Open Road Scotland offer a number of shore excursion tours for cruise ship passengers visiting the ports of Greenock, Leith, Rosyth, South Queensferry, and Invergordon. Allow us to take care of your Scottish shore excursion tours requirements and make the best of your time on Scottish soil.
Our dedicated driver guides are experts at offering the best Scottish shore excursion tours and will ensure you have an authentic and hugely enjoyable Scottish experience. Your shore excursion tours will be in our luxury MPV vehicles to ensure you travel in comfort and style while enjoying the sights, scenery and information that your guide will give you. You will learn lots about Scotland and the paces that you visit from our knowledgeable driver/guides. All our shore excursion tours are small groups with a maximum 6 passengers plus driver / guide to ensure an extremely personal experience.
Shore Excursion Tours – Greenock
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle & Best of the Trossachs
One of our most popular one day tours of Scotland. Picking up from Greenock we make our way to Stirling Castle. Stirling Castle is a great symbol of the Scottish wars of independence and a source of national pride. The Castle’s long, turbulent history is associated with great figures from Scotland’s past such as William Wallace and Mary Queen of Scots.
The renaissance palace within the castle itself was built for King James V and his second queen, Mary of Guise. It is one of the most remarkable and complete Renaissance buildings in Britain. As well as a regimental museum and palace gardens there is a huge collection of renaissance artefacts, as well as palace rooms and halls which have played host to royalty and nobility down through the centuries.
Glengoyne Stills
From Stirling we head west into the beautiful Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park which lies on the highland boundary fault line. We will have a lunch stop at one of our favourite “hidden gem” restaurants. You can be guaranteed there will be no large coach parties at this place. From here head over the Dukes Pass to the beautiful town of Aberfoyle at the eastern edge of the Loch Lomond national park. Renowned as one of Britain’s best drives this scenic route takes you through some of the most remarkable landscapes of the Trossachs. Named after the Duke of Montrose, this road was originally built as an access route to the Duke’s land. It was later improved for the tourists who were drawn to the area during Victorian times following the publication of Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem ‘The Lady of the Lake’, which was set around nearby Loch Katrine.
On this tour we also normally include a distillery visit to either Glengoyne Distillery or Auchentoshan Distillery, before our return to Greenock for ship departure.
Inveraray Castle & Loch Lomond
Ben Lomond from Luss
Departing from Greenock we head to the pretty conservation village of Luss on the western shore of Loch Lomond known as the Queen of Scottish Lochs. The pretty houses and beautiful parish church, along with spectacular views across to Ben Lomond, make this a lovely place to spend some time exploring.
From Luss we continue north west through the hills of the Arrochar Alps and onto the loch side town of Inveraray, known as the gateway to Argyll. The town is home to the Duke of Argyll and his magnificent family home, the stately Inveraray Castle. This castle is simply breathtaking. We take time to explore the spectacular castle and gardens. The picturesque town of Inveraray is also our lunch stop and if you like we can take time to explore the town’s wonderful whisky shop which all whisky lovers will appreciate.
From Inveraray we will take a beautiful highland road over to Loch Awe passing Kilchurn castle on the shores of Loch Awe and the mountain peaks of the southern highlands. Our next stop is the wonderful waterfalls at the Falls of Falloch. We then have time for a refreshment at the Drovers Inn which is an ancient coaching inn dating back to 1705. We continue back from here down the north west side of Loch Lomond and back to Greenock to make the required boat departure time.
Shore Excursion Tours – Leith / Rosyth / South Queensferry
St Andrews & Fife Coast
St Andrews Old Course
From your Edinburgh port we travel north over the Forth Road Bridge with the iconic forth Railway bridge in full view. We travel through the rolling Fife countryside and the picturesque market town of Cupar before arriving in St Andrews. Take time to explore the historic town of St Andrews with is lovely cobbled streets and cafes. Enjoy the beautiful beach and for golf fans a visit to the adjacent Old Course is essential. For food lovers we can visit a “hidden gem” farm shop and cafe which sells delicious local artisan produce.
We will leave St Andrews and visit the beautiful coastal villages of Anstruther, Pittenweem and St Monan’s. These were once thriving fishing ports and although the industry is no longer as large they have lost none of their original charm and now thrive as popular holiday destinations. We make a stop in one of the villages for traditional fish and chips from one of the award winning fish and chip shops, before returning to Edinburgh for cruise ship departure..