Most of our private tours are run in this Mercedes-Benz 8-seater, a roomy, air-conditioned vehicle. Seating is:
- Double seat beside driver;
- Two rows of triple seats behind driver, with huge legroom and headroom.
The double front seat is not good for two big people but is fine for one up to 5'7" and one taller.
With 5 passengers (or 6 if 2 in front) you all have window seats.
If you do not know your exact route and need help with itinerary design we will normally give you, gratis, one or two e-mails with suggestions. After that fees apply for help with itinerary development. Most of our scheduled tours are available on almost any day of the year as private tours, at the prices noted below. These prices are for 1-8 passengers and are for the vehicle + driver/guide, that is, they are not prices per person! Private tours are also available for larger groups, prices on application:
Orkney day-trip from Inverness, or MegaTour. £ 450 for 1-2 persons (including ferry), then add £ 27 per person up to 8. (Check with us for rates for larger groups.) This trip is not available on public holidays over Christmas and New Year when there is no ferry service.
Orkney Overnighter
This trip is offered in June, July and August. We are sometimes asked if this 2-day Orkney trip - the "Orkney Overnighter" - is available outside these months. Sorry, it isn't - the southbound journey is based on transport services not operated by us and only available in these 3 summer months.
It is possible to have a private 2-day trip to Orkney, from Inverness, at almost any time of year - but it would cost about £ 850. This might be viable for you if you arranged a group of 8 people.
Obviously, on a private tour you can pick any itinerary you wish in the Highlands & islands. Below we give a selection of other day and part-day tours available - click on the link for more information and prices:
Longer tours include the following:
Days of operationAs stated in the introduction, private tours are available almost any day of the year, with the following provisos:
Payment; Conditions
1. An advance payment of £ 100 per day booked is required to secure a trip.
See also (2), below.
If you cancel more than 15 days before the start of the trip, you will receive a refund of £ 50 per day booked. If you cancel within 15 days of the first day you have booked, the full advance payment (of £ 100/day) is forfeit.
2. The above are our basic conditions and requirements for pre-payment. Trips involving ferries may require additional pre-payments; also, if we get demands for bookings on the same days that you request we may request additional advance payment from you.
CRUISE SHIPS - Invergordon
We offer superior private tours for passengers arriving off cruise ships at Invergordon, in the sheltered waters of the Cromarty Firth. We give two sample itineraries below. In the maps Invergordon is at the red flag between a "B817" tag and "Saltburn".
The sample trips we describe below are those we recommend strongly for passengers on ships arriving to Invergordon.
We can also meet cruise ships at Oban; Scrabster; and Ullapool but significant positioning charges then apply, especially in the case of Oban.
We get the impression that many cruises mention "Inverness" for simplicity's sake. Any cruise ship trying to get to Inverness would run aground - they come to INVERGORDON in the Cromarty Firth, "..the finest natural anchorage in the world...." (Winston Churchill). Prices include the placement charge of almost 2 hours for our driver-guide, to and from Invergordon.
Our price for tours out of Invergordon for up to 8 people is a minimum of £ 240 for 5 hours (including positioning/placement charge mentioned above). Add £ 25 for each hour over 5. (Please note that, of every £ 100 you pay us, £ 14.89 goes directly to the rapacious London government as VAT [sales tax]).
One person must make themselves responsible for the entire hire - we will NOT deal with credit cards from a whole bunch of different people.
We run most of our trips in our fleet of small, spacious air-conditioned Mercedes-Benz coaches. Ours are information-led trips, all our guides are keen that you should leave with a better understanding of the area. If economy is a critical factor in your selection of trip you should probably look elsewhere.
Scheduled Tours: Our programme of scheduled tours can be found at Puffin Express - Calendar. In our experience, the hours
of arrival and
departure of cruise ships do not usually let you join our scheduled trips, but you can work this out for yourself, keeping in mind that:
2008 Season
Currently we have a vehicle and driver-guide available for private tours on the dates below:
|
27 April Constellation
9 May Marco Polo
8 June Marco Polo
1 July Amadea
|
4 August 14 August 17 August Saga Ruby 18 August Kristina Regina 29 August
1 September AIDAaura |
4-7 hours; 90 miles
Itinerary. We drive a short distance west from Invergordon and then turn north by the old cattle drovers' route - "The Struie". Wild moorland and, on clear days, spectacular scenery.
We stop at the Shin Falls Visitor Centre - "Harrods in the Highlands" - for coffee and a stroll to the rapids with their leaping salmon. 30-45 minute stop. (SFVC is at the blue flag near Inveran.)
We then continue north and east to Dunrobin
Castle, near to "Backies" on map above. There are four main features here:
Admission fee applies. We suggest at least 2, preferably 3, hours at Dunrobin Castle - the basic bus tour gives you only a little over an hour at this wonderful spot.
Please click here for price.
5-6 hours; 80 miles
We leave Invergordon and drive west. We can visit either the Dalmore or Glen Ord malt whisky distilleries. (Admission fees apply.)
We then continue south and east to Cawdor Castle, famed for its (fictional!) links to MacBeth. Apart from the castle there are extensive gardens and a fine oakwood.
Returning west we can stop at Clava Cairns - most important prehistoric site near Inverness - and Culloden, scene of the last land battle in the British Isles in 1746.
We can fit in a short visit to Loch Ness with this tour.
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