Highland Lochs, Glens and Castles Small Group Tour from Edinburgh
Description
On our Highland Lochs, Glens & Castles tour from Edinburgh we will take you to some of the best scenery Scotland has to offer. Majestic mountains tumble down to shimmering lochs and castles, while glens tell tragic tales of centuries gone by. You will have the opportunity to visit a castle or two and we’ll also have the chance to get some photos of castle ruins. We visit the picturesque highland village of Luss which sits on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond with views to Ben Lomond, Scotland’s most southerly Munro.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We’ll pass Stirling Castle, great royal residence of Stuart Kings and Mary Queen of Scots who acceded to the throne in 1542 when she was only 6 days old.
Our first stop will be at Doune Castle, a magnificent late 14th century stronghold. The castle stood in for Winterfell in Game of Thrones and Castle Leoch in Outlander. It also starred as Swamp Castle, Castle Anthrax and Camelot in the cult comedy movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You will have time to visit the Castle.
We'll visit the lovely Loch Lubnaig. This small but stunningly located stretch of freshwater nestling between two striking mountains, Ben Ledi and Ben Vane is where we’ll stop for some light refreshments.
Kilchurn Castle stands at the head of Loch Awe, surrounded by mountains. While enjoying the views we'll stop for some photos at this mid-15th century ruined castle.
Inveraray enjoys a picturesque setting on the shores of Loch Fyne and is therefore the perfect place to stop for lunch. With just under 2 hours here, you'll certainly have lots of time to explore. You may choose to visit the 19th century Inveraray Jail (open all year round, tickets purchased on the day), a living museum where you can experience what it was like to be incarcerated behind its bars. While others may opt to have a wander around this lovely little town. On the other hand, during the summer months (April to Oct, Thurs - Mon only) you may consider a visit Inveraray Castle (tickets can be purchased on the day) where the Duke of Argyll and his family live today. Breath in the clear Highland air while you stroll around the parkland, woodland and gardens, which are resplendent with rainbows of the azaleas and rhododendrons that certainly flourish in Argyll in summertime.
We pause for photos at the ‘Rest and Be Thankful’. An iconic Scottish viewpoint, so named thanks to the words carved in stone by weary soldiers who built the original military road in 1753.
Our last stop of the day is at the charming highland village of Luss which sits on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. Around 1,500 years ago, an Irish missionary, St Kessog, arrived at Loch Lomond, subsequently bringing Christianity to the area. There is time for you to walk around the village and while exploring you should take a walk down to the pier where you’ll see Ben Lomond standing proudly over Loch Lomond.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- We cannot accommodate children under the age of 5
- Our tour departs from Bus Stand ZE, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh (Opposite Howie's Restaurant). what3words:///decay.laws.likes. Check in is at 08:15 for a 08:30 departure. Please ensure you check in on time. IMPORTANT: There are 2 Howie's in Edinburgh, we depart from Waterloo Place only.
Reviews(427)
Lovely tour - we missed a few items due to traffic accidents that closed some roads. Guide pivoted well and it was still a lovely tour.
Thank you for your 5 star review! We are delighted that you still managed to enjoy your tour despite some road closing unexpectedly! We hope to welcome you again for another tour! -Discover Scotland Tours
Beautiful scenery, fun visiting Douane Castle, home of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Outlander. Our guide Douggie was wonderful, full of interesting information, very helpful and an excellent driver.
We are delighted you enjoyed your visit to Doune Castle, the filming location for some great films/tv series. It is also great to see you appreciated Dougie's knowledge and driving. We hope to help you discover more of Scotland in the future! -Discover Scotland Tours
Excellent and lots of beautiful places to see! We really enjoyed it and our driver was very good, keeping it fun and interesting throughout the day.
Thank you for your 5 star review! We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed the many beautiful places you visited during your tour as well as Kyle's guiding throughout the day. We hope to welcome you back for another tour in the future. -Discover Scotland Tours
Loved the sheep dog demonstration, Loch Lomont mountain pass view, Doune castle. Our guide Douglas Alexander was fun, flexible, informative. We had a wonderful day!
Thank you for your 5 star review from your tour with Douglas! We are delighted you enjoyed Loch Lomond, Doune Castle and the spectacular views along the way. We hope to see you again some time. -Discover Scotland Tours
Great tour. Small group allowed to enjoy every stops for the best. Sandy the guide tour gave us historical facts and told us everything about the places we passed by or stopped by. Thanks you very much.
Thank you for your great 5 star review! We are glad you appreciated the small group size as well as Sandy's knowledge on everywhere you passed through and visited. We hope to welcome you back soon! - Discover Scotland tours
My partner and I absolutely loved this tour from start to finish. The itinerary was perfect with so many beautiful sites to see. Ron was a phenomenal guide - professional, warm, funny, very knowledgable, and shared a lot of fun trivia. We went on another tour with a different provider a few days later and it was a chaotic mess, we sincerely wished we'd booked with Discover Scotland Tours again. Highly recommend this operator and ask for Ron if at all possible!
Thank you for 5 star review! We are delighted to hear you had a fantastic time on tour and enjoyed the itinerary. We are also so happy to hear that Ron was phenomenal, his knowledge and trivia always makes for an interesting tour! We will be sure to pass along your kind words. - Discover Scotland Tours
Ron is an excellent guide, quilt and all! So full of knowledge about Scotland’s history. Well paced and very enjoyable tour.
Thank you for your 5 star review! We are so happy you had a great time on tour with Ron, his knowledge always makes for an interesting tour! We will be sure to pass along your kind words. - Discover Scotland Tours
We departed from Edinburgh Bus Station ..closed walk with Rabbie's own company, small group, tour in English. Tip: Be punctual, asked to arrive with atecendencia of 15 minutes and as everyone was already on board we left, gaining time, the guide Lizzie very friendly, who was also a driver DJ is a photographer.motivated .., narrated various stories of the battles that took place in the Highlands with right to soundtrack that was from traditional Scottish music, very Celtic, to Skyfall .
Thank you for your 5 star review!
We had a fantastic tour with Sandy to see the highlands! The mini bus was extremely comfortable and he provided interesting commentary and stories at points throughout our ride. We had short stops for photos at several points (including hairy coos) throughout the tour. We had time to explore Doune Castle on our own. Make note of the tour's recommendation to book a visit ahead of time if you want to go inside. We booked for 10am as noted and arrived a bit early, and the staff would not let us enter until 9:55am because it was busy. They were allowing limited people to purchase tickets there so it's worth booking ahead to be safe if you want to go inside. They provide an audio tour with admission. We had time on our own in Inveraray to have lunch and explore. After eating lunch, we did not have enough time to go inside the Inveraray Castle. It is about 15 minutes to walk up to the castle from the town, so we just walked around outside. We had time on our own again in Luss to go for a short walk to explore the town. It was a long day, but definitely worth it to see sights outside of Edinburgh.
Thank you for your lovely 5 star review! We’re so glad you had a great day exploring the Highlands with Sandy and enjoyed the scenery, stories, photo stops and beautiful places along the way. Thank you also for sharing the helpful tip about booking Doune Castle in advance. We really appreciate your kind words and hope to see you again on another Scottish adventure! - Discover Scotland Tours
What a day! Dougie was a wonderful, funny, and knowledgeable guide. He made the long day a joy while we learned a great deal about these attractions and Scottish culture. And we loved the Scottish coos!! Thank you Dougie!
Thank you for your great 5 star review! We are delighted that you enjoyed Dougie's knowledge and sense of humour. It also great to see you loved our Highland coos! We hope to welcome you back in the future! - Discover Scotland Tours
