Scotland 4 day road trip, suggested routes and must see sights

pault123

Morning,

Never been to Scotland and considering a 4 day road trip. Driving from Manchester, can anyone suggest a good route to take (a google map planned route would be great )
which takes in the must see sights, some great driving roads, and city/village stops of interest.

Also individual must see reccomendations are more than welcome.

:beer:

Mark_Hewitt

Well Scotland isn't exactly overseas if starting from Manchester

Depends what you want to look at really. Since you've never been to Scotland then Edinburgh is where you must start! If you start out early morning from Manchester and go up the M6/M74 you should be able to get there for lunchtime, which is enough to have a quick look around at the main sights. Of course you could spend a week in Edinburgh, but then you'd miss the rest of Scotland!

I wouldn't necessarily recommend staying in Edinburgh itself, although it would be a good idea if you wanted to sample the nightlife, but to save a bit of money there are plenty Premier Inns / Travelodges on the outskirts. My personal recommendation would be the Premier Inn at South Queensferry, right next to the Forth bridge.

From there I'd reckon you want to be heading to the west coast. Up M6 and across the A84, A85 and A82 across Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe - this is where the scenery gets good.

I'd recommend using either Oban or Fort William as a base for the next few nights lots of hotels in both places.

From either base you have a good choice of drives. Down the Argyll coast, ferry to Mull and visit Tomermory and Calgary Bay. Use the Corran ferry to drive out to the point of Ardnamurchan, the most westerly point of mainland Britain, and feels very remote too due to it being only single track road.

Up to Skye, personally I would recommend *not* using the bridge, even though it's free. But instead get the ferry from Mallaig to Armadale and on the way back take the Glenelg - Kylerhea ferry (http://www.skyeferry.co.uk/)

Now this is just based on what I've actually done, you just have to look at a map to see loads more places!

Have fun!!

financialfreak

Hey Pault123,

Scotland has a lot to offer depending on where your interests lie. Do you have any dates in mind? Driving the Highlands can be tricky when the weather gets colder (although it's usually worth it) and crossings to the islands can be unreliable (not as a rule but bad weather obviously affcts some of the routes during the winter).

Agree that Edinburgh is a great place to start, but you could end up spending all your time here (I work in Edinburgh).

Are you hoping to do some walking? See some history? Have a particular interest in Whisky? Just drive until your tyres go bald? Shopping? 4 days isn't long up here. But if you can give an idea of your intterests I could probably be more helpful.

Last Autumn some friends did and short tour from Fife to Inverness and accross to Fort William, which they really enjoyed.

pault123

Some great advice so far Mark that certainly sounds like quite a decent route.

Will be the first four days in November depending on what time I get off work. So weather shouldn't be *too* bad?!

Wouldn't mind doing a bit of walking, finding some last minute bargains for hotels in a different areas each night (once i've got the route set will prob check last minute.com or alpha rooms) huge castles are always good, amazing coast roads, like a bit of landscape photography, caves, quaint little towns, and modern cities (edinborough).

The furthest north i've ventured is the lakes so just really want to get a good mix out of 4 days.:beer:

shown73

We always use the tourist information offices to pre-book b&b. For example, stayed overnight near Inverness, went into the office there, and they helped us to find a b&b in Oban. Drove down there, via Kyle of Lochalsh etc., stayed overnight in Oban, then carried on doing same thing. They are very helpful indeed, and if you can be a little flexible, there are some gems to be found. Pot luck to some extent, I suppose, but we've always been ok. Just a thought.

vegasvisitor

I'd suggest drive up by Oban, through Fort William, Inverness, down through Aviemore down to Edinburgh. You could stay in any of these places, a night in each would be good. Or 2 and 2.

Mark_Hewitt

pault123 wrote: »

Some great advice so far Mark that certainly sounds like quite a decent route.

Will be the first four days in November depending on what time I get off work. So weather shouldn't be *too* bad?!

Won't be too bad no. It'll be chilly of course, and there'll likely be snow on the peaks, but much like the rest of the UK, being overcast, cold and raining is the most likely outcome!

Wouldn't mind doing a bit of walking, finding some last minute bargains for hotels in a different areas each night (once i've got the route set will prob check last minute.com or alpha rooms) huge castles are always good, amazing coast roads, like a bit of landscape photography, caves, quaint little towns, and modern cities (edinborough).

If you you want caves then the Isle of Staffa is for you! Known as the Scottish side of the Giants Causeway, but being off the west coast of Mull isn't easy to get to. I think they do boat trips direct from Oban, but I'd be surprised if they were still running in November.

If you do want a proper walk, then what about up Ben Nevis?! The traditional way starting in the market square at Fort William. But this time of year it's going to be absolutely freezing up there!!

Good coast roads and castles eh? Well a good road trip from Fort William would be heading out on the A830 'Road to the Isles', with a stop at Glenfinnan. If you're a Harry Potter fan you'll recognise the location as the setting for not only the viaduct in the films but for Hogwarts too, if you're a student of history then it's the landing place of Bonnie Prince Charlie as he returned from France in order to lead his countrymen to certain death...

Further along the road gets twisty with good views of the coast and I'd recommend taking the old road at Arisaig around the coast. It's single track, but don't be put out by that it's an essential part of the highland experience, just don't go to fast and keep your eyes peeled and stop as soon as you see someone ahead of you, unlike on narrow roads in England I've found those negotiating Scottish single track roads to be very courteous.

Then take the ferry to Skye from Mallaig. I can heartily recommend the drive up to Portee, some stunning scenery there and you can't really claim you've been to Skye properly unless you make the drive, but it is a fair way if you have to come back again, although if you can stay there overnight, - great!

You want castles? Going back across the Skye bridge you'll come across Eileen Donnell Castle, a very famous landmark. And the drive along the A87 is pretty spectaular itself, if the mist and low cloud stay away. Don't forget to stop and take a picture at the lookout point at Glen Garry, easy to spot as there'll be other cars stopped there!

Inverness is certainly worth a visit and has some nice walks alongside the river, although the city itself I found to be quite disappointing, and it's in an area of relatively flat land. Having said that it's possibly a good base for your final night as driving the A9 from Inverness to Perth is an experience in itself!

PS. I'd recommend going to multimap.com and clicking on the 'OS Map' option to see things in detail, it gives a much better idea of the terrain and roads involved than you'd get of the likes of google maps.

old_motters

The Fort William and Oban suggestions are all fine and dandy but it's pretty grueling driving for a 4 day trip. I would strongly recommend spending a night and day in Edinburgh, yes it's expensive but it trully is an awesome city. I would then spend a couple of days wandering around the Trossachs (including Sterling) and finally a night in the Loch Lommond area before heading home.

It's relatively gentle driving and some amazing countryside, even at this time of year.

Mark_Hewitt

Depends how keen a driver you are I suppose. It doesn't take that long to go from Edinburgh to Fort William or Oban. About 3 hours or so.

pault123

Thanks, particularly Mark for that detailed route!

Will be putting this into a map and planning it out this evening