The trip to Orkney and Skara Brae was a life changing experience. Our group was the first time that the Inverness office had conducted the tour (it used to solely come from Edinburgh) and we were blessed to get to know Sir Duff (Fraser Duff, lead guide) as well as guides Harrison, Emma & Sonia. The accommodations in Kirkwall were an enchanting B&B Karawa (proprietor was Fiona) and we had cooked to order breakfast. I loved having our own en suite. There was plenty of variety in our tour stops - history and art and birds / scenery / the "hairy coo" etc. The tour bus was clean and modern. The trip delightful. We did two different tours with Highland Explorers / Haggis Adventures / Radical Travel. read more

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To fully understand the throughline of a place takes an authentic local guide. Harrison's insights, stories and engaging personality played a significant part in how fun and fabulous this tour is, while deepening my sense of wonder and understanding of Scotlands 'Unicorn' ways. I came away with a deep respect for those who sacrificed so much for their homeland (and glad we started our UK trip in England first (lol). I highly recommend Harrison and this tour. I guess my only other feedback would be to shorten the Whiskey stop (i dont drink) and double the time at Clava Carin stones, where I got 'high' feeling the energy emitting from ancient stones and trees. My quest to feel the places where people honored the earth...was fulfilled there. Thank you Harrison! read more

Highland Explorer Tours - travel back into time through stones and roots that connect you to the earths transformative energy - Tours Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

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The tour guide was very nice and energetic, made a lot of funny jokes and made the ride funner, tour we went on was super fun. Visited 2 castles and then went to a farm shop for food. Everything was overall nice expect the charger port next to our seats on the bus didn't work, otherwise I would definitely recommend this company! read more

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We LOVED Scotland! What we didn't love was this tour. We are not sure who ran our tour-- Highland Explorers, Radical, or Haggis Adventures. I think they just combined several tours to fill an embarrassing, bright yellow bus. Our guide (who was also our bus driver) seemed socially awkward and uncomfortable with people. In fact, although she never gave us her last name or contact information, she did tell us that she liked to be a hermit in the evenings and not to invite her out for a drink. There is so much history in Scotland, but she shared more tidbits about "Outlander" and Guinness World Records than actual history. She made several stops with no historical information (for example, 2 hours in Fort Augustus. Was it ever a fort? Who was Augustus? What happened here?) However, she passed up a ton of photo stop options, like Sterling Castle, Urqhart Castle, and she drove an hour up the same road along Loch Ness three times, but we never stopped for pictures. There were 30 of us on our bus--each night we were dropped off at 3 different hotels and 1 hostel (which wasn't even an option to book on Highland Explorer Tours). Because we weren't all staying in the same place, it took a ton of extra time loading the bus each night and morning. Hotels were quaint, but very clean and breakfast was included. All meals were on your own, but we did have one meal together as a group (except that our guide ate by herself at the bar and never interacted with any of us.) Scotland is beautiful. We enjoyed the Jacobite Train, the Isle of Skye, and Eilean Donan castle. Although we saw much of Scotland in 5 days, that meant a lot of time on the bus. For that reason and for the poor guide, I wouldn't recommend Highland Explorer Tours. read more

We went on the Scottish Highlands and Jacobite Steam train. Our guide, Cara was absolutely wonderful but the tour itinerary itself left us wanting. First off, while we realized that the drive to the bus station would be a few hours each way (4 hours each way), the stops we had were very short and meant to be washroom stops and/or to grab a quick bite to eat. This is understandable for the drive up since the train departs at a specific time, however, much to our disappointment, there were no stops even for a quick photo of special landmarks. Second, the Jacobite steam train was highly overrated. If I could go back in time, I would have instead booked a highlands tour without the steam train to allow for some walking. Out of the 13 hours, I would say that 11 hours was sitting. read more

I went on the Outlander tour today, with Louise as driver/tour guide. The places selected for us were great and the bus size (14 people) was brilliant! But the best part of the tour was the magic brought to us by Louise! I do believe that she could make a trip to Hades and back seem heavenly! Such great energy and enthusiasm, she had so many tales, and such a wide range of knowledge. I'm sure all the Explorer tours are wonderful, but I feel lucky to have been a passenger on Louise's bus! read more

Had an amazing tour to Loch Ness! Highly recommend this company for your highland adventures!

Scotland is absolutely amazing! The people, the views, the culture! Amazing! This company is HORRIBLE! In the brochure you use to review the tours and purchase the tours, one thing is written, but it is not accurate and you are left to pay (literally, PAY$$) for their misprint1 The brochure says meet and drop off location, it apparently changed! We showed up early (to the location that was printed on our tour) and were told they are leaving us. We missed a day of the tour, and had to spend our own money to travel by train and bus to catch the tour on our 1st night. The company didn't even contact us. BUYER BEWARE!!!! Tons of other companies! They are all doing pretty much the same thing! CHOOSE ONE OF THEM!!! read more

We booked two outings with them and both were spot on. First was the ghost tour that goes into the vaults. Our guide was a really great girl with fiery red dreadlocks and excellent at storytelling. Secondly was a day trip to the William Wallace Memorial where the view from the top was cold and windy but fantastic! Then off to the Famous Grouse distillery which was awesome! Tried Haggis for the first time in the cafe and loved it! The staff was great and our guide, Jaime, was animated, well informed and a perfect host! The next stops included a spectacular cathedral and park-both excellent! The last stop of the day was the Forth bridge. I would highly recommend Jamie and would definitely take other tours as well! read more

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Just got back to the States after a fantastic vacation. Took Highland Explorer tours for a Outlander trip from Edinburgh to Inverness. Our guide Kirsty was amazing, took us on the usual stops and also some hidden gems. We even got to feed the hairy coos!! Definitely recommend this tour and especially Kirsty!!! Mike and Katie read more

My fiancé and I booked the 5 day tour and had a great time. Lee, our guide, was knowledgeable, friendly, and very helpful with recommendations. The sites we visited were beautiful! It's a great way to make the most out of your trip. I would highly recommend this tour! My only suggestion is to add the castle to the lochness tour. read more

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Alnwick Castle (AKA Hogwart's) was great. And my tour guide / driver Caitlin was delightful! Wear good walking shoes for the cobblestones.

If you are a visitor to the beautiful City of Edinburgh then I would really advise you to make the very most of your time here and take a look at what Highland Explorer Tours have to offer. In the prime location of the Royal Mile, this place is hard to miss so pop in and have a browse of the fab tours you can take with the company. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to go on one yet but my Dad did and he raves about it all the time! He actually took one of their extended tours, a two day excursion to Loch Lomand with a friend. The prices were more than fair; my Dad paid around £70 for the short break and that was everything included. Highlights were a boat tour on the Loch for some Nessie Spotting and a quick stop at Glencoe, the holiday home of The Broons and Oor Wuillie! Other tours include a five day Skye and West Coast tour, and lots of one day excursions including the Loch Ness Explorer and a trip to the Highland Games. Worth checking out to really make the most of a visit to Scotland. read more

Highland Explorer Tours - Tours Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

We just finished a 3 day Highlands, Skye and Jacobite Steam Train tour and it was amazing. To really appreciate Scotland you have to get to the highlands and to Skye. It's like no place you've ever seen. Our guide was Tony and he was amazing. He had, honestly, 3 full days of stories for everywhere we went. He's a proud Scotsman and very knowledgable about all the ins and outs of the highlands and the isles. I went with my dad and nephew so age range from 67 to 17 and everyone was engaged. If you can jump on one of his tours you won't be disappointed, however, taking any tour up there will not disappoint. 3 days is the perfect time as well. I'm not sure how some have day trips to Skye but you couldn't possibly seen anywhere near the best of it. Regardless... Get after it! You'll love it. read more

I have been very fortunate on all the tours that I've taken during this trip and this one was no exception. I wanted to take in the highlands, the lowlands, and search for Nessie and found a suitable trip through this company. Kirsty was our tour guide and did such a fantastic job. She made a playlist that was full of great Scottish songs and had a few rock songs thrown in to keep things poppin. I really enjoyed her commentary throughout the trip with the stories and background information on all things Scottish. It was a 12 hour trip and didn't seem like that at all. When we got to Loch Ness those of us on the boat trip exited first to get on the boat and claim our spots. I really enjoyed the opportunity to travel from Edinburgh to Glen Coe and all the surrounding areas of the highlands, watching sheep and cows grazing through fields of the lowlands, and eating a ploughman's sandwich on the boat speeding through Loch Ness. I would highly recommend. Only downside was the meeting area in the morning was a huge clusterf*** of people with very little organization. It was a little difficult finding the right bus to get on after checking in, which was a task in itself. Would recommend to people who want to experience the highland with a chance at spotting Nessie! read more

Today we went on the Loch Ness Explorer tour. Our driver was Ben. He was a wonderful guide. I laughed most of the tour along with finding out some fun new facts, "armed to the teeth" etc. I highly recommend riding with Ben when on this tour. Thank you Ben for a memorable ride around Scotland. read more

I've been to Scotland once before but I didn't get a chance to go to the highlands. I regretted it so much I came back ten years later just to see them. I did the three day highland explorer tour and it was perfect!!! First we had an absolutely stunning drive up to the Isle of Skye, then we got to spend a whole day there. They real key part was our tour driver, Rich. Every corner her had a story ready that was either a bit of personal history like what it's like growing up in a village or a piece of Scottish history or a literal fairy tail. He knew the best spots for pictures that wouldn't be too filled with other tourist and the best places to point us to grab food and beer. On the picture note... one of my friends described one of the shots I took as otherworldly and that was with my phone! I snagged two panoramas that I'm getting framed and I have a stunning shot of me dipping my face into the river Sligachan. If you're visiting Scotland make the time to take a tor if the highlands and I couldn't recommend this one enough. read more

My friends and I each booked a 3-day Isle of Skye tour through Viator that was to take place through Highland Explorer Tours in July 2017. We each needed our own rooms and we booked that option a few months ago. We then received emails from Viator stating that the tour requires double occupancy. I could not get anywhere with Viator customer service as they continued to email and I asked to be called to discuss the specifics and our needs to have individual rooms. They sent me over to Highland Explorer Tours and they were even less accommodating. I understand this was a Viator initial mistake but this is supposed to be a TOUR COMPANY!! They just kept stating I needed to deal with Viator but Viator cannot fix rooms on the back end - that is the tour company's role. I asked to speak to upper management and the rep said they didn't work in that office and said there is another representative trying to deal with this issue with Viator but wouldn't allow me to speak with them either. There are several ways this tour company could have helped us in securing rooms elsewhere as part of this tour but they could have cared less. Management should have called me to resolve this issue. We are all cancelling our tours with Viator and this company. I travel all over the world and it is extremely rare for me to write a negative review. I recommend people use A DIFFERENT TOUR COMPANY as Highland Explorer Tours has shown no interest in their customers and issue resolution. :( read more