Driving holiday in Scotland

As the title suggests, the wife has suggested a week long trip around Scotland later this summer as it’s looking ever more unlikely that we will be going abroad anywhere.
The North Coast 500 looks the obvious choice but what about hotels and scenic detours around the route?
It will be myself, the wife and two kids (13 and 10)
No sporty drive unfortunately as we’ll be in an E220 estate with our luggage, but it’s more the scenery than the thrill of driving that we will be after.
All suggestions welcome.

you and everyone else.
start looking and booking mucho pronto if you want to get anything this summer.

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Originally Posted by bigbaddes

you and everyone else.
start looking and booking mucho pronto if you want to get anything this summer.

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Hence the thread. I’m hoping I can have some recommendations of places to stay and visit along the route rather than just taking a chance and possibly booking somewhere that’s not to good.

Stayed one night at the Torridon hotel when I did the NC500, nice treat but I’d give it a miss this year. Hotels are rammed as everyone has the same idea. Wait until next year when everyone is in Spain, you’ll get a better choice of hotels and restaurants.

The best advice I could give is to avoid that route
Go West towards the Mull of Kintyre.
You can go to Campbeltown,Carradale,Tarbert or head over to the Islands of Gigha,Islay or Jura.
Much quieter and you might actually meet some locals.

New route called Route 66
Just on the news there this new route.

I did the Highlands a fair few years ago and stayed in Glencoe/Ballaculish. Drove up through the A82 and the the roads around Loche Linnhe, Kinlochleven and out to Oban were all superb. Avoid the main tourist routes and it will be great.

Worth popping by the Castle of May of up there. But Scotland has loads of great spots, and I’d second the west coast.

Hope some of the replies here will be useful :

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...ip-in-Scotland

Booked the hotels for ours now.

Use Search, covered many times.

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Originally Posted by bigbaddes

you and everyone else.
start looking and booking mucho pronto if you want to get anything this summer.

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Pretty much this, fancied doing it myself this year but the number of people I've spoken to and number of threads on the internet have put me right off. Feels like it will just be one long traffic jam round the entire length of Scotland

Go up the west coast all the way. And if you can try to hop over to an island or two.

I’ve visited the west a few times and the drive is always an experience. The Glencoe stretch is worth the entrance fee.

Once stopped at Fort Augustus and some fella pulled up in a Land Rover, offered us a log cabin for the night. Apparently the owner didn’t advertise, saved our bacon. Cabin was cheap, situated at the foot of a loch, and we awoke to a friendly group of Highland cows!

Favourite trip was a visit to Skye with my late wife. The way the scenery changes to something Mordor like on the way in is an experience in itself. The island itself is breathtaking.

Love Scotland. Have a great trip!

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Originally Posted by Hood

New route called Route 66
Just on the news there this new route.

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https://www.wildaboutargyll.co.uk/de...he-kintyre-66/

With 2 kids I would find a base, and then travel from there, Kyle of Lochalsh is a great place to stay and from there you have Skye and torridan close by

We stayed here and it was brilliant

https://www.ontheloch.co.uk/



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Originally Posted by Chewitt13

With 2 kids I would find a base, and then travel from there, Kyle of Lochalsh is a great place to stay and from there you have Skye and torridan close by

We stayed here and it was brilliant

https://www.ontheloch.co.uk/



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That is a beautiful little B&B .Hidden away from the main road in a secluded part of the loch. If I remember there are National Trust cottages on the same estate ?
Agree with getting a base for a week and travelling each day . The reality is there are numerous scenic drives in the area, so even driving to the shops is worthwhile .

The West is stunning and worth a trip but it’s going to be rammed.
I was at Torridon on Sunday and climbed two Munro’s, its an hours drive for me.
We are all going to see how beautiful Britain is for the foreseeable future.


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3ea2fda8f0.jpg

Scotland is full this summer, sorry.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chewitt13

With 2 kids I would find a base, and then travel from there, Kyle of Lochalsh is a great place to stay and from there you have Skye and torridan close by

We stayed here and it was brilliant

https://www.ontheloch.co.uk/



Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

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Beautiful guest house that

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chewitt13

With 2 kids I would find a base, and then travel from there, Kyle of Lochalsh is a great place to stay and from there you have Skye and torridan close by

We stayed here and it was brilliant

https://www.ontheloch.co.uk/



Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

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My wife just reminded me we stayed there pre kids, turning up in a bright red exige, the locals thought it was a super car!!!

Now with kids I'm sticking bikes up on a roof rack [emoji1787] #lifechoices


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>a week long trip around Scotland<

I'd avoid NC500 as it'll be rammed with cars and bikers, plus after the hard winter the single-track roads are in an appalling state with potholes etc. I'd come up through Ayrshire, take ferry to Arran (Scotland in miniature!) from Ardrossan, travel around then the smaller ferry from Lochranza and travel around Kintyre then west coast up to Oban (option of day trip to Mull on the ferry) and Connell Bridge then back down via Loch Lomond and the Trossachs to Stirling, along the Forth then across the Queensferry bridge around Edinburgh than back via Biggar

https://ekgardening.files.wordpress....-02-084805.png

Thank you for all the replies guys. Looks like I’m better off leaving the NC alone then and keeping west.
I’ll have to look at hotels and B&B’s now. That one posted above looks lovely but at £260 a night (if I’ve read their website correctly) that’s too rich for my budget. If that is the going rate for rooms this year, I’ll pass and just do day trips around South and West Wales with the occasional overnighter up to North Wales or the Cotswolds.

You could rent a Winnebago but I expect prices will have gone to the moon too!

Don’t forget Airbnb, VRBO etc . A cottage could well be your best option .
I took a punt on Scotland opening up and got a cottage on the coast for a great price . They have shot up recently but it’s worth doing a bit of digging around .

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Originally Posted by jaytip

Thank you for all the replies guys. Looks like I’m better off leaving the NC alone then and keeping west.
I’ll have to look at hotels and B&B’s now. That one posted above looks lovely but at £260 a night (if I’ve read their website correctly) that’s too rich for my budget. If that is the going rate for rooms this year, I’ll pass and just do day trips around South and West Wales with the occasional overnighter up to North Wales or the Cotswolds.

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I read it as £130?

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Originally Posted by RustyBin5

I read it as £130?

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It is, but when I looked on the booking page and put in my details ( 4persons, it didn’t differentiate between adults and children) it came up with a room option showing either a king size bed or twin beds, so based on that I presumed I’d need two rooms.

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Originally Posted by Justin Case

Stayed one night at the Torridon hotel when I did the NC500, nice treat but I’d give it a miss this year. Hotels are rammed as everyone has the same idea. Wait until next year when everyone is in Spain, you’ll get a better choice of hotels and restaurants.

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When was that, must have been in 2017 when you where still -Ally-?

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...=1#post4396724

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Originally Posted by Raffe

When was that, must have been in 2017 when you where still -Ally-?

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...=1#post4396724

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