Day 1: Inverness – Loch Ness
We landed in Edinburgh, rented a car and went straight to Nessy (oh, uh… I mean Inverness of course) where we spend the night close to the famous Loch Ness (monster). Even though this part of Scotland is not known for it, the trip from Edinburgh up to the Highlands offers beautiful sceneries that are filled with magical castles. We decided to visit one from the inside, to get that royal feeling of what it could have been like to live in one yourself. So we chose the Cawdor Castle, a fairytale castle with beautiful gardens and charming cosy rooms. I can recommend the castle, but (!) be warned… it is overly crowded because of all the tour buses. The overly touristy experience made us avoid visiting any other castles from the inside. Next on the list is one of the most popular places in the area – Loch Ness. We walked along the beautiful lake, hunting for a glimpse (and good picture) but couldn’t seem to get lucky, the monster successfully eluded us, even though we spend hours looking for it. For dinner we went to the cosy Fiddler’s Pub, that I highly recommend. It offers delicious Scotish meals and a lovely atmosphere to while away the evening. My tip: a ( very Scottish) whiskey tasting – try three different whiskey flavours of your choice.
Day 2: Isle of Skye
We started our day with a morning walk through the lovely city center of Inverness with it’s enchanting castle and narrow streets, where we sat down in a café to enjoy our morning coffee with some traditional scones. We then set off to Isle of Skye. If you have more than a day, definitely spend them on Isle of Skye. I recommend glamping and staying in one of the lovely wood cabins where you can completely immerse yourself into the
nature. We went to see the lovely town of Portree and its colourful houses along the shore. Afterwards, we drove further and walked up to the Storr (rocky hills), then to the Kilt Rock and finally the Mealt Falls. On our way back we stopped at the famous Fairy Pools. If you have more time definitely drive further north to go hiking at the Quiraing and/or further west to pass the Dunvegan Castle and drive all the way to the Neist Point Lighthouse.
Day 3: Glenfinnan Viaduct – Glencoe – Kilchurn Castle – Loch Lomond
For all those Harry Potter fans out there, I highly recommend to go see the ‘Hogwarts Express’ pass by the magical Glenfinnan Viaduct, that was used for the iconic going to Hogwarts shot. The train passes around 10:45h but get there early for a nice picture and parking spot. It is not a long hike but you should definitely bring some good hiking shoes to walk up the slippery hill to get the best view. We then left the Highlands and set off to Glencoe, where I highly recommend to go hiking through the most amazing sceneries. Just driving through the amazing landscape of Glencoe is an incredible experience. My tip: Stop at the Three Sisters to take a walk and get some amazing pictures of the incredible nature and the cute atmosphere around the white house.
We left Glencoe to drive further down south towards Glasgow and stopped at the Kilchurn Castle for a romantic pick-nick-break before continuing down to Loch Lomond, where you could go for a boat ride if you have more time than us. We ended our day down in Glasgow where we spend the evening walking around this unique and vibrant city.
Day 4: Glasgow & Edinburgh
Glasgow is quite a change after the breathtaking nature north of the city. It reminds me a bit of London but then with hills. We only spend the night and the morning in Glasgow and then drove to our last destination: Edinburgh. The capital of this incredible country has stolen my heart. It is a big and charming city full of history and historic architecture. We spend the day exploring as much as we could before we had to leave for the airport later that evening.
