Highlands Retreat
Self-Drive

This is the Highlands in short form. Your Porsche and a personalised road book are delivered to your Edinburgh hotel, and the next morning you head north. Four driving days take you up through the Cairngorms to Loch Ness, across to the north-west coast at Lochinver, over Bealach na Bà to Applecross and home through Glencoe and the Trossachs.

The hotels are chosen for you and the routes are planned. You drive, and the rest of the day is yours.

The first driving day leaves the city on the Old Military Road and climbs into the Cairngorms on sweeping mountain roads. Stop at Balmoral Castle if you like, take the optional ski lift ride, and pull in for viewpoints and tea and cake. By the afternoon you are on the road to Loch Ness, and the night is at a lochside hotel.

After an easy morning, with Urquhart Castle on the way if you want it, the route cuts west through the middle of the Highlands on lochside roads and mountain passes. Lunch is in Lairg, looking out over Loch Shin. Then comes the coast road to Kylesku Bridge, and a harbour-side lodge at Lochinver with fine dining, open fires and whisky by the fire.

Day four is the big one. You drive south down the coast with the sea beside you, stop in Ullapool and carry on to Applecross for lunch. Then you climb Bealach na Bà, the pass PDDUK calls one of the greatest driving roads in the world, and finish at Eilean Donan Castle, which you may know from James Bond and Highlander. The night is at a lochside mountain hotel with a serious restaurant.

On the last day you drive through Glencoe, seen in Skyfall and Harry Potter, and wind down through Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. The Ben Nevis Distillery, the Glenfinnan Viaduct, the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel are all optional stops. Back in Edinburgh you hand the keys to reception and have a final evening in the city before you leave the next morning.

This is self-guided – there is no lead car or tour guide. The car is a Porsche Boxster or 911, fully insured with a £1,000 refundable deposit and covered by Scottish breakdown cover. You drive from a personalised road book with digital route links and suggestions for attractions and places to eat.

Five nights’ hotel accommodation and five breakfasts are included. PDDUK keeps the hotel names to itself until you book. The £4950 price is for one car with two people sharing.