Mar–May
Spring
Long light, thin crowds, and the mountains still hold snow at the top. The best value on this tour by a distance.
The classic
Loch Ness, Glencoe and the Highlands: the classic day trip, hour by hour
One tour on this page has 20,368 reviews — more than any single tour we track anywhere in the world. It leaves Edinburgh at eight in the morning, drives four hundred miles, and puts you back on the Royal Mile after eight at night. This is what happens in between, and who should not book it.
Quick answer
The Loch Ness, Glencoe and Highlands tour runs 12 to 12.5 hours from Edinburgh and costs from $62. It is a coach day: about eight hours moving, four hours stopped. The stops are Loch Ness (roughly two hours, free time), Glencoe with a photo stop under the Three Sisters, and either Fort Augustus or Fort William for lunch. The Loch Ness cruise and Urquhart Castle are almost always extras, bought on the day.
The classic day, at a glance
- Length
- 12–12.5 hoursEdinburgh to Edinburgh
- Departure
- ~08:00central Edinburgh, on foot
- Back by
- ~20:00–20:30the same central point
- Distance
- ~400 milesthere and back
- Moving
- ~8 hoursthis is the honest number
- Loch Ness stop
- ~2 hoursfree time at the water
- Cruise
- Extraabout £20–£25 on the day
- Urquhart Castle
- Extra£14 adult, booked separately
- Most reviewed
- 20,368on $74 — the top listing here
- Cheapest version
- $57same route, smaller operator
The shape of the day
What twelve hours in a coach actually looks like
Four hundred miles, four stops, and one of them is the reason you came.
Nobody sells this tour by its timetable, so here it is.
08:00, Edinburgh. Departure is from a street corner in the city centre, not a terminal. You walk to it. The coach fills in ten minutes and leaves on time, because the day has no slack in it.
08:00–10:00, the road north. Out past the Forth bridges, up through Perthshire, into the mountains at Glencoe or over Drumochter depending on the route the driver takes. Most tours make a comfort stop at about the ninety-minute mark. This first leg is the one people sleep through, and the one where the landscape actually changes fastest.
10:30–11:30, Glencoe. On the northbound run most operators stop here for photographs beneath the Three Sisters — three ridges called Beinn Fhada, Gearr Aonach and Aonach Dubh, with Bidean nam Bian, the highest mountain in Argyll, hidden behind them. The stop is fifteen to twenty-five minutes. It is not a walk; it is a viewpoint and a car park, and it is still the best twenty minutes of the day for a lot of people.
12:30–13:30, lunch. Fort Augustus at the southern end of Loch Ness, or Fort William, depending on the loop. Both are small towns built for exactly this. Lunch is not included on any tour on this page; budget £12–£18.
13:30–15:30, Loch Ness. The long stop. This is where you either take the cruise, or visit Urquhart Castle, or walk the shore and take photographs of water. All three are good; you can comfortably do two.
15:30–20:00, back south. The return runs down the other side of the Great Glen past the Caledonian Canal, through Glencoe again in different light, and along Loch Lomond. There is usually one more comfort stop. In June the whole return is in daylight. In December it is dark by half past three and you see none of it.
Twelve and a half hours is the standard. If that sounds like too much, there is a nine-hour version that stays much closer to Edinburgh.
Compare every day trip→Every trip, current fare
Every tour that runs this route
Twelve listings, cheapest first. The column that matters is Loch Ness: four of these tours reach the loch, and the rest go west to the viaduct or the Outlander locations instead.
| Tour | Length | Price | Loch Ness | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Outlander ExperienceThe Outlander locations, and the cheapest day | 10 h | $47 | No | $4.70 | 4.6 · 2,285 |
| Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glencoe & Fort WilliamThe viaduct and Fort William, rated 4.8 | 12 h | $57 | No | $4.75 | 4.8 · 4,281 |
| Loch Ness, Glencoe & The HighlandsLoch Ness and Glencoe in twelve and a half hours | 12.5 h | $57 | Yes | $4.56 | 4.7 · 2,459 |
| Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glencoe & HighlandsThe viaduct, with the steam train timed in | 12 h | $60 | No | $5.00 | 4.7 · 4,383 |
| Loch Ness, Glencoe & Scottish HighlandsLoch Ness and Glencoe, heavily reviewed | 12.5 h | $62 | Yes | $4.96 | 4.7 · 12,284 |
| Loch Ness, Glencoe, Coos & the HighlandsThe northern route with a stop for the cows | 12.5 h | $70 | Yes | $5.60 | 4.5 · 2,725 |
| Loch Lomond, Stirling Castle & the KelpiesLoch Lomond and the Kelpies in nine hours | 9 h | $73 | No | $8.11 | 4.6 · 2,670 |
| Glenfinnan Viaduct, Glencoe & Highlands DayThe viaduct and Glencoe, 9,171 reviews | 12 h | $73 | No | $6.08 | 4.6 · 9,171 |
| Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Scottish HighlandsThe classic route north, most booked anywhere | 12.5 h | $74 | Yes | $5.92 | 4.6 · 20,368 |
| Outlander Filming Locations ExplorerThe Outlander locations, properly explored | 9 h | $85 | No | $9.44 | 4.7 · 1,560 |
| Outlander Adventure Day with EntryOutlander with the entry tickets included | 8 h | $116 | No | $14.50 | 4.8 · 1,459 |
| 3-Day Isle of Skye and the HighlandsThree days, and the Highlands with time in them | 3 days | $229 | On the way | $7.63 | 4.8 · 2,936 |
Before you book
Seven things to check on the listing, in order
All seven are visible before you pay, and every one of them changes the day.
- Whether Loch Ness is really on it
Several Highlands tours from Edinburgh never reach the loch — they go west to Glenfinnan instead, which is a fine day but a different one. The table above has a Loch Ness column for exactly this reason.
- How long the Loch Ness stop is
Two hours lets you cruise or see the castle. Ninety minutes lets you do one of them at a trot. Anything under an hour is a photo stop with a gift shop attached.
- Whether the cruise is included or extra
On almost every listing here it is an extra, sold on the coach or at the pier for about £20–£25. That is not a trick — it keeps the headline price down — but it does mean the real cost of the day is higher than the ticket.
- Whether Urquhart Castle entry is included
Usually not. Historic Environment Scotland charges £14 for an adult, and you need a timed slot. If a tour includes it, that is worth roughly the price gap between two listings.
- Group size and vehicle
A 16-seat minibus reaches places a 50-seat coach cannot park at, and it moves faster through the stops. It also costs more. Both are on this page.
- The departure time
An 08:00 departure gets to Glencoe before the 09:00 coaches. In July that difference is a clear photograph instead of forty people in it.
- The cancellation terms
Every tour on this page cancels free up to 24 hours before. In winter that matters: if the forecast turns, you can move the day rather than lose it.
The reviews
What twenty thousand reviews actually tell you
A big number means reliable, not magical. Both are useful to know.
The top listing on this page carries 20,368 reviews at 4.6. That is a larger sample than most museums have, and it is worth reading properly rather than treating as a score.
A number that size means the operation is industrial and reliable. The coach leaves on time, the driver has said the same things about the loch four hundred times and says them well, and nothing about the day will surprise anybody. That is the product. It is genuinely good at what it is.
It also means you will not have the road to yourself. In July there are a dozen coaches at the Glencoe viewpoint within the same half hour, because they all left Edinburgh within the same half hour.
The 4.6 rather than 4.8 is almost always the same complaint: the day is long and a lot of it is spent sitting down. That is not a fault in the tour, it is a fault in the geography. Loch Ness is 160 miles from Edinburgh and there is no version of this where you do not drive there.
The higher-rated listings on this page — the 4.8s — are smaller groups going shorter distances. If a score matters to you more than the loch does, book one of those instead.
Season
The same tour in four different seasons
The route never changes. The daylight does, and on a twelve-hour day that is the whole difference.
Jun–Aug
Summer
Light until ten at night, so the whole return leg is scenic. Also the busiest, the priciest, and midges at the water in still weather.
Sep–Oct
Autumn
Colour on the birch and bracken through Glencoe, decent light and half the summer crowd. Many people’s favourite month up here.
Nov–Feb
Winter
Sunrise near nine, dark by half past three. You will do the last three hours in the dark and may see snow on the road. Cheapest, and a real gamble.
Common questions
The classic Highlands day trip, answered
How long is the Loch Ness and Glencoe tour from Edinburgh?
Twelve to twelve and a half hours door to door. It leaves central Edinburgh around 08:00 and returns between 20:00 and 20:30, covering roughly 400 miles.
How much does the Loch Ness and Glencoe tour cost?
From $57 for the cheapest listing that reaches the loch. Add about £20–£25 if you take the cruise and £14 for Urquhart Castle, both of which are usually bought on the day.
Is the Loch Ness cruise included in the tour?
Almost never. On every listing on this page the cruise is an optional extra you buy at the pier or on the coach, which is why the headline prices look low.
How much time do you get at Loch Ness?
About two hours on the standard 12.5-hour tours. That is enough for a 50-minute cruise or a visit to Urquhart Castle, and enough for both only if you move quickly.
Do you stop in Glencoe?
Yes, on every tour that takes the western route. It is a photo stop of fifteen to twenty-five minutes beneath the Three Sisters, not a walk.
Is lunch included?
No. There is a stop of about an hour in Fort Augustus or Fort William, where lunch costs roughly £12–£18.
Is the tour worth it if I only have one day?
Yes, if you accept that eight of the twelve hours are spent moving and that the moving is part of the point. If long coach days are not for you, the nine-hour Loch Lomond and Stirling day covers far less ground and far more comfortably.
Can I cancel?
Yes. Every tour listed on this page can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before departure.
Go deeper
More on the Scottish Highlands
Loch Ness
Loch Ness tours
What the loch is, and what the cruise costs on the day.
GlencoeGlencoe
The valley every tour stops at, and why the road is the point.
The viaductThe Glenfinnan viaduct
Twenty-one arches, a steam train and the 1745 rising.
All day tripsDay tours from Edinburgh
Every direction, compared, from nine hours to three days.
SkyeIsle of Skye
Three days, two nights, and why a day trip cannot do it.
OutlanderOutlander locations
Midhope, Culross and which tours go inside.
