How many days do you need to see the best of Scotland?
Werecommend you allow9 - 10 days in Scotland for a satisfying tour of the country’s diverse scenery and history.
A 10 day itinerary, such as the Best of Scotland tour plan,would let you spend:
- 2 days in Edinburgh walking the historical streets and enjoying the cosmopolitan buzz.
- 2 days on an Island to take in the slower pace of island life.
- 2 days in the central Highlands exploring castles and whisky distilleries.
- 1 or 2 days in the magnificent wild scenery of the North West Highlands.
- 1 or 2 days around Fort William or Oban to explore famous places like Glencoe, Glenfinnan, Ben Nevis, or to bag a few more islands.
- Maybe fit in a day in Glasgow which is quite a contrast compared to Edinburgh.
We have created a range of “Ready to Go” tour itineraries to help you plan a road trip suitable for 9 to 10 days in Scotland.
Some are designed for first time visitors and cater for the tourist that wants to experience all that makes Scotland memorable.
And some have “themes” where the tour routes are planned so that you can indulge your interest in castles, whisky, photography, island hopping or Scottish culture.
9 - 10 Day Tours from Edinburgh
Classic Scotland East to West
We call this the “Classic Scotland” as it is a tour plan that covers all the famous places that come to mind when you think of Scotland. This route works well as an itinerary for 9 days in Scotland and could be paced as follows. >>> READ MORE
.JPG "9 - 10 Days in Scotland Itinerary ideas (1)")
- Day 1 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 2 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 3- Edinburgh to Pitlochry
- Day 4- Pitlochry to Inverness
- Day 5- Inverness to Skye
- Day 6- Tour Skye
- Day 7- Skye to Oban
- Day 8 - Day trip to Mull & Iona
- Day 9- Oban to Glasgow / Edinburgh
Scenic Flexi East to West
The Scenic Flexi tour plan caters for people who want to see a lot of Scotland, but also like the idea of staying 2 - 3 nights in each location. The tour is called “Flexi” as we provide lots of day trip options around Edinburgh, Inverness, Skye and Oban. So you can choose which day trips suit your interests best. An itinerary for 10 days could be scheduled as below. >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 2- Explore Edinburgh
- Day 3- Edinburgh to Inverness
- Day 4- Day trips fromInverness
- Day 5- Day trips fromInverness
- Day 6- Inverness to Skye
- Day 7- Tour Skye
- Day 8- Skye to Oban
- Day 9 - Day trips from Oban
- Day 10- Oban to Glasgow / Edinburgh
Best of Scotland East to West
Like the Scenic Flexi tour, this itinerary includes lots of day trip options to let you adapt the tour to your schedule and interest. The Best of Scotland takes you up to Gairloch in the North West Highlands. The scenery around Gairloch is stunning and Mike rates it as his favourite place in Scotland. For a Scotland Itinerary of 10 days duration, we suggest a schedule such as below.>>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 2- Explore Edinburgh
- Day 3- Edinburgh to Cairngorms
- Day 4 - Day trips from Cairngorms
- Day 5- Cairngorms to Gairloch
- Day 6- Gairloch to Skye
- Day 7- Tour Skye
- Day 8- Skye to Fort William / Glencoe
- Day 9- Day trips from Fort William
- Day 10- Fort William to Glasgow / Edinburgh
Photographer's Scotland
Photo opportunities lie around every corner in the Highlands, so all our tours could claim this title. The difference with this itinerary is that we keep the driving times short from stopover to stopover so there is plenty of time to compose that iconic image. The tour route also explores some of the quieter corners, so your pictures won’t be “photo-bombed”. For a 10 day itinerary you can pace this road tripas below: >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 2- Edinburgh to Oban via Trossachs
- Day 3- Oban to Fort William via Glencoe
- Day 4- Fort William to Skye
- Day 5- Tour Skye
- Day 6- Skye to Gairloch
- Day 7- Gairloch to Inverness
- Day 8- Day trips from Inverness
- Day 9- Inverness to Royal Deeside
- Day 10- Return to Edinburgh
Classic Whisky
This whisky themed tour itinerary takes you around distilleries that represent the different characteristics of Lowland, Highland, Speyside and Island malts. If you pace this itineraryover 10 days, you can schedule a couple of2-night stopovers along the route. >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 2 - Edinburgh to Pitlochry
- Day 3 - Pitlochry to Royal Deeside
- Day 4 - Royal Deeside to Speyside
- Day 5 - Speyside to Inverness
- Day 6 - Day trips from Inverness
- Day 7- Inverness to Skye
- Day 8 - Tour Skye
- Day 9 - Skye to Oban
- Day 10 - Oban to Glasgow / Edinburgh
Classic Castles
You could spend a year in Scotland not see all of its castles, but this tour plan lets you visit the truly memorable ones. Highlights along this route are Stirling Castle, Blair Castle, Crathes and Castle Fraser, Cawdor Castle, Dunrobin, Eilean Donan, Castle Stalker and Inveraray. But that’s just the famous ones, there’s lots more to be discovered. You can pace this itinerary over 10 days as follows: >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 2 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 3 - Edinburgh to Pitlochry
- Day 4 - Pitlochry to Royal Deeside
- Day 5 - Royal Deeside Day Trip
- Day 6 - Royal Deeside to Inverness
- Day 7 - Day trips from Inverness
- Day 8 - Inverness to Oban
- Day 9 - Oban to Inveraray
- Day 10 - Inveraray to Glasgow / Edinburgh
Scottish Inspirations
We called this tour plan “Scottish Inspirations” because it visits places associated with Scotland’s famous artists and writers. This is a good itineraryfor a road trip in Scotland if you want to see places that are not on the mainstream tourist trail. You can walk in the steps of Robert Burns and Walter Scott, or discover the places that feature in classic Scottish novels. For a road trip of 9days inScotland, we suggest this schedule: >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 2 - Explore Edinburgh
- Day 3- Edinburgh to The Borders (Melrose / Jedburgh)
- Day 4- The Borders to Solway Coast
- Day 5- Solway Coast to Ayr
- Day 6- Day Trip to Glasgow
- Day 7- Ayr to Oban
- Day 8- Oban to Pitlochry via Glencoe
- Day 9 - Pitlochry toEdinburgh
9 - 10 Day Tours from Glasgow
Classic Scotland West to East
The “Classic Scotland” tour plan features all the iconic places that Scotland is best known for. A good choice if you are a first time visitor and wish a fairly relaxed pace. If scheduling this itinerary for 9 days in Scotland, we suggest you pace as below. >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Arrive Glasgow
- Day 2 - Glasgow to Oban
- Day 3 - Day trip to Mull & Iona from Oban
- Day 4- Oban to Skye
- Day 5- Tour Skye
- Day 6- Skye to Inverness
- Day 7- Inverness to Pitlochry
- Day 8- Pitlochry to Edinburgh
- Day 9- Explore Edinburgh
Scenic Flexi West to East
The Scenic Flexi tour plan caters for people who want to see a lot of Scotland, but also like the idea of staying 2 - 3 nights in each location. The tour is called “Flexi” as we provide lots of day trip options around Oban, Skye, Inverness and Edinburgh. So you can choose which day trips suit your interests best. An itinerary for 9 days could be paced as below. >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Glasgow to Oban
- Day 2 - Day trips from Oban
- Day 3 - Oban to Skye
- Day 4 - Tour Skye
- Day 5 - Skye to Inverness
- Day 6 - Day trips from Inverness
- Day 7- Inverness to Edinburgh
- Day 8- Explore Edinburgh
- Day 9 - Explore Edinburgh / Return to Glasgow
Best of Scotland West to East
Like the Scenic Flexi tour, this itinerary includes lots of day trip options to let you adapt the tour to your schedule and interest. The Best of Scotland takes you up to Gairloch in the North West Highlands. The scenery around Gairloch is stunning and Mike rates it as his favourite place in Scotland. For 10 days in Scotland, we’d suggest a schedule as shown below.>>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Glasgow to Fort William
- Day 2 - Day trips from Fort William
- Day 3 - Fort William to Skye
- Day 4 - Tour Skye
- Day 5 - Skye to Gairloch
- Day 6 - Day trips from Gairloch
- Day 7- Gairloch to Cairngorms
- Day 8 - Day trips from Cairngorms
- Day 9- Cairngorms to Edinburgh
- Day 10- Discover Edinburgh
Island Adventure
Eash Scottish Island has its own distinct character and stepping off the ferry onto a new island is always a thrill. You can enjoy that thrill again and again with our Island Adventure tour plan which hops up the west coast from Arran to Mull and then to Skye. If you are scheduling 2 nights on each island, you can do this itinerary in 10 days by pacing it as follows. >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Glasgow to Arran
- Day 2 - Explore Arran
- Day 3 - Arran to Oban
- Day 4 - Oban to Mull
- Day 5 - Explore Mull, Iona & Staffa
- Day 6 - Mull to Skye
- Day 7 - Explore Skye
- Day 8 - Skye to Fort William
- Day 9 - Fort William to Edinburgh / Glasgow
- Day 10 - Explore Edinburgh / Glasgow
Island Odyssey
A visit to theScottish Islands is a special experience, but Lewis & Harrisoffer something extra special. Their magic is a combination of stunning scenery, a thriving Gaelic culture and the hardy people that callthese islands home.This tour plan guides you to up the west coast toSkye and then onto Lewis & Harris, beforereturningvia Ullapool and the Cairngorms. The Ferry times to / from Lewis & Harris aren’t always when you’d want, but this itinerary can work with 10 days if scheduledlike this: >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Glasgow to Fort William
- Day 2 - Fort William to Skye
- Day 3 - Tour Skye
- Day 4 - Skye to Harris
- Day 5 - Tour Harris
- Day 6 - Tour Lewis
- Day 7 - Lewis to Ullapool
- Day 8 - Ullapool to Cairngorms
- Day 9 - Cairngorms toEdinburgh
- Day 10 - Discover Edinburgh
9 to 10 Day Tours from Inverness
North Coast 500
You can drive the NC500 in 5 days, but why would you want to rush this beautiful landscape? The best way to plan aNorth Coast 500 itinerary is to schedule in lots of 2 night stays so you have time to explore the quiet corners. Although it’s not part of the NC500, we also include a guide for exploring Orkney. For a relaxed 9 day North Coast 500 itinerary, you schedule a tour as follows: >>> READ MORE
- Day 1 - Arrive Inverness
- Day 2 - Inverness Day trips
- Day 3- Inverness to Gairloch
- Day 4- Day trip to Applecross
- Day 5- Gairloch to Ullapool
- Day 6 - Day trip around Inverpollaidh
- Day 7- Ullapool to Thurso
- Day 8 - Day trip to Orkney
- Day 9- Thurso to Inverness
