McKinlay Kidd Traveller Reviews

From start to finish, it was first rate all the way. All I had to do was sit back and enjoy. The lodgings were just perfect, and the food so wonderfully presented that I took pictures of it to send to my friends in the States. The private tour guides were very friendly and knowledgeable of the area, so it seemed more like traveling with good friends!

Every thing was very well put together and complete. When I arrived at my hotel in Glasgow, I was presented with the complete itinerary and travel vouchers. All I really had to do was sit back and enjoy!

I have long wished to explore the Western Isles - and McKinley Kidd enabled myself and my partner to do this in style. The programme they organised for us enabled us to see as much as possible in a limited timespan, and to enjoy excellent accommodation along with enjoyable walks and views.

McKinley Kidd made it possible to enjoy our holiday to the full; all was superb, from the hired car through the ferries and the accommodation. On the last score, we were so pleased to stay two nights at Lews Castle, only recently open for travellers. It also offered a superb museum, walks and views - we could have stayed so much longer.

We were three nights on Iona, enjoyed the service in the Abbey and meeting members of the Community. Walking north we came to the Bay at the Back of the Ocean and we recall with pleasure its rocks, its solitude and the company only of oyster catchers and great northern divers. We returned to our hotel, the Argyll, which was excellent in its provision, service and location. The Tobermory Hotel on Mull similarly overlooked the water and was similarly friendly and efficient. In the small town shops and restaurants easily met our needs and people were uniformly friendly and helpful. On the mainland we stayed at the Old Pines, Spean Bridge, enjoying the location and the short walks possible from the hotel, whose practical and elegant design was sympathetic to the environment and was complemented by the efficiency and restraint of the management. Finally on Skye we overlooked water and mountains from the Eilean Iarmain Hotel, liked the restaurant and the bar, enjoyed talking to a Gaelic speaker who told us about her life and background, visited the exhibition in the nearby art gallery and bought an original pastel of the Sound of Sleat, which reminds us of how much we enjoyed this short holiday.

McKinlay Kidd responded quickly to our inquiries, provided full and detailed information which was effectively arranged and easy to follow. Communication with them was personal, friendly and efficient. The travel arrangements, involving connections between train, ferry, bus and taxi and the collection of tickets, operated precisely. Itinerary, location and quality of hotels are evidence of their experience and discrimination.

One of our best trips. There are so many wonderful sites of neolithic and bronze age history, and with the dramatic scenery and abundant wildlife it all adds up to a must for people who love to get away to wild, remote places.

McKinlay Kidd made our trip easy. They put together a well balanced trip and organised everything efficiently. They were easy to contact with any queries and sent plenty of useful information prior to our trip.

A self-driving tour from Barra through the Outer Hebrides to Lewis and then returning to the Scottish mainland through Skye. We stayed 2 nights in each of 5 well chosen, and excellent Bed and Breakfast/Hotels. Planning, advice and documentation provided by McKinlay Kidd was exemplary. Well done

A great job, well done. Friendly, helpful and knowledgable.

A five-day stay in Orkney was enough time to begin to appreciate the clarity of the air and water, the friendly and welcoming people and the fascination of Orkney's long history. But five days was also long enough to realise that there is so much more to see and enjoy: we shall be back!

This is the third time we have travelled with McKinlay Kidd - and it's the third time they have arranged an excellent holiday for us. Interesting destinations, individual, comfortable hotels, so many details thought through, unforeseen circumstances dealt with, helpful and knowledgeable people on the end of the phone and e-mail.

It was a road trip along parts of the Atlantic wild. The accommodation, places to visits were beyond our wildest dreams. Everything was booked on our behalf and everything went smoothly

Rob has been amazing, he worked with us to build our dream holiday. We put our trust in him and he did not disappoint in any way.

We had a 10 day mini-tour of Scotland, partly by train, partly self-drive, incorporating, among other things, Skye, Inverness, the Cairngorms and the Trossachs.

Very professional, caring and organised.

We travelled to Scotland by train, picked up a hire car in Inverness and drove to Skye via the bridge. We stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast at Broadford looking over the bay. We visited the Macdonald museum and went to the Sound of Sleat and a boat trip to the Cullins seeing the seals en route. Then it was back to the mainland via lovely beaches to Mull. We stayed in Tobermoray abandoned the car and had a wonderful day tour by minibus seeing Eagles, red deer, hen harrier, hooded crow , buzzards and otter. We had booked to go whale watching on our final day but unfortunately that was cancelled so we walked to local waterfalls and saw some dippers so that was a bonus. A lovely six night holiday. We only touched the surface of exploring the islands and would be very happy to return

Although I first enquired about a holiday in January ,we only had the last week in May available , the holidays were fully booked. The staff searched accommodation ,ferry crossings and car hire and organised a tailor made holiday to mark a special birthday and a wonderful experience of a taste of Skye and Mull.

Glasgow to Fort William to Mallaig to Skye to Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness to Pitlochry to Edinburgh. Fort William to Mallaig by steam train. Generally excellent hotel and dining experiences with Kinloch Lodge, Sleat, Skye and Fonab Castle, Pitlochry being the stars. Trains, ferry and taxi connections all worked as planned. Holiday included personal taxi tours of Skye and around Inverness and a boat trip on Loch Ness.

McInlay Kidd organised the holiday. Hamish was very helpful especially when we chose to reschedule from autumn to spring to avoid potential industrial action on the railways. With only one exception all hotels met our expectations. The taxi connections were punctual and courteous throughout. The only hitch was a cancelled boat trip on Loch Ness which our local taxi driver rescued by getting us onto an alternative company's trip. The strength of the tour operator shows when things don't go to plan and their agents/staff rise to the challenge.