Scotland - please help!

[PinkPondQueen]

Been wanting to do a road trip to Scotland for years but keep being put off as I literally have zero idea where to even start! Have finally decided to go for it next year and have downloaded a guidebook to my kindle but in the meantime I would love to see what others think about it.

We want to do whalewatching and swim off beautiful beaches, eat amazing food and see some impressive mountains. Where do we head to?!

We have 2 elderly cats and don't like to leave them for any longer than 5 nights which also includes the drive up from the south - which we're happy to do in 1 day there and 1 day back. So we won't be able to head too far up into the far north. Is it worth getting out to any of the islands or should we stick to the mainland?

Any ideas very gratefully received and thanks in advance!

Honestly, Scotland can be a beautiful place, depending on where you go. But don't come hoping to see whales or dolphins, I've been here 50 odd years and never seen any. There's so much else to see anyway.

Definitely don't try to do too much. If you only have a few days , Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders have plenty to keep you occupied. Castles, wild open spaces, seals, birds, deer, otters, gardens, good restaurants, cycling and mountain biking, water sports, beautiful beaches, lovely gardens.

I'm just back from a week on Mull and it's spectacular, but you don't have time to do it justice. I'd think about Arran with your timeframe. It's absolutely lovely.

I was just jumping in to say Arran - it has mountains to climb (Goatfell) and wildlife galore - if you are lucky, you may see seals, otters, golden eagles, red squirrels, whales (we have a pod of orcas that feeds in the Firth of Clyde) and not forgetting dolphins and porpoises!

You also have castles, stone rings and even, according to the locals, faeries😁If you get bored, pop over to Rothesay, a nice wee town and the fabulous Mount Stuart House
PS I am biased as I've been a local for some years & I can just see it from my back garden!

We were on a boat for 10 days. No dolphins or whales. Just seals Definitely don’t expect whales .

so we are Southern England you’re simply not going to manage all that driving. We regularly roadtrip Scotland but for minimum 10 days.

Day 1 from the South Coast and the FURTHEST I would count on getting is Dumfries. It’s a whole additional day to get up into the Highlands. And for 5 days you absolutely do not want to be changing accomodation etc. Once you get north the roads are not what us Southerners consider roads- Tobermory to Fionnport for whale watching for example you need to leave a couple of hours, it’s basically a single track gravel road with limiting passing spaces. 5 nights on Mull and Iona didn’t scratch the surface.

I would drive just across the border and stay the night around there and then head on to either Fort Bill with a leisurely drive through Glen Coe. From there you could enjoy Ben Nevis, Glenfinnan etc before heading home. Or the other place for a base would be Loch Lomond and spend a couple of days exploring the national park before heading home. I reckon if you try for islands it will take you 2 1/2 days to get there to just turn around and head back home!

Caledonian Macbrayne (Calmac) are the ferry service for the islands. They have an aging fleet and lots of problems with some routes.
....and sheep...there's sheep bloody everywhere...sitting in the middle of the roads usually.

Oh dear! I had been looking at the Calmac schedules and there were plenty of crossings, I had no idea they could be unreliable. And of course the route-planner doesn't account for pesky sheep jams on the road! This is a trip best left for when we are no longer elderly cat parents I think 😕 everyones advice has been invaluable I am so grateful, thanks all x

@PinkPondQueen We were told the ferries are old in some instances and unreliable. Two new ones have not been delivered on time.

Why can you just stop in the Lake District, Yorkshire or Northumberland? All lovely for a holiday.,

Have you been to St David's/the Pembrokeshire coast? We went there for a weekend after my DM's funeral and watching the seals off Ramsey Island genuinely soothed my weary heart. During mating season huge numbers of them turn up, and the rejected males all slump together on a beach while the action happens elsewhere; it was like a seal version of Love Island. I think you also get porpoises, if you go at the right time of year, and the puffins on Skomer Island are rather lovely.

Plus tremendous seafood, some mountains, great driving roads, and all much closer!

We live a stones throw from some beautiful mountains and beaches in Wales and have been to some gorgeous places around the world so we're a bit spoilt! We really do want to see the most beautiful mountains and white sand beaches that Scotland has to offer! So yeah if we need to wait a while to be able to do that then so be it. Thank you all so much again for your help! Xx

Have you thought about flying or train up, then a train to Oban and maybe take boat trips to Mull, Iona and Staffa? You could take the train to Fort William and then do the whole Hogwarts train thing to Mallaig, or go to Inverness via the Cairngorms. You will soo so much by train and it will definitely be more relaxing than driving especially on single track roads hoaching with tourists only to find a cancelled ferry means a massive detour!!

I'm in the south-west of England, and what I did last year was drive from there to Stirling in a day. Day two was to Skye via Glencoe and Fort William - gorgeous views! Day three in Skye was mainly otter-watching on an organised trip, but also a drive over the mountains to see the Cullins as the sun went down. Day four driving around the rest of Skye, with a few stops and including a boat trip from Portree, where I saw loads of dolphins and a couple of sea eagles. I then drove on to the rest of my holiday further north, but if I'd chosen to go home it would have taken another full day.

If you want the absolute best mountains/beaches you need to go much much further north than you can drive in 5 days.

Either fly to Inverness hire a car/van and do a mini NC500. (Round to Ullapool and back) the boat trips to the summer isles might get you whales
Sandwood Bay is one of the best beaches in the world.... only second to

If you want what gets voted the top beaches- and they are absolutely awesome go to south Harris for Luskentyre and Seilebost beaches. Google images and you will wantto go!

They can be done in 2 very very long days from Glasgow if you drive up through Skye (bridge) and get the Harris ferry from Uig.

Smaller scale is fly to prestwick and do a few days on Arran. There are beaches where you are 90% certain of seeing seals.

I’m so heartwarmed that a trip our beautiful country is top of your holiday list! Can only echo previous posts, driving here is exhausting, the concentration you need on non-motorways north of Stirling is something else and if you’re behind a slow moving vehicle, that’s you behind them for hours. I live in Stirling and Oban takes me a good 3 hours driving sensibly with no real hold ups, all you need is a road closure and you’ve no choice but to be re-routed sometimes 100 miles + to get to your destination. Please do come but please, at least fortnight or it will be an exhausting time with no real quality in the things you want to do/see.

I know you may well have changed your mind now, but for anyone seeking to do the drive from down south to Oban, and over to Mull in one day; I would say that's ambitious. Also, others have flagged the current unreliability of ferries at present. If you were looking for some of the loveliness of Scotland, without such a long drive, have you looked at Galloway? There are some beautiful beaches, castles, swimming (but watch our for the Solway tides!), and lots and lots of bookshops. 🙂
I know that distances might not look too bad, but once you're off motorways, the progress can be variable (especially around the NC500,....) I live just north of Edinburgh, and took us over 3 hours to Ullapool for the Lewis ferry a few weeks ago. Then you have the actual time on the ferry, etc. I suppose it becomes your decision on whether you are driving places, or you are stopping off to look at things.

But, anyway (I pressed send too soon), really glad and happy that so many people are loving Scotland.
It's just been a little frustrating that we've had more people than the infrastructure can handle.... and don't get me started on Edinburgh in August. Great to visit, enjoy shows, etc., but trying to work in the city at the same time - it's not conducive!!

There are beaches whales in Lewis today :-(