Many additional questions are answered on our Terms and Conditions page, which you can access here.

Are these tours suitable for non-English speakers? Unfortunately not. We share a great deal of history and information throughout the duration of the tour and having to stop to allow for translation between every few sentences would greatly disrupt the flow of delivery and the experience for the others on the tour. Our scheduled Outlander Tours are for English speakers only. If you would like to book a non-English speaker and translator onto any of our tours then you would need to book a private tour and contact us to discuss this. We are unable to provide translation services ourselves.

Can I bring children on tour with me?

  • Unfortunately not. Our Tours are for adults only aged 16 years or above

Do we work with Travel Agents or 3rd parties? We do not sell via OTAs or work directly with travel agents or third parties. We wish to build a great relationship and enjoy clear communication and a shared understanding with our tour clients. For this reason, if you are working with a travel agent who may be assisting you with flights or aspects of a wider tour agenda, we are happy to provide you with information to assist with this process. We do however, request that all communication goes through the lead tour guest who makes the booking and is attending the tour. This person is likely to communicate on behalf of others in their party.

Can I book a private or custom tour with you? Yes, we are potentially available to offer either our Three or Four Day Outlander Tour or elements of it or our Ten Day Heart of the Highlands Tour when we are not already committed to our scheduled tour dates.

What if I suffer with car/motion/travel sickness? We travel many narrow, undulating and winding roads on our Scheduled Tours.

  • IMPORTANT: If you suffer with significant car/motion/travel sickness, then our Scheduled Tours are NOT suitable for you.
  • We are unable to allocate a certain seat in the minibus to anyone for the duration of the scheduled tours.
  • Just in case someone does feel sick, we do carry sick bags in the minibus. If you do suffer with mild travel/motion sickness, we ask that you ensure you take responsibility for taking motion sickness medication daily and doing all you can to prevent it. Please ensure you purchase your medication before the tour begins, as we won’t be near a pharmacy during most tour days.

Will we have access to toilets (restrooms) regularly? We will have access to toilets (restrooms) at most locations, however, over the duration of the Scheduled Tours, due to the remote locations, there will be occasions when we will have gaps of approximately two hours between toilet/restroom breaks. We travel through many remote Highland locations, so please be aware of this when booking.

I have special requirements – is this tour suitable for me? Our tours are designed for reasonably fit and mobile adults, so if you have special requirements in terms of mobility, balance, hearing impairment, travel sickness or anything else that is not listed here which may affect the tour, then it is essential that you discuss this with us before booking so that we can assess whether this tour is suitable for you.

  • You will need to have a basic level of fitness and fairly good mobility to enjoy this tour. Many of the Outlander locations are old buildings with steep, spiral staircases, cobblestones and very uneven surfaces to walk on. Most of them do not have anything in the way of mobility aids or assistance.
  • If any of the following apply to you, then our guided, scheduled tours are not suitable for you; instead you should consider a private tour which can be adapted to better cater to your needs:
    • have difficulty with balance (especially on steps or uneven surfaces).
    • have difficulty lifting yourself onto a step and into your seat e.g. on our minibus.
    • are awaiting, or recently had, hip or knee replacements.
  • The basic fitness and mobility requirements for you to join and enjoy our tour are as follows:
    • fit enough to walk a mile non-stop at an average pace.
    • able to walk unaided on uneven surfaces and cobblestones.
    • walk up a steep (1 in 3) hill for 100 yards.
    • manage 20 steep steps.
    • able to manage 7,000 to 12,000 steps of walking per day, for the duration of the tour, and still find it enjoyable and not overly tiring.
    • able to lift yourself up onto a step, duck down and easily. manoeuvre yourself into our minibus seats.
      • The step up into the minibus is 14 inches high (35cm, see below).
      • The gap between the step and the top of the door frame is 53″ (135cm); so, it requires you to duck down when you enter and exit e.g. lower your head 19″ (or 48cm) if you are 6ft tall or duck down 10″ (25cm) if you are 5ft 3″ tall.
The doorway, step and space when entering our minibus

What is the Touring vehicle like? You will be enjoying Scotland in a comfortable Mercedes Vito Tourer 8-seater Minibus featuring:

  • Comfort suspension for a smooth ride (over Scotland’s sometimes bumpy roads).
  • Wide passenger door with low (14″ off the ground) entry step.
  • Extra-long wheelbase for more leg space and luggage storage in the trunk/boot.
  • Leather feel ‘comfort’ seats with a generous 18.5 to 19 inch width (47-48cm) and 10 inches (25cm) of knee room in front of the seat.
  • Tinted windows – so while you can see out clearly, no one can see you or any possessions left in the vehicle.
  • Air-conditioning.
  • PA system, so you will be able to hear us speaking with ease.
  • A super sound system so we can enjoy some wonderful Scottish music, including Outlander tracks.
  • Top-quality Michelin Cross-Climate All-Season Tyres which provide excellent safety and performance all year round in Scotland’s varied conditions and roads.
  • Most people find our minibus very comfortable. If you are very tall or have mobility issues, then you may prefer a larger, walk-on 16, 32 or 60-seater bus, as provided by some other tour companies.
Our Mercedes Vito 8-seater touring minibus with extra-long wheelbase, comfort seats and suspension
Wide passenger door with low entry step for ease of entry and exit

How much luggage can the minibus can carry per person?

If you are coming on our Heart of the Highlands Ten Day Tour, we do not carry your luggage, so it is up to you and your airline limits as to how much luggage you bring. You are welcome to bring coats and small rucksacks or bags each day of the tour.

SEVEN DAY OUTLANDER TOURS
Our minibus has an extra-long wheel-base, allowing for a good amount of storage in the trunk/boot. That said, with up to 8 of us on the minibus, we can only accommodate one large and one small piece of baggage per person. Please limit your luggage to the following:

  • One suitcase/rucksack up to 25kg within the following dimensions: 30 x 25 x 11 (inches) or 76 x 63 x 28 (cm).
  • One piece of hand luggage, up to 10kg, within 24 x 16 x 13 (inches) or 60 x 40 x 33 (cm)

If you are bringing more luggage on the Seven Day Outlander Tour, please arrange to store it somewhere while you are on tour with us.

Which Airport should I fly to? For our Seven Day Outlander Tours that start in Dunfermline, Edinburgh Airport is the most convenient to fly in to. From there, the journey into Edinburgh is simple, as is the one from Edinburgh to the initial hotel we use for the tour. You’d check in to the hotel the afternoon before the tour begins. You can also fly to Glasgow, but the journey to the hotel is quite a bit more complicated. So Edinburgh is definitely the best option.

For our tours starting from Inverness, there are different options, including flights trains or coaches/buses. Flying into Edinburgh or Glasgow and then getting the train to Inverness is a good option. There are also flights into Inverness airport (INV) via international hub airports such as Aberdeen (ABZ), Manchester (MAN), London Gatwick (LGW), Heathrow (LHR) Belfast International (BFS), Dublin (DUB) or Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS). You can also catch a train or bus from Aberdeen to Inverness.

Once you have booked a tour with us, we will send you a detailed Information Pack, which provides more information on flights and transfer options. That said, (I) there are many online travel planning tools or (ii) you may be best to seek the help of a travel agent (which we are not).

What is NOT included in my UK hotel that I might have been expecting?

  • A safe for valuables.
  • A telephone in the room.
  • A fridge.
  • Face flannels (not a UK thing, but you can buy them while you are here).
  • Blankets (a duvet is provided with an undersheet, but not an oversheet).
  • Air-conditioning (a fan is available on request).

None of these are standard in UK hotels.

What’s the weather like? In common with the rest of Scotland, Inverness has an oceanic climate. Its sheltered location makes it one of the driest areas in Scotland. That said, Scotland occupies the cooler northern section of Great Britain, so temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the British Isles. Scotland’s climate is actually quite moderate and very changeable, although on occasion we get really hot or really cold weather. As the old Scottish saying goes, ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes!’

Use this link to view the average monthly weather conditions (i.e. temperature, rainfall and sunshine) throughout Scotland.

To check on the current weather conditions, click on the BBC Weather for Inverness.

Here is a link to our daylight hours through the various seasons – https://www.scotlandinfo.eu/daylight-hours-sunrise-and-sunset-times/

What clothes and shoes do I need to bring?

Shoes – ensure you bring comfortable, waterproof, sturdy walking shoes or light walking boots. During your tour, you will be walking on floors built from the 12th century onwards, through graveyards with hidden dips and long wet grass, and many of our locations such as Castle Leoch and Wentworth Prison have very uneven and rocky floors. So comfortable, waterproof walking shoes that fully support your feet and ankles are essential. Please do not wear sandals, plimsolls or wellington boots on tour.

Clothes – we cannot stress highly enough the importance of wearing several layers to keep warm. Bring more layers than you think you’ll need. You’ll be outdoors several times each day. The weather in Scotland is variable – it can be glorious sunshine, or there can be strong winds and rain making it feel extremely cold. You will also be walking up and down several spiral staircases with others behind or in front of you, so trousers would suit the tour better than a skirt. We advise to dress for comfort, so you can enjoy the most from the tour. In the Spring/Autumn (Fall) and Winter, or if you easily suffer from the cold then a hat and gloves is strongly advisable.

Coat – you will need a very warm waterproof and windproof coat, even in the summer. Please note that some of the places that we visit on the tour are high up and exposed. The winds there can be strong. You’ll be outside for up to an hour or more at some locations, so please don’t underestimate the warmth of the layers and coat you’ll need so you can enjoy the locations fully in comfort.  Note: we provide several umbrellas as standard in the minibus in case of rain; however, these cannot be relied upon if it gets too windy.

Will I be given a paper copy of the Tour Itinerary? On the first day of each scheduled tour, we will provide you with a folder detailing a printed copy of the itinerary for each day of the tour. This will include maps showing the route you’ll be traveling each day as well as all the locations you’ll be visiting.

Does each location have a set time for visiting? Every day of the tour is packed full of adventures from beginning to end. Every location has been carefully planned and timed to ensure the whole group gains the most from every place we visit during the location opening times. We will personally be guiding you around all of the locations, but there may be times when you decide to go it alone. All we ask is that you return to the minibus at the time specified on arrival so that we can set off on time, allowing the remainder of the day to keep to the planned itinerary. Please note that we will be sharing a great deal of information with you at each location, so if you do decide not to remain with the group, you will be missing that part of the tour which we won’t have time to repeat.

Is lunch included on tour? Lunch is not included. This tour is very much about experiencing as much of Scotland as you can during your seven days with us, as opposed to a culinary experience. Therefore, on five of the seven days, we stop at a supermarket for our group to purchase sandwiches, salads and snacks for lunch, which we enjoy outdoors on picnic tables/benches, along with the hot drinks we provide. We keep a large cool bag in the minibus to store the lunches bought each morning. On the Culloden Day of the tour, Afternoon Tea will be provided at Culloden House (price included). On the final day, you can enjoy a sit-down restaurant lunch at House of Bruar (price not included). If we replaced the five speedier picnic lunches with a restaurant lunch instead, then we’d also need to remove one complete tour location per day to allow enough time for restaurant service during tourist season. This would equate to losing one whole day of tour locations.

Do you provide hot drinks on tour? We most certainly do. We supply a large selection of teas and coffee and we also provide the mugs. We supply a large urn of hot water as standard in the minibus along with sugar and milk and wooden disposable stirring sticks. If you have any special teabags that you particularly like, do feel free to bring them and we can add the hot water. If you prefer to bring your own cup to drink from, then please ensure it’s a thermal leakproof drinking mug with a splash-proof lid and closable sip-hole, especially if you’d like to drink while traveling.

We also supply plenty of shortbread, which our clients absolutely love!

Do you supply water on tour? Yes, we most certainly do. Please bring an easily identifiable refillable water bottle with you. We will refill your water bottle as required throughout the touring day.

Are Admission Fees included? Your admission fees to all locations are included in our scheduled tours. The scheduled Seven Day Outlander Tours also include one Afternoon Tea at Culloden House. Your optional drinks at the Whisky Distillery are NOT included on the Seven Day Outlander tour. However, the gin-tasting experience on the Ten Day Heart of the Highands Tour is included.

Can I charge my phone in the minibus? Yes, you certainly can. Please bring your charging cable with USB connector and you can plug in and charge while we travel between locations. We have enough USB connectors to charge everyone’s phone.

Will Andy be taking photos on the tour? Yes and no. For the remaining Scheduled Seven Day Outlander Tours in 2025, Andy will be taking professional quality photos of you and the group at each location on the tour, but only with your permission. These photos are included as part of our tour contract with clients when the tour is purchased. Every member of the group will be expecting to receive them, and some may not take many photos of their own as they will be relying on the ones we take. Therefore, if you prefer not to be included in any group photos, it is vital that you advise us in advance of any photos being taken. Group photos will be emailed to everyone on the tour in the weeks after the tour has ended. If for any reason you decide that you no longer give permission to be included in any of the group tour photos, then we won’t be in a position not to send them to the other members of the group without breaking our part of the contract with them, which we are not prepared to do. So please ensure you give your full consent to be included in any photos before any are taken by Andy.

From 2026, Andy taking photographs will not be included as part of your tour on our scheduled tours. He will make an extensive set of high-quality, previously taken (by him) ‘stock photos’ of each location.

Do I need travel insurance? YES. It is up to you to ensure that you are fully covered in the event that you need to cancel your tour, or leave the tour early, due to unforeseen circumstances. It is recommended that you purchase travel insurance ‘ASAB‘ – As Soon As Your Tour Is Booked. Please read more on our Terms and Conditions page.

If I have am vegetarian, gluten free or have allergies, will Culloden House cater for this in their Afternoon Tea? Yes, absolutely. Afternoon tea is included on one of the tour days of the Seven Day Outlander Tour and is prepared fresh to order by the Chef every morning. Your Afternoon Tea will be ready and waiting for you on arrival and we will have informed Culloden House of any special dietary requirements well in advance.

Can I do laundry on the tour? This is best done in Inverness on our scheduled tours. For the Seven Day Outlander Tour package, your hotel in Inverness has a Laundrette just a couple of minutes away. They provide a ‘Service Wash’, which means you can leave your laundry with them on the Friday evening and collect your clean clothes on the Saturday evening.

Can I have a Traditional Celtic Handfasting Ceremony on your tour? Yes, you most certainly can. This is offered on our Outlander Tours. It is NOT a religious or legal ceremony, so we offer it free of charge but only to married couples who wish to renew their Wedding Vows and be Handfast whilst in the Highlands. We send you instructions on how to make your Handfasting Cord well in advance, so you can bring this with you on holiday. I also send you the Ceremony in advance so you can make any alternations you wish to. Diane conducts the ceremony, Andy takes photos. This takes place in front of the other tour members and you may ask one of them to film it on your phone if you wish.

Where does the tour finish?
The Seven Day Outlander Tour finishes at Dunkeld & Birnam Train Station just before 3.00pm. From there you’ll be able to catch the train direct into Edinburgh, Edinburgh Airport or Glasgow. We will guide you to how to purchase your train tickets online prior to travel and will wait with you on the train platform and assist you onto the train with your luggage. If you require further accommodation after the tour ends, we strongly advise you to book your additional accommodation in Edinburgh and not in Dunkeld. In the event of a road closure it may be necessary for us to end the tour at an alternative train station, and it would be far easier for you to make your way into Edinburgh from another station, than it would be to find your way to Dunkeld.

For our other scheduled and private tours from Inverness, you will be dropped off at your accommodation mid- to late-afternoon on the final day of your tour.

Can you tell me more about the Past Life Regression? Our Scheduled Seven Day Outlander Tour includes a group Past Life Regression session (PLR) which lasts approximately one hour. Even though it’s included as part of the tour, it is still optional. So if you decide it’s not for you, that is absolutely fine. Past Life Regression is a gentle form of hypnotherapy which will take you into a deeply relaxed place where you can access your past life memories. You will remember the whole experience – it’s not like stage hypnosis. Instead, this is a gentle and relaxing process, which can be quite profound. The session will be held as a group and followed with group discussion. You’re not obliged to discuss any part of your experience with others in the group discussion afterwards unless you choose to. As this session is optional, you don’t have to decide whether you’d like to try it until the day it’s being held, so you have plenty of time to think about it and ask any questions beforehand. We will provide a peaceful environment for your regression to take place if you decide to take part. You can read more about Past Life Regression Hypnotherapy in the below link and you can also listen to a free 20 minute Guided Relaxation Meditation to get a feel for what it will be like: https://outlanderpastlives.com/past-life-regression/

Can I have a past life regression session with Di if I am not on a tour? Yes, you can. Most of Di’s past life regression sessions (PLR) take place over Zoom. Di only offers PLRs between mid-November and March when we are not touring. Please note that Di is not available to discuss PLR via our chat facility. If you have questions about PLR or would like to go on a waiting list for available slots between mid-November and March, then please contact us using the contact us form or via e-mail.

What happens if someone is very negative on the tour? Our aim is to ensure that everyone on the tour (6 guests max) have a fantastic experience in Scotland. We want everyone to have fun, to laugh a lot, to learn loads about Scotland and Scottish history and to enjoy stunning scenery on the journey. For most people coming on this tour it is the holiday of a lifetime and a very special experience. For this reason, we ask that conversation with other tour guests is kept on a positive, fun and light note so that everyone can enjoy the tour as they intended to when they booked. If one or more guests begin to dominate conversation with negative or depressing topics, then we will have no alternative other than to privately ask them to stop. We never intend to upset guests, however, it is our responsibility to ensure that everyone can enjoy the experience they have paid for. We will therefore rely on our tour guests to advise us privately if they are experiencing negativity when we’re not around, so that we can resolve the issue privately and without implicating any other tour guest.