Edinburgh

Loch Ness and the Scottish Highlands Day Tour from Edinburgh

Name: Loch Ness and the Scottish Highlands Day Tour from Edinburgh
Brand: Gray Line Scotland
SKU: 8750P4
Price: 88.08 USD
Rating: 5.0 (1101 reviews)

Badge of ExcellenceEdinburgh, Scotland

12 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Overview

Marvel at the peaceful majesty of Loch Ness on this 12-hour Scottish Highlands day tour from Edinburgh. Leave Scotland’s busy capital behind and travel deep into the Highlands with a guide. Travel through pretty Kilmahog on route over Rannoch Moor, and enjoy spectacular views over mighty Glen Coe. Spend time at Loch Ness — widely considered Scotland’s most famous lake — and explore Fort Augustus at your leisure. Stop in the pretty Victorian town of Pitlochry, and travel along the banks of Loch Laggan on route back to Edinburgh.

Travel in comfort deep into the Scottish Highlands with a guide
Take in Kilmahog, Rannoch Moor and the magnificent Glen Coe
Enjoy free time in Loch Ness and Fort Augustus to explore at your leisure
Tour includes round-trip travel from Edinburgh

What's Included

Driver/guide
Transport

Gratuities
Hotel drop-off
Boat cruise
Food and drinks

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Apex Waterloo Place Hotel
23-27 Waterloo Pl, Edinburgh EH1 3BG, UK
Our main departure point is outside The Apex Hotel, Waterloo Place. If you wish to request an alternative pickup then please contact us directly at least 24 hours before departure.

Start time

Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.

Opening hours

4/1/2023 - 5/16/2025
Monday - Sunday : 07:00 AM - 07:30 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Glencoe National Nature Reserve

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Rannoch Moor

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Fort Augustus Abbey

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Loch Ness

50 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Scottish Highlands (Pass By)

Pitlochry

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Not wheelchair accessible

Minimum age is 6 years
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 50 travelers

Operated by Gray Line Scotland

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

5.0

1,101 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 1,101 reviews

Perfect

CsillaZsofia_S, May 2024

Brian, our driver was amazing, he was very knowledgeable and funny, I really enjoyed the whole day. :)

Awesome Highlands Tour

Claudette_N, Apr 2024

We had a beautiful day-sunny and warmer than usual. Our bus driver Ian was wonderful. Funny and informative. We traveled to Glencoe and it was so scenic with lochs and moors and mountains. Just beautiful. We took a boat ride on Loch Ness from Fort Augustus looking for Nessie! We ended the trip with a look at the highland cows-“hairy coos” and in the Victorian town of Pitlochry-unfortunately was closed down by the time we got there except for the two ice cream shops selling whisky ice cream. But the Victorian architecture is wonderful to see. A long 12 hour day but well worth it!

Disappointed

Serena_C, Apr 2024

I was expecting a historical day tour not a personal story telling / singing / comedy show day tour. If you like to hear the driver sing for 12h you should do this tour :) I didn't :). Fortunately, the landscape was breathtaking and I had enough battery on my earphones.

Great tour guide - Brendon

Mangs_K, Mar 2024

Great trip. The pick up and the drop-off timings were as mentioned in the tour package. The tour guide Brendon is amazing. Our coach timing was such that at every stopover we were ahead of other coaches which was advantageous for food and toilets to avoid queues. Brendon knew exactly where what attractions were there and made the trip very enjoyable. Thanks.

Good trip to must-see places and value for money.

Emmanuel_T, Jan 2024

(+) Nice and safe driving. Enjoyed stop points, and especially Highlands and Pitlochry. (-) Lunch at McDonalds (despite the change in schedule due to weather, there should be other better places to stop for eating). Too much talkative driver.

Thank you Brendan

Farheen_S, Dec 2023

I travelled with my family for this trip. We fully enjoyed the tour with the our jolly driver Brendan (and not Bob!). His live commentary filled with information made the tour most memorable.

Book directly on Gray Line website with better rate

Shao_N, Dec 2023

Should book the trip directly on Gray Line website with much better rate. Try to avoid winter as the daylight is too short.

Lovely Sightseeing Tour

Lexi_M, Nov 2023

Lovely full day tour with an amazing tour guide. Though it is a very long day of travel through the scenic Scottish Highlands, our guide, Stuart, made sure to keep everyone entertained with his wealth of Scottish history knowledge. Definitely worth the time and money for a full day of sightseeing and the chance to visit so much of a Scotland all in one trip.

Amazing Highlands and Loch Ness experience!

Sabih_A, Nov 2023

Had an absolutely amazing time exploring the Scottish highlands. I only had one day to explore them so seeing this 12 hour tour seemed perfect for me. Our tour guide and bus driver, Brendan, was great at giving us the history of Scotland and keeping the atmosphere lively (I definitely needed that energy as the pickup was at 7am!). We got to see several locations, including the castle where they filmed Game of Thrones and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, glen coe, fort william, Loch Ness, and so much more. The views were stunning and there were chances to alight the coach and take pictures. I got to see deer, wild goats on the banks of the Loch Ness, and highland cattle- my favourite! We were quite lucky as sometimes it's not possible to see highland cattle in November but I mentioned to Brendan that I wanted to see them and so he stopped the bus for us to get out and have a look when the opportunity came, and the snow capped mountains drove the deer down giving us a lucky glimpse to see them too! I'd definitely recommend getting souvenirs in the Loch Ness town as there are plenty of shops to explore. This was overall a great first experience in the highlands and I can't wait to be back! Travelling in Autumn is also a must as the colours are amazing and the skies are clear. Travel tip - sit on the non-driver's side of the bus (both sides has incredible views but the left was better in my opinion).

Brian was really...

Tibor_U, Nov 2023

Brian was really friendly, informative and funny. The route was well designed. Would recommend, cheers.

Loch Ness Adventure

Suzanne_C, Sep 2023

Our bus driver Bobby was very informative and had a great sense of humour. It was good way to capture a small part of beautiful Scotland

Happy and memorable

Racquel_M, Aug 2023

It was fantastic family tour. The driver Brendan was very kind and jolly. We enjoyed inside the coach because of him

Not worth the price

Michelle_G, Aug 2023

Driver was informative but did not understand most of what he said. Nice man but a very scary driver. Drove way too fast on single lane roads in a large bus. Tailgated the cars in front of him. Not worth the price.

Fabulous!

Julie_A, Aug 2023

Really enjoyed this tour and Brian was a terrific and very knowledgeable guide! Highly recommend this tour to see some beautiful parts of Scotland!

Great place, harsh experience

Tapasya_G, Jul 2023

Loch ness is beautiful and memorable. Once thing hurtful is the racism and harsh comments that came by the tour guide. Our guide got restless when asked anything. He was rough and passed some rough comments

Great day trip with Brian as our guide!

Nirav_V, Jul 2023

My family and I had an absolutely fantastic day visiting the Highlands and Loch Ness with Brian! Not easy keeping people entertained the entire day but Brian made it seem effortless with his great stories and information! I highly recommend this day trip and if you can get Brian as your guide, you are in luck!

The Nessie experience.

Sorat_T, Jul 2023

This was such a memorable experience. Our guide, Willie was amazing. He was knowledgeable and entertaining. We made multiple stops for bathrooms and food. Willie will provide you with all the information you need to get around. There was enough time for every stop to get food, go to the bathroom, and most importantly, capture new memories. I highly recommend the boat tour if you’re into history and facts about the Loch. That’s extra, but worth it. If you don’t like boats, there are plenty of places to eat and lots to do while at Loch Ness. Last but not least, on the way back, make sure you save some room for ice cream at the Pitlochry village stop. The whiskey ice cream is awesome. Just make sure you’re punctual. Willie runs a tight ship.

Lack of instructions

Anissa_K, Jun 2023

Didn’t receive email from them as stated in the booking and as a result it made planning more difficult as we were confused about departure instructions, ended up missing the tour. Tour company didn’t refund a penny even though I only asked for a partial refund. They claim they sent instructions though I have screenshots that show nothing sent by them.

Great experince

Ghaith_A, Jun 2023

Great trip and John was informative and told so many interesting and funny stories about the places we visited

Amazing views and informative tour

Michelle_D, Jun 2023

This was a wonderful way to see the highlands and Lochness. I was traveling with my elderly parents so it was a perfect and relaxing way for them to see everything without too much walking. Willie, our tour guide, was amazing! I was so impressed with all the knowledge he shared! I learned a lot of new things and I personally enjoyed his jokes :) I booked this mainly interested in lochness but the highlands and glencoe was really the highlight for us! There’s nothing like it! Absolutely breathtaking

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