Ten days in the two great whisky regions of Scotland, three nights in each, and someone else at the wheel on the two big tasting days.
The Whisky Route is a 10-day self-drive tour designed by Nicolas at The Kilted Unicorn, a local Scotland agency in Edinburgh. It gives three nights to Speyside, along the river Spey, and three to Islay, the island of the peated malts, with a night in Oban on the way across and one on Loch Fyne on the way home. Three nights in each leave time to taste without watching the clock.
Whisky and driving do not mix: in Scotland the limit is 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, lower than in England and Wales. So on the two days with the most tastings, a local chauffeur drives you. On the others, the driver asks for a driver's dram to take away. It is about 635 miles from Edinburgh and back, plus the ferry to Islay both ways. We book every night, the car, the crossings, twelve distillery visits and the Speyside Cooperage.
Arrive and settle in. There is no car while you are in Edinburgh: you collect it on the morning of day 2. Walk the Royal Mile and the closes of the Old Town, then end the day in one of the whisky bars on the list in your travel book. A flight of three or four drams tonight is a good way to find out what you like before the distilleries.
Collect the car at Edinburgh Airport and head north through Perthshire and over the Drumochter Pass. Dalwhinnie, one of the highest distilleries in Scotland, stands just beyond it: your tour and tasting are booked, and the driver asks for a sample to take away. Then on by Grantown-on-Spey into Speyside, for three nights by the river.
The car stays parked today. Your chauffeur collects you after breakfast. First a tasting at Aberlour, which has paused its tours while the distillery grows. Then the Speyside Cooperage in Craigellachie, where coopers build and repair casks by hand on the workshop floor below you. Then Glenfiddich in Dufftown, still owned by the family of William Grant, who founded it in 1887. Taste everything.
Up the Spey to Cardhu at Knockando, the spiritual home of Johnnie Walker, then over the hill into Glen Livet. The Glenlivet has been a licensed distillery since 1824 and its tour ends with three drams: the driver takes them home in a sample bottle. From late March to September, Ballindalloch Castle sits between the two, open Sunday to Thursday.
The longest day, and the one with the views. By Grantown and Laggan to Spean Bridge and the Commando Memorial, then past Fort William into Glencoe, the glen of the 1692 massacre. Stop at the Three Sisters viewpoint and walk a little. Oban by late afternoon, a harbour town facing Kerrera and Mull, for one night: eat seafood by the pier.
The Oban distillery stands in the middle of the town, with the hill behind it and the harbour in front. Your morning tour is booked. Then south to Kennacraig on the Kintyre peninsula for the ferry to Port Askaig, just under two hours through the Sound of Islay, with Jura alongside. We book the car on board when you confirm. Bowmore for three nights.
Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg stand within three miles of each other on the Kildalton shore, and they are the peated malts most people cross the water for. Your chauffeur drives, the three tours are booked, and nobody has to choose who stays sober. Lunch at Ardbeg's Old Kiln Café. We put this day on a weekday: outside summer, Ardbeg runs its tours Monday to Friday.
Round the head of Loch Indaal to Bruichladdich, which gives drivers their samples to take away. Then Kilchoman, a farm distillery that grows barley on its own fields, and Machir Bay below it, a long beach facing the Atlantic. Back in Bowmore, the oldest distillery on the island is in the town itself: the driver walks to the last tour of the day and tastes too.
The morning ferry from Port Askaig back to Kennacraig, then north up Loch Fyne to Inveraray, the white-fronted Georgian town the Dukes of Argyll built beside their castle. Oysters at the head of the loch. A ferry can be cancelled in a westerly gale, which is why we never put your flight on the day you leave Islay: this night is the margin.
Over the Rest and Be Thankful pass and down the west shore of Loch Lomond. If your flight leaves late, Glengoyne sits at the foot of the Campsie Fells on the way, a last distillery with the Highland Line running past it: ask for a driver's dram. Hand the car back at Edinburgh Airport.
The route as driven, numbered by overnight stop. Coastline from Natural Earth, roads from OpenStreetMap. Hover a day to find it on the map.
Distances and times come from OpenStreetMap routing and leave out stops. Days 6 and 9 leave out the ferry crossing, just under two hours each way.
Accommodation is 4-star boutique as standard, with restored manors and castle hotels on the upper tiers. Every address is in your travel book rather than on this page: these are small places, and we book them for you.
| Stop | Nights | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | 1 night | Boutique hotel or guest house in the centre |
| Speyside | 3 nights | Country inn or guest house by the Spey |
| Oban | 1 night | Guest house or small hotel above the bay |
| Bowmore, Islay | 3 nights | Guest house or inn in Bowmore |
| Inveraray, Loch Fyne | 1 night | Inn or guest house by the loch |
May, June and September are our favourites: every visitor centre keeps its full hours, the Islay ferry runs its summer timetable, and the roads are quieter than in the school holidays. July and August work too, but they cost more and the Kildalton tours fill early. Ardbeg also stops distilling for a few weeks each summer, from mid-June to mid-July in 2026.
The trip runs all year. From November to March several distilleries shorten their hours or close one or two days a week, so we fix the order of the days around them, and the light is gone by four in the afternoon. We do not run it over Christmas and New Year, when several Islay distilleries close for up to two weeks.
In 2027 the festival runs from 28 April to 3 May: tastings, dinners and warehouse events across Speyside, some at distilleries with no visitor centre. The popular events sell out, so we book the ones you choose when you confirm the trip.
During the island's festival of music and malt, each distillery holds its own open day, with bottlings sold only there. In 2027 it runs from 28 May to 6 June. Rooms on Islay fill very early for those ten days, so tell us at once.
Seasonal extras are not included in the price from which this tour starts: we book them for you and add them to your quote.
You do on seven of the ten days, and on those days the driver does not drink: Scotland's limit is 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, lower than in England and Wales. On day 3 in Speyside and day 7 on Islay, a local chauffeur drives you between three distilleries and everyone tastes. On the other days, the driver asks for a driver's dram, a sample to take away, where the distillery offers one.
By CalMac ferry from Kennacraig, on the Kintyre peninsula, about an hour and twenty minutes south of Oban. The crossing to Port Askaig takes just under two hours. Port Ellen terminal is closed for rebuilding, with reopening planned for 2029, so every sailing currently uses Port Askaig. We book you and the car both ways when you confirm the trip, and the fare is included.
Twelve visits, booked by us: Dalwhinnie, a tasting at Aberlour, Glenfiddich, Cardhu and The Glenlivet in Speyside and on the way there; Oban; Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Bruichladdich, Kilchoman and Bowmore on Islay. The Speyside Cooperage is included too. If a distillery changes its tours before you travel, we book another nearby.
Not well. From Speyside to the Islay ferry is about five hours at the wheel before a two-hour crossing, so a week leaves two nights in each region at most, with half of each stay spent arriving and leaving. Ten days gives three nights in each, a night in Oban to break the journey and a night on Loch Fyne before the flight.
Most of them, with shorter hours. From November to March several close one or two days a week, and Ardbeg runs its tours Monday to Friday only, so we set the order of the days around them. We do not run the tour over Christmas and New Year, when several Islay distilleries close for up to two weeks.
Our whisky day tour leaves Edinburgh with a driver-guide for Glenkinchie, the Lowland distillery in East Lothian, at £650 a party for one to eight travellers. The Whisky Route is a 10-day self-drive tour in the two regions most whisky lovers want to see, Speyside and Islay, with twelve distillery visits booked and a chauffeur on two days.
8 days
Guided
SMWS-led
Speyside · Islay · East Coast · Leith
Private cask samples, meetings with distillers and an Islay warehouse tasting.
From £4,900 per person
Full day
Day tour
Glenkinchie · East Lothian · Edinburgh
Glenkinchie, then a private tasting back in the city.
Flat rate £650 1 to 8 travellers
10 days
Self-drive
Staff pick
Edinburgh · Highland Perthshire · Loch Ness · Skye · Glencoe
Highland Perthshire, Loch Ness, Skye and Glencoe, two nights in each.
From £3,500 per person
