Scotland . . .

[Tartan Hiker]

Hamish is right. We were there for 7 days, hit just over half of the sites you list, and still felt rushed.
For example, Edinburgh Castle is at least a full day in itself.

[starbkjrus]

All of the places you list are well worth visiting, but my advice would be not to try to see too much in only ten days! Were I in your shoes, I would focus on just a few places - perhaps a short tour of The Highlands (hire a car for this as public transport is limited) and a few days in Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Covering a lot of ground in a short time means that you'll spend far too much of your holiday travelling, and far too little of it actually seeing anything that you'll remember. Quality rather than quantity every time!

Hamish is right. We were there for 7 days, hit just over half of the sites you list, and still felt rushed.
For example, Edinburgh Castle is at least a full day in itself.

Sage advice those. I originally had that idea for our upcoming trip in June but have been scaling back. Don't want to end up getting home exhausted and remembering the whole trip as a blur. I was over in January for the Ferintosh Burns Weekend in Dumfries and when we go back in June we are going to return to southern Scotland, stay for a few days at Ferintosh and do day trips (Ferintosh is a great B&B and Robertson and Emma are excellent hosts!). Mull of Galloway, Caerlaverock Castle, Drumlanrig Castle, etc. From there to Edinburgh and a few days exploring there. Then home. Still plenty to see and do but a less frenetic pace.

Since I began planning the January and June trips I have bought and read well over a dozen travel guides for Scotland and Great Britain. By far the most practical is Scotland for Dummies. Go buy that book and heed it's advice - you'll be glad you did.

BTW - August is Festival Season in Edinburgh and will be VERY crowded. Book early (like last month) and expect huge crowds at everything.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!