A European grand tour by yacht. Next stop - Scotland.

Published 06 July 2023

Planning your European grand tour by yacht

Scotland

The Scottish Highlands and Hebrides provide the perfect counterpoint and contrast to the highlights of the Mediterranean. Thus it was for the original grand tourists who travelled north in the wake of the Romantic poets and Queen Victoria to experience for themselves the wild and dramatic landscapes that inspired the works of Wordsworth and Coleridge, Mendelssohn and Sir Walter Scott.

In August, Edinburgh is home to The Fringe, the world's largest performance arts festival

And thus it is today for modern-day grand tourists who come to the Highlands and Hebrides not just for amazing landscapes and seascapes but also for folklore and music, castles and culture, wildlife and walking, fly fishing, deer stalking and grouse shooting, whisky of course, and golf.

Scotland has some beautiful remote beaches, mostly deserted like this one, Balnakeil Beach on the mainland's north coast, just east of Cape Wrath

The isles and sea lochs of Scotland’s west coast are one of the world’s great yachting destinations. On a Scottish yacht charter you’ll be exploring a great swathe of mind-blowing mountain scenery scattered across the sea, with the Western Isles as a breakwater deflecting North Atlantic swell. Summer is short in these latitudes and it comes quite early, so the ideal time for a yacht charter in Scotland is from late May to early July.

Widely admired as one of the world's most beautiful courses, Loch Lomond Golf Course nestles between the loch itself and the undulating peaks of the Trossachs

You could start your Scottish charter cruise in the sheltered Firth of Clyde with the stunningly scenic Kyles of Bute, the jagged mountain peaks of Arran, the whisky Mecca of Campbeltown, the world-class Royal Troon Golf Club and the iconic landscapes of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.

Cut short the commute with a seaplane to your yacht

Alternatively, head straight into the heart of the Highlands and step aboard your charter yacht at Oban, the gateway to the isles. Either way, places to consider when you plan your route include Mendelssohn’s muse, Fingal’s Cave on the Isle of Staffa.

The acoustic effects of the basalt columns that line Fingal's Cave inspired Felix Mendelssohn to write The Hebrides Overture in 1829

Another is the island of Islay, where you can drop anchor right next to the famous whisky distilleries of Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Bowmore and Laphroaig. A spectacular stretch of sheltered water runs north from there to the Gulf of Corryvreckan, famed for marine wildlife and its intense tidal whirlpool.

The setting sun bathes the Isle of Mull in soft evening light

Another must-see is the magnificent Sound of Mull, which leads out past the gorgeous village of Tobermory and into the Hebridean Sea. Passing the lighthouse at Ardnamurchan Point, you enter another, wilder world. Skye and the Small Isles offer magical mountain scenery.

If conditions aren't suited to surfing on Tiree's west coast, there's always enough breeze to kitesurf in and out of Scarinish Bay on the east coast

The dramatic sea lochs of the mainland shore bear hardly a trace of human habitation. Tiree is one of the world’s best surfing spots and the windswept Western Isles, still the hub of old Norse and Scots Gaelic culture, lie out on the far horizon.

A rare dual UNESCO site, for nature and heritage, St Kilda's settlement on the Bay of Hirta was inhabited for 2,000 years until the last 36 islanders found life there unsustainable and left in 1930

For a real adventure – if the weather’s right – you can sail out into the Atlantic, far beyond the Outer Hebrides to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of St Kilda, a unique and amazing place that very few people have ever seen.

Anchored in the calm, clear waters of Loch Scavaig as evening draws in, it's impossible not to appreciate the surrounding magnificence

But you don’t need to venture far to get away from it all. On a charter cruise in Scotland, with literally thousands of anchorages to choose from, it’s easy to find a beautiful, wild and rugged place to watch the evening sun dip into the ocean in splendid isolation.

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