Day 1: USA / Edinburgh

Make your way to your local international airport for your flights to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Overnight: En Route

Day 2: Arrive Edinburgh

Arrive at Edinburgh Airport. After clearing immigration and customs, meet your driver, waiting in the Arrival Hall. Shared vehicle transfer to your hotel. This evening, meet your companions and Travel Director for a Welcome Reception, which includes a light meal and drinks.

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Day 3: Edinburgh

After breakfast this morning, your Local Specialist takes you on a sightseeing tour of this wonderful city, including a visit to Edinburgh Castle, perched high above the city. See the Royal Mile, the elegant Palace of Holyrood house in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat, and the new Scottish Parliament building. Admire the elegant Georgian architecture in the New Town.

OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES – Separate Costs Apply

Rosslyn Chapel

We’ll drive out of Edinburgh to the tiny village of Rosslyn, where you’ll hear the inside story on the famous Rosslyn Chapel. You’ll also visit one of Scotland’s most unusual 15th century buildings, famed for its associations with the Knights Templar, the Masonic movement, and now ‘The Da Vinci Code’.

Scottish Show with Dinner

Tonight is your chance to put on that tartan and join us for an evening of singing, dancing, and bagpipe playing at this internationally famous venue. You’ll enjoy delicious food and wine, join in the singing and watch a Highland dance or two. There’s even a chance to sample Scotland’s national dish – haggis.

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Day 4: Edinburgh / Scottish Highlands

Travel across the Firth of Forth to St. Andrews to view the celebrated ancient university and the home of golf. Continue north across the Tay at Dundee, to visit Pitlochry, a charming village on the banks of the River Tummel. Explore the village or join an Optional Experience to visit Blair Castle, ancestral home to the Dukes of Atholl. Dine tonight at your hotel.

OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES – Separate Costs Apply

Highland Farm Experience

Visit a real Highland sheep farm and meet Neil the Shepherd and his border collies. He’ll show you how he uses different whistles to command each dog to carry out different tasks. You’ll also have the opportunity to try your hand at sheep shearing, feeding the pups and discover his training techniques. Weather permitting.

Pitlochry. Visit of Blair Castle

Set in its own grounds against a backdrop of glorious scenery, you’ll visit the castle and find out more about the home of the Duke of Atholl – the only man in Britain to have a private army.

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Day 5: Scottish Highlands

This morning travel to the coast and take a ferry over the sea to Skye from Mallaig to Armadale. Drive up the Sleat Peninsula and admire the spectacular scenery before stopping for time to have lunch. Cross over a road bridge to view scenic Eilean Donan Castle back on the mainland. Continue your journey past the lochs and glens of the Scottish Highlands and visit Culloden battlefield. This site was where the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745 took place and also played a part in the religious civil war in Britain. Later return to your hotel in Newtonmore.

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Day 6: Scottish Highlands / Glasgow

Stop at the Commando Memorial near Fort William for breathtaking views of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis. Continue south through Glencoe, ‘Glen of the Weeping’, site of the infamous massacre of the Macdonald clan by the Campbells in 1692. Journey along the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, immortalized in the well-known Scottish song, to the lively city of Glasgow.

OPTIONAL EXPERIENCES – Separate Costs Apply

Glasgow City Evening

You’ll enjoy a chance to experience a night out in the city of Glasgow. Your Travel Director will take you for an evening of good food, a drink, and undoubtedly interesting conversation.

Loch Lomond Boat Trip

Discover the wild beauty of the ‘Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond’. As we cruise across the loch, the skipper will share stories of the area and point out Rob Roy’s cave as you relax and savor the stunning scenery.

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Day 7: Glasgow

Start your day with an orientation of Glasgow including views of the magnificent People’s Palace and Winter Gardens which was opened in 1898, the impressive George Square as well as the River Clyde, former heart of the shipbuilding industry. Enjoy some free time to explore this vibrant city. Later visit Stirling Castle, a symbol of national pride and once a place of great power. See the ‘Stirling Heads’ and visit the halls, chapels and bedrooms of this imposing castle. From the castle walls view the Wallace Monument – dedicated to Sir William Wallace and overlooking the battlefield of Stirling Bridge. Later travel into the Trossachs National Park. Here enjoy a Cultural Insight into whisky making with a visit to Glengoyne Whisky Distillery to sample a ‘wee dram’. Tonight, experience a Be My Guest Farewell Dinner at a working hill farm on the banks of Loch Ard.

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Day 8: Glasgow / USA

After a hearty Scottish breakfast, bid farewell to your Travel Director and companions as your holiday in Scotland comes to an end. Take a shared transfer to the Glasgow airport and check in for your flight to the USA. On arrival you will clear US immigration and connect to your flight home.