Loch Ness by lunchtime. Skye by Sunday.
Which Highlands coach actually stops in Glencoe. What the vaults tour is really like. Whether the distillery dram is worth the fare north. Every tour in Scotland, reviewed.
Lochs, castles and whisky: the Scottish days booked first.
Loch Ness and Glencoe in one long day, the castle on its crag, a still house with a dram at the end, the viaduct the steam train crosses at eleven. Most Scottish trips are built around this handful.
Edinburgh is small enough to walk and deep enough to get lost under.
A castle on volcanic rock, closes running downhill off the Royal Mile, and vaults nobody had opened since the 1800s. The capital fills four days on its own, and in August the good walks are gone by breakfast.
Scotland’s most popular tours.
Every review →The days more travellers take than anything else in Scotland, and what each one actually gets you for the fare.
1
Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish Highlands Tour
Full-day Highland tour from Edinburgh to Loch Ness and Glencoe, with Urquhart Castle and optional cruise or illicit whisky tasting.
From · $62
Read our review →
2
Loch Ness, Glencoe & Scottish Highlands Tour
from $61
3
The World Famous Underground Ghost Tour
from $26
4
Underground Vaults Walking Tour in Edinburgh Old Town
from $33
5
Glenfinnan, Glencoe, and Highlands Day Trip
from $66
6
Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands, Glencoe and Pitlochry Tour
from $67
7
Loch Ness & Highlands Small-Group Tour from Edinburgh with Cruise
from $84
8
Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour with Entry Ticket
from $51
Loch Ness is 23 miles of water, and the drive there is half the day.
The Edinburgh version leaves at eight and comes home in the dark, taking Glencoe, Rannoch Moor and a cruise past Urquhart Castle on the way. From Inverness the loch is twenty minutes, so the day turns into Culloden, Clava Cairns and a proper lunch.
Skye earns three days. Most itineraries give it one.
The Quiraing, the Fairy Pools, the Cuillin behind everything, and Eilean Donan standing in the water on the road in. Single-track passing places set the pace: the two- and three-day trips see the island, the day trips mostly see the drive.
- 13-Day Isle of Skye and The Highlands Tourfrom $244
- 23-Day Isle of Skye Inverness Highlands and Glenfinnan Viaduct Tour from Edinburghfrom $224
- 33-Day Isle of Skye and Scottish Highlands from Edinburghfrom $705
The things that only happen in Scotland.
Coastlines and old stone are everywhere. A working malt distillery, a location day round Doune and Falkland, and a shaggy coo at a roadside fence belong to this country alone.
A Working Distillery
Scotland has more than 140 malt distilleries still running, and the tours worth taking get you past the visitor centre: into the still house while the wash is boiling, into a dunnage warehouse where casks lie three high on earth floors. The dram at the end often comes straight from one of them. Drivers are handed theirs in a miniature to take home, which nobody minds.
- 1The Scotch Whisky Experience Guided Whisky Tour – An Introduction to Whisky★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,578 reviews
- 2Edinburgh Food Tour with Scotch, Haggis, a Secret Dish & More★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,172 reviews
- 3Scotch Whisky Tasting & Stories — Bespoke Whisky Lounge★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 972 reviews
The Outlander Trail
Doune Castle plays Castle Leoch, Midhope stands in for Lallybroch, and Falkland turns back into 1945 Inverness whenever the crew arrive. The location days run out of Edinburgh and Glasgow, most include the admissions, and the guides tend to know the books as well as the episodes.
- 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
Meeting a Highland Cow
The Highland cow is a working animal, not a mascot: that fringe keeps rain out of its eyes and the double coat gets it through a winter outdoors. Farms near Loch Lomond and the Trossachs let you feed one by hand, and half the Highlands day tours pull in at a roadside fence for the same photograph.
- 1Farm Attraction – Highland Cows, Animal Feeding, Wholesome fun!★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 101 reviews
- 2Loch Lomond, Highland Cows, Victorian Town, Castle Half-Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 42 reviews
- 3Loch Lomond, The Highlands & Hairy Coo’s (Small-Group)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 32 reviews
Twenty dollars buys the vaults. The Highlands cost a little more.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price, with the pick of each band.
Ghost walks, vault tours, Old Town wanders and entry tickets — the everyday best of the cities.
The classic long day: Loch Ness and Glencoe, Skye from Inverness, distillery runs with the dram included.
Island trips with nights away, private drivers, and small-group Highlands days that go where the coaches cannot.
Edinburgh keeps its best stories underground.
All underground tours →Underground Vaults Walking Tour in Edinburgh Old Town
Read our review →
The Scotch Whisky Experience Guided Whisky Tour – An Introduction to Whisky
Read our review →Glasgow trades the castle for bands, banter and a stadium tour.
Fifty minutes west of Edinburgh and a different city entirely: Victorian merchant streets, the best music rooms in Britain, two football grounds that open their tunnels, and Loch Lomond an hour up the road.
Book these before you fly to Scotland.
Most of Scotland can be arranged from your hotel the night before. These cannot: they run on short seasons, fixed seat counts and ticket releases that take no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Full-Day Edinburgh Military Tattoo & Scottish Highlands TourThe Tattoo fills the castle esplanade for three weeks of August only, and the tours that include a seat go months ahead.
- 02Magical Highlands Tour with Jacobite TrainThe steam train runs a short summer season with a fixed number of seats, and the Glenfinnan crossing is the whole reason people book it.
- 033-Day Isle of Skye and The Highlands TourSkye trips run on small coaches and island beds; summer departures fill weeks before the date.
- 04Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour with Entry TicketCastle entry is timed, and August slots disappear while the festivals are on.
It will rain in Scotland. That is what the indoor half is for.
The weather here changes every twenty minutes and nothing gets cancelled for it. The best wet-afternoon plans were always indoors anyway: a tasting room with the fire on, a vault seventeen feet below the street, a copper still, a chocolate kitchen.
The road north, reviewed stop by stop.
Stirling
Loch Lomond
Isle of SkyeBy region — wherever you are staying
Edinburgh552 tours
Glasgow156 tours
Inverness142 tours
Aberdeen21 tours
St Andrews38 tours
Invergordon41 tours
Oban9 tours- Every region →
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