To say I had been itching to get to Scotland feels like an understatement.
A few years ago I started watching Outlander, a little late to the party I know, and fell in love with the dramatic landscapes. I was desperate to see it for myself. I then took an interest in Scottish history after listening to Clanlands by Graham McTavish & Sam Heughan, and then even moreso after reading Sam’s book, Waypoints where he walks the West Highland Way. It all sounded to lovely, and I wanted to see & experience it for myself. It turns out Bill, my husband, and I both have Scottish heritage (Bill is 50% Scottish) so we decided to include Scotland in our European trip in June 2023.
The hard part was deciding where to go. I didn’t really have any idea about the different regions or where anything was, but google was my friend and the research began. I realised from my Outlander education that I knew a few things – I really wanted to see some of the filming locations and to walk at least part of the West Highland Way, to see the Highlands and Edinburgh, so that was a good starting point.
We only had 10 days, and there’s so much more to see on future trips, but if you’re after a highlands highlight tour, I highly recommend this route! It covers Edinburgh, Glasgow, The Highlands & The Isle of Skye. A great taster trip! If you’re not wanting to spend 3 days hiking like we did, there are plenty of other things to do in the Glencoe area.
Trip Summary
Day 1: Edinburgh
Day 2: Edinburgh & Glasgow
Day 3: Glasgow to Bridge of Orchy
Day 4: Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse (includes Glencoe & Glen Etive)
Day 5: Kingshouse to Kinlochleven
Day 6: Kinlochleven to Fort William
Day 7: Fort William to Isle of Skye
Day 8: Isle of Skye
Day 9: Isle of Skye to Laggan via Inverness & Culloden
Day 10: Laggan to Glasgow
Detailed Itinerary Below!
Day 1: Arrival in Edinburgh at Midday, explore Edinburgh
We spent the afternoon taking in Edinburgh. Recommended things to do if you don’t have a lot of time like us - stroll the Royal Mile, visit Bakers Close (Outlander print shop location), get amazing views of Edinburgh Castle from The Vennel, eat at a pub in Grassmarket (we loved Greyfriers Bobby) & take a walk up Victoria Street, walk up to Edinburgh Castle
Accommodation: A 2 Bedroom AirBnB with views of the castle in the grass market area, great find. LINKED HERE.
Day 2: Edinburgh to Glasgow by train
We spent the morning visiting some Harry Potter locations in Edinburgh (The Elephant House & Greyfriars Kirkyard) before hopping on a quick train to Glasgow. We spent the afternoon exploring central Glasgow and the river before catching a train up to the West End area for a wander around there as well.
Accommodation: Clayton Hotel, Glasgow.
Day 3: Glasgow to Bridge of Orchy
We picked up our rental car first thing and headed for the highlands! En route we visited the Fallkirk Wheel (amazing) and on to Doune Castle, otherwise known as Castle Leoch in Outlander. Super cool getting to see this! We drove through some lovely scenery, past lochs and small towns, getting a hint of what we were about to experience in the Highlands.
Accommodation: The Bridge of Orchy Hotel is a great stopover in the highlands, great hospitality, hearty, excellent food and comfortable accommodation.
Day 4: Bridge of Orchy to Kingshouse - by foot, day 1 of the West Highland Way
My 12yr old son and I set out early after a hearty Scottish breakfast for Day 1 of our hike. My husband was recovering from Long Covid so didn’t join us, instead he drove the care between each waypoint which was actually really handy. The scenery was beautiful, for more information on the hike see my blog post on Walking the West Highland Way. We arrived at the Kingshouse hotel hot and worn out, but happy. The hotel is in a stunning location, we got to see the famous stags as we arrived. We decided to head off up towards Glen Etive to see the infamous SKYFALL road and were so happy we did. The road was STUNNING, plus we found an amazing swimming hole to cool off in. If heading toward Fort William on the A82, just after the Kingshouse Hotel is a bridge. Over the bridge and on your left is a road that takes you to Glen Etive. The location of the photos is a few kms up, the GPS coordinates are 56°37′10.31″N 04°55′51.23″W.
Accommodation: Kingshouse Hotel.
Day 5: Kingshouse to Kinlochleven - Day 2 of the West Highland Way
Heading deeper into the highlands on this day, we got to pass the very famous wee White House along the way before we turned inland to climb the Devils Staircase. If you’re not walking, what you will get to experience along the A82 is some stunning mountainous landscape. Passing first impressive Bauchaille Etive Mor, and then the Three Sisters, this road is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever been on (we drove it after we completed the hike as I didn’t want to miss it!). I highly recommend also turning off and heading up Old Glencoe Road. It was super pretty, very quiet and special. Also, great swimming holes to be found once again.
Kinlochleven is a beautiful wee village in the highlands that is also worth a visit or stopover. We finished Day 2 of our hike here and enjoyed staying here.
Accommodation: The Tailrace Inn. Classic little inn with inexpensive, modest, clean rooms with a great pub downstairs.
Day 6: Kinlochleven to Fort Wiliam - Day 3 of the West Highland Way
As we walked our final day of the West Highland Way (and the longest part), we weaved our way out of Kinlochleven and up into the highlands deeper. What a beautiful part of the world. The hike was nothing short of spectacular, with an incredible view of the UKs tallest peak, Ben Nevis as we ascended into Fort William. As we walked, Bill drove down Loch Linnhe through some pretty villages towards Oban, which I hear is incredible. If you weren’t hiking, I would for sure pay Oban a visit while you’re in the area.
Accommodation: Nevis Bank Inn Fort William
Day 7: Fort William to Isle of Skye, via the Jacobite Train
With tired legs, our very big Harry Potter fan was surprised with a Harry Potter excursion. We took a very excited Aiden on the the Hogwarts Express / Jacobite Train from Fort William to Mallaig on the coast. I would recommend this trip, it was great - especially crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct, but do make sure you book really early. It was a very coo experience, and Mallaig was pretty. When we got back at 4pm, it was straight to the car to start our road trip to Uig on the Isle of Skye. A big day, but doable. We loved the landscape as we drive to Skye, and stopped at Eileen Donan castle to stretch our legs along the way - well worth the visit.
We crossed the bridge to Skye and the change was instant. It was love at first sight for me. Driving through sky to our little pod for the night in a remote area was something I’ll never forget, it was breathtaking. We had a beautiful day and could see for miles. I loved the coastal views and wee white houses all over, I just loved it.
We arrived at around 8.30pm but the sun was still high in the sky, so we were happy.
Accommodation: Fairy Retreat Skye. These were 3 tiny homes in a row, and when I say tiny, I mean tiny - but the views were amazing and it had everything we needed.
Day 8: Exploring Isle of Skye
One of my favourite days on the trip was just driving around seeing Skye. We drove north from Uig stopping often for lazy sheep who could have cared less they were blocking the road (I loved them, what a vibe!). We went Dinosaur footprint hunting at Duntulm beach (somewhat successfully) and then carried on around the headland to see The Quiraing. Just wow. This place is nothing short of spectacular. After winding up the narrow road, we arrived to a busy carpark… but the people were scattered on hikes in every direction, as it was really quiet. Thats the thing about Scotland, even when it was busy, it just felt like there was enough wide open space for everyone and it never felt overrun. We couldn’t stop admiring the view and took it in on a short walk (wish we had time to hike!) before heading down to the coast again, this time to Staffin to see the Dinosaur Prints - which we found! YAY! Beautiful beach too. We ate our picnic lunch here and Aiden dipped in the Atlantic for the first time. After here we headed to The Brothers Point, a walk / hike I had read about that was much less popular than Old Man Storr and The Quaraing so was super quiet. I don’t know why it’s less popular or well known, because it was amazing. We loved it. We hiked for an hour an a half and then headed off to see Old Man Storr. It was impressive as well, but after climbing for a while on the walk, we decided to head back as we were already worn out from the heat and hike we had just completed.
We drove back around through Portree to the Uig Hotel for dinner and enjoyed some amazing hospitality, cold drinks and fish and chips caught in the bay. We couldn’t come to the area and not see the Fairy Glen, so we visited after dinner. A special and magical place.
Day 9: Isle of Skye to Laggan via Inverness & Culloden
Another day on the road visiting some pretty epic places. We decided to drive to Inverness via Loch Ness and drive along the banks which was pretty neat. We didn’t get as many views of the Loch as I had expected, but it was still nice and seemed to go on forever. We didn’t see a lot of Inverness but it was a pretty town (must go back!) as we passed through on our way to Culloden. This is a must do in Scotland. A really powerful, Erie place that holds a very important piece of Scotlands history. We spent quite some time here, and visited the headstones of our ancestors and I shed a tear or two.
After Culloden we went to Clava Cairns. The standing stones and cairns are pretty amazing to see, and of course I loved the Outlander connection. We had some fun recreating walking through the stones, and thought this was well worth a stop. Our accommodation that night was further south, in Laggan (seemingly middle of nowhere) and the drive here from Clava Cairns was something pretty special. This whole area which borders Cairngorms National Park is really pretty country. Again, I wish we had more time to experience the park itself.
Accommodation: A lovely little B&B called Tigh an Each B&B & Laggan Glamping, we stayed in the house in a family room. It was super comfortable and quiet.
Day 10: Laggan to Glasgow via Kinloch Rannoch
Our last day on the road was a bit of an Outlander Day, yay! We left Laggan and headed into the country side deeper to Kinloch Ranch area, where the filming location for Craigh na Dun is. Really loved getting to see this location and actually the drive there was pretty cool and remote, so we all enjoyed it. We left there and headed for Midhope Castle before returning to Glasgow. Midhope Castle is like the pinnacle of Outlander Locations if you ask me, as it is Jamie’s family home - Lallybroch. I was absolutely giddy as we drove up and I got my first sight. We met James, the lovely man at the gate who was happy to entertain and chat for ages about Outlander things (much to my delight). As we walked up to Lallybroch I realised we were there alone. ALONE! It was magic to get to experience it with no one else around. One for the memory bank for sure.
From here we drove back to Glasgow for our final night, and it was back to London on the train the next day.
