Advice on organised Scotland rail tours for a solo traveller

[MidlifeConfusion1]

Hello

I'm looking to book an organised tour in Scotland

Something like this

https://www.newmarketholidays.co.uk/destinations/europe/uk/scotland/scottish-highland-railways/

Really fancy all the railway journeys

I'm terrible at booking holidays and I have major brain fog as you can probably guess from they username

I was wondering if there's any other options
Ideally conducted tour

But I don't mind flying into Inverness and then picking up a tour from there

Or is it easy to book train tours when you get there?

Ideally, I'd like to stay in a nicer hotel, looks very kid focused what they have

Is it normal to pick up train tours Yourself when you get there. Then I would also have some flexibility if the weather is bad or something.

Looking to go in May or June. I'd be alone.

Thanks for any suggestions

I don't drive anymore so that's another reason the coach tour appeals to me

I don't know what these things are like, are you expected to eat dinner together as a group? I'm guessing you don't have to do that?

Thank you for any advice

It doesn't sound like the holiday for you. You want flexibility on dates and no group dinners. Those are one of the main points of tour groups!

What I think you actually want are anytime flexible tickets and someone to choose and book you some hotels in some nice places. A travel agent might be able to help you with that, or a patient friend with your credit card

@Paaseitjes i'm fine woth group dinner never said I wasn't
be nice to have company

i'm just bad at initial planning and very low confidence at present i hate eating out alone

does anyone have any other tour company recs please?

all I was asking is if it's easy to get the same tours from Inverness and I've figured that out luckily

Those hotels just don't look nice but I don't know what's normal for the price

There are not actually very many rail routes in Scotland. The few there are can be spectacular but personally I’d choose a small bus like timberbush or rabbies. I have never taken one myself but I see these busses in beauty spots and at attractions a lot (I work in tourism). they’re the sort of 24 seater half coaches. Don’t get a big full size coach as they can only go to big places with huge car parks and you’ll miss the best bits.

This one looks good www.rabbies.com/en-gb/tour/scottish-islands-the-jacobite-steam-train-3-day-tour?_gl=14kcsy1_upMQ.._gs*MQ..&gbraid=0AAAAACkNhciYxjozt-B_iNQMesyXbHemn&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt4fkzJeLlAMVEZtQBh1D_SuZEAAYASAAEgJqZfD_BwE

If you google luxury Scottish tours, you can see some results that do similar things, but likely with higher end hotels, which may be more what you're looking for?

Thank you @museumum it's good to have a recommendation and that's good advice about the coaches.

@Bjorkdidit yes I didn't find anything structured like that at all

But the hotel is important to me and it looks like the tour packages are just trying to get in as cheaply as possible. The hotels that are used by the company I linked to just don't look very appealing.

It looks like there are some very nice hotels in Inverness so I might have to bite the bullet and organise a couple of tours myself

I don't know what happens. I just get completely overwhelmed when I try to organise travel. It will be weird going on my own but what can you do

Scottish rail pass?
https://www.scotrail.co.uk/tickets/combined-tickets-travel-passes
Book your own hotels or Airbnb?

I haven't looked at the hotels, but Newmarket cater almost exclusively to the elderly so I would doubt that the hotels will be child centric. They are very no frills, mid-range though.

You don't have to eat together, but it is a crowd who quite like.to ime so you might need to be firm about being happy in your own company. Often they'll try and put single travellers together/take pity on a single traveller and invite you to join them .

@Pedallleur thank you. I will look at that.

@NuffSaidSam
Actually, one of these hotels has a big children's area in it, which is what made me think it might not be a great idea

i'm happy to eat with other people. I hate eating alone on holiday.

Sorry, I probably should've explained it better

When I went on holiday with a group before probably about 20 years ago, the whole group was supposed to eat together. I quite like having company for dinner, but I don't like this sort of supervised "everyone eats together" thing if you know what I mean

Like the tour group leader actually got cross if we didn't do it and I think maybe that was to prevent people from being excluded

In reality, everyone was trying to avoid this man who was just permanently drunk like even at breakfast

But then I suppose maybe it doesn't matter, you could just sit with the people that you feel you will get on with

https://www.greatrail.com/holiday-destinations/europe/scotland/?TelRef=PPC_GOO_SCO&adcid=19161954713&gclsrc=aw.ds&network=g&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19161954713&gbraid=0AAAAAD-ixMsepx2aPcPB09PeUArcv8i6-&gclid=Cj0KCQjw77bPBhC_ARIsAGAjjV8Jf9HlsryMd1_pGIGnnZhE17G_T0uUvAq79H5_N3Lw1wP94lCrYEwaAuwHEALw_wcB

You are paying for the guides etc but the trains are all regular scheduled trains. Easy to get from Glasgow to Fort William or Inverness. Or to Perth etc

I think one of my friends must have used Byway Travel for a non-flight holiday because I see their ads on FB. Having taken a quick look at their website, they do tailor make Scotland train trips and you can upgrade hotels/durations at each location.

You could probably get them to add minibus daytrips etc with companies like Rabbies (who also do multi day tours in mini coaches).

Use ChatGPT or copilot to help you plan and seek options for hotels etc. then check everything.

This looks like a solution and while it might not be the cheapest way to do it, it caps the amount you'd spend on trains and gives flexibility.

You could also book hotels on a flexible basis, so able to change without losing all your money. In May or June it shouldn't be peak season, so there might be short notice availability.

If there's places you want to go but the trains don't, you could try a small group minibus day tour, which might be bookable at short notice. I went on a tour of Orkney run by a local with a minibus while on a diving holiday and we literally booked it a day or two ahead when it looked like the weather wasn't suitable for diving. I've also booked day tours in the Canaries with the same timescale.

@Bjorkdidit yes I have found that it's easier to arrive and sometimes you hear about more options

I just thought with these train tours, they might book up incredibly fast that maybe I should just arrive at Inverness and see what I can do

That also gives me a bit of flexibility, so if it's bucketing down rain I can choose something else

Really excited to go and see Loch Ness and other things, but just finding it all very overwhelming and being on my own as well

Probably will seem more clear when I get there

this is really good thank you so much everyone for your help

I like the thought of a smaller tour as well, and that's such a good point about places you can't see unless you go in a smaller car group

It's just good to be able to bounce ideas of people without using ChatGPT whatever it is I like a human element to things

I would honestly just book transport and hotels yourself and do day tours on the smaller buses.

Have a look at Lochs and Glens trips as well.

I’m wondering if what might suit you is a couple of short coach trips / days trips from a base hotel of your choosing and then book a train ticket to a new base and repeat.

Although group trips are good for company for meals.

Whisky linked tours are another one to look at, tend to have better hotels.

Try calling Contact VisitScotland | VisitScotland https://share.google/AlEWHQP15fla4BeoX

And look at getyourguide you do mix of tours and your own thin g Book Things To Do, Attractions, and Tours | GetYourGuide share.google/xfvQHhKKeOOVmJTgJ