While in Scotland, one of our top things to do was to see Loch Ness. With a little tooling around online, I found Highland Tours, which offers a variety of single and multi-day tours around Scotland. They had a single day (about 12 hours total) bus tour of Loch Ness and the Highlands, which was perfect for us.
The bus left from Edinburgh, and left right on time. We traveled through a suburban town and eventually onto a main road that lead us up the eastern highlands. This area was mostly covered with green lands, hills, and sheep. Thousands of sheep. We made a stop in a small town where one could get a drink or snack at the local coffee shop, but unfortunately, being a Sunday, the rest of the town was closed. We continued on our tour, eventually stopping at Loch Ness.
Loch Ness was amazing. We had the option of taking a 45 minute cruise on the Loch, which was cold, windy, and amazing. After the cruise, we had plenty of free time to check out the gift shop and have a bite to eat before having to be back on the bus.
The tour then proceeded down through the Western Highlands. There, we saw some of the most dramatic and beautiful landscapes. We stopped at an area called Glencoe, which was quite dreary but breathtaking. We had about 15 minutes on the side of the road just to observe and take pictures of the enormous green hills, rocks and waterfalls.
Because our group was organized an on time returning to the bus after each stop, our tour guide treated us to a couple of extra stops. We stopped at a moving war memorial, a pretty large gift shop, and another rest stop that offered gift shops and places to eat. Our last stop was in Stirling, where we got out of the bus to observe the William Wallace monument. (Side note, the Wallace monument was the one thing I really wanted to see up close and didn't get to do on my trip. Next time, I'll make it!)
The entire bus tour lasted about 12 hours, returning us to Edinburgh in time for a late dinner. It was a great way to see a large portion of Scotland's beautiful landscape in one day, and gave us ideas of where we'd like to re-visit and spend more time when we return. I would recommend this tour group, and would try another one of their one-day tours in the future. read more