08/01/2025
I want to start by saying our guide, Jamie, was the best guide we have had on any of our excursions. He honestly could be a narrator for a documentary, and was told that by other travelers on the tour. We took the Scottish Highlands, Loch Ness, and Glencoe tour from Edinburgh. I want to state these are the opinions of my group and myself so take it for what it is worth.
This tour was our least favorite of all of them we have done, which was disappointing because it was one of the most anticipated. Here are a few reasons why:
1. This tour allowed very young kids onboard. This was a 12 hour, scenic tour. This child was still in diapers so of course the diapers were changed onboard 😷 The parents ignored the screaming tantrums the entire day. This tour is not for young kids!!!!!
2. There were a few people that were repeatedly late to the bus. The driver made the announcement at every stop that he was pressed for time due to a road closure that would start at 7PM. They never listened so as you can see in the picture, we arrived at 7:02 and the road was closed. We sat on the tour bus for 30 minutes. The tour guides, because there were multiple buses, pleaded with the road crew to let us all through. They cut the wait time by 30 minutes. This tour started at 8AM and did not finish until after 8PM!
3. I felt so rushed on this tour to the point of not getting a souvenir Loch Ness shirt 😪 We were rushed to catch the Loch Ness cruise. I could have stayed with the tour bus and shopped, but I wanted to cruise the loch and tour the castle. By the way, it was 30 GBP extra per person to take the cruise and tour the castle and this was paid in cash to the driver. If you want a souvenir from Loch Ness, you may have to skip the cruise because the wait in payment lines were long and there are no “Nessie” souvenirs at the castle tour.
4. There was no designated lunch time. We were advised to get a take away meal at our first rest stop. It was a mad dash to the toilets and to grab a snack for lunch. This was the story at every rest stop. We were a full bus and given 15-20 minutes to use the restrooms and grab a snack. It can take that long just for the women’s bathroom! We were also arriving to the same stops as another tour bus all day long. If you are considering this tour, I advise bringing a sack lunch with you. By the time we made it back to Edinburgh we were starving and most of the pubs stopped serving food at 9PM. Thank goodness for the fish and chip shop, Castle Rock!
Bottom line, a tour such as this is really the only way to see Loch Ness if staying in Edinburgh and I’m glad I did it. I did not post this to warn you away from a tour like this, but to prepare you for the tour and hopefully make your experience a little better. I will be leaving a review with the company about their policy of allowing very young children. There is nothing for them to do and it is such a long tour. I don’t blame the little guy at all. This was a scenic tour of the highlands and had long stretches on the bus. Another option is to hire a private tour guide.
