Scotland Travel Agents

My wife and I went to Scotland and Ireland for our 25th wedding anniversary. We were ready to book with a big tour group but wanted something more intimate and tailored to our interests. Aleksandra with KimKim helped us plan a trip based on our interests, took care of the hotels, in-country travel and tickets, and set up guided walking tours. We just had to show up. Aleksandra was very accessible and responsive at all times, even rearranging some scheduled events for us while we were on our vacation. Prior to booking, we exchanged messages and set up a zoom meeting with Aleksandra to get an idea of what our budget would get us, quality of hotels (we decided to spend a little more to get nicer hotels), and what we might like to do/see. Using the app was great. All tickets and confirmations were stored there. We were impressed with all of the hotels Aleksandra booked for us. She also booked pickup from the airport, inter-hotel, hotel-airport, etc. It was worth every penny and we had a wonderful time. We ended up skipping some of the walking tours because we wanted to explore on our own, on our own time. KimKim was most helpful because it seemed overwhelming to book various hotels in different cities, schedule train rides, and schedule/arrange sight-seeing. We would definitely use again if we explore a different country.

I appreciated the planning that went into the trip, and Kate's immediate replies when we had questions/issues during the trip.
Note: the Royal Hotel in Portree was probably "royal" 20 years ago, but now it's a 2-star hotel at best.

We enjoyed the Whiskey Food Tour, but expected going to more than one location and having wine besides whiskey (per the description).

Also liked the app. Used it multiple times a day.

Hotel Reviews

The Royal Hotel Portree

Portree

The pictures we were shown were VERY outdated. The hotel is quite run down.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

East Claremont Guest House

Edinburgh

Each room was cute; had its own theme. The bathrooms were impossibly small. The breakfast was good.

Authenticity & Character

Location

We were approximately a 15 minute walk from Old Town / New Town.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

One of our rooms had a bed that slanted. Bathrooms were hard to navigate for our taller family members.

Avalon

Inverness

Nice, clean rooms. Enjoyed breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

A little off the beaten path, but could walk to town in 20 minutes.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Merchiston Residence

Edinburgh

Nice apartment!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Cleanliness & Comfort

Most comfortable beds that we had for the entire trip. The restrooms were a nice size.

Activity Reviews

Explore Glen Affric, Culloden, and Clava Cairns Tour

Inverness

Our guide Cammy was awesome! She did an incredible job explaining EVERYTHING. Glen Affric is incredibly beautiful!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Edinburgh Old Town Tour

Edinburgh

Stuart was a great tour guide! Funny and informative.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Loch Ness Cruise and Urquhart Castle

Scotland

This was the family's overall pic. It was an enjoyable boat ride to the castle. Appreciated the comedy of the guide on board. The castle is beautiful!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

also loved the bus driver's sense of humor

Transport

Talisker Distillery

Scotland

Didn't do. It would have cost 100 pounds to taxi to and from the distillery from Portree. Would recommend scheduling something else in its place in the future.

Private Scotch Whisky & Artisan Food Tasting Tour

Edinburgh

Joann, our guide, was quite enjoyable and knowledgeable. But disappointed that the "tour" was one restaurant. And disappointed that no wine was available to taste, as indicated in the write-up.

Quality of Experience

add another restaurant, and wine (or update the description to exclude wine)

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Since we only went to one restaurant, not sure why we met where we did, only to walk another 15 minutes to get the restaurant

Rachel went above and beyond. Was such a great trip.

Our trip to Scotland was amazing. Each location was different and beautiful and a good sampling of what we wanted to see in Scotland. Each lodging was also different but also beautiful. From quaint inns to personal cabins to luxurious hotels. We self drove so had a lot of flexible in what we did but the KimKim app was so useful in helping us decide what to do for the day. We did have some preset excursions. The Cairn distillery tour was very good and the Hairy Coo tour was really fun. And the castles....got to see castles in Scotland.

Hotel Reviews

Atholl Arms Hotel

Dunkeld, Perthshire

The Ambassador Hotel

Staff

Very friendly

Bracken Hide Hotel

Portree

Location

Amazing views

Corriegour Lodge Hotel

By Fort William, Letterfinlay

The food was incredible and the owners so accommodating and friendly.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

N°11 Boutique Restaurant and Rooms Hotel

Edinburgh

Staff

Activity Reviews

Highland Coo Tour

Scotland

The Cairn Distillery Tour & Lunch

Scotland

Edinburgh Old Town Tour

Edinburgh

The trip was great. We began our adventure in Edinburgh. The airport pickup was flawless, and the Hoxton was fine except for billing error at checkout. The self-guided tours were great. The Hoxton is at walking distance of the start points for all the self-guided walking tours. The whisky tasting with Joanne was one of the highlights of the trip. She is a sommelier, with extensive whisky knowledge. We had food pairings with the guided whisky tasting. We highly recommend her and we may do in the future a remote (Zoom) whiskey tasting with her.
Next was Stirling which was a nice change in pace after Edinburgh. Our guide for the Stirling Old Town & Castle Private Walking Tour was Donnie. He is retired, lives in Stirling was very knowledgeable about the town history. From Stirling we drove to Inverness which was nice and our accommodations great. Our local guide for the private walking tour was good. We went to famous Hootananny Pub and had dinner and enjoyed live music. The atmosphere was amazing.

The rest of the trip went well except for driving the narrow roads to Portree and back to Glasgow from Fort William. Portree was nice but ourseeightsseing was limited by the seasonal rain.

Overall, excellent trip with outstanding support from Kate (Kateryna Garkavenko). Who helped us plan the trip to Scotland.

Activity Review

Private Scotch Whisky & Artisan Food Tasting Tour

Edinburgh

The whisky and Artisan Food Tasting was one of the highlights of the trip. Joanne, a sommelier, was extremely knowledgeable about whisky, food pairings and the history of Edinburgh. We highly highly recommend this tour with her.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport