So, you’ve decided to go to Scotland.

This nine-day itinerary is what my husband and I embarked on for our most recent adventure. Our itinerary that left us feeling like we maximized our time in the country while being able to experience the beauty, history and sights to the fullest.

Day 1: Land in Edinburgh, drive to Inverness

I admit, this was rough. We had an overnight flight from Boston that departed Friday night at 9p and landed in Scotland at 8a Saturday. Did we (and by “we”, I mean “I”) bank on the long work week being enough to help us sleep for the majority of the plane ride? Yes. I think we collectively slept about an hour or two over the five and a half hour flight. None the less, we landed, picked up the rental car and stopped by a local market to grab some food items to sustain us for time spent out on the road/hiking.

The drive from the airport to Inverness was a little over two hours. On the way, we stopped by two castle ruins and a shopping plaza.

We arrived in Inverness late that afternoon, slept for a few hours, and walked along River Ness, had a few brews at our stay at Glen Mhor Hotel and went out on the town for dinner at Prime Steakhouse.

Day 2: Inverness, drive to Isle of Skye

We spent some time in the morning further exploring churches in town and taking in the view of Inverness Castle, which typically can be toured, but was temporarily closed for restoration.

On the way to Isle of Skye, we drove along Loch Ness and visited Urquhart Castle, a must in this area. The rest of the drive was along Rout 86 through scenic highlands with plenty of overlook spaces for pictures. Before we approached the Skye Bridge, we arrived at Eline Donan Castle. We were too late to tour the interior, but we enjoyed walking around the grounds.

We arrived at Sconser Lodge, our bed and breakfast, just in time for their dinner service.

TIP: Buy your tickets to the Urquhart Castle and reserve your parking space online ahead of time! There’s no signal at the castle, so if you don’t do it ahead of time and they’re out of availability, you’ll have to turn around and drive back up the road to a camp site that has reception to complete your booking on your phone.

Isle of Skye

Day 3: Dunvegan Castle and Gardens, Isle of Raasay

We started our day driving 40min out to Dunvegan Castle and arrived an hour after they opened. We spent time enjoying the castle, garden and the famous Fairy Bridge over Scotland’s fountain of youth ten minutes around the corner.

After the castle, we headed back south and made an attempted visit to the Fairy Pools. Four minutes away, we came upon a motor home and SUV who had attempted to pass each other on the one lane road outside of their designated “passing places” and wound up stuck in ditches on their respective sides of the road. We made a snap decision to turn around, drive back to our bed and breakfast, ditch the car, and walk up the street to take a twenty minute ferry ride to Isle of Raasay. We enjoyed some brews and spirits at the Isle of Raasay Distillery that is a 10min walk away from port.

Day 4: Old Man Storr, Fairy Glen, Portree

We woke up early in the morning and were blessed with good weather. We packed the car with sandwiches and snacks and headed out to hike Old Man Storr. After the hike, we visited Kilt Rock/Mealt Falls and Corran Beach to view dinosaur footprints! We would have completely missed this gem except for the fact that we happened to arrive when a tour guide was pointing out the prints to their tour group.

We continued our drive up and through Quiraing. This landscape is gorgeous and offers scenic overlooks on the way to Fairy Glen, featuring Castle Rock and the Fairy Ring.

We finished our loop of northern Skye in Portree. It is doable to walk around this area in an afternoon. We photographed the Rainbow Houses, enjoyed outdoor seating with a burger and beer at An Talla Mor Eighteen Twenty and indulged in some ice cream before heading back to Sconser to relax and enjoy the sunset.

NOTE: I will say, the geography in Fairy Glen is beautiful, and it is easy to picture how fairies might live within the beehive-shaped hills. However, the images of Fairy Ring that you may have come across on Instagram is not what you will find. The rings are overgrown with grass and the rocks have been removed. If I didn’t know what I was looking for, I would have missed it myself.

Day 5: Isle of Skye, drive to Fort William

We made our second and successful attempt at visiting the Fairy Pools before leaving Skye. I can’t say enough how much we enjoyed this hike! The Fairy Pools were about thirty minutes out of the way at this point, but worth the trip. After the pools, we paid a visit to the Highland Cows as we passed back through Sconser to leave Skye. Off the island, we made a second stop at Eline Donan Castle to view the interior before embarking on our drive through the highlands to Fort Williams. About twenty minutes outside town, we stopped for dinner at the Station Restaurant, a finer dining experience on an active train platform.

We arrived at our AirBnb, Apex Pod, with time to enjoy the sunset.

Day 6: Fort William, rental car drop off, drive to Edinburgh

No trip to the Scottish Highlands is complete without viewing the Glenfinnan Viaduct. If you’re a Harry Potter fan like myself, you will want to see the Jacobite Train, otherwise known as the Hogwarts Express. We ventured out of our way about thirty minutes to view the viaduct and catch the train passing over for 10:45a.

TIP: If planning to view the train, you’ll want to get to the viaduct about a half-hour early as parking is incredibly limited and fills up quickly. We didn’t realize how full the parking would be, so I did the ol’ tuck n’ roll out of the car at 10:35a and made a spectacle of myself running up the path (which is about a 10min walk) to the viewing spot while my husband attempted to park.

Overall, this was our longest day of driving of the trip. The journey to Edinburgh from Fort William is about three hours with two hours to Stirling, where we visited Dune Castle and Stirling Castle. The drive was gorgeous, meandering through Glenco, Glen Etive and by the Three Sisters.

After visiting the castles, we embarked on our last leg to Edinburgh, and made a pit stop by Edinburgh airport to drop off the rental car. Driving in Edinburg is not recommended, and to pay to park just to have the car wasn’t something we thought was worth it. Besides, after all the driving we had done so far, walking around the city was a welcome alternative. We called an Uber from the airport to take us to our final stay: Virgin Hotel, Edinburgh.

Edinburgh

Day 7: Edinburgh Castle

We explored the city! Inspired by our (self-guided) Harry Potter tour, we had lunch at Scott’s overlooking Victoria Street (Diagon Alley). We visited St. Gile’s Cathedral and the Scott Monument before our tour of Edinburgh Castle. The rest of the afternoon was dreary with fairly heavy rainfall, so we wound up enjoying a beer and cocktails in the covered outdoor area of Kick Ass Hostel before getting ready for our candle- lit dinner with a view of Edinburgh Castle at The Outsider.

Day 8: The Real Mary King’s Close, the Royal Mile

We enjoyed venturing around the Royal Mile, shopped on Princess Street and toured Mary King’s Close, which featured the old “underground” streets of the city. A visit to the Museum of Illusions took us out of the afternoon rain. We enjoyed a cocktail at The Devil’s Advocate in Advocate’s Close before an exceptional dining experience at Angel’s With Bagpipes (ironic, we know).

Day 9: Fly home to Boston

We pre-scheduled a taxi through guest services to pick us up to the airport. The ride was smooth, and the small airport was well organized so we moved quickly through security and were two hours early for our flight.