Day Trip from Edinburgh-June 18,2016

HuntNfun

We are arriving early in Edinburgh and are interested in taking a day trip from Edinburgh into the Highlands. Can anyone recommend a specific company that provides small group day trips or a specific company that provides a private driver? Also, is anyone on the England/Scotland/Wales tour that begins June 19th arriving in Edinburgh early and might be interested in joining up on this day trip?

British

You are not really arriving in Edinburgh early, you are arriving after an overnight flight the day before when your body will think it is still the middle of the night. You really do not have time to see the highlands that day or even the next day before the tour starts. The whole idea of seeing the Highlands is to see and enjoy the beautiful scenery and the very peaceful quite areas where you will be the only people on the road. It takes TIME. The more northern areas of Scotland are where I first experienced standing by a lake, there was no one around and there was utter silence. The only other time I have experienced that is in the desert around Las Vegas. I suggest saving this for another trip to Scotland, maybe spending a week in the highlands areas, going over to the Islands like the Orkneys where even there, there are historic sites and scenery to see to occupy you for a few days alone. Or arrive in Edinburgh quite a few days early to do the area justice. Only my humble opinion by the way, but I have lived in Scotland.

ndvb

I took a side trip to S t . A ndrews and walked around the course. I didn't play it.

I hired http://www.edinburghchauffeur.co.uk/chauffeurterms.htm (Frank Butler) to provide a car/driver for my trip. They did a great job. We had a retired Edinburgh police officer as our driver. I am sure you can hire a guide also. Our driver served as our guide and did a great job.

He can probably do the same for your destination.

I don't suffer from jet lag, and if I did, I would go on a day trip anyway. I can sleep when I die. Going to sleep on an expensive vacation that I may never repeat seems foolish to me. But, that said, it is your choice. Your priorities are the most important thing effecting your decisions.

Have fun, it is a great trip

AlanS

We did E,S,W in 2013 and also arrived in Edinburgh "two days early."I agree with British, but it is probably too late to change your flights, however. We arrived at the Sheraton around noon and the next day had the welcome reception at about 6:00 PM so we only really had a half day and a 3/4 day. Think about visiting nearby places.

That being said, our overnight flight arrived mid-morning so we were all tired. We were lucky and able to go to our rooms early. After freshening up we decided to stay active and start adjusting to the new time. I had checked out the bus schedule prior to leaving the US so we used Edinburgh's ("Lothian") excellent bus service (there was a stop right in front of our hotel) to go to the waterfront to tour to HMS Brittania, the former royal yacht. We ate a late lunch at a restaurant in the adjoining mall. The next day we took a bus to nearby Craigmillar Castle ruins (saw it on Amazing Race). It was one of Queen Mary's castles/hunting lodges and a neat, uncrowded place- there were only four other people there. From there we took a bus to Rosslyn Chapel, made famous in Dan Brown's "Davinci Code" we ate lunch there before taking another bus back to Edinburgh.

Google is your friend.

crackers54

Alan had a lot of good ideas. Doesn't look like Blair Castle is part of your tour. You can look into getting on tour that goes there. If you are not good with finding the info yourself send email to hotel.

I too hit the ground running on tour. To get sleeping correctly the 1st night I stay up till 9PM no matter what and keep busy the extra day till the welcome dinner. In Australia I went in 2 days early and day after arrival did 13 hour tour.