One Week in The Isle of Skye

It was our first experience with a guided tour. We didn't know what we could expect.
We came back with wonderful memories. Matt, our guide was marvelous! He always took the time to explain the details of the day, see if it suited everybody. For some attractions he gave an alternative for people who didn't want to join. At check-in in the B&B's he always came in with everybody to be sure that everything was ok with the reservation.
He had a great humor, put on some Scottish music along the journey to really put us in the mood and culture. He has a really good knowledge of his country, its myths and stories, it was a pleasure to listen to him.
The advantage of those small (16) groups is that you really have a contact with each other and you don't have the feeling to blindly follow your guide like small kids.
And of course the views were breath taking, we couldn't have seen all of this on our own. We would definitely recommend Rabbie's tour to anyone.

The tour was comfortably-paced tours and covered most of the best sights around the Isle of Sky. It was better than expected because our guide had us experience bits of local Scottish culture through music and story-telling.

I just got back from a 3 week trip in the UK, where I actually took two Rabbies tours. The Isle of Sky was my first tour with them, and it exceeded my expectations. I really can't say enough about how great the experience was traveling with Rabbies.

One of the things that stood out to me about them, and why I decided to book with them, is the fact that I could make the experience fit my budget.

Rabbies lets you select your desired accommodation style, from hostels all the way up to nice hotels, and then they book it for you. And no meals are included during the trip, which again, for me, worked out really well, because I could seek out meals within my budget.

Our guide, Matthew was fantastic (if a bit of a fast driver!!). He had a great sense of humor, and was enormously knowledgable about the area - providing tons of historical and cultural context to what we were seeing, which was a huge plus for me. He also stopped frequently to let us take photos and stretch our legs.

The group was what really made this trip extra special though. We had travelers from all over the world, and a very wide range of ages. Several single travelers, a few families, and a smattering of couples. Everyone got along famously, and it was a shame we were only together for four days.

I can't wait to take another Rabbies tour when I go back to the UK!

BE WARNED THEY CHARGE 10% CANCELLATION WITH ANY CANCELLATION. We have 7 months before we leave for our trip and just made the reservation less than a week ago and they charged us the 10%. We are planning a 2 and half month backpacking trip and we were trying to plan our activities. We saw good reviews and made a reservation. After a few days we realized our plans had changed and needed to cancel. Even though the website states cancellations are okay they still charge a 10% cancellation fee.

I just want to make sure anyone else who chooses Rabbie´s is aware they will be charged 10% even though it isn´t clear on the website itself. Happy travels.

I've been on two trips with Great Value and loved the experience, however, our last trip has been a NIGHTMARE. From no communication from Great Value, to finding out unknown issues with multiple phone calls with different answers, to having to cancel our trip altogether and only getting half our money back. It has been incredibly frustrating. If we weren't as proactive about calling them 7 different times, we would have ended up in our destination with no rental car or way to get ourselves home, and now we are out almost 2K!

Further explanation:
We booked an Ireland/Scotland trip. We would fly into Edinburgh-spend 3 days then fly over to Dublin-spend 3 days, then fly home out of Dublin.

In the past we have extended our trip to stay a few more days, which is what we did on this planned trip. However, this time we found our own airfare as it was dramatically cheaper than having them book it for us. We were told this was fine and that everything else would be in place and ready for us.

We called back to tell them the new dates and that we would be arriving 3 days earlier, so we would want our rental car earlier and we would pay for the extra days. They told us that was no problem and that we would get a confirmation soon. 10 days went past and we never saw anything from them. We called the rental car agency and they hadn’t heard of us. So, we called Great Value back.

This is where things get really fun…. We were then informed we couldn’t extend our trip and that all our airfare will be canceled. According to them, if we miss the first flight all other flights associated would be canceled by the airline. Which when we asked them to work with the airlines to make sure things wouldn’t get canceled, they said they don’t do that. A travel booking agency doesn’t do that…Seriously?!

So, we have no way to get to Ireland once we get to Scotland. Cool, so we can’t even use the other half of our pre-paid trip. Trying to salvage the trip, we asked if we could use our hotel vouchers in Scotland and just say in Scotland the whole time. We were then told, “no, Ireland vouchers are for Ireland only.” Cool, so we paid 1K each for 3 accommodation vouchers, no flights, and a rental car that they NEVER booked.

Finally, at our wit's end, we asked to cancel. We were then informed that we would only get half our money back and even then, we only get credit back with them... In the end, I’ll never use Great Value again. They are so disorganized, unhelpful, and their customer service is far from friendly when you have a real problem. Seriously, find a different company.

The Scottish Highlands is an incredible place, and there isn't much that can take away from it. Rabbie's 3-day tour to Skye makes the surprisingly far distance manageable, and stops at all of the right places. I particularly like the stop in Pitlochry, which is avoided on other trips. Other great things about the tour include the lodging (my friend I signed up for "hostel" and were put up in a lovely little bed-and-breakfast with a super nice host, other guests had similar experiences!), the bus, which is a spacious and comfortable Mercedes van, the small group size, and the amount of time you are given to explore the many towns and stops along the way. These things definitely helped make the trip wonderful, and are why I loved my journey into the highlands, even in the wind and the pouring rain.

With all that being said, there were two things I wasn't too fond of: the "tour guide", and the fact that no hike is included. Being surrounded by some of the most incredible hiking trails in the world, it would be great if we had the time to do even a 1 or 2-hour loop somewhere. I was itching to get out and actually experience the land, and never really got to beyond climbing the Dun Beag Broch (which was awesome).

The guide also pissed me off. Chick was a charismatic enough guy, definitely very Scottish, but he had next to nothing to offer about the place, historical landmarks, and really anything. We sat for 3 days in a van for hours with this guy, and he not only knew nothing, but happily spouted completely incorrect information. My friend and I, who were studying at the University of Edinburgh, were absolutely appalled at the outlandish "facts" he just made up about just about everything! From absurd statistics like the fact that Scotland runs on 95% wind power (in actually only like 60% is even renewable energy), pointing out castles that and landmarks in Edinburgh that literally weren't what he said they were (he called a random building the Palace of Holyrood, and said Mary Queen of Scots had three children), it was so annoying. I don't know if he was doing it to test us "tourists" and see if we actually knew the truth, or literally did not know, but when other people started asking about basic things later on, he would straight up admit that he didn't know and say he would look it up (he never did). The only thing he really did was preface the Battle of Culloden, telling us he would tell us the story the entire time, and we only actually got to the battleground at the end of the trip.

That was my main issue with Chick, but my friend was also offended by some of his jokes, one was a bit homophobic and others were sexually explicit. I think he was harmless and wasn't hateful or anything, and I wasn't personally bothered, but if you are traveling with children or sensitive to this kind of thing, it may bother you as well.

In conclusion, I was upset with the guide because I expected to learn new information on my tour. Instead, my friend and I would google all the attractions the night ahead and read up so we knew what we were looking at during the tour, and made sure we got correct information.