April 2019 trip - Flying into Inverness - Looking for Recommendations

[chrisisoutrunning]

I just booked a cheap flight from the US to Inverness and I'm curious how others would handle my essentially blank slate.

 

Details

• Flying into INV on Tuesday April 9th at lunch time. Flying back out of INV at lunch time on Monday April 15th.
  
• I'm traveling solo. My wife decided that tagging along on a golf focused trip would cause more headaches back at home than it was worth.
  
• I played Royal Dornoch and TOC on a trip in October of 2017. So while I wouldn't pass up another round on one of those, neither is a must.
  
• I have zero must plays. The closest to a must play at the moment is Brora. I drove up there late in the afternoon after playing RD and, for some reason, immediately regretted not having the time to play.
  

Beyond those, I'm a blank slate. So I could head north... east... I could head over to Aberdeen... Isle of Sky...

 

Basically, if you were in my situation, what wouldn't you miss? Even outside of golf. Places to stay? Eat?

 

I realize that I can easily make it to just about anywhere in Scotland during that window, though would obviously prefer not to have an entire day without getting some golf in.

[Edaw68]

In to hear responses since I'm doing a similar a month later.

[clp34vmp]

I always put in a plug for Castle Stuart anytime I see anything related to Inverness on here. I love that course. About 20 minutes dive from central Inverness.

 

We really enjoyed our couple of days in Inverness. A couple of good places to eat in Inverness are Black Isle Bar, a neat pub/microbrewery with excellent pizza and Cafe One, a very nice place for dinner. The Mustard Seed is a very popular place downtown as well; we tried to get in there but they were full. Looks nice though.

 

Brora and RD are definitely going to be my two must plays the next time I'm lucky enough to be able to make a trip over to Scotland.

[Calliopejuly]

If you are flying to Inverness, Dornoch is so hard to pass up. I’d second Brora and Castle Stuart. And then I’d put in a plug for The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle if you can get on. A totally unique experience and a very good value despite the price tag. Google it.

[chrisisoutrunning]

Regarding Skibo Castle, I took a look at the website for kicks and it appears they only allow public play from May-October. (Not even taking into account whether I would be able to book as a single.)

 

At this point, I'm looking at the following (nothing booked):

• Tuesday - Fly into Inverness, maybe play 9 somewhere like Tarbat before crashing from jet lag
  
• Wednesday - Brora
  
• Thursday - Golspie
  
• Friday - Tain
  
• Saturday/Sunday - Hopefully Nairn, Nairn Dunbar, and Moray Old, but realize I may run into issues getting in a 36 hole day due to club comps
  
• Monday - Castle Stuart as early as possible, fly out
  

Dornoch isn't off the table, but as mentioned, I've played there before, and have so many courses I haven't...

[duffer987]

Nice. Thinking I might be up there next year and would play Dornoch/Brora/Golspie or Tain. Lots of good options up there.

Not that there is anything wrong with golfing, but it'd be worth taking a day or at least an afternoon just to muck about or do some hiking/walking.

John O'Groats would make a nice day trip.

 

But bear in mind April can still be down near freezing overnight and not much over 10c/50f during the day.

[Hawkeye77]

Nice. Thinking I might be up there next year and would play Dornoch/Brora/Golspie or Tain. Lots of good options up there.

Not that there is anything wrong with golfing, but it'd be worth taking a day or at least an afternoon just to muck about or do some hiking/walking.

John O'Groats would make a nice day trip.

 

But bear in mind April can still be down near freezing overnight and not much over 10c/50f during the day.

 

So much worth seeing that isn't golf and again and again, I say do whatever you want on your vacation to everyone.

 

BUT, we planned and mostly did see "stuff" every single day even when golf was on the agenda. We couldn't make a trip up to the far north work and had to cancel a tour of the Orkneys for time purposes, but absolutely would be worth it to me, the scenery up there is stunning in pictures, can't imagine what it would be like in person. Dunrobin Castle and the falconry exhibit in particular was cool, nice little museum in Dornoch, heck just walking around town is neat, driving around the countryside around St. Andrews was fun. Visited Balmoral and Glamis and toured both on the drive down from Dornoch to St. Andrews area.

 

Hiking is the one thing we didn't get done (weather issues and luggage issues day we arrived and next day interfered with planned hiking about Glencoe area), but I completely agree with seeing what you can however you like to see it if you have the chance. We didn't think we'd get to Edinburgh other than the airport, but our 7 hour plus luggage delay had us agreeing to grab a cab and we headed straight to the middle of the city to pass the time and it was great (although because of the high winds, the darn castle was closed to visitors that day) walking around and seeing so many things we wouldn't have seen otherwise (but for me didn't make up for some hiking about the Highlands).

[chrisisoutrunning]

Anyone have any thoughts on how much time to allow to get from Castle Stuart, drop off a car, set of golf clubs, and through security?

 

I can get a 7:50 AM tee time the morning of my flight out, which is at 1:25 PM.

[Hawkeye77]

Airport says be there 2 hours before your flight departs, a three hour round and 30 minute drive is obviously what you need - no way I'd plan on that having to catch an international flight, plus not knowing what may happen on the drive, plus all the other stuff, including security. That seems unlikely. As for what is more likely, hitting the airport less an hour before an International flight and having other crap to do when you get there is asking for trouble. Given the cost of Castle Stuart it seems a waste of a lot of money to rush around (assuming you can even set your own pace given other golfers or adverse weather conditions), but no way to know what that experience is worth to you.

[Calliopejuly]

Depends where you get the car. We rent from Arnold Clark, it’s about 15 minutes from the airport and the same distance from CS. Don’t know if anything is right at the terminal. You need to plan for a bit of extra time potentially at car drop and you never know at those local airports. I think you’ll be cutting that very very tight. I’m an experienced international traveler and I would be stressed by that.

[chrisisoutrunning]

Just to be clear, Castle Stuart is literally two miles from Inverness Airport. It looks like the main "American" rental car companies have drop off at the airport.

[Calliopejuly]

I’m not sure, have always used Arnold Clark. Maybe Enterprise or someone is right there. Make sure you take ‘full cover’ insurance. CS is very close to INV, and is a great track. Good luck and enjoy.

[Hawkeye77]

Just to be clear, Castle Stuart is literally two miles from Inverness Airport. It looks like the main "American" rental car companies have drop off at the airport.

 

Then why ask? Sounds like you've got it figured out and enjoy the round!

 

You need to have the car returned and be at the airport by 11:25, that leaves you a total of 3 1/2 hours to play a round of golf, do whatever you need to do after the round to get ready to go, drive, drop off car (can you just leave it and run? need to wait in a line for some unexpected reason?) and be in the airport, not reasonable. More likely 4 hours planned for golf, 30 minutes planned for everything after and you would expect to present yourself to the airport basically an hour before your international flight. LOL, sounds like the way one (not the other) of my college daughters would plan it and magically it would probably all work out fine. ;-)

[chrisisoutrunning]

I was informed that the 7:50 is the first tee time that morning, so I feel quite safe that I can play in close to three hours (even if paired with someone, at worst I can explain the circumstances and play ahead), put my clubs in the travel bag and make it two miles down the road to the airport in plenty of time to drop off a car and clubs, then get through security.

[Calliopejuly]

Hawkeye is right then, why ask. You seem like you know the answer. Good luck. Hope it works out.

[chrisisoutrunning]

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as dismissive. I didn't find out that the 7:50 was the first tee time until this morning. I figured there would be a couple groups ahead, which obviously changes the scenario, as pace of play is less controllable.

 

The main reason for the question is that I've never flown through Inverness. Flying out of Madison, WI (my typical home airport) is far different than flying out of O'Hare or any other major airport. My assumption is that Inverness is like Madison, if not smaller, and that the small number of flights should mean that dropping off a car (as long as drop off is at the airport), checking my clubs, and getting through security should be in the area of 20-30 minutes instead of 60+ minutes. I wouldn't play any other (18 hole) course that morning other than Castle Stuart due to the proximity to the airport.

[Hawkeye77]

You should do it the way you want.

 

I'm just not going give anything other than conservative suggestions when it comes to anything related to catching a plane in today's world, especially an international flight. I follow airport recommendations. I've gotten through smaller and larger airports in a breeze, I've waited forever and/or encountered long lines with lots of waiting in smaller and larger airports. I suppose someone could say they went through Inverness (I have not) and it was easy, took 25 minutes, etc., but that's one person's experience. I've played golf in Scotland on only one trip. We weren't there in April, we didn't play Castle Stuart. I think planning that you will be done with your round in 3 hours (whether alone or with someone else, why would you think the rest of the course will get out of your way if you want to forge ahead at some faster pace?) is a mistake. Maybe someone that has played there will pipe in and give some helpful ideas on that, but as a planned requirement/with a plane to catch, I think it's a mistake to make a critical assumption you'll get around in 3 hours and if the wind is blowing and it's rainy and cold, that just adds to your complications. Again, it's a steep price to play that course and I have it on good authority it is stunning and worth it, BUT do you want travel concerns to interfere with the experience? Can't answer that for you, only for me. I'm guessing if you could take a later flight you would already have that figured out, it's just too bad that you basically leave right after lunch.

 

Again do what you want, not trying to tell you what to do, just providing my admittedly conservative take on the situation, but I'm not much of a risk taker these days, lol.

[duffer987]

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as dismissive. I didn't find out that the 7:50 was the first tee time until this morning. I figured there would be a couple groups ahead, which obviously changes the scenario, as pace of play is less controllable.

 

The main reason for the question is that I've never flown through Inverness. Flying out of Madison, WI (my typical home airport) is far different than flying out of O'Hare or any other major airport. My assumption is that Inverness is like Madison, if not smaller, and that the small number of flights should mean that dropping off a car (as long as drop off is at the airport), checking my clubs, and getting through security should be in the area of 20-30 minutes instead of 60+ minutes. I wouldn't play any other (18 hole) course that morning other than Castle Stuart due to the proximity to the airport.

I'm assuming you're flying KLM? Do you really have a 20h layover in AMS or it's a different combination of flights out of Inverness?

If you do have a massive layover, you will have an Easyjet to AMS backup later that afternoon.

[Malvern]

I see you potentially have Nairn on the agenda.

 

We were there 2 years ago, boys really enjoyed the course. Have the Cullen Skink before you tee off if the weather is poor.

[davep043]

I see you potentially have Nairn on the agenda.

 

We were there 2 years ago, boys really enjoyed the course. Have the Cullen Skink before you tee off if the weather is poor.

I haven't been to Nairn, but I've enjoyed Cullen Skink every time I've had it.