Scotland Cruise Ports — The Complete Shore Excursion Guide

The Ports At A Glance

Invergordon, on the Cromarty Firth, reaches Loch Ness and Inverness in under an hour and is the best Highland access of any Scottish port. Greenock on the Clyde serves Glasgow in 40 minutes, Loch Lomond in 45 and Stirling in an hour. Leith is a city berth 15 minutes from the Royal Mile and gives the longest usable Edinburgh day. South Queensferry is a tender anchorage 30 minutes from Edinburgh but loses two hours to tendering. Rosyth is 40 minutes from Edinburgh across the Forth and opens up Fife. Aberdeen berths in the city with Royal Deeside and Dunnottar within the hour. Dundee has two attractions at the quayside and St Andrews 40 minutes away. Oban and Ullapool are small west coast calls with dramatic landscape close by.

How To Use This Series

Three rules that apply at every Scottish port. First, your usable time is not your call time: subtract disembarkation, tender operations if applicable, and a return cushion of at least an hour. A stated nine hour call is realistically six to seven hours of touring. Second, choose depth over breadth. Two good stops beat five rushed ones, and the photographs are better. Third, tell us your ship, port and dates early, because timed tickets at Edinburgh Castle, Balmoral and the distilleries sell out in July and August. Each port above has a full article in this series with routes, driving times and the return plan. If your cruise calls at several Scottish ports we quote the whole itinerary together.