Fort William, Isle of Skye and Loch Ness

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mmkonstantine
mmkonstantine

Hello there,

I will be travelling to Scotland at the beginning of March for about a week and am trying to figure out how to divide my time. As of right now I am spending three nights in edinbugh, one in glasgow, and would like to spend two in the Highlands area. I was planning on taking the train from Glasgow to Fort William, and spending two nights there, however, I would like to see Isle of Skye as well as Loch Ness, but have been unable to find public transportation to get me from Fort William to either of those places. I know I can always go with the option of figuring it out when I get there, but as a young, solo, female traveler, I would prefer to have an idea of where I am going and how I am getting there before I go. Also,

1.) Do you think 2.5 days and 3 nights in Edinburgh is enough?
2.) Is 2 days and 2 nights enough to see Fort William/Isle of Skye/Loch Ness?

Any help or advice is welcome. Thank you!

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pedro555
pedro555

One hour is too much to see Fort William. Suggest you get to Skye by bus from Glasgow
http://www.citylink.co.uk/timetables/Winter12/Glasgow2Skye.pdf
and come back bus to Inverness via Loch Ness
http://www.citylink.co.uk/timetables/Winter12/InvernesstoSkye.pdf
Book early to get cheap fares.
Suggest cutting Edinburgh down to an action packed 1.5 days/ 2 nights

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fwoggie
fwoggie

Agree re Fort William. You're missing absolutely nothing, although the scenery in the local area's nice (if you have the transport). Perhaps hiring a bicycle might work whilst you're in the area.

As for Loch Ness, just drive past it and that'll do. There's a reason they invented a monster for that loch, it's not the prettiest in Scotland that's for sure. Still, the monster's worked, it certainly attracts crowds :)

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iviehoff
iviehoff

What are you expecting from your trip to the Highlands? You should appreciate that 2 days is a very rushed for visiting these areas - the train takes about 4 hours from Glasgow to FW, and a bus from Glas/Edi to Skye (Portree) is probably something like 6 hours. But the highlands start at the edge of Glasgow's suburbs, so you can make a much shorter trip, for example into the Trossachs area just beyond the edge of Glasgow, to appreciate the highlands, if you only have a short time.

If you are insisting on making a journey as long as Glasgow to FW for your 2 days, may I suggest instead that you go to Oban, because unlike Fort William it is actually a fairly nice place. Also it has a port with several options for taking boats to islands, whereas Fort William is not conveniently located for visiting islands. Though without your own transport, you will be very limited in what you can achieve.

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