From Windermere, it was time to make my way north – all the way into the Scottish territories! Let me tell you, while the United Kingdom (or what I’ve seen so far) is absolutely amazing – in fact, I’d rank London as one of my top 3 favorite cities… Scotland’s rawness – in its natural beauty, in its history is just unrivaled. I wasn’t sure at first if I should go all the way up to Scotland since it’s pretty far, but I’m super happy I did!

 

Table of Contents

• How to get to Edinburgh from Windermere?
• Loch Ness and Scottish Highlands Tour review
• Was the tour worth it?

How to get to Edinburgh from Windermere?

Thankfully, getting from Windermere to Edinburgh was relatively easy – just 1 train change required, but a total travel time of roughly 3 hours. See below for the details:

• Depart from Windermere at 8:44PM
• Arrive at Edinburgh station at 11:38PM
• Total cost: GBP 10.38 (SO CHEAP!!)

This was my cheapest transport cost! I have no idea why it was so cheap considering it was a pretty long train ride (plus I got reserved seats), but I’m not about to complain!

Loch Ness and Scottish Highlands tour

Let me preface by saying I hadn’t done any research on other Scottish tours (my bad!), but the Scottish Tours Original Loch Ness Tour came well-recommended by my friend, and so off I went! In its entirety, the tour lasts for almost 13 hours! Don’t be shocked though – a huge chunk of that is spent driving around since you’re traversing through the highlands. Thankfully, the scenery is beautiful and ever-changing, else we’d all be pretty damn bored. Likewise, the guide keeps up a pretty lively commentary, coupled with recordings of Scottish history and songs – which added a nice little touch to the entire proceeding

As always, it’s important to get a nice seat, so try to come early and sit in as front as possible, but with a nice window – which will enable you to take photos from inside the bus!

And then from here… keep snapping away!! I’ll stop my commentary and just let you enjoy the photos

Aside from pictures snapped while on the bus, the tour also brings you to Urquhart Castle, as well as a boat ride through the Loch Ness

 

And then from here, back to Edinburgh we go!

Was the tour worth it?

To answer this question, I’d have to break down the cost:

• Bus tour of the Scottish Highlands: GBP 42 (this one’s paid upfront, online)
• Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness boat tour: GBP 19 (this one, you pay on the day itself – to the driver)

In total, I ended up paying GBP 61 for the entire tour… which feels rather astronomical. I think what made me feel a bit unhappy was because I didn’t realize I’d have to pay an additional GBP 19 on the day itself! Apparently, this was all stated when I made the booking (I obviously wasn’t paying much attention), but I’ll be honest… the tour suddenly became a lot pricier and less value for its money because of this. Having said that, I do recommend you go into Urquhart Castle – simply because it’s a marvelous structure, filled with so much history. The Loch Ness boat tour is forgettable, as you really don’t see anything except the lake (they try to provide a commentary but the boat’s speaker was shot)

Don’t get me wrong, GBP 19 for Urquhart Castle + the Loch Ness boat tour is a decent price (and discounted, I checked haha!). I just wish I had known when I made the booking how much the total tour would’ve cost. Maybe then I’d have bothered to make price comparisons with other tour companies

All in all, I feel incredibly blessed to have witnessed firsthand the beauty of the Scottish highlands – not to mention the tales of bravery, loyalty and chivalry of the Scottish clansmen throughout history. I’ll be honest, listening to the tour guide weave the masterful tale of the murder of Clan Macdonald at Glencoe, to the call to battle by Bonnie Prince Charlie, to the funny stories of Rob MacGregor – all of these left me literally alternating between silent laughter at his antics, to silent tears as I felt the pain and frustration of the clans, to silent but immense wonder over the beauty of God’s beautiful creations.

So, would I recommend this tour? I’d recommend you do a Scottish Highlands tour – for sure! (You can forget Loch Ness, haha! Although – fun fact: The Loch Ness depth is well over 1,000 ft, and it has never frozen. Even when the temperature reached -37 deg C, the winter temperature of the lake remained at 2 deg C vs in the summer, it’d be at 5 deg C). Just do a price comparison first, and don’t be foolish like me, read the footnotes so you’d know how much you’d need to pay in total!

 

If you’re interested to read about my 9 day cross-country trip around the United Kingdom, please see below blogs!! 🙂

• Europe: A logistics and travel guide for first-time travelers
• Day 1: What to see and do in Bristol
• Day 2: What to see and do in Stratford-upon-Avon
• Day 3: What to see and do in Windermere
• Day 4: Enjoying the Lake District Tour
• Day 5: Enjoying the Loch Ness and Scottish Highlands tour
• Day 6: What to see and do in Edinburgh
• ++ A Pottertrail walking tour review
• Day 7: A musicals-filled London day
• Day 8: London day trip to Brighton and Seven Sisters
• Day 9: What to see and do in Shoreditch
• ++ Shoreditch Street Art and Graffiti Tour