Scottish Highlands Day Trip: Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle

Embark on a thrilling day trip from Edinburgh to the Scottish Highlands. Explore Loch Ness, Glen Coe, and Cairngorms National Park, and uncover the mysteries of the Loch Ness Monster. Discover ancient castles, learn about Scottish history, and capture breathtaking views on this unforgettable adventure!

Duration: 13 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Taste Perthshire - As we head north the first stop of the day is at this charming location nestled in the heart of Perthshire - a wonderful place for a refreshment stop and the chance to meet and feed Highland coo!
  • Cairngorms National Park - Through the Cairngorms and the wild wilderness. The Cairngorms are home to some of the highest peaks…
What's Included
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
  • Local live driver guide who will share stories and history throughout the day
  • Panoramic windows
What's Not Included
  • Food and drinks
  • Loch Ness Cruise & Urquhart Castle Tour, £28 cash
  • Gratuities
  • Children under 3 years not accepted- valid ID may be required at check in
Additional Information

Engage in a tour from Edinburgh that’s packed with breathtaking landscapes, intriguing lore and historical marvels. Venture to the Scottish Highlands, soak in the magnificent scenes of the Cairngorms National Park and embark on a boat tour of the renowned Loch Ness in the hope of spotting the elusive Loch Ness Monster amidst touring the remains of…

Location
1 Parliament Square
Parliament Square
Please check in with Highland Experience staff inside/outside Caffe Nero by 07:45
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(2350 Ratings)
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Edith_d
Jan 6, 2025
Such an amazing... - Such an amazing experience, our tour guides were absolutely amazing. For it being a 12 hour tour it absolutely did not feel long enough 10/10!!
Review provided by Viator
Joshua_c
Jan 5, 2025
This trip is amazing if... - This trip is amazing if you want to see the highlands in a day! The scenery was stunning with snowy covered hills, and had plenty of stops. The guide and driver, Graham, was great and full of knowledge. It is a long day, so be prepared with some snacks/water for the drives. Would highly recommend!
Review provided by Viator
Athul_k
Jan 4, 2025
A day that we will never forget in our life - Wonderful experience with highland experience tours. Went on a one day trip from Edinburgh to loch Ness and Highlands. Amazing beautiful journey well planned and organised. Special thanks to Steven B( please not its B and not A, coz A is supposed to be the bad guy). He is a master of scottish history who knows a story about every single place we travelled through. And the way he told the story made it so intresting.Amazing guide and a great narrator, made this journey special and memorable.
Review provided by Viator
Luis_e
Dec 23, 2024
It’s too long ! You spend... - It’s too long ! You spend most of the day on the bus - we recommend it if you have a day to spend here in Scotland
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Jennifer_w
Nov 30, 2024
Wonderful experience. Great commentary by Jacqueline and Driving by Alan - Driving into the highlands and seeing the mountains. Just beautiful. Being from Canada we have mountains too in British Columbia and Alberta. The Scottish highlands were beautiful in a totally different way.
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Katerinan890
Oct 30, 2024
An amazing day trip! - The Highlands Day Tour was amazing!! Our tour guide/driver, Hugh, was such a friendly guy. He told us lots about the Scottish history and showed us many fantastic locations. The views and scenery were breathtaking! I highly recommend the tour to anyone who is keen to experience the highlands and only has a day to do so.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Relax30041950388
Oct 30, 2024
I recommend this tour for anyone visiting Scotland in few days, you have to see the beauty of highland and loch ness . . - It was memorable day made by jamei our guide tour, the beauty of nature of highland was all the way in our road heading towards north.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Wilsons
Dec 21, 2024
Very Thorough Review - Meetup: pretty self explanatory, check in inside of the cafe Nero and then board. Bus: The bus gets full, so come early to make sure you can sit together. The bus itself is okay, the windows are nice and big to see everything on each side. No bathroom on the bus, but each stop has a clear place to use the restroom. If you want a little more leg room, the last row seems to be bigger than the rest or the one right behind the side exit door. No charger ports on the bus. We did have a problem at first where the speaker wasn’t working, and the guide originally said they wouldn’t fix it until the next stop. That would have been a disaster considering they did get it working a few minutes later and we would have missed so many talking points while leaving the city, I was happy when another passenger went up to talk to them about trying to get the speaker working quicker. Driver: Alex was friendly and efficient, on time to every stop and drove safely. Had minimal but nice interactions with our guide. Guide: I can’t remember her name, I believe it could have been Katherine, but she was so kind and knowledgeable. She told great stories and spoke clearly and not too quickly, but also didn’t drone on. She was very clear about arrival and departure times and let us sleep on the way back. Stops: The bus stopped in front of the three lady mountain peaks for a quick photo op, which I appreciated because it gave us a chance to get off of the bus for a moment and get great photos, and it wasn’t a long stop at all. Super entertaining stories about the history of the highlands as you pass through the national park. There are cute gift shops at each stop before you get to the castle. The castle is incredible and so cool to view. Plenty of time to view it all if you are not disabled in any way (anything that would impair your ability to navigate uneven stone surfaces, stairs, or slick muddy areas). Definitely not wheelchair friendly at all. If you need to walk slowly and carefully for any reason, there is a lot of walking and not many handrails for steadying yourself. Views from the castle are incredible. Kids: there were a few kids on our trip, and let me tell you, they were NOT having a good time. This is definitely a trip for people willing to sit still and listen for a LONG time, and at the actual sightseeing places, I didn’t see anything a young child would enjoy. I would steer clear if your child is too young to understand the history component of the tour, or else they will be bored out of their minds. One kid got carsick and threw up everywhere too. Bring some carsickness stuff in general. Loch Ness: The Loch Ness portion is a boat trip across the lake in a covered boat. We opted to sit in the front outside of the boat, and that is what made it worth it for us. There is a spoken narration as you cross the boat that we honestly did not listen too closely to as we were mainly taking photos and appreciating the lake. The “sonar” part of the boat is this one small screen in the front that you can use as a touchscreen but it doesn’t really work and is super laggy. Even when it does work it’s nothing special. Boat has a bathroom. Try to be one of the first lined up to board in order to get a good spot near a window or outside, or else this definitely wouldn’t be worth it. Do not do the trip if you’re not going to pay for the castle or Loch Ness boat tour. I can’t imagine it would be worth it without these portions, especially because the rain and fog can make viewing the outdoors unpredictable. That being said, we saw incredible waterfalls, rainbows, snow on mountains, and even fighter jets training in the area. “Taste of Perthshire” is underwhelming, it’s just a rest stop with food and very smelly highland cows held in a small pasture in the back. They don’t like to be touched but they are close to the edge of the fence usually so you can get a photo. It’s so muddy and you can’t avoid stepping in the smelly mud so be prepared with shoes. The food inside is basically sold out by the time you get there because it’s late at night and you will not have time to eat at the restaurant, so you have to get quick food at the counter. Ride back is a straight shot and we tried to sleep during it. Our guide played some Scottish music (not too loud) which was cute. Drop off is not in the same location as pickup so be aware. Overall, try to get good legroom (beware if plus size, the seat buckle was eating into my side for part of the trip) and understand what you’re getting into. Don’t bring kids. Don’t do it if you’re not going to get the castle and Nessie tickets. It’s extremely cold. The cow portion is cute but underwhelming in the winter because the first stop has the cows put away. I liked it a lot but if you are not going to be okay with the above don’t go. If you’re over like 6’3 those seats are basically impossible for you unless you go to the back. In the case of the speakers not working, a better choice would have been to go to the middle of the bus and speak loudly to both sides. Her original solution was to just stay at a normal speaking volume in the front of the bus, which made all of us in the back pretty upset. I think I would have had to rate it like 2 stars if they didn’t get that fixed within the first 10 minutes because the whole first few hours of the “guided” portion of the tour would have been completely missed.
Review provided by Viator
Christopher_h
Dec 24, 2024
Highland - It is too rushed with time! Recommend a more flexible tour. The tour guide was great and informative but it felt like every experience of the tour was rushed.
Review provided by Viator
Maria_k
Dec 30, 2024
Disappointment And very rich - I’m so sad for this trip. First of all, I had bought two tickets for me and my girlfriend, but unfortunately almost all the seats were occupied and when I asked, one of the other passengers was moved to another seat so that we could sit together The reaction was completely negative. As a second school, what led me to this result of my evaluation was the rudeness of the driver. The driver was driving too fast at 65 km/h, causing a passenger to vomit and me to feel dizzy. When we remarked to him to drive slower, the driver reacted by telling us that the whole group drives the same way and I asked to sit in the front seat so I could see from the outside and he refused. The trip schedule only had 10-30 minute toilet stops until we reached Lochness lake. We didn't see anything impressive on this trip compared to the price we paid.
Review provided by Viator
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