Morning
Land at Edinburgh Airport
The tram from the terminal door runs to St Andrew Square in about 35 minutes and leaves you two streets from the Old Town. No car today.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at The Dome
14 George Street, three minutes from the tram stop. A former Physicians Hall and bank; the Grill Room under the glass dome opens at noon and reservations are worth making.
Check in: The Scotsman Hotel
20 North Bridge, the 1905 headquarters of the Scotsman newspaper. It sits on the bridge, so the lobby is on one street and the bottom floors open onto another.
Edinburgh Castle
Castlehill, at the top of the Royal Mile. Book a timed slot online rather than queueing on the esplanade, and be on the ramparts at one for the gun.
Walk down to St Giles' Cathedral
The High Street runs downhill from the castle to the crown steeple. Duck into the closes on either side; Advocate's Close and Lady Stair's Close are the good ones.
Evening
Calton Hill at dusk
Fifteen minutes east along Princes Street, then a short climb. The unfinished National Monument frames the castle, the Firth of Forth and the whole Old Town skyline.
Dinner at The Witchery
352 Castlehill, at the castle gates. Candlelit oak panelling and a famously heavy wine list; last reservation is 22:30, tables cap at six, and no under-tens.
Morning
Breakfast at the hotel
Eat properly before the hill. It is ten minutes downhill from North Bridge to the Holyrood Park gates.
Climb Arthur's Seat
Holyrood Park. An extinct volcano 251 m above the city; take the gentler path from Dunsapie Loch rather than scrambling under Salisbury Crags. Two hours return.
Afternoon / Day
Palace of Holyroodhouse
At the foot of the Royal Mile, straight off the park. The King's official Scottish residence, so it shuts to visitors when he is in town — check the calendar before booking.
Lunch at Oink
A hog roast roll from the Canongate shop, ordered by size — Piglet, Oink or Grunter — with sage-and-onion or haggis stuffing. Open from 11 until they sell out.
National Museum of Scotland
Chambers Street, free to enter. Start in the Victorian Grand Gallery, then work up through the Scotland galleries to the roof terrace for a castle view most visitors miss.
Scotch Whisky Experience
354 Castlehill, next door to last night's dinner. The 75-minute Gold Tour pours four contrasting regional single malts and is over-18s only; open 10 to 8 daily.
Evening
Dinner at Fishers in the City
58 Thistle Street, the New Town sibling of the old Leith fish bar. Shellfish, a short seafood list and a room that stays open from noon till late, seven days.
Download offline maps
Confirm tomorrow's car hire and cache the route to Skye. Mobile signal disappears for long stretches of the A82 and most of Glen Shiel.
Morning
Collect the hire car
Most Edinburgh depots open at eight. Take the smallest car you can live with — Highland single-track roads and Skye passing places punish width, not power.
Stirling Castle
Castle Esplanade, an hour up the M9. The Renaissance royal palace inside has been repainted in its 1540s colours, and the Great Hall roof was rebuilt with medieval tools.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at The Real Food Cafe
Tyndrum, on the A82 an hour and a quarter past Stirling. Family-run since 2005 and award-winning for its fish and chips; open daily from 7:30 in the morning.
A82 over Rannoch Moor
From Tyndrum the road climbs past Bridge of Orchy onto open moor, then drops through the Pass of Glencoe. An hour of driving, plus every stop you will want to make.
Check in: Clachaig Inn
Glencoe PH49 4HX, up the old road behind the village. Twenty-three en-suite rooms and the walkers' bar that has fed everyone off the Aonach Eagach for decades.
Evening
Glencoe Lochan trails
Forest paths above Glencoe village, planted in the 1890s by Lord Strathcona to remind his Canadian wife of home. Three waymarked loops; the shortest is 40 minutes.
Dinner at the Clachaig Inn
Food runs from noon to nine and the bar keeps more than 365 malt whiskies. Boots and waterproofs go in one bar, quiet pints in the other.
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Morning
Glencoe Visitor Centre
The National Trust for Scotland centre just east of the village. Read the 1692 massacre exhibition, then check the day's mountain weather board before you walk anything.
The Lost Valley (Coire Gabhail)
From the Three Sisters car park on the A82. A steep three-hour return scramble into the hanging valley where the MacDonalds hid cattle; the burn crossing is serious after rain.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch back at the Clachaig
Ten minutes from the car park and the only kitchen in the glen serving from noon. Soup and a pie is the correct order after Coire Gabhail.
Drive Glen Coe to Fort William
Thirty minutes north on the A82, around Loch Leven at Ballachulish and up the shore of Loch Linnhe with the Ardgour hills opposite.
Check in: Lime Tree Hotel
Achintore Road, on the loch shore ten minutes south of the High Street. A converted manse; the Silly Goose restaurant is downstairs.
Neptune's Staircase, Banavie
Eight linked locks lifting the Caledonian Canal about 20 metres, four miles north of town. Free to walk, and Ben Nevis fills the view behind them on a clear afternoon.
Evening
Dinner at the Silly Goose
The Lime Tree's dining room — French-leaning cooking on Scottish produce. Book it; Fort William has more walkers than covers and kitchens close early.
Morning
Collect tickets at Fort William station
West Coast Railways has run the Jacobite since 1995 and there are not many seats, so book weeks out. A few cash seats go on the day at the station, never guaranteed.
The Jacobite steam train to Mallaig
The morning service runs seven days a week through the season, roughly early June to late October. It crosses the 21-arch Glenfinnan Viaduct about 45 minutes out; sit on the left.
Afternoon / Day
Mallaig harbour
The train turns round after about an hour and a half. Walk the pier, watch the Skye and Small Isles ferries load, and look across the Sound of Sleat to Knoydart.
Lunch on the Mallaig front
Cafes and chip shops line the short quay by the ferry terminal, and the langoustines come off boats tied up a few metres away. Eat first, wander after — the layover is tight.
The Jacobite back to Fort William
The return leaves Mallaig mid-afternoon and is back in Fort William by late afternoon. Same viaduct, much better light on the way east.
Evening
Drive up Glen Nevis
The single-track road from town runs six miles up the glen past the Lower Falls to the walkers' car park. Ten minutes from the High Street and empty by evening.
Dinner at the Ben Nevis Inn
Claggan, Achintee — a 200-year-old stone barn at the foot of the Ben Nevis path, converted in 2001. Open seven days from noon till late, bunkhouse underneath.
Morning
Drive the A82 and A87 to Skye
About two and a half hours through Invergarry and Glen Shiel to the Skye Bridge. Fill the tank before Kyle of Lochalsh; pumps thin out fast beyond it.
Eilean Donan Castle
Dornie, where three sea lochs meet. Left a ruin after 1719 and rebuilt between 1919 and 1932; the Conchra Charitable Trust runs it, and the arched bridge is the photograph.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Seumas' Bar, Sligachan
At the head of Glen Sligachan under the Black Cuillin, half an hour past the bridge. Over 400 whiskies behind the bar and daily specials on a blackboard.
Fairy Pools walk
Glen Brittle, 25 minutes from Sligachan. The 2020 community car park is one-way and charges about £6 a day by card or coin; the walk to the main fall is 2.4 km return.
Talisker Distillery tour
Carbost, on Loch Harport. The one-hour Distillery Tour and Tasting starts around £22 and sells out on Skye in season — reserve online rather than turning up.
Check in: Cuillin Hills Hotel
On the north side of Portree bay, a fifteen-minute walk round the shore from the harbour. Rooms on the front look straight down the loch to the Cuillin.
Evening
Dinner at the Cuillin Hills
The dining room faces the bay and the ridge behind it. Book the table when you book the room — Portree kitchens are small and fill weeks ahead in season.
Morning
Breakfast at Cafe Arriba
Quay Brae above Portree harbour, 8 to 4 and closed Wednesdays. A board that changes daily, big eggs, and the best harbour view in town.
Buy lunch before heading north
There is very little between Portree and Staffin, and nothing at all at the Quiraing car park. Buy it in Portree before you set off.
Old Man of Storr
Seven miles north on the A855. The car park holds 140 and charges about £6 for six hours or £7 for twelve, coins or contactless; the climb is a steady 45 minutes on gravel.
Afternoon / Day
Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls
A railed roadside platform at Ellishadder where a waterfall drops straight off the cliff into the sea, with pleated basalt columns behind it. Five minutes, then move on.
The Quiraing
The single-track road from Staffin climbs to an upgraded 100-space car park, about £3 for three hours or £5 for six. The full loop is 6.8 km and two hours; skip it in cloud.
The Fairy Glen at Uig
Miniature grassy cones and a rock tower above Uig, twenty minutes west of the Quiraing. Park in the small paid car park, and resist adding to the stone spirals — the community clears them.
Evening
Dinner at The Three Chimneys
Colbost, 45 minutes west of Portree along Loch Dunvegan. A set menu built on Skye seafood, game and foraging; reservations are essential and go weeks out.
Single track back to Portree
Forty-five minutes in the dark. Use the passing places properly, dip your lights for oncoming cars, and expect sheep lying on the warm tarmac.
Loch Ness and Out of Inverness
Morning
Check out and leave early
It is two and a half hours from Portree to Loch Ness before you stop for anything, and the A87 crawls behind coaches once the day gets going.
Back over the bridge, down the Great Glen
A87 to Invergarry, then the A82 north through Fort Augustus with Loch Ness on your right for the last forty minutes into Drumnadrochit.
Afternoon / Day
Urquhart Castle
On a headland over Loch Ness at Drumnadrochit, run by Historic Environment Scotland. Buy tickets online, arrive ahead of the coaches, and start at the trebuchet on the lawn.
Lunch at The Mustard Seed
16 Fraser Street, Inverness — a converted church on the River Ness with a top-floor terrace. Two courses at lunch for about £19, served noon to three, seven days.
Culloden Battlefield
Fifteen minutes east of Inverness and five from the airport. Clan headstones stand on the open moor; the National Trust for Scotland centre explains the hour in 1746 that ended it.
Evening
Drop the hire car at Inverness Airport
Ten minutes from Culloden on the A96. Fill up before you reach the terminal — the return desks want the tank as you found it.
Fly out of Inverness
INV is small and fast, with direct flights to London, Manchester and Amsterdam. Ninety minutes before departure still leaves you standing around.
