, and Falkland Palace and Gardens which was once the hunting lodge of the Royal Stuarts and is still in regular use as the oldest court in the United Kingdom.

(Last of 2 nights) Windlestrae Hotel, KINROSS.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 7 (Sun 2)

Angus Folk Museum - click to enlarge

Today we see magnificent Glamis Castle, with a dozen storybook turrets, the legendary setting of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, and childhood playground of the Queen Mother. On to the Angus Folk Museum with one of the finest Folk Collections in Scotland, housed in a row of six restored early 18th-century cottages with stone-slabbed roofs.

Dunkeld Village - click to enlarge

We drive via Kirrimuir, home of J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, and after a stop in the lovely restored village of Dunkeld, with one of the most magnificent ruined cathedrals, we continue to Pitlochry where we stay in a magnificent castle hotel overlooking the town.

( First of 2 nights) Atholl Palace Hotel, PITLOCHRY.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 8 (Mon 3)

Blair Castle - click to enlarge

We take the famous drive along Loch Tummel for the Queen's View en route for Blair Castle, full of marvellous artifacts from all around Scotland dating from as early as the 12th century. Its grounds are used for training the Duke of Atholl's army, the only private army in Western Europe. There is also a magnificent garden.

After lunch at Blair, we visit attractive Edradour, the smallest and most picturesque distillery in Scotland, the rest of the day is free in Pitlochry.

(Last of 2 nights) Atholl Palace Hotel, PITLOCHRY.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 9 (Tue 4)

After a photo stop, and perhaps a visit(!), at the Royal Bakery at Ballater, we visit Crathes Castle and Garden, a 17th-century castle with fairy-like turrets, fantastically shaped gargoyles, spiral staircases, superbly-painted ceilings and lovely interior, with the most delightful series of small-scale, yew-hedged gardens. Castle Fraser - click to enlarge This is such a popular attraction that timed tickets are needed to gain admission.

We finish the afternoon at the delightful little harbour of Stonehaven, voted in 2010 as the “best seaside town in Scotland.” Centred around a picturesque market with 1826 buildings, and surrounded on both sides by 100 ft. cliffs, it is also overlooked by the impressive ruined fortress of Dunnotter Castle, which at one time housed the Scottish Crown Jewels. Cromwell's troops laid siege to the castle trying to obtain the jewels — without success.

(Overnight) Mercure Aberdeen Ardoe House Hotel, ABERDEEN.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 10 (Wed 5)

Pitmedden Garden - click to enlarge

We start the day at the wonderful French-style formal Pitmedden Garden, originally laid out in 1675 by Pitmedden's first baronet, Sir Alexander Seton, and re-created by the National Trust for Scotland in the 1950s. The elaborate designs were inspired by those reputedly used in the garden of the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

We continue to Fyvie Castle, probably the grandest example of Scottish baronial architecture, with a marvellous frontal facade of fairy-tale, crow-stepped gables, turrets, and sculpted window surrounds in the form of musicians. It contains the finest great wheel-staircase in Scotland in addition to several interesting collections.

Our last visit today is to the famous Glenfiddich Distillery en route to spend the first of two nights in Inverness.

(First of 2 nights) Beaufort Hotel, INVERNESS.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 11 (Thu 6)

Part of Cawdor Castle gardens - click to enlarge

First we visit beautiful turreted Cawdor Castle, associated with Shakespeare's "Macbeth" as home of the thanes (clan chiefs) of Cawdor. Dating from the 14th century it has been the home to the Campbells for 600 years. A well-preserved drawbridge crosses an equally well-kept moat, and the two separate gardens are lovely, as are the woodland walks.

Urquhart Castle - click to enlarge

A short stop at Clava Cairns, an ancient burial ground, with tombs and standing stones, before lunch at Culloden, scene of the last battle fought on British soil in 1746, where the battlefield has been re-created. And then on to explore the dramatic ruins of Urquhart Castle which was one of the largest castles in Scotland before it was blown up in 1692 to prevent Jacobite occupation. It is now much more famous for the number of movies in which it appears.

(Last of 2 nights) Beaufort Hotel, INVERNESS.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 12 (Fri 7)

A delightful drive through the Highlands to Inverewe Gardens on Scotland's glorious West Coast. Set alongside lovely Loch Ewe, there are spectacular views from this unexpectedly beautiful sub-tropical garden far in the north-west of Scotland which has stunning displays of plants from many far-away places. 

Eilean Donan Castle - click to enlarge After yet another spectacular drive through the Scottish mountains we visit Eilean Donan Castle, the romantic, restored 13th-century castle, home of the Clan Macrae, picturesquely set on an islet in Loch Duich, and perhaps one of the most-photographed castles in Scotland.

(First of 2 nights) Kings Arms Hotel, Kyleakin, Isle of Skye.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 13 (Sat 8)

Skye Museum - click to enlarge

Today we drive around the dramatic and romantic Isle of Skye, strongly connected to Bonnie Prince Charlie, to see its delightful capital, Portree, Kilt Rock Waterfall which descends over dramatically high cliffs directly into the sea. We visit the Skye Museum of Island Life, and explore tiny, single-lane roads to small craft villages.

(Last of 2 nights) Kings Arms Hotel, Kyleakin, Isle of Skye.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 14 (Sun 9)

We leave Skye by ferry from Armadale to Mallaig for the Glenfinnan Monument where in 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard and succeeded in rousing various clans to follow him to the disaster of Culloden. Then on to Fort William to see Neptune's Ladder, where a ladder of eight locks at the western end of the Caledonian Canal raises the water level 70 ft. over the short distance of 500 yards. Hopefully, we may also see Ben Nevis (4,406 ft.), the highest mountain in the British Isles.

After lunch we continue for a drive up Glencoe, famous, or rather, infamous, for the Glencoe massacre in 1692. We finish the day at Oban, with its attractive and interesting harbour, the busiest ferry port on the west coast, overlooked by McCraig's Tower, a Colliseum-like structure, where there is some free time to explore.

(First of 2 nights) Oban Bay Hotel, OBAN.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 15 (Mon 10)

We spend today on the Isle of Mull, a lovely island which has a permanent population of only approx. 2,500 people and 10,000 sheep! But we especially visit the tiny Hebridean Island of Iona, a unique place visited by thousands of pilgrims, royalty, artists and craftsmen, where, in 563, St. Columba, exiled from Ireland, landed in a coracle boat and built what was to become one of the major centres of medieval Christendom. We also have some time in Tobermory, capital of Mull, which is basically a string of very colourful and interesting buildings stretched along the bay.

(Last of 2 nights) Oban Bay Hotel, OBAN.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 16 (Tue 11)

We drive south along the Argyll coast, with a photo stop at the Bridge over the Atlantic, and at Kilmartin Church and nearby field of standing stones before we depart for Inveraray, where we visit Inveraray Jail, a fascinating recreation of a 19th-century jail, before driving down the shores of Loch Lomond to our final hotel.

(Overnight) Ramada Glasgow Airport Hotel, GLASGOW.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 17 (Wed 12)

End of Tour. Transfer to Glasgow Airport for an early flight to Vancouver.

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