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Every time I visit Scotland, I make it a point to get myself to Glencoe one way or another. The gorgeous glen is one of my favorite spots in the whole country!
Our trip started with a cheerful Scottish greeting from our guide who gave us some quick history lessons as we left Glasgow on our comfortable mini-coach.
I particularly loved her story about the “Scotch Watch”- the gaggle of geese that guarded Ballantine’s Scotch warehouse. It’s so ridiculous, it sounds made up, but it’s a true story!
Our tour started with a visit to Loch Lomond.
We had a little time to wander down the the Loch and look out over the water before we were off to the Rest and Be Thankful viewpoint. This viewpoint is so named because of the long and arduous climb summited by soldiers constructing a military road. Today the location makes for a fantastic panoramic view of the valley below- and you can drive there!
We spent a few minutes admiring the view before we were off again.
Our next stop was to Inveraray. We had to option to either have a relaxing exploration of the town, or a jog over to Inveraray Castle. Of course, I chose to hoof it over to the castle. It’s definitely a bit of a walk down the long driveway to the castle. There are a few good views of the property from the gate as you walk, and luckily, you’re able to walk right up to the castle itself!
Castle and garden admission are available for purchase (you can pay £18 to explore the castle and the gardens or just £10 to explore just the gardens), but there definitely isn’t enough time to do either on this particular tour. Instead, I admired the exterior of the castle before checking out the cafe in the castle basement- which was pretty limited.
I headed back into town, but I was only able to see so much before it was time to head back to the coach. Definitely prioritize which location you’d most like to visit on this stop- there’s not enough time to do both!
Our next stop took us to Kilchurn Castle. Although the tour typically stops at a head-on viewpoint, there were so many other tours here that our guide stopped just long enough for pictures before taking us around to a side path.
Again, there was not quite enough time to make it to the castle on this stop, but I raced along as much of the soggy path as I felt comfortable with and got some excellent shots of these pretty ruins.
The next stop took us to lunch in Oban. There is plenty of time to explore the city and grab a bite to eat in this charming fishing town.
I elected to get some fish and chips at Oban Fish and Chips , where service was excellent despite them being absolutely slammed by several simultaneous tour groups.
I ate quickly and headed to a nearby viewpoint which I was shocked to see turned out to be a huge Colosseum! I’d never heard of this, and I hadn’t looked too far up during my hike to the viewpoint so it was really unexpected!
I highly recommend taking the time to head up here for some of the best views of Oban- but keep in mind that the hike is pretty steep. I was sweating!
After lunch, we headed to Castle Stalker which is a fantastically moody castle located on a tidal island. The tide was out on our visit, but I could just imagine how cool it would look surrounded by water.
From here, we headed to the main event- Glencoe! We first had a stop at the Glencoe visitor center- mostly for the bathrooms, I think, but there’s a great tourist shop and a lot of really interesting information about the area.
The visitor center also has a really cool recreation of a 300 year old turf and creel house that you can actually touch and go inside!
Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time spent exploring Glencoe proper. Our guide drove slowly and made sure to pull over at several fantastic view points, all while regaling us with the history of the area and information about different hikes through the mountains (something I made a note of for my next visit!).
With one more brief stop at the Loch Lomond toilets, we were back in Glasgow, exhausted after a busy day out.
Although many of these stops were brief, I left feeling satisfied with this tour. It may not be best for travelers interested in a slow and in-depth visit through the highlands, but the quick pace allowed for a ton of interesting views. I mean, we saw three different castles on this tour! The views were incredible throughout the tour and I feel like I saw a huge portion of the Highlands.
You can book this same tour here:
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