Northern Highland Small Group Tours, Scheduled Tours, Private Trips

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Puffin Express
Tours in the Northern Highlands and Islands featuring
spectacular Scenery, Wildlife, Castles, Prehistoric Sites, and much, much more

In collaboration with Highland Tours we offer small-group tours with a high standard of guidance out of Inverness, capital of the Highlands. Scheduled tours are offered from April to late October each year.
Private trips are available in principle at any time of year.
Please visit our Links Page for information on transport to and accommodation in the Highlands.

GENERAL INFORMATION - Contents

Some FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions]
Practical Information
Guides, Transport, Booking Conditions
Weather and other things...

Weather and other matters
Climate
The popular image of Scotland, and especially the Highlands, is of a wet, cool area. In fact the Moray Firth is one of the sunniest, driest parts of the British Isles; every few years agriculture needs to irrigate here! The west Highlands do tend to be wetter.
An ocean current called the North Atlantic Drift - whose origins are in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where the parent current is called the Gulf Stream - keeps the British Isles milder than most areas of similar latitude in North America or the Continent. The Moray Firth (click here for the location of this great triangular bight) is one of the driest, sunniest areas of the British Isles.
Our climate is rarely very cold in winter, and rarely searingly hot in summer. July and August are the warmest months, with temperatures typically in the 60'sF. Traditionally we believe May and September are the sunniest months. Detailed weather figures are available for Kinloss, an RAF base about 30 miles east of Inverness and enjoying a very similar climate to our city. You may be surprised to learn from this link that we have only about 4" more rain a year than Sacramento, capital of sunny California!
There is no point in pretending that all of the north of Scotland is as balmy as the Moray Firth, so we also include a link to the climate statistics of Stornoway, capital of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Comparing Stornoway's figures with those for Kinloss, you can see the former is significantly wetter; cooler in summer; and gets almost no frost in winter - a typically insular climate. The figures for this site will give a better idea of what you can expect to encounter in Skye or, for that matter, in Orkney.
The above sites are all from The Weather Channel which gives forecasts and statistics from around the world. Though these sites give averages, it is important to note that our weather is extremely variable, and you should have at least one warm sweater in your luggage at all times of year.
Some anecdotal examples of the variability of our weather:

In the summer of 1995 - the first year I lived in Orkney - I wore shorts & short-sleeved shirts for probably 20-30 days during the summer. The following "summer" I went thus attired for a total of 4 days - and on 2 of these I wished I hadn't!

3 April 1974, when I was still working in deer management, I walked a ridge in Wester Ross at 2,000' stripped to the waist - but there are plenty early Aprils when I would have been extremely uncomfortable doing this!

On several afternoons in mid-March 2000 we sat out in our garden here in Inverness enjoying the sun, warmth, and bird-song. A few days later great drops of cold rain were falling, almost but not quite sleet.
Most of our trips involve time at the seaside which tends always to be cooler than adjacent areas inland. Therefore, for all of our trips, at any time of year, you should have a windproof overgarment and a warm sweater or body-warmer type of garment. This particularly applies if you're planning to cross the Pentland Firth to Orkney.

Daylight - latitude
Inverness lies at 57 degrees 29' north of the equator. We don't think this is far north, because we live here; but the fact remains that, for a majority of our visitors, this is the highest latitude they've reached - at least till they go to Orkney with us!
- If you come from the southern hemisphere, you can't live further from the equator than Inverness (unless you're in Antarctica), since Tierra del Fuego, highest-latitude habitable spot in the Earth's 'lower half' lies at only 55 degrees;
- In the northern hemisphere we do find some major population centres north of us: Anchorage and Fairbanks in Alaska, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki in Scandinavia. But, gentle reader - 'gentle web-surfer' doesn't sound quite the same, does it? - we can lay a bet that there's a 98% chance that you live at a lower latitude than we do.
What's the point of all this? Well, our position means that from 21 March (the vernal equinox) to 21 September (the autumnal equinox) we get more daylight than where you live (unless you're in one of the places already mentioned) - and this period is of course when most of our visitors come. On the 21 June we have only a couple of hours of darkness, if the evening is clear and bright. So for most of our season, the return journeys on our trips are done in daylight, often with a contrasting light to what you experienced on the outward journey.
On our Orkney Megatour, the ferry crossing usually takes us past the island of Swona, which lies at the boundary - as far as the sea knows a boundary - of the Pentland Firth and Scapa Flow. Like most of Orkney, this island experiences little frost, and summer temperatures don't exceed 61F (16C) too often. Compare its climate with that of Churchill, Manitoba which lies at exactly the same latitude - 58 degrees 44' - and you get some idea of what a moderating effect the ocean has on our climate; in Churchill temperatures stay below freezing for months at a time in winter.

Insects
Mosquitoes are almost unknown in the areas we visit on our tours. However on mild calm days after June the notorious Highland midge can be troublesome on Applecross and Inverewe trips (and Skye). We adjust our stops to reduce this potential nuisance. Most summers there are only a few days when they cause problems in Skye, and never over the whole route. Midges are tiny insects, and do not fly if the wind exceeds some quite low speed - 3-5 knots is enough to ground them. For this reason, we are hardly ever troubled by them in Orkney.

Some Frequently Asked Questions

Is it necessary to book Puffin Express/Highland Tours in advance? or How far in advance should I book?
The quick answer to this is: book as soon as your travel plans firm up.
The longer answer is: alas, we don't have the second sight (that is, we are not clairvoyant) so we can't tell when a tour is going to sell out. Remember, we work with small numbers (not more than 16 on most trips, maximum of 28 on Skye in peak season) so if you just turn up on the morning of the tour, there may well not be space for you, especially if there are several in your party.
We do our utmost to have a vehicle available for every scheduled tour on this website; however, we do not guarantee any particular number of seats. So, if a larger vehicle is booked for a private tour, we may only have an 8-seater available for the scheduled tour. In this case, as you may imagine, the trip may sell out rather quickly.
Occasionally there may be nobody booked for a trip the day before it runs. In this case we may give the driver the day off rather than waste her/his time coming out for a day which may not be viable.
We are busiest over the Easter and May Day public holidays and in July and August. You should in all cases try and book in advance if you are coming in these periods. However, sometimes we have had to turn away quite a lot of people from Skye trips even in mid-September.
But if you can't book in advance just turn up on the day and we'll be delighted to take you if we have space! After arrival in Inverness you can book at:

Visitor Information Centre, Upper Bridge Street;

Inverness Bus Station, Strothers Lane [Farraline Park]

Some of your full-day tours are quite long. Am I cooped up in your coach all day?
No! One reason our JoG and Skye trips are quite long is that you have several hours away from the coach. At least two of these periods are about an hour. The guide may accompany you briefly on these longer outings - for example, when looking for puffin on our JoG tour - but otherwise you're free to explore on your own.

Transport
We are licensed transport operators and run several 16-seat coaches, with full headroom, such as the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter below. The great majority of the tours are run in these vehicles but we may use others from time to time; however, maximum size of coach we operate is with 35 seats - usually to Skye in the busy season.

Sprinter beneath an outlier of Blaven, Isle of Skye

General Conditions of Business
1. Fares include tours as described in the individual itineraries with services of knowledgable driver/guide, and free use of optical aids (binoculars, telescopes) where appropriate. Not included: food, drinks, entrance fees (where applicable) unless specified in trip description.
2. Prices given are for bookings over the internet or by cheque drawn on a sterling account. A booking fee of £ 2-8 applies to bookings made over the telephone.
3. Booking in advance does not mean you lose all your money if you cancel. Our cancellation charges are as follows:

if you cancel more than 15 days in advance, 10% of your total payment or £ 10 (whichever is the greater) is forfeit;

if you cancel 6-15 days before the start of your trip there is a 50% cancellation charge;

if you cancel within 5 days of the start of your trip the full payment is forfeit.
Note: The great majority of trip insurances covers cancellation charges.
3a. Cancellations must be made by e-mail or in writing. You may notify cancellations by telephone but we cannot act on telephone calls until we receive written confirmation.
4. Change of booking in principle counts as a cancellation and re-booking. In practice we often change bookings without levying any fee.
5. We reserve the right to change the contents of this website without notice.
6. Most tours operate with a minimum of 2/3 passengers once Puffin Express has accepted a booking. Please read itinerary for Lewis MegaTour for conditions relating to that trip.
7. All ferry sailings (and views!) are weather permitting.
8. Special offers for private trips, groups, modified itineraries etc are valid for 8 days from the time Puffin Express make the offer. They then lapse if the client has not taken up the offer.
9. Puffin Express undertake to fulfill the arrangements as booked but if cancellation or curtailment of a trip is caused by events beyond our control, the refund of all monies paid puts an end to any obligation on our part.

Puffin Express
Inverness
Scotland
If getting in touch with us by e-mail - which is the most likely way if you're reading this website - we would greatly appreciate knowing your country of origin - this helps us in our reply.

e-mail: Puffin Express

For details of telephone hours click here

Joining Tours: all tours leave from Inverness Bus Station/Stance 7 at the bus silhouette symbol below - take Strothers Lane or Margaret Street, from Academy Street, to get to bus station (you can also walk to it directly from the rail station).

Some tours have additional pick-up points; for details, see the descriptions of those tours.

Useful information on our trips
Below are some short notes about practical aspects of our trips. Click on any text with hyperlink colour and underline for more information on that topic elsewhere on our site.

Lunches etc. We are as flexible as possible about lunch. On all day-trips you can of course picnic and some of our lunch stops are heart-stoppingly beautiful. On all trips you also have the option to lunch indoors.
If you don't have any food with you and then decide you would like to picnic, it doesn't matter - we always have stops by a shop where you can get picnic food and drink.
Whether we lunch indoors or outside, there are always one or two stops a day for hot drinks.

Wheelchairs. Our coaches have just 2 steps up to the passenger area, but are not fully wheelchair-accessible. We very much welcome wheelchair users who have sufficient mobility to get into the coach, and can reserve the front seat in this case. Each coach has space to carry one wheelchair. Northern Highland Small Group Tours, Scheduled Tours, Private Trips
Fitness. Most trips can be completed by people following sedentary jobs, but all trips offer the opportunity for walks of various lengths. If you can only walk short distances then you will miss out on certain aspects of a few trips - for example, you must be able to walk at least 600-800yds if you're to see puffin on our John o'Groats trip.

"Comfort stops." All trips have several stops at WCs at reasonable intervals.

Loch Ness is probably the second most famous body of fresh water in the world and we pass along its shores several times each week. Our Skye trip passes along three-quarters of the west [north] side of the loch, letting you see about twice as much of the loch as most of the 'specialist' Loch Ness tours. On this tour we usually stop, when light conditions are right, for views of Castle Urquhart, which is just south of Drumnadrochit. This village is the 'monster capital' of Scotland and has two exhibitions relating to the loch and the m*nst*r. If you want to spend time at these exhibitions and Castle Urquhart, you can travel to Drumnadrochit by public bus or get one of the several tours which run to 'Drum' nearly all year: Jacobite Cruises