Scotland is closer than it looks.
Loch Ness and back in a day. Skye in three. Which coach leaves early enough to beat the tour buses at Urquhart, what a distillery tasting really costs, and whether the ghost tour is worth the queue.
The six Scottish days that fill up first.
A loch with a legend, an island of ridges, a glen that stops the coach, a castle on a rock, a cellar of casks and a vault under the Old Town. Most Scottish itineraries are built from these.
The road north, one stop at a time.
Nearly every Scottish trip runs this line: out of Edinburgh, up past Stirling and the loch, through the glen, over to Skye, then back down the Great Glen with a distillery at the end of it.
SpeysideThe tours more travellers take than anything else in Scotland.
Every Scottish review →Ghost walks under the Royal Mile and long days to the Great Glen. These carry the biggest crowds in the country, and each earns it for a different reason.
1
The World Famous Underground Ghost Tour
Review of Edinburgh’s underground ghost tour, with Greyfriars Kirkyard, Old Town closes, guide styles, value, and practical tips.
From · $26
Read our review →
2
Underground Vaults Walking Tour in Edinburgh Old Town
from $33
3
Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands, Glencoe and Pitlochry Tour
from $67
4
Loch Ness & Highlands Small-Group Tour from Edinburgh with Cruise
from $84
5
Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour with Entry Ticket
from $51
6
Edinburgh Castle Guided Walking Tour in English
from $52
7
Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glencoe & Fort William
from $62
8
The Chocolatarium Chocolate Tour Experience in Edinburgh
from $44
Two stories brought half of Scotland its visitors.
Neither belongs to one city. Craigh na Dun and the Glenfinnan viaduct are two hundred kilometres apart, and the tours that reach them start from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness alike. They are the reason a lot of people book at all.
Outlander country
The show films across a working map of real Scotland: Doune Castle stands in for Leoch, Midhope for Lallybroch, Blackness for Fort William, Culross for Cranesmuir. Day tours from Edinburgh string three or four of them together, and most include the admissions, which matters because half of these sites charge at the gate. Doune closes for filming blocks, so a fixed date is worth checking twice.
- 1Outlander Film Locations Day Trip from Edinburgh★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,776 reviews
- 2Loch Ness Cruise, Outlander & Urquhart Castle Tour from Inverness★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,384 reviews
- 3Outlander Locations Tour Including Admissions from Edinburgh★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,116 reviews
The wizarding route
Two very different days share one name. In Edinburgh it is a walk: Victoria Street, Greyfriars Kirkyard, the cafes where the first book was drafted, all inside an hour. In the Highlands it is the Glenfinnan viaduct and the West Highland Line, which is a working steam service between Fort William and Mallaig with a real timetable and a real seat count. Book the second one early and the first one on the day.
- 1Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glencoe & Fort William★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,337 reviews
- 2Original Harry Potter Locations Tour in Edinburgh : Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,236 reviews
- 33-Day Isle of Skye Inverness Highlands and Glenfinnan Viaduct Tour from Edinburgh★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,351 reviews
Edinburgh sells out before your flight lands.
The Old Town is a mile of closes stacked on top of older closes, and the best of it happens below street level or after dark. In August the whole city doubles in size and the good slots vanish first.
Loch Ness is a day trip, and the route decides everything.
All Loch Ness tours →From Edinburgh it is three hours each way, so what you actually buy is the middle: the Glen Coe pass, Fort Augustus, an hour on the water and however long you get at Urquhart Castle. From Inverness the same loch is twenty minutes away and the day belongs to the water.
Glen Coe, the loch and the castle in one
Rannoch Moor before the light gets flat, the Three Sisters at the pass, then north up the Great Glen for the cruise and the ruin. It is a long sit, and the scenery is the point.
An hour on the loch, sonar running
The loch is 230 metres deep and the boats run a live sonar display, which is either science or theatre depending on your mood. Urquhart from the water beats Urquhart from the car park.
Base in Inverness and go twice
Staying north cuts six hours of coach out of the trip. Cawdor, Clava Cairns and Culloden sit within half an hour, and the loch is a morning rather than a marathon.
You do not need Speyside to drink well in Scotland.
The great malt country is four hours north of Edinburgh, but the capital answers with tasting rooms, a gin and whisky distillery inside the city, and cellars under the Old Town. Pick the one that fits the day you actually have.
What a day out in Scotland actually costs.
The whole catalogue, cheapest to dearest. A walking tour of the Old Town costs less than lunch on it.
Old Town walks, ghost tours, loch cruises and single-site entry. The everyday Scotland, and often the best of it.
The full day out: Loch Ness and Glen Coe, Skye from Inverness, castle days with the admissions in.
Multi-day island runs, the steam train, and private drivers who will stop wherever the light is.
Book these before you fly to Scotland.
Most of Scotland can be arranged from the hotel the night before. These four cannot. They run on published timetables, timed entry and a fixed number of seats, none of which care when you land.
- 01Scotland in 5 Days Including Jacobite Steam Train from EdinburghA working steam service on the West Highland Line with a fixed timetable and a small carriage count. Summer dates go months out.
- 02Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour with Entry TicketEntry is by timed slot. During the August festival the morning slots disappear weeks ahead of the day.
- 033-Day Isle of Skye Inverness Highlands and Glenfinnan Viaduct Tour from EdinburghThe multi-day Skye runs go on a set departure calendar with beds booked alongside the seats. There is no walk-up version.
- 04The Scotch Whisky Experience Guided Whisky Tour – An Introduction to WhiskyTasting-led distillery sessions take the fewest people of anything in the city and run to a fixed daily timetable.
Scottish rain is horizontal, and the best days are indoors anyway.
It will rain. It will also stop, and start again, usually inside the same hour. The answer is a vault, a tasting room or a castle interior, none of which cancel for weather, and all of which are better in bad light than in good.
- 1The World Famous Underground Ghost Tourfrom $26
- 2Ghost Bus Tour of Edinburghfrom $24
- 3Haunted Vaults Walking Tour in Edinburghfrom $33
Invergordon is a berth, not a town to spend a day in.
The cruise ships tie up on the Cromarty Firth because it is the closest deep water to the Great Glen. Everything worth the call is inland: Loch Ness is fifty minutes south, Culloden and the Clava Cairns are closer than that, and every tour here is written around the ship leaving on time.
- 1Cawdor Castle, Inverness, Culloden, Outlander and Loch Ness Tourfrom $206
- 2Secret Loch Ness, Inverness Castle visit, Culloden, Clava Cairnsfrom $229
- 3Classic Highland Shore Tour from Invergordonfrom $197
By where in Scotland you land
Edinburgh558 tours
Glasgow181 tours
Inverness168 tours
The Highlands157 tours- Oban29 tours
St Andrews56 tours
Aberdeen29 tours
Invergordon (cruise port)43 tours- Every corner of Scotland →
By the kind of Scottish day
The newest Scottish tour reviews.
More new Scottish reviews →
Highland Whisky Distilleries Shore Trip from Invergordon Cruise Port
Read our review →
Full-Day Private Speyside Malt Whisky Trail Tour from Grantown-on-Spey
Read our review →
ULLAPOOL PORT Cruise Ship Tour, Ardvreck Castle, Rocks & More
Read our review →
CANYONING in Laggan Canyon | Roybridge, Scotland
Read our review →
Full-Day Walking and Hiking Adventure in Quinag Mountain Range
Read our review →