Venture to the far-flung Orkney Islands on a 5-day tour from Edinburgh with 3-star accommodation included, and visit top Highland towns and attractions, too! With a friendly guide, travel through the Highlands, visiting Loch Ness and Glencoe, and pass John o’Groats on route to the stunning Orkney Island archipelago. With Kirkwall (Orkney’s capital) as your base, discover the area’s historical highlights such as Skara Brae, Maeshowe and the Standing Stones of Stenness. On route back to Edinburgh, call in at the 15th-century ruins of Ardvreck Castle and Culloden Moor, an important Jacobite battlefield. Overnight stays in Inverness and Ullapool are included, plus two nights in Kirkwall.
*Tour Price includes entrance to Skara Brae, Maeshowe and Culloden Battlefield.
Posted By : DishAndDelish
We took a 17 day trip to Scotland, Ireland and Isle of Man and choosing this 5 day trip was one of the best things we did. Rabbie's is extremely professional in all aspects. We joined our group in Edinburgh at a central bus location where other groups were joining other tours. (There is paid storage available at the bus depot of you don't want to lug everything on this tour). We met our tourmates (we were 13 people in a 16 passenger luxury Mercedes bus, very comfortable).
We met DONALD, our driver and he was simply the best! Donald asked us if we were all comfortable and we said yes. He said, no "are you comfortable" means "do you need to use the toilet?". From then on, Donald made sure we were always comfortable with frequent rest stops for the next 5 days.
Donald took us through Scotland with lots of insider stories, an exhilarating retelling of Mary, Queen of Scots story, and SO much knowledge! I mentioned to my husband that Donald knows "a lot about a lot". His career history lends itself to so much technical knowledge and we just learned the most interesting things. I realized on this tour how much I just don't know and how glad I was to learn what Donald shared.
Scotland was hit with massive storms on our trip. The tour had to adjust and missed some planned visits unfortunately. Rabbie's stepped up both times. On day one we were unable to drive up the planned way due to flooding and we instead drove up along the river Tay, which was bursting it's banks for the whole drive. (Fascinating to see, since we weren't driving!) Even though it wasn't the normal route north Donald still found us interesting places to visit and was still filled with stories.
Once in Orkney, strong winds (60 mph+) prevented the ferries from crossing and we were stranded there for an additional day. Donald stayed in our B&B (Hildeval and I HIGHLY recommend you request it when you book this tour, the host is a professional working chef (yummy breakfasts!) and the hostess is simply fantastic), so we overheard some of the planning. Rabbie's was so professional. They ensured we had another interesting day on Orkney, seeing things people usually don't have time to see. Donald even bought carrots and we got to feed them to Highland cows (Hairy Coos), which is what I wanted to see the most. We had three extra seats on our bus and Rabbie's arranged for three people from another of their tours to return with us so they could make their next tour on time, the ferry delay was going to cost them their second tour otherwise. So very professional and helpful.
Basically, I would do this tour again in a heartbeat. And since we fell in love with Scotland (a lot of that was due to the exceptional welcome to their beautiful country via this tour), we are planning a second trip and we are doing it with Rabbie's again.
*Note: during our trip we also took a Rabbie's Ireland tour. They're available in 4 countries.
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Posted On : 2023-10-29 11:15:06 
Posted By : Cdn_Classic
Great driver/guide William G. Lots of history. We paid for extra tour attractions and its well worth it. B&B's were great as was the food. Orkey was amazing.
Thank you Rabbies!!
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Posted On : 2023-10-02 12:45:52
Posted By : GwenJPotter
The 5-day North Coast 500 and Orkney bus tour was totally amazing!
Our driver/tour guide, William, was very knowledgeable and friendly and a great driver. His stories from Scottish history, and his own upbringing, were really entertaining and very much appreciated.
A good mix of chat, quiet and Scottish music on the bus.
The B&Bs which had been arranged for us by Rabbies were good quality, with great choices at breakfast. Rooms always spotlessly clean, although some were on the small side, which was a bit tricky for a couple with 2 suitcases. Smaller rooms seems to be the norm and wasn't a big deal for us.
The tour itself covered all the bases - fabulous scenery, great history covering many thousands of years (especially on Orkney) and an attentive and professional driver/guide - everything I'd been looking forward to.
Well worth the money and totally a great experience.
Thank you, William, for going above and beyond to make this a really memorable trip.
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Posted On : 2023-09-29 15:18:01
Posted By : Darlene_W
This was a very good tour . Jim was a great guide, he was very knowledgeable in all areas , We found it amazing how old all the ruins are . Thoroughly enjoyed the tour
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Posted On : 2023-09-18 12:09:54 
Posted By : carlysY6529IZ
The Orkneys are a truly magical place and we were so glad we decided to take this trip with RABBIES. We felt very lucky to have Jim Divine as our driver/tour guide. He was passionate, enthusiastic and you can feel how much he admires and respects his country with his in depth knowledge of history, wildlife and what makes each location unique. RABBIES took the stress out of travelling and we would 100% recommend them for all age groups.
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Posted On : 2023-09-14 15:03:49
Posted By : Sightseer613835
Jim, our tour guide, was fabulous. What a character! He had us chuckling, laughing and thinking about what he said. He truly is a Scotland gem. Thanks Jim and Rabbies for a wonderful trip. More please!
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Posted On : 2023-09-12 15:20:25
Posted By : P4319WQsaraw
Packs in a lot if you have limited time in Scotland. As a solo traveller it was nice to have someone else doing the planning and driving for a change. Jim Divine was a phenomenal guide, always had an answer to my questions and was all around just great to chat with. His extensive knowledge and charisma really made the tour.
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Posted On : 2023-09-10 16:29:47
Posted By : Kathy_S
The guide, Willie, did a fantastic job explaining the history of the sites we saw and was incredibly helpful. The Orkney Islands/Highlands were incredible especially the standing stones. The trip was much more than we expected. Wish we had another day to take more time for the trip down to Ullapool
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Posted On : 2023-09-09 17:07:42
Posted By : Cheryl_E
Visiting the Orkney Islands has been a bucket list item for some time. Thoroughly enjoyed fulfilling same via this Viator/Rabbie's Tours trip. Don, our Rabbie's van driver and guide did a wonderful job getting us there and back to Edinburgh safely and well satisfied re all we have seen and experienced. Don was a master story teller and regaled us throughout with his considerable historical knowledge. He was equally adept at driving us not only on the Orkney Mainland island but equally through the highlands and along Scotland's west coast, wherein we nearly completed the North Coast 500 in its entirety. Kudos to him, Rabbie's Tours and Viator for an all-around superb tour experience and bucket list item checked.
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Posted On : 2023-09-07 21:08:26
Posted By : Helen_T
Sean played great music and told great stories.
Seans knowledge of local history created a memorable trip
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Posted On : 2023-08-25 13:43:58
