Nothing at all, just Scotland is more scenic and Scottish people are on average friendlier than us pricks.
Fuck off, you gobshite! 
(I kid, I kid).
To be fair, I’ve never been to Scotland, and it does look really nice on the telly. To be more fair, I’ve been all around Europe sightseeing and it’s true there isn’t as much of the traditional museum/cathedral/castle kind of thing here as on the Continent or even Britain. IMO, Ireland’s a place for visitors to get “the feel” of the place, rather than seeing specific sights.
I suppose if I only had a week, I’d probably go to just Scotland, too! 
I was being a bit coy because I knew that we would end up in an Ireland vs. Scotland debate 
My wife and I have traveled several times to both countries and enjoyed every trip. But we found the West coast of Scotland (including Oban) to be more scenic and rustic than Ireland. The people in both countries were very friendly.
Having rented a car, we found plenty to do with our time. In Scotland, we took two overnight trips in different directions, visiting Loch Ness and several other sites. Overall, we found it to be cheaper to rent a cottage for a week as a “base of operations” and then lodge two nights in B&Bs. (This was cheaper compared to staying in different hotels or B&Bs for a night or two each.)
As far as miscellaneous advice, be sure to get a feel for how pass-bys work and what is expected from drivers. As has been mentioned, many of the roads are single-lane and you need to understand that one of the two drivers needs to pull into a pass-by when the cars approach each other.
Thanks for those answers to my question about driving on the left, Angel of the Lord and Ximenean. I still don’t think I’d have the nerve to trust myself not to have a momentary lapse of concentration. I can see myself ruining the whole week by lying sleepless each night, worrying about the next day’s drive.
What time of year do you recommend? I’m quite fond of travel in the mid-fall. Not too late for Scotland?
I’d be fine with the driving. Did it in the UK down narrow country lanes in the Cotswolds recently. I’m never more comfortable than behind the wheel of 3500lbs of glass and steel hurtling down the road.
Lookout Scotland! You’ve been warned.
I think Scotland you would want August or September.
We were there the second week of September. One of our side-trips was to Ben Nevis, where it snowed in the afternoon. Overall, I’d characterize the weather that visit as windy, rather than cold. It got cold enough, but an outer shell and an inner liner were adequate.
Driving on the left was initially a challenge, but I had a lot of practice from a visit to Cyprus the year before.
One reason we like to rent a cottage is that it makes it much easier to check out the local markets (as we buy our supplies), find local pubs and restaurants (and return to them), and get to meet people. We rarely go anywhere and stay in a hotel. We stayed in a cottage near Ardfern and made trips to Ben Nevis, Loch Ness, Inverness, Glasgow, etc.
Everyone was great. One thing I could not get enough of was lamb sausage.
Hmmm…I did not mean to imply that we climbed Ben Nevis. I’d be dead and gone if we had tried.
OTOH, if you like to stand on the tops of mountains, Cairngorm Mountain has a nice funicular. And it’s only about 500’ shorter than Ben Nevis.
I can answer in the reverse in that switching to the ‘wrong’ side of the road - in my case in France - is easy as long as you’re driving in the daytime; it’s switching BACK that is hard.
Only very late August. The school holidays start on Fri 6th July and go through to 21st August. Consider also the end of June / start of July.
Not me but my wife. 2002 in Ireland. We started in Shannon and were heading towards Lurgan, Northern Ireland to spend a day or two with a friend. As we were getting close we thought it a good idea to make a phone call to let him know that we were getting near. (We didn’t have a cell phone). “Oh, there’s a place that should have a pay phone” and she promptly and instinctively begins a right turn into the gas station/restaurant. Unfortunately, this entailed crossing the lane of traffic coming in the opposite direction at 40-50 mph. In a moment of self-preservation I grabbed the wheel and turned a bit back to the left. This prevented us from getting hit broadside but we still hit the other guy at a pretty good angle. The front end of our car was trashed and the right side of his car suffered significant damage but no one was hurt. Trying to figure out the pay phone (country code and the Euro coins I was using were completely unfamiliar to me) was a pain. Not to mention it was a Sunday and I had a hard time actually getting in ouch with an actual person. The cops were great and she didn’t even get a ticket. “Why would we give you a ticket? You’ll never pay it and there’s nothing we can do about it.” The other driver was a bit miffed when wifey took the rental company supplied disposable camera out of the glove box and began taking pictures. He thought she was making light of the situation and being a tourist. We explained that this was the intended purpose of the camera and that we had full insurance coverage and he calmed right down. It turns out that he and his wife were on their way to pick up some friends. To celebrate the purchase of his first-ever brand new car. After things got sorted out his parting words were, “Perhaps If I’d bought a red car you would have seen me. Welcome to Ireland!” We were able to rent another car from a different company but the boss was prohibited from driving it for the rest of our trip. The wrecked car had an automatic transmission and the new one was a manual. I’ve been driving a stick my whole life but shifting with my left hand was a bit different.
Aside from all that, renting a car and going where you want, when you want is the only way to go. Every day was an adventure and just parking and walking up that hill for a short hike or stopping into that pub with no schedule to keep made for a very relaxing trip. Scotland is on our list but Ireland was so much fun it will take something special to top it.
If you are near Ben Nevis then Aonach Mòr is only a couple of miles away, and there’s gondolas that’ll take you up a couple of thousand feet.
I’m going to do my own asking of questions in this thread instead of making my own. I’m going to Scotland in April. We already know the route we want to take, Edinburgh to Fort William to Isle of Skye to Inverness.
What’s the weather going to be like in early April? I have looked it up and they said a maximum of 50F, but, how windy will it be? But 50 with no wind is nice, 50 and high winds can be really cold.
I’ve been told we need waterproof boots. We plan on some hiking, but I don’t own any waterproof boots. Are they really needed?
Where’s the best town to stay on Skye? We’ll be there for two nights. We’re not looking for night life, just a nice place to stay and be able to eat and easy access to the rest of the island.
Early April is wildly variable. It’s really quite far north and exposed to whatever the North Atlantic brings. The max temperature of 50F is probably right, but it could snow or be sunny and clear. That’s variable on an hourly basis. It will be windy.
You’ll absolutely need waterproof hiking boots or shoes, and decent layered outdoor wear. Don’t underestimate the challenges of hiking on Skye. To be honest, the fact you asked this question suggests to me that you shouldn’t hike on Skye in early April. Sorry.
Portree is the only settlement that could be called a town (and it’s a nice wee place), but if you find a place to stay outside Portree you’ll be fine. It’s not a large island, and navigating around it in a car is easy and fun.
Brave man.
And back to Edinburgh? Take the A96 and A90 back rather than the A9 for nice round trip. The daffodils will be out in full force in Aberdeen.
As Baron Greenback said, the weather is highly variable. And I’m on the sheltered east coast!
Yes. And get good boots and break them in before coming. How experienced at hiking are you? Even on a good day, I would not recommend hiking in the Cairngorms in April for the less than expert. By all means, go for walks round the villages.
Last year, I attended a talk given by Mario Di Maio, the former leader of the Aberdeen mountain rescue team. He said that far too many people underestimate the terrain and twisted ankles are very common.
Well, Ireland must have absolutely brilliant PR, cos I’m sure you have got everyone convinced that Ireland is extremely scenic, friendly, and all sorts of good.
Well, you could look for the Loch Ness monster. If interested in prehistoric bits and pieces, Clava Cairns = 4000years old, v.impressive and near Inverness. Clava Cairns Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland
It’s the wrong time of night here for proper thinking, so I hope to return to this. I hope you’ll have a great time anyway.
Well I’ve never been to Ireland although my half my heritage is Irish but I did go with my wife to Scotland last year for 6 days in August. She had actually been there closer to 3 weeks total since her bagpipe band was competing in the world championship in Glasgow on August 12th. So she came early to practice with her band and see at least one people she knew over there since she had done a semester at Strathclyde university back in 2001.
I came over on the 11th from Dulles to Heathrow to Glasgow. So I went with my wife and her band to the bagpipe championship on Saturday the 12th which was fun and interesting. Sunday and Monday were sightseeing days in Glasgow and we went to see the Modern Art Museum and the cathedral and Necropolis. Also went over to Kelvinsgrove museum (half art/half natural history) by the nice little Glasgow subway.
Tuesday we took the train over to Edinburgh and did the bus tour, ate at the world’s older continuously operating pub and the Land’s end pub later along with seeing the Edinburgh castle – plus it was the only day we were there is was bright blue sky with not even a threat of rain!
Wednesday we checked out of our hotel and got a rental car. I drove and I was nervous at first but once I was out of Glasgow there isn’t much traffic and people are pretty cool with things. The only thing that was a big headache is most places have tiny parking lots and parking spaces which made things tight even though I was only driving a mazda3. I was only driving for two days but when I was going to turn or do things I tended to say them out loud to make sure I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I think just one time I ended up on the wrong side of the road in a small town and there wasn’t any traffic around so I just pulled out from the right into the correct left side of the road.
We drove mostly the A82 up past Lock Lomond and up towards fort Williams and out to the Isle of Skye. We stopped at a waterfalls and in Glencoe and stayed at a bed and breakfast right off of the first turning circle after you get over the bridge onto Skye. The next day we spent on Skye going north to see the fairy pools and getting our time with the one lane roads with passing areas which after a bit I’d had enough of. We wanted to stop at Talisker but didn’t have time but instead went up towards Portree and then made the drive back to Glasgow that night just barely getting our rental car back to Enterprise before they closed. I still remember tearing down the M8 to make it in time! If I had to do it all over again we would definitely have 3 days for a trip up to Skye instead of 2.
So Friday we flew out since I wanted to get home since on Sunday we were driving down to see the solar eclipse. I really enjoyed my trip though and did like driving the 2 days I did but the train and subway and walking got us everywhere else. Some of the touristy sites in August will be very parked up and can be hard to navigate. I got my car stuck at one point and some people helped me to push it free and thankfully nothing damaged since we were north of Portree and trying to get back to Glasgow that day!
Why will I need waterproof boots? I’ve been told all the hikes around the island cross streams and that’s why I need them. I really don’t want to go out and buy new boots for two days of hiking. I’ve never needed them or wanted them in the past. I’ve done plenty of hiking, even in Ireland. I just wanted to know the difference between the two.
No, we’ll be leaving from Inverness. We found a great deal for $600 for round trip leaving from there. It’s going to take 5-6 hours longer, but well worth the far cheaper price.
Whats experienced? I’ve been through Yellowstone, Shenandoah, Appalachian, Croagh Patrick, but I don’t go hiking for days with heavy packs.
As you say, you’ll be crossing streams, but be aware that a lot of the ground you will be covering will be marshy too. Skye doesn’t get a huge amount of snow, but it’s very wet otherwise! If you keep to lower-level trails you’d likely be OK with waterproof walking shoes rather than boots, and they aren’t that expensive.