Danger Man

The first week of June I will be staying just south of Inverness in a Hilton Resort. I know I am going to go up to Loch Ness to take a picture of Nessy . Probably will try to visit Balmoral. I know there has to be a lot to do within a day drive of Inverness. If it is not to difficult would love to do an overnight flight to Isle of Man. So can anyone offer suggestions of what I should not miss or must do while there? I will be landing in Glasgow on a Saturday evening and driving straight in and will be there for a week before leaving out the next Saturday evening. I will be hiring a car as well. Please offer any suggestions. I love historical buildings and historical areas as well as local crafts, amusement parks and great views as well. Good food spots is also welcome. Thanks.

ExitRowOrElse

I'm making my second visit to Scotland this summer. Inverness is also on my list. I found Undiscovered Scotland to be an excellent source of information on things to see throuought the country when I planned my first trip and my upcoming trip.

Check it out at

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/

Danger Man

I was looking at taking an overnight trip to the Isle of Man but it appears that both the ferry and airlines are very expensive during the first week of June for 5 people. With a ferry we have to drive nearly to Blackpool but we could take in the amusement park while we are there. With the airlines the best rates would require a drive to Edinburgh or Glasgow. Is this really not something that I should put any effort into?

southernbelle

If you have a whole day, I would suggest the train ride from Inverness to the Isle of Skye. The train ride is wonderful - you get to see so much beautiful countryside. Then the ferry takes you over to Skye. It is wonderfully scenic and picturesque! Several nice places to have lunch and some shopping places. But the scenery is enough to make it well worth the time!^

Danger Man

Is it better than the Isle of Man in your opinion or about the same or is the Isle of Man more spectacular with more to see and do?

Thalassa

A few suggestions:

There are plenty of distilleries close by Inverness -- if you have any interest in whisky, go visit one.

Urquhart Castle on the shores of Loch Ness is absolutely stunning; not to be missed.

If you are into hiking at all, there are plenty of wonderful walks around e.g. Aviemore which is not far away from Inverness.

If you haven't been to Edinburgh, it is definitely worth at least a day trip.

In Glasgow, you should go see the Hunterian Museum of Art (nice collection of Whistler paintings) and the enclosed Macintosh House with excellent overview of Charles Rennie Macintosh's work.

Cheers,
T.

krug

Danger Man I would strongly suggest you spend the first night in Edinburgh; you can check out the castle and Royal Yacht Britannia which is now decommissioned, about ten minutes drive from centre of town, on the outskirts called Leith. Takes around two hours. I visited for the second time last weekend and it is a fascinating place to visit - you even get to see the Queen's bed!

There is also a Concorde which you can walk around inside at the Museum of Flight, 40 mins drive from Edinburgh.

You could do both on Saturday if you arrived into Glasgow early and then go out on the town Saturday night in Edinburgh, and head off to arrive into Inverness in time for Sunday lunch.

The first week in June is expensive to visit the Isle of Man as it the week of the TT Races, the biggest concentrated tourist event of the year, and all hotels and flights/ferries will be booked out at silly rates, plus many of the public roads closed much of the day for motorcycle races, whcih could impact your sightseeing.

I think it would be much easier to travel to IOM from EDI or GLA rather than INV; you can get there direct on www.loganair.co.uk - takes about 50 mins I reckon - if you still wanted to do it you might find rates and costs diminish towards the end of your trip, so plan on doing it for one night and then flying back to GLA to connect with your flight home from Glasgow. The ferry is not really an option unless you are coming from Liverpool, in which case the Seacat (when it's not sinking) is a great way to travel.

There is a lot more to do and see on the Isle of Man (which is larger and more populated than Skye), but Skye is especially beautiful.

You might find this thread entitled A Weekend in the Isle of Man helpful; though I would not suggest you visit the first weekend in June, the Isle of Man sounds like it has everything you are looking for from a holiday.

Jenbel

Skye is generally considered to be one of the most spectacular Scottish islands.

Ok you aren't far from the battlefield of Culloden, which marked the end of the Jacobite Rebellions. There are also some lovely castles on the Easter Ross coast (Dunrobin for example!)- and you aren't too far from Wester Ross with spectacular scenery. If you like historic buildings go and look at http://www.nts.org.uk/Home/ they'll likely tell you about some of the local historic things.

Your plan of driving to Isle of Man, and visiting a theme Park en route. I've just driven from Chester to Edinburgh today, and that took me six hours - 5 to Edinburgh bypass. Chester is about three-quarters of an hour south of Blackpool and Inverness is 2.5-3 hours from Edinburgh! I think you are underestimating how slow British roads are - they are busy and crowded, and although we have higher speed limits, you're lucky to be able to drive at the limits at times. Allowing an average of about 40 mph for A roads and 50-60 mph for motorways tends to be more realistic. If you do intend to go to IOM, it will take pretty much a full day just to get there.

Thalassa

Hmmm, we just got back from Scotland and our drives were quite a bit faster. Don't know about IOM, but driving time from Manchester to Dalwhinnie (less than 50 miles south of Inverness) was less than 6 hours with stops. We did drive a consistent 85 mph+ on the motorways, though. Must have a severe case of a lead foot.

There was a mention about Blackpool somewhere. My humble opinion is: avoid at all costs. The place is awful, awful, awful...

Cheers,
T.

Danger Man

Thanks for the advice on Blackpool.

In April my son and I flew from the US to MAN. Landed in the morning and drove to Chester went to a train museum (great one by the way) left and had lunch and then drove back to MAN and had dinner went shopping and spent the night. The next day we had breakfast and drove to Hack Green then toured over wales the next day. Driving was not a problem for me. A few times we found some traffic around Manchester but that was the only place it really slowed that much, most of the time we were traveling over 80.
I like the idea of Isle of Skye. Is there anything down at Carlisle worth the long drive?

Jenbel

The Lake District*

(*generally considered, not my choice. Wet, crowded overrated, and won't be as nice scenically as the area you'll be staying in).

By the way, are you staying at Inverness, or Aviemore? The only Hilton i can recall in that part of the world is the one at Coylumbridge, but I might have missed one)

Thalassa

Based on a recent experience, I would have to agree on the Lake District. Pretty, but overcrowded and overpriced. Ambleside does have more outdoor equipment stores per capita than any other town I have ever seen...

Cheers,
T.

NorthOrSouth

I come from the west coast of Scotland and my father-in-law lives in the IOM so I've been there many times. Personally I'd stick with Scotland. IOM is interesting but there's so much to do in Scotland that I'd put above a trip to the IOM. The suggestions that people have already made I'd agree with (and I think the Lake District is over-rated) - Skye, Culloden and Edinburgh though I'd add Glencoe which is one of my favourite places (especially on a bleak day, odd I know!).

You can fly to the IOM from Glasgow or Edinburgh but for an overnight trip I'm really not sure it'd be worth it.

Danger Man

It is Coylumbridge

Jenbel

Ah ok - well, you've got to do the funicular railway to top of the Cairngorm plateau as well. You could always walk, but it is a hike - and be warned the Scottish mountain tops are Arctic, not Alpine, so even in summer you have to be properly equipped and know what to do if the cloud level drops below you. So funicular is safer and easier if you don't know what you are doing!

There's also a kind of theme park at Carrbridge http://www.landmark-centre.co.uk/ - I haven't been there since I was a kiddie, but we used to enjoy it then. There's an offshoot to Edinburgh Zoo at Kincraig wildlife park - it's quite small, and dedicated to what the fauna of Scotland is and used to be from the fossil record, but it's actually quite well done.

I've found dining at the Hilton can be quite hit and miss as well - but there are some good/decent restaurants and pubs in the surrounding area.