Itinerary: 5-Day Isle of Skye Tour Departing from Edinburgh
Edinburgh Departure Highlights
Day 1: Culross, The Hermitage – Black Linn Falls Forest Walk and Scenic Eastern Cairngorms Panoramic Snow Road Tour
Day 2: Cawdor Castle, Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns and Eilean Donan Castle
Day 3: Isle of Skye Day Tour
Day 4: Ferry from Armadale to Mallaig, Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glenfinnan Monument, Glencoe and Oban
Day 5: Conan Kirk , Rob Roy McGregor’s Grave, Loch Lubnaig, Hairy Coos at Kilmahog and National Wallace Monument
Explore the ‘misty’ Isle of Skye from Edinburgh
Day 1 – Edinburgh to Nairn
Your 5-day Isle of Skye tour from Edinburgh, departs from your group’s chosen accommodation in the city. Leaving the historical capital city of Edinburgh behind, we travel north, over the Firth of Forth on the newly built Queensferry crossing into the Kingdom of Fife.
Our first stop of the day, is the former Royal Burgh town of Culross, which is also a prominent Outlander filming location. Your private group will step back in time, experiencing a leisurely walk through the cobbled streets of this picturesque 16th and 17th century village. Look out for Geilles Duncan’s House and Claire’s herb garden.
Travelling north through Perthshire, we arrive at the Hermitage, where you will enjoy a short forest walk through the giant Douglas firs, to view the thunderous Black Linn Falls on the River Braan.
After stopping off for lunch, we will pay a visit to the victorian spa town of Pitlochry, then traverse through the Scottish Highlands, for a welcome overnight stay in Nairn, on the Moray Firth.
Overnight Nairn
Day 2 – Nairn to Skye
After a good hearty Scottish breakfast, we make our way to Cawdor Castle, nestled in the woods of the Nairn valley. Cawdor was immortalised by William Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish Play’, Macbeth, as the scene of Duncan’s mythical death.
A short drive from Cawdor, our next visit is to the to the evocative, Culloden Battlefield, site of the last pitched battle in the United Kingdom between the Jacobites and Hanoverian British Soldiers. From the visitor centre, we take the short walk through Culloden Moor to pay our respects to the gallant Highlanders, who lost their lives in the last Jacobite Rebellion. Our next stop is only a 5 minute drive from Culloden, to the prehistoric Clava Cairns burial chambers, that are surrounded by mysterious standing stones.
With a brief stop for lunch, our journey to Skye continues on, by the banks of Loch Ness, through the majestic Highlands to Eilean Donan Castle in Dornie. This medieval castle protected the lands of Kintail from the Viking warriors, and was home to the mighty Clan MacRae for over 2 centuries.
We then take the short journey over the sea to Skye, via the new land bridge at the Kyle of Lochalsh. Travelling North, we pass through Skye’s second largest populated town of Broadford, en-route to the charming town of Portree, the capital of Skye.
Overnight Skye
Day 3 – Isle of Skye Day Tour
We like to offer our guests a flexible approach to visiting Skye, and we can discuss where your group would like to visit before travelling commences, or as previous customers have opted for, on the actual journey to Skye.
Some of the more popular visitor attractions in Skye –
Old Man of Storr (1 and a half to 2-hour hike)
Kilt Rock
Staffin Bay
Quiraing (Full loop is approximate 4 hours. However, you can do a shorter hike, and then come back)
Fairy Glen
Fairy Pools
Talisker Whisky Distillery
Dunvegan Castle
See our popular one day sample Skye Itinerary from Portree below – you can also customise your own day in Skye, or extend your stay to visit more attractions your group are interested in. This option though, must be done at the time of booking.
Get your hiking boots on for an amazing Fairy Pools adventure at Glenbrittle, overlooked by the daunting Cuillin mountains. After working up an appetite, we will savour some tasty local Scottish fayre at the Old Inn in Carbost, which overlooks Talisker Bay, and is only a stone’s throw away from the idyllic Talisker Whisky Distillery.
Following the coastline north, we can take the opportunity to visit Dunvegan Castle, home to Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland, which offers guided tours, and boasts beautiful gardens to explore.
Next up, we pause briefly for a photo opportunity at The Quiraing, before searching for “dinosaur footprints”, in Staffin Bay.
On the road back to Portree, we will stop at Kilt Rock and The Old Man of Storr for fantastic photo opportunities.
Overnight Skye
Day 4 – Skye to Oban
Departing from your chosen accommodation in Skye, we drive south to the Sleat Peninsula, to embark on the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry crossing from Armadale to Mallaig.
Travelling through Lochaber, we stop at the Glenfinnan Monument, where Bonnie Prince Charlie arrived in 1745, to raise the Royal Stuart Standard in the last Jacobite Rebellion.
We will also have time to take a short walk to the Glenfinnan Viaduct for spectacularly scenic photo opportunities.
Enjoying some splendid scenery and views of Scotland (and United kingdom’s) tallest Mountain, Ben Nevis, we head south through Fort William and on to the dramatic Glencoe mountain Range. We will have time to capture some photos of the Three Sisters and listen to the incredibly sorrowful story of the Glencoe Massacre, before taking the coastal road to Oban.
Overnight Oban
Day 5 – Oban to Edinburgh
Our final day sees us leaving Oban, through Bonnie Argyle, where we will visit the fascinating Conan Kirk on Loch Awe. Stopping for a photo opportunity at Kilchurn Castle, we head eastwards, through the Trossachs National Park to visit the Scottish outlaw, Rob Roy McGregor’s grave at the picturesque Balquhidder Parish Church cemetery.
Our tour continues to Loch Lubnaig, and then on to the hamlet of Kilmahog, to feed the “Hairy Highland Coos”, Hamish and Honey Dubh. Our last stop of the day, takes us to the towering National Wallace Monument where you can enjoy spectacular views of Stirling Castle, and stunning Scottish scenery from the top of the monument.
This tour itinerary has been immensely enjoyed by many of our previous visitors to Scotland. It is fully customisable to your own group’s interests, and can be extended by adding more days at the time of booking. You can opt to spend more days on Skye, or to incorporate a visit to the Isle of Mull.
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