Scotland and Isle of Skye vacation package: 6-day guided tour

The tour starts in Edinburgh, then hits the open road on your Scottish tour. Your first stop is at the Great Moor of Rannoch, one of the few remaining wildernesses in Europe, and full of lochans and dramatic views of the surrounding mountains.

Your Scottish tour continues as you take in magnificent mountains, the Three Sisters of Glencoe. There will be time here for some guided photography of this iconic view of the Scottish Highlands. This leg of your tour also includes the story of the Glencoe Massacre, a notorious event in Scottish history, which adds a certain poignancy to the area’s rugged beauty.

Rounding off your first day in the Scottish Highlands, you’ll receive a warm welcome and a group dinner at The Pierhouse Hotel in Port Appin, where you can enjoy the view of Loch Linnhe on your doorstep. (Photo Credit: The Pierhouse Hotel)

Check into The Pierhouse Hotel, Port Appin, for two nights
A la carte group dinner

After breakfast enjoying views of the loch at the Pierhouse Hotel, you’ll be spending today on the Island of Lismore with one of the residents, Dr. Noelle Odling. Noelle returned to family home on the Island in 2014. Noelle is now Treasurer of the Lismore Gaelic Heritage Centre, and a fiddle player in the Lismore Dance Band.

Noelle will guide you through the fascinating Island landscapes, history and geology, as well as giving you a unique and first-hand account of living on the Island. As an artist and a geologist (an Associate Professor at Leeds University), Noelle is the perfect guide as you visit castles, brochs, a medieval church, and the Heritage Centre.

The journey to Lismore involves a short drive (40 mins) to Oban and and short ferry crossing to Achnacroish, a hamlet on Lismore, with views of the dramatic mountains on the Isle of Mull.

Hotel: The Pierhouse Hotel, Port Appin
A la carte group dinner and an after-dinner special whisky tasting lecture from a local expert

Our first Day 3 stop is the Glenfinnan Viaduct, made famous by the Harry Potter films. There will be a private tour of the Glenfinnan Monument dedicated to those who died in the Jacobite rising.

We then continue to Mallaig to catch the ferry over the sea to the Isle of Skye. This provides the ideal platform to start unravelling the story of continental collision and mountain building that underlies the dramatic scenery.

You’ll receive a warm welcome at the Cuillins Hill Hotel, a four-star hotel overlooking the harbour town of Portree and the Cuillin Mountains.

Check in at Cuillins Hill Hotel, Portree, for two nights.
A la carte group dinner.

If you’ve spent the previous day admiring the Cuillin Mountains from a distance, you’re in luck as today, as we’ll head right into the heart of the mountains to a secluded loch!

Travelling down to Elgol, you’ll board a boat across the sea to Loch Coruisk, a scenic loch surrounded on three sides by the equally impressive and dramatic Cuillin Mountains. After time to admire and photograph the area and gain insights into the geology and formation of the mountains, you’ll boat back for a light lunch.

Next up is Talisker Bay, a secluded cove with plenty of unique features and photo opportunities, including a sea stack on one side of the bay and a waterfall on the other. The area also holds one of Skye’s two whisky distilleries; we’ll tour the island’s oldest, Talisker.

Hotel: Cuillins Hill Hotel, Portree
A la carte group dinner

If you thought Skye didn’t have any more to offer, we’ve saved the best until last. Today is dedicated to the north of the island, the Trotternish Peninsula.

This part of the island is home to several of Skye’s most recognisable landmarks.

First, you’ll see the Quiraing (pronounced ‘Kwirrang’), another famous Skye sight. This slow-motion landslip has a history stretching back to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean, and its incredible landscape of hills and jagged peaks has inspired photographers and artists for as long as landscape appreciation has existed. Now it’s your turn to unravel the earth history on venture beyond the landscape!

If time we will also visit a more mysterious location: the Fairy Glen an unusual clearing-and-tower on Trotternish!

Next stop will be Eilean Donan Castle, a postcard-perfect castle, before you head to Loch Ness, a view of Urquhart Castle and hear about the amazing geological story of faulting, earthquakes, and ice behind the origin of the Great Glen and Loch Ness. Then to your final hotel. A warm welcome always awaits you at Coul House Hotel in Strathpeffer, a family-run Georgian mansion that’s an ideal base for your last night in the Highlands.

Check into Coul House Hotel, Strathpeffer, for one night.
A la carte group dinner

Savour breakfast at Coul House Hotel, then enjoy a taxi transfer to Inverness to board the mid-morning train back to Waverley Station in Edinburgh.

Note: If required for reasons beyond our control, GeoCultura reserves the right to substitute alternative accommodation of equal or higher quality or adapt the itinerary if required.