Tours from Edinburgh · Run by Timberbush Tours
V&A Dundee · Montrose · St Cyrus · Devil's Elbow
Two days on the north-east coast and Royal Deeside, with Dunnottar and Balmoral.
This is the tour for castle lovers who'd like to see a quieter side of Scotland. The first day follows the coast north from Edinburgh by the V&A in Dundee, Montrose and the beach at St Cyrus to Dunnottar Castle on its clifftop, then Stonehaven and the night in Aberdeen. The second day is Royal Deeside, with Crathes Castle, lunch in Ballater and a visit to Balmoral, before the drive home over the hills by the Devil's Elbow. It runs on Saturdays from April to August. Rooms aren't included, but the tour can book them for you.
Day by day, the places it stops at and the roads between. Routes can change with the weather and the traffic.
Day one
Where it starts
Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2EW
Leaves at 9am
Seen from the coach
A stop
Scotland's design museum on the Dundee waterfront, in Kengo Kuma's cliff-like building, with the Mackintosh Oak Room inside; free.
Optional
More about V&A DundeeLunch
A stop · short stop
A stop
The clifftop ruin of the Earls Marischal on a 160-foot rock south of Stonehaven, where the Honours of Scotland were kept safe from Cromwell's army.
Entry optional
More about Dunnottar Castle
A stop
A harbour town fifteen miles south of Aberdeen, its old quarter clustered round a sheltered harbour with the 16th-century Tolbooth, a crescent of beach and Dunnottar Castle a mile away.
More about StonehavenThe night
Day two
A stop
A 16th-century turreted tower house near Banchory, home of the Burnetts for over 350 years, with painted ceilings, the ivory Horn of Leys and a walled garden inside yew hedges of 1702.
Entry optional
More about Crathes CastleSeen from the coach
Lunch
A granite village on the River Dee in Royal Deeside, planned in the late 1700s for the spa at Pannanich Wells, eight miles east of Balmoral.
More about Ballater
A stop
The royal family's Highland home, bought by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1852, with its grounds and gardens open to visitors.
Must be pre-booked
More about Balmoral CastleA photo stop
A break
The Fair City on the west bank of the Tay, founded as a burgh by King David around 1125, long the lowest crossing of the river, and Scotland's seventh city since 2012.
More about PerthCastle Terrace, outside the NCP car park
Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2EW
Leaves at 9am. Opens 15 minutes before departure and closes 5 minutes before.
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Rooms are not in the price. Timberbush Tours can book them for you, paid on arrival; roughly:
Book your own and it is £10 less.
Children aged 4 to 16 pay less; their price shows when you book.
Run by
Timberbush Tours has been taking visitors round Scotland since 1998. June and Gary Voy, a husband and wife team, started it with a single coach, and it now runs its own fleet, with driver-guides who have been with the company for years. Their tours leave every day from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, and from Portree on Skye, and you book with them directly.
Timberbush Tours answer them, and you book with them directly.
2 days from Edinburgh, from £150 an adult.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before a day tour, and up to 7 days before a tour of several days, by Timberbush’s own terms.
Booked with Timberbush Tours, or call them on +44 (0)131 226 6066
From Edinburgh9 hoursBack 5.45pm
Anstruther · St Andrews · Falkland · South Queensferry
St Andrews and the fishing villages of the East Neuk, a gentle coastal day from Edinburgh.
About 4½ hours of it on the roadUp to 53 on a coach
From £53 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
From Edinburgh10 hoursBack 6pm
Holy Island · Alnwick · Bamburgh Castle
The winter version of the Northumberland day: Lindisfarne, Alnwick and Bamburgh Castle.
About 6 hours of it on the roadUp to 16 on a coach
From £54 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
From Edinburgh9½ hoursBack 6.15pm
Holy Island · Alnwick · Flodden Field
Across the border to Holy Island and Alnwick Castle, a day in Northumberland from Edinburgh.
About 5½ hours of it on the roadUp to 37 on a coach
From £58 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
