Scottish Whisky Tasting (5 drams) & Märchenhaftes Dunrobin Castle

We had a delightful day out with our lovely guide, June. She showed us a number of stunning viewpoints for photos and explained the geography. During the day there was plenty of historical and cultural information. We had a lengthy visit to the town of Dornoch to look around and have lunch at an excellent cafe. We also stopped at a farm and got up close with some highland cows. Then it was on to the main attraction, Dunrobin Castle for a tour of the castle and gardens and the falconry show. On the way back to our ship, we stopped off at Glenmorangie Distillery for a tasting flight. A wonderful day. Maxine, the proprietor of Thistle Excursions was a pleasure to deal with in arranging our tour. I have no hesitation in recommending Thistle

Tour was in a small group - just 6 of us; June was one of the best tour guide I've seen in action....and I was a tour guide in a previous life. It felt like a friend or family member had picked us up, and showed us around the Highlands. They took us back with plenty of time before the all aboard time for the cruise we were on.

What a great day with June! Absolutely perfect. Great tour, fantastic information, a lot of heart! Thank you very much for the wonderful day! See you again sometime!

This was a good, but not a great tour. Our guide from Thistle tours ("Mo") was friendly, funny, experienced and knowledgeable. Communication about the meeting point was excellent. We saw some beautiful scenery of the highlands, with plenty of stops for photos. We enjoyed the castle tour (although we had done one in Ireland just a few days prior) mostly because we could do it at our own pace. The distillery tour was informative, but the tasting was only two basic varieties. That was disappointing. Also, the distillery that we visited doesn't ship their products, so anyone from the US wanting to buy a bottle or two will have to search for a store that carries the brand. We had ample time to explore the quaint town of Dornoch along the way, and that proved to be a highlight of this tour. Picturesque town with plenty of shops and very good restaurants (we found one on our own, searching for "best restaurants in Dornoch" on Google").

We were a small group. Tour felt very personal. Not rushed nor waiting around. June was very knowledgeable about the area. We have taken a lot of these types of tour (adventures). Have to say June put this one in the top 5 for us. Would definitely recommend it. As the title stated, felt like a friend had picked us up, and showed us around. Thank you for the memories, and we will definitely be back next year. See you then.

Had a great experience. Our tour was in a van with a total of 6 people and the guide. Our guide Mike was spectacular. He told us great stories and had information on whatever questions we had. He had a great sense of humor and used every minute of our time while assuring us we would be back to our cruise ship on time. Occasionally we would get off track goofing around, and laughing about other topics and Mike would participate for a short while and then lead us back into the tour with information. The man should be a teacher! He has management skills. Learned a ton, and had a ball! Thanks, Mike!

This was the best experience we had in Scotland!! The pretty lady in purple walked us directly to our guide Cash .. personal touch.. Our Cash was awesome he was knowledgeable and took our small group there beautiful areas and gave us the most relaxing and informative tour!! 5 stars all around!!

Tour guide was informative and friendly. Interesting sites, comfortable ride. Scottish Highlands were beautiful. Did i mention Scottish sheep and coos (cows)!

Very well organised tour with lots of information from our lovely guide, Eleanor. She was a lot of fun!

An amazing adventure with Thistle bookings and Mike our tour guide was fantastic. We arrived at the port location 30 minutes early Mike was fully dressed in his family’s kilt ready to go. With the six of us filling the van we were off for our 8 hour adventure. A stop in the town center allowed us to walk around for almost an hour to walk along the river as well, before our stop at Loch Ness. We then drove to the Urquhart Castle and had an hour to walk around and explore. The views are spectacular and the history so interesting. Since Mike lives in the area he was very knowledgeable about the history and shared many stories with us as we continued our scenic drive to the Scottish Whiskey tasting. the tour of the distillery was quite enjoyable and the three tastings a nice selection. We ended back at the port and took the free 5 minute bus back to our ship. Our only complaint would be that the a/c in the van belonging to Thistle needs service, as it was not working properly.