6 Day Hebridean Adventure Tour from Edinburgh to Isle of Lewis. Harris, Skye, Mull and Iona

Gearrannan Blackhouse village, Isle of Lewis

7 Ferries / 6 Days /

5 Hebridean Islands

along with the best of the Scottish Highlands!

A fantastic way to see the Highlands and Islands with a 6 Day Tour from Edinburgh.

Inverness
Loch Ness
Urquhart Castle
Stornoway
Calanais Standing Stones
Dun Carloway Broch
Luskentyre
The Quiraing
Kilt Rock
The Cuillin
Isle of Skye Ferry
Tobermory
Iona and Abbey
Oban
Dunstaffnage Castle
Stirling Castle

Tour Highlights

For your private group of up to 5 people.
For a 6th person in your group add £295 on to the Tour Price
Tour price includes a driver/guide, ferry tickets and all taxes.
Prices do not include your accommodation costs, entrance fees and meals.

Private Tour Price - £2325

Accommodation Options:

We recommend that you book accommodation within Inverness (Day 1), Stornoway (Day 2), Portree (Day 3) and Tobermory (Day 4 and 5) to make the most of your trip. We are happy to help with advice on where to stay and eat on your trip.

Ferry Sailings

Ferry sailings are weather permitting but are generally very reliable in the summer months. Please note we cannot be responsible for any accommodation or food costs that may arise in the event of a delay. However we will make every effort to help in the unlikely event of any delays.

This tour includes 7 ferry trips

Ullapool-Stornoway: 2hrs 45m

Tarbert-Uig: 1hr 45m

Armadale-Mallaig: 35m

Corran-Ardgour: 15m

Lochaline-Fishnish: 15m

Iona Pedestrian Ferry: 15m

Craignure-Oban: 45m

Travel Dates:

Please note that the itinerary listed is a guide and may change slightly depending on what day you wish to begin your journey. Any quote will give full details of timings and ferry sailings. Ferry sailings from Ullapool are reduced on a Sunday and depart at different times each day from Tarbert. A winter timetable is also used from late October to March with reduced sailings. We do not recommend this tour over the winter months due to the uncertain weather.

Tour Information

Day 1 Departing Edinburgh we travel north over the Firth of Forth towards the Highlands of Scotland where we stop at the historic village of Dunkeld to enjoy its beautiful setting. As we drive towards the Cairngorm National Park we visit Aviemore, the village at the heart of the Cairngorms for a late lunch. The afternoon takes us towards the mysterious Loch Ness which is overlooked by the ancient ruins of Urquhart Castle. After exploring Urquhart Castle we depart for our evening and overnight stop in Inverness, the “Capital of the Highlands”.

Day 2 An early start as we depart Inverness at 7.30am for the picturesque coastal town of Ullapool for a ferry journey of under 3 hours taking us across the waters to the main town of Stornoway, in Lewis. From there we spend the afternoon exploring the island’s rich history. Foremost on the tour is a visit to the ancient Calanais Standing Stones and the Dun Carolway Broch. Discover Hebridean history with a visit to a traditional blackhouse village at Gearannan and learn about the Gaelic way of life with all its fascinating culture and traditions. Late afternoon sees us returning to Stornoway for our overnight stay.

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Day 3 Departing Stornoway we travel south to the explore the dramatic beauty of the Isle of Harris. Scenically, the Isle of Harris offers a vastly different landscape compared to Lewis, due to its more mountainous and rugged geology. As well as a visit to the southern tip at Rodel and the magnificent medieval church of St Clements, we also stop at (arguably) the most beautiful beach in the Hebrides - Luskentrye! We take the mid-afternoon ferry across from Tarbert to Uig (less than 2 hours). Our late evening drive to Portree takes us down the North East coast visiting the Quiraing, Kilt Rock and the Old Man of Storr before arriving in Portree for our overnight stay. Please note it is a late arrival into Portree, between 7 and 7.30pm.

6 Day Hebridean Adventure Tour

Isle of Lewis, Harris, Skye, Mull and Iona (from Edinburgh)

Day 4 Leaving Portree we journey to Sligachan for a stop to view the stunning Cuillin before continuing on to southern Skye and the Sleat peninsula where we catch the late morning ferry across from the Isle of Skye to Mallaig on the Scottish mainland. After the ferry we stop at Glenfinnan (Harry Potter) viaduct and its Jacobite monument before heading on to Fort William for a mid-afternoon coffee stop. Our second ferry of the day is a short 15 minute crossing to Ardgour. It’s then a great drive through a beautiful and unspoilt part of the country – Morven. Our last ferry of the day is from Lochaline across the Sound of Mull. It’s then just a 30 minute drive to the capital of Mull – Tobermory – where we should arrive by 7pm at the latest.

Day 5 This day is based around visiting the Island of Iona and spending time on the Island. Leaving Tobermory we have an approx 2 hour journey through Mull on the way to Fionnphort where we catch the ferry across to Iona. The ferry only takes 15 minutes (pedestrian ferry only) and generally starts sailing from 10am onwards. We stay on the Isle of Iona for the majority of the day giving you time to explore the Abbey, the museum, the ancient churchyard and the Island itself. Depending on our return time we may have the opportunity to stop at Duart Castle, home of the Clan MacLean on our way back to Tobermory

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Day 6 Our final day begins with a 45 minute ferry crossing from Mull to Oban, a picturesque harbour town. After time to explore and experience the town - maybe take a tour of the famous Oban Malt Whisky Distillery - we leave Oban and take a beautiful journey through the Trossachs with a stop at Callander before we reach our final stop, the magnificent Stirling Castle with its deep rooted links to some of the most important events in Scottish History. We have time to explore the Castle before our return to Edinburgh from our 6 Day Hebridean and Highland Adventure!

We took our second tour with John, a six day tour designed for us. It was amazing, like the most enjoyable history and anthropology course. It was fun, fascinating and in a beautiful place. We did seven ferries, drove over a thousand miles and were never bored, tired or uncomfortable. We are 70 years old and the organization John did was priceless. The pacing perfect. The sights wonderful. We would have never done this on our own. John knows his history, loves Scotland and is so warm and enthusiastic to travel with that we wanted to adopt him. He is professional, dedicated to doing a great job and does on all levels. This was the best trip we have ever done. If there were more stars, this tour would earn them all. A great value. A great journey! Full TripAdvisor Review

Note from John,

This is the most comprehensive tour we offer. It has been designed to let you explore as much as possible of the Highlands and particularly, the Hebridean Islands, in 6 days from Edinburgh. This tour will give you a flavour of these Islands, however we cannot cover all the main sites and attractions - although we give it a really good try! Due to timing issues we only have the evening of Day 3 and the morning of Day 4 on the Isle of Skye so for those looking to see more of Skye then you may wish to consider a specific Isle of Skye Tour.

We always aim to make sure the balance is right between travelling time and time spent outside exploring the sites and attractions. Flexibility is the key on all our private tours and we try and be as flexible as possible about when we stop and where we stop. However, travelling to the islands does present some unavoidable timing issues, particularly for ferries, and as such, on certain days we need to be reasonably time conscious.

This tour was originally designed for Pat and Richard and it worked so well that I decided to make it a permanent tour. Below are their thoughts about the tour, which they shared on TripAdvisor

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