Scotland - 7 nights

Depends on a lot of factors.

1) How many of you there will be.

2) If you are arriving during rush hour.
3) How many bags you have.

If you want to do it cheap, the 500 bus service (non stop) to Glasgow rail station is about 15 minutes and costs £4.20. From there you can connect to a train to Edinburgh for an additional £11.50 one way. Alternatively the 757 stops a couple of times and is £3. Either way, from the train station, use a www.scotrail.co.uk train to Edinburgh.

Alternatively, get the above bus services into the main bus station and get the www.nationalexpress.co.uk coach service for £9.60 one way (a return would be likely cheaper than two singles, ditto the train).

As for the price of a taxi from Glasgow airport to edinburgh, pfff, £85 at a minimum I guess, very roughly? Don't do it....

You could hire a car, but I wouldn't do it with jet lag, especially if you don't know the route/area. Save cash and hire it after you've got to Edinburgh and knocked that off and are ready to move into the countryside. You won't need a car whilst in Edinburgh.

Depends on how many of you there are, what time you arrive and from which direction (jet lag wise), and what budget you have really.

Thanks! There are 4 of us that is why I thought the car hire/taxi might be more practical. I'll run this by my travel companions. Any thoughts on our itinerary? Again, appreciate it.

Correction to #1. The bus service is www.citylink.co.uk. Buses from Glasgow to Edinburgh run every half hour. Suggest you ask abou cost of taxi when you arrive. Hiring a car will be time wasting by the time you have picked it up and returned it.
Castle - Stirling is cheaper and better than Edinburgh/Eileen Doonan (west coast)
Historical Sites - Bannockburn (Stirling), Culloden ( Inverness), Glencoe (west coast)
Foodies - you are in the wrong country.
Shoppers - Edinburgh/Glasgow/Tourist Attractions everywhere
Distilleries - Grantown is as good as any.
Shame you are not interested in the scenery !

Thanks very much. We also are interested in scenery. I just thought we would enjoy it while searching for the castles, historical sights etc. Again, appreciate your advice. D

Pitlochry (90 mins north of Edinburgh) is very nice, and has the Queen's View nearby and the Edradour Distillery http://www.edradour.co.uk/index5.html which has free tours that run every 20 minutes.

Have a look at my Scotland pictures

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/edinburghlove/TouristScotland# for some ideas and of course my Edinburgh blog for things to do in the city.

Have fun !

Assuming you can fit all your bags in a taxi you'd be best doing that if there are 4 of you. Bus to the city centre then a bus or train to Edinburgh wont save you that much money between the 4 of you.

Do you think we are pushing it too much -
Edinburgh to Pitlockery
Pitlockery to Grantown on Spey
Ullapool
Oban
Glasgow

Are there towns were we could stay for two nights and cover the territory

Also meant to mention we want to see the sights in Glencoe.

Thanks !!!

The only long day woud be Ullapool to Oban, assuming you are going down the west coast. This coast is not a place to hurry.
Edinburgh to Pitlochry is between 1.5 and 2 hrs. You could easily do the distillery and push on to Grantown the same day.
Grantown to Inverness is 1.5 hours. Do a morning distillery trip if you wish then visit Culloden, just outside of Inverness. Inverness to Ullapool taking it slowly is about 1.5 hours.

Take two days hugging the coast down to Oban. Kyle of Localsh, although not an attactive place is probably about halfway. Plockton a few miles north of Kyle is a must but accommodation is more limited.

Edited by: pedro555

Thank you. I'll investigate Plockton. Would you mind if I send you our "final plan" after we come up with it? Again, appreciate your thoughts. Denise