Planning a private tour of Scotland brings plenty of questions.
When should you visit? How long should you allow? Where should your tour start and finish? What should you budget, and how much can you realistically fit into each day?
Below we’ve answered some of the questions we’re asked most often, based on our experience designing and operating private tours throughout Scotland.
When Is the Best Time to Visit Scotland?
There’s no single best time to visit Scotland — it depends on what you’d like to experience.
May to September are the busiest touring months. Attractions generally operate their full summer schedules, but accommodation, popular experiences and private touring availability can fill well in advance. For tours during these months, we recommend planning as early as possible.
April and October can be excellent shoulder-season months, with fewer visitors while many attractions are still open. October also brings autumn colour across much of the country.
November to March is much quieter. Some castles, distilleries, attractions and more remote accommodation close or operate reduced hours, but the trade-off is considerably fewer visitors. A winter distillery visit, for example, can sometimes feel almost private.
December brings Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations to Scotland’s towns and cities, while January and February offer some of the quietest touring of the year.
Whatever time of year you’re considering, we’ll design your itinerary around what’s realistically open and worthwhile during your visit.
How Many People Can Join a Private Scotland Tour?
Our tours are private, so you’ll only be travelling with the people you choose.
We can arrange tours for couples, families and small groups, with the vehicle selected to suit the size of your party and the amount of luggage you’ll be travelling with.
If you’re planning for a larger group, get in touch and tell us what you have in mind. We’ll advise you on the best way to arrange the tour while keeping the experience personal and comfortable.
Where Can Your Private Scotland Tour Start and Finish?
Almost anywhere in Scotland.
We can arrange your tour around your wider travel plans, collecting you from your hotel, airport, railway station or another agreed location.
Your tour doesn’t need to start and finish in the same place either. You might begin in Edinburgh and finish in Inverness, start in Glasgow and end in Aberdeen, or build the route around wherever you’re travelling next.
Tell us how you’re arriving in Scotland and where you need to be at the end of your tour, and we’ll design the itinerary around it.
How much does a Private Scotland Tour cost?
Every tour is individually designed, so the final price depends on the length of your tour, the size of your group, your itinerary and the experiences you’d like us to arrange.
As a guide, our multi-day private touring currently starts from £995 per day for your group, rather than per person. This includes your private touring vehicle and professional driver-guide, our itinerary planning service and support throughout your trip to Scotland.
Accommodation, meals, attraction entry and other experiences are normally additional, allowing us to recommend options that suit the style and budget of your particular tour.
Once we know when you’re travelling, who’s coming and what you’d like to experience, we can give you a much more meaningful indication of the overall cost.
How Do I Pay for My Scotland Tour?
Once we’ve agreed your tour, we’ll let you know what deposit is required to confirm your booking. For tours booked well in advance, this is usually a relatively small proportion of the overall cost.
We’ll agree the payment schedule with you, with the balance normally paid closer to your travel dates.
Payment can be made securely online by card or by direct bank transfer. Full details are available in our Booking Terms.
Where can we go on Our Scotland Tour?
Pretty much anywhere in Scotland that makes sense for your itinerary.
One of the advantages of a private tour is that we aren’t restricted to fixed routes or scheduled stops. We can combine Scotland’s best-known places with smaller towns, remote landscapes and places that larger tour vehicles simply don’t visit.
That might mean the Highlands and Isle of Skye, Speyside distilleries, the west coast and islands, historic towns and castles, or somewhere that’s important to your own family history.
The important part is making the route realistic. Scotland may look small on a map, but journey times can be deceptive — particularly once you leave the main roads. We’ll help you decide what comfortably fits into the time you have rather than trying to cram too much into each day.
How much luggage can we bring?
That depends on the size of your group and the vehicle you’d prefer for your tour.
Couples often choose one of our smaller touring vehicles for a more comfortable and personal touring experience, but that does mean luggage space is more limited. If you intend travelling with large cases, multiple bags, golf clubs or other bulky items, please let us know when we’re planning your tour so we can confirm an appropriately sized vehicle is available for you.
We’ll help you balance the vehicle you’d prefer with the luggage you need to carry, so there are no surprises when we collect you.
Do we have to Tip in Scotland?
No. Tipping isn’t compulsory in Scotland, but it is customary when you’ve received good service.
In restaurants, around 10% is common when a service charge hasn’t already been added to the bill. You can, of course, leave more if you feel the service has been particularly good.
For other services, including private tour guides, tipping is entirely at your discretion. There is no fixed amount or percentage expected.
What Money do we use in Scotland?
Scotland uses Pounds Sterling (GBP), shown with the £ symbol.
Credit and debit cards are accepted almost everywhere, and contactless payments such as Apple Pay are widely used. American Express is accepted in many places, although not as universally as Visa and Mastercard.
It’s still useful to carry some cash, particularly when travelling in more rural parts of Scotland, but you generally won’t need large amounts. You can also use the ATM here to access more cash should you need it.
If you’re visiting from overseas, we’d normally recommend paying in Pounds Sterling if a card terminal offers you the choice of paying in pounds or your home currency.
Can We Bring Children on Our Scotland Tour?
Absolutely. We welcome families and children of all ages on our private Scotland tours.
Because your tour is designed around your family, we can adjust the pace, journey times and places we visit to make the experience enjoyable for younger travellers as well as the adults.
Where required, we’ll provide appropriate child seats for the vehicle. UK requirements may be different from those in your home country, and as a licensed operator we must comply with the regulations that apply here. Just let us know the ages of your children when we’re planning your tour so we can make the necessary arrangements.
What happens if the Weather is Bad?
Scotland’s weather can be unpredictable, but it very rarely stops us touring.
We design itineraries with enough flexibility to adapt when necessary. If the weather makes a particular route, attraction or activity impractical, your guide can discuss the alternatives with you and adjust the day accordingly.
We recommend bringing a good waterproof outer layer and suitable footwear whatever time of year you visit — sunshine and rain can quite happily appear on the same day in Scotland.
We’ve never had to cancel an entire tour because of the weather, although occasionally we may need to change the plan.
How Flexible Is Our Private Scotland Tour?
Very. That’s one of the main advantages of travelling privately.
Your itinerary gives us the structure for your tour, but it doesn’t mean every day has to run to a rigid timetable. If you’d like to spend longer somewhere, make an unexpected stop or change something along the way, your guide will usually be able to adapt the day with you.
Some parts of your itinerary may be less flexible — particularly pre-booked attractions, distillery experiences, ferries or anything else with a fixed reservation time — and your guide will keep those commitments in mind.
Within the practical limits of the day, we’ll give you as much freedom as possible to enjoy Scotland at your pace.
Who Will Guide Our Private Scotland Tour?
Your driver-guide is a very important part of your Scotland tour.
We choose our guides for their knowledge of Scotland, their experience on the road and, just as importantly, their ability to look after our guests and make the journey enjoyable.
A great guide isn’t simply someone who can recite facts and dates. They need to understand the places you’re visiting, adapt the day as it develops and know when an unexpected stop, a local story or a change of plan will make your experience better.
That’s the standard we expect from the guides who represent Your Scotland Tour.