Tours from Edinburgh or Glasgow · Run by Timberbush Tours
Luss · Rest · Inveraray · Culloden Battlefield
Four days that include the Jacobite steam train over the Glenfinnan Viaduct and two nights on Skye.
This is the most complete tour here, and the steam train makes it special. The first day goes through Inveraray to Kilmartin Glen and its standing stones, with a night in Oban. On the second you can ride the Jacobite steam train from Fort William over the Glenfinnan Viaduct to Mallaig (add it when you book), then cross to Skye by ferry. Day three is Skye itself: the Fairy Pools, Talisker Distillery, Dunvegan, the Quiraing and the Old Man of Storr. The last day comes home by Eilean Donan and Culloden. It runs from May to September. 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 8.30am
A walk · short stroll
A conservation village of stone cottages on Loch Lomond, rebuilt by the Colquhouns for their slate workers, with a pier and a beach.
More about Luss, Loch Lomond
A photo stop
The pass at the head of Glen Croe, 803 feet up, where travellers have stopped to rest since the military road of 1749.
More about Rest and Be Thankful
Lunch
The Duke of Argyll's white Georgian town on Loch Fyne, rebuilt from 1745, with a church divided in two.
More about InverarayA stop
Entry optional; not on Sunday departures from 9 August 2026
A walk · short walk
One of Scotland's richest prehistoric landscapes, with more than 800 monuments within six miles of Kilmartin and a museum to explain them.
More about Kilmartin Glen
The night
The west coast's busy little capital on a horseshoe bay, the Gateway to the Isles, with McCaig's Tower above it.
McCaig's Tower; Oban Distillery optional
More about ObanDay two
A photo stop
A deep Highland glen walled in by the Three Sisters and the Aonach Eagach, cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, with a visitor centre off the A82.
Hairy Coo experience or Glencoe Visitor Centre, depending on availability
More about Glencoe
Lunch
The town under Ben Nevis at the head of Loch Linnhe, where the West Highland Way ends and the Jacobite leaves.
Early lunch
More about Fort William
A stop
A steam train from Fort William to Mallaig and back, 84 miles over the Glenfinnan Viaduct, in summer.
For those who booked the train option; others photograph the viaduct from below and drive to Mallaig
More about Jacobite Steam Train, Fort William to Mallaig over the Glenfinnan Viaduct
A stop
The fishing port at the end of the road to the isles, and of the railway, with ferries to Skye, the Small Isles and Knoydart.
Skye Bridge instead on 22 May, 1 June, 7 September and 18 September 2026
More about Mallaig to Skye ferry
A photo stop
The Sligachan Hotel and the old stone bridge below the Cuillin, where the A87 meets the road to Dunvegan.
More about Sligachan Old Bridge
The night
Skye's main town, on a sheltered east-coast bay, with a harbour built by Thomas Telford in the early nineteenth century.
More about PortreeDay three
A walk
Clear pools and falls under the Black Cuillin in Glen Brittle, 2.4 km there and back from the car park.
More about Fairy Pools
A stop
Skye's oldest working distillery, on the shore of Loch Harport at Carbost since 1830.
Tour and tasting optional
More about Talisker Distillery
A stop
One of the best-kept brochs on Skye, an Iron Age tower on a knoll above Loch Bracadale, free and open all year.
More about Dun Beag Broch
Lunch
A restaurant with six en-suite rooms on the shore of Loch Dunvegan, in Dunvegan village on Skye, where Scottish produce is cooked over fire the Argentine way.
Free time; castle optional
More about Dunvegan
A walk
Grassy hillocks and lochans above Uig, left by landslips after the ice, under a basalt crag called Castle Ewen.
More about Fairy Glen
A photo stop
Britain's largest landslide, a jumble of rock towers and cliffs at the northern end of the Trotternish ridge on Skye.
More about Quiraing
A photo stop
Sea cliffs of dolerite columns like the pleats of a kilt, with Mealt Falls dropping to the sea beside them.
More about Kilt Rock
A photo stop
A pinnacle about 50 metres high above Loch Leathan, two hours there and back on foot, seven miles north of Portree.
More about Old Man of StorrThe night
Skye's main town, on a sheltered east-coast bay, with a harbour built by Thomas Telford in the early nineteenth century.
More about PortreeDay four
A stop
The castle on an island where three sea lochs meet, bombarded in 1719, rebuilt between 1912 and 1932 and reached by an arched stone bridge.
Entry optional
More about Eilean Donan Castle
A walk
A tumbling waterfall on the Black Water near Contin, crossed by a suspension bridge, where wild salmon leap the falls in autumn.
More about Rogie Falls
Lunch
The castle on Castle Hill above the River Ness, open since 2025 as the Inverness Castle Experience, with exhibitions and a rooftop terrace.
More about InvernessA stop
Entry optional
A break
A Victorian resort town on the Tummel, grown up after Queen Victoria's visit of 1842 and the railway of 1863, with its theatre, its dam and its salmon ladder.
More about Pitlochry
Photographs: Timberbush Tours
Castle Terrace, outside the NCP car park
Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2EW
Leaves at 8.30am. Opens 15 minutes before departure and closes 5 minutes before.
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Book the Oban and Talisker distillery visits through Timberbush ahead of time.
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.
4 days from Edinburgh, from £329 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 Edinburgh12½ hoursBack 8.30pm
Glencoe · Fort William · Urquhart Castle · Clansman Hotel
The big one: Glencoe, Fort William and Loch Ness in a single day from Edinburgh, if you don't mind a long time on the coach.
About 9½ hours of it on the roadUp to 53 on a coach
From £56 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
From Edinburgh or Glasgow2 days
Glencoe · Fort William · Commando Memorial · Blair Athol Distillery
Two days from Edinburgh or Glasgow: Glencoe and Loch Ness, then Culloden and the Cairngorms.
About 11 hours on the road in allUp to 37 on a coach
From £125 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
From Edinburgh10 hoursBack 6.45pm
The Kelpies · Loch Lomond · Trossachs village · Stirling Castle
A shorter Highlands day from Edinburgh: the Kelpies, Loch Lomond and Stirling Castle.
About 5 hours of it on the roadUp to 53 on a coach
From £52 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
