scotland self driving tours

Scotland is part of the UK, and most visitors now need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in advance of travelling to the UK. The cost of this is only £10 per person and applications can be completed quickly and easily online, or via an app. Approvals take up to 3 days to complete but once approved the ETA will grant travel to the UK for up to 6 months at a time for tourism for the next two years. Find out more here.

Local authorities across Scotland now have the power to introduce a Scottish Visitor Levy, sometimes described as a tourist tax. If you’re planning or have booked a self-driving tour in Scotland. The Scottish Visitor Levy is a locally administered charge applied to overnight accommodation. It is not a single national tax: each council decides whether to introduce it, when it begins, and how it is calculated. Revenue raised is intended to support local infrastructure and services that visitors rely on, from transport and public spaces to destination management.

At present, the only fully approved and timetabled scheme is in Edinburgh.

From 24 July 2026, accommodation providers in Edinburgh will charge:

• 5% of the pre-tax accommodation cost
• Applied per stay, for up to the first five nights
• Paid directly to the accommodation provider, not to your tour operator, who in turn pay this to the local government

The levy applies only to overnight accommodation and is settled locally, usually at check-out.

Find out more

The roads in Scotland are high quality and traffic – outside of rush hour around Glasgow or Edinburgh – is light and drivers are courteous. As you travel along some of the smaller, winding country roads along the coast you may find they are narrow and require you to use passing passes to allow traffic to flow freely. Our tip is to remember that it’s a holiday – take your time, don’t be rushed and use all of the gadgets – like the 360 degree cameras – in your luxury Land Rover to making driving a breeze.

March to October is the best time to visit Scotland. By spring, temperatures average of 6-15°C, although there will still be snow in the mountains. The summer (June-August) is warmest (around 15°C), with extensive daylight hours in July and August. From June, Scotland’s midges make an appearance, lasting through until the end of September although August is the only time they’re really troublesome. Schools break for the summer in July and this is the busiest time of year to travel.

Many sites including hotels – especially those in more rural locations – close for winter from the end of October through to the start of March.

Pack appropriately. It’s a cliche but there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. With the largest boots (trunks to our American friends) our luxury Land Rovers have space for whatever luggage you want to haul so there’s no need to pack light. Every car also comes with a large golf umbrella to handle any unexpected showers. But we encourage our guests to ensure they’re got waterproof and windproof coats and sufficient layers in case it gets chilly. Scotland gets some fantastic weather but it is variable. You may experience some brilliantly mild autumn days in September and October with bright sunshine and reasonable temperatures but equally get a sudden downpour in the height of summer. If travelling in winter, it may snow in mountainous areas as it’s even possible to ski in parts of Scotland. Overall, by most standards Scotland’s weather is mild and temperate but if you pack appropriately you’ll never be disappointed.

The main thing to remember in Scotland – and the rest of the UK – is that we drive on the left and our Land Rovers have steering wheels on the right. Once you’ve got your head around driving on the opposite side of the road, the rest is fairly straightforward. Our routes follow largely scenic roads and sometimes the roads can be narrow or single-track roads (with passing places). Our advice is always to remember that you’re on holiday so relax and take your time. All of our vehicles have automatic gearboxes, reversing cameras and 360 degree cameras making manoeuvring them easy.

If you need to take a ferry we will pre-book the ferry for you and the ticket will be in your app. Most ferries require you to arrive for boarding at least 30 minutes before departure and we recommend 45-60 minutes in case of any unforeseen issues. Sometimes ferries may be cancelled at short notice due to the weather and we will be on hand to assist you in any event.

Whilst we encourage all of our guests to visit one of Scotland’s many whisky distilleries please be careful if you decide to do a tasting. Scotland has a zero tolerance approach to drink driving. Any alcohol impairs driving, but it would be unfair to have a zero limit and therefore the legal limit is 22 microgrammes (mcg) of alcohol in 100 ml of breath compared to 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath (the ‘breath limit’) in England and Wales. All distilleries offering tastings will offer drivers a “take away” sample to enjoy in the comfort and safety of your hotel at the end of the day.

A lot is made of the midges in Scotland. No doubt on a very bad day around lochs, they can be quite the pest but generally if there is any wind at all they will not cause you a major problem and the worst times of day are at dawn and dusk. On a wet or windy day you should not experience much of an inconvenience from midges even in August at the height of the season. If you’re particularly concerned about midges you can purchase midge spray (insect repellant) and even wear some funky headwear rather like a bee-keeper, but in our experience this really isn’t necessary.

If you’re really into off-roading then we really recommend you look to Wales which has some of the finest off-road driving in Europe and we would be delighted to craft you an incredible green lane adventure. In Scotland, the land is all privately owned and therefore there are no public off road tracks that you would find in Wales or England. We can make arrangements for limited off-roading in private estates, or can arrange for you to take a half day off-roading course at the official Land Rover Experience, but in general do not expect much off-roading in Scotland. That said, the on-road driving is great fun and still provides you with the chance to get out in wild and remote countryside.