McKinlay Kidd Traveller Reviews

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.

We spent 3 nights on Mainland Orkney, 3 on Westray and 3 on Rousay. The main sites to visit are prehistoric remains and the other attraction is walking particularly on headlands and watching birds. We found it restful and very interesting.

Very helpful particularly as we were delayed by troubles with BA and they kept in touch and did their best to help.

We went to Northumberland. First few days taking in the history. Our guide,Kevin, dressed in his celtic warrior outfit gave us a very informative tour of Hadrians wall and a museum. He took into consideration 2 older guests which could nt walk too far, and was fun and courteous throughout. Next few days were spent on the coast. we had a fantastic time on a boat trip round the Farne Islands, again the crew were very knowledgeable and still had great enthusiasm in sharing it. We landed on the island and had a great time ducking the terns that were dive bombing us. Great close up view of puffins,eiders etc.

This is the 5th or 6th time we have used them. Always helpful and accommodating. The holidays always live up to their advertisements. They are well organised and efficient in all correspondence, able to adapt the holiday to suit our needs. Accommodation and excursions are always of the highest standard.

This was our fourth visit to Orkney/Shetland and we managed to see several places we hadn't been to before. The highlights perhaps were the West Mainland of Shetland, Northmavine, Lunna, Ninian's Isle and the Bressay/Noss boat trip. In Orkney we had an unforgettable day on the island of Rousay. The chambered cairn at Midhope is not to be missed.

Everything about McKinlay Kidd is efficient - all the arrangements and reservations worked perfectly. No support was required, but it was nice to know it was there just in case.

A self drive holiday through the outer isles with enough time to appreciate the special qualities of each island.

All as promised in the website.