Loch Ness, Inverness & The Highlands - from Edinburgh

Traveler Reviews

• IC

  Ilze1.0•October 2026
  I had an extremely disappointing experience with Timberbush Tours. Our tour guides, Tom and Mark, were arrogant and...
  I had an extremely disappointing experience with Timberbush Tours. Our tour guides, Tom and Mark, were arrogant and unprofessional. From the moment we boarded the bus, loud, annoying music was played. The lunch stop was in the middle of nowhere, with very limited food options. My lunch consisted of a cold scone bought from a roadside Spar shop, which I had to eat standing beside a rubbish bin. One of our toilet stops was at a paid roadside facility. To make matters worse, a passenger and their partner were shouting and making excessive noise throughout the day. Despite the disturbance continuing for hours, the guides did nothing to address it. After approximately 10 hours on the bus, I finally lost patience and asked the passenger to keep the noise down. At the final rest stop, approximately two hours from Edinburgh, guide Tom informed me, after consulting his manager, that I was not allowed back on his bus because the company considered my confrontation with the passenger to be transphobic. My complaint was about the passenger’s loud and disruptive behaviour, not their gender identity or appearance. Does Timberbush Tours seriously consider it acceptable to threaten to leave a woman stranded at a roadside stop, in the dark, without internet access, her passport or money, simply because she complained about another passenger’s behaviour? After a lengthy discussion, I requested to be transferred to another bus, which the guide eventually arranged. I believe the guides failed to manage disruptive behaviour and then handled my complaint in an unnecessarily confrontational and intimidating manner. I would not recommend Timberbush Tours. In my experience, customer comfort, fair treatment and passenger welfare were not priorities.Show more
  Traveled in October 2026
• D

  Dani4.8•September 2026
  It was such a wonderful tour with Mark (Australian at Timberbush Tours), I really enjoyed it!
  Traveled in August 2026
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  Mahesh5.0•August 2026
  Great guide, good itinerary, clean coach, good price point
  Traveled in August 2026
• SL

  Sibylle1.0•December 2025
  AVOID We took the westlands and castles tour which was really horrible. Closed castles we inly saw 500 m away for...
  AVOID We took the westlands and castles tour which was really horrible. Closed castles we inly saw 500 m away for seconds when driving past, a village that was closed and empty, luckily one pub was open that still served food in our very late luchbreak at 14.15.Show more
  Traveled in December 2025
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  Elisapeti4.0•December 2024
  Lorna is the best tour guide ever. Very knowledgable and accommodating too. Made this trip very memorable given the...
  Lorna is the best tour guide ever. Very knowledgable and accommodating too. Made this trip very memorable given the cold weather. She’s a great driver too.Show more
  Traveled in December 2024
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  Christin5.0•October 2024
  Individual super interrestin trip.
  Traveled in October 2024
• JH

  John5.0•October 2024
  Day trip to Fort George and cairngorms. Was excellent day out from start to finish. Highly recommended this trip....
  Day trip to Fort George and cairngorms. Was excellent day out from start to finish. Highly recommended this trip. The driver Malcolm was full of knowledge and very helpful 5starsShow more
  Traveled in October 2024
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  Nathalie4.0•June 2024
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  Sean was a great guide and driver, nice, not too pushy and was able to give us a lot of information.
  Traveled in May 2024
• TT

  Tania5.0•October 2023
  Excellent driver/tour guide in Garry. Very knowledgeabke
  Traveled in October 2023
• Y

  Yara1.0•September 2023
  If you're considering Timberbush Tours for your next tour, I urge you to think twice. We were there for the 2-day...
  If you're considering Timberbush Tours for your next tour, I urge you to think twice. We were there for the 2-day Loch Ness, Inverness and the Highlands tour, and it was the worst experience we've had in Scotland. Let's start with our tour guide, Callum, who was a letdown from the very beginning. It was evident that he was ill-suited for his role. His lack of enthusiasm, grumpy demeanor, and lack of humor set a bleak tone for the entire journey. But that's not the worst of it. The real disappointment was the lack of meaningful commentary. We visited historically significant sites such as Culloden Battlefield and Urquhart Castle, only to be met with a few lackluster sentences or, even worse, deafening silence. Extracting information from our guide was akin to pulling teeth. We were left feeling like a bothersome inconvenience rather than valued customers. Learning about Scotland's rich history and culture? Forget about it. Now, let's talk about the Scottish music that is supposed to be played during the tour. Yes, it was there, technically. However, don't get your hopes up about actually hearing it. The music was played at a volume so abysmally low that even those seated closest to the front of the bus couldn't make out much of anything. The rushed pace of the tour added further frustration. While some level of haste is expected given the distance the tour covers, we arrived back in Edinburgh at a baffling 5 pm instead of the scheduled 7:30 pm. Timberbush Tours attempted to justify this with an excuse about lack of traffic, but this contradicted their driver's statement earlier in the day that he planned to be back in Edinburgh at 6pm. Now, let's address the real issue here—the blatant dishonesty and condescending attitude displayed by Timberbush Tours. When I raised concerns, they resorted to falsehoods: 1) They fabricated a story about me moving to the front of the moving vehicle to seek more information from the guide and labeled this as 'disruptive.' This is a complete lie, as I was already seated at the front and had no reason to change my position to ask a question. I merely asked for more information about the sites, which should be everyone's right during a tour. The implication that asking questions is considered disruptive by this company speaks volumes about their lackluster tours (as I mentioned, you feel like an annoyance just for asking questions). I even suggested they check the CCTV to verify the truth about me walking to the front of the moving vehicle, but conveniently, they claimed it was not available. 2) They claimed that I had my headphones with me as a way to dismiss my complaint about the barely audible music. In reality, I resorted to using my headphones later in the last few hours of the tour when it was clear that nothing was going to change about the music and commentary. And how did Timberbush Tours respond to all this? With a measly 10% refund as a supposed "gesture of goodwill." It's a slap in the face to customers who expected a worthwhile experience. In summary, this tour with Timberbush was a total disappointment. Save yourself the trouble and avoid this tour operator unless you enjoy wasting your time and money on a soulless, subpar experience. They only care about taking your money. FYI, after the tour, they send around an email for people to rate them. If you choose 4 or 5 stars, it asks you to post a TripAdvisor review. But if you choose 3 stars or less, it redirects you to their website so that you can send them an email, instead of posting a review. So, their rating system is dishonest. I would recommend to take their online rating with a grain of salt.Show more
  Traveled in September 2023