Denise21965
Jun 12, 2024
5 day tour to Oban, Portree and St Andrews - My husband and I did the small group 5 day tour with Stephen! Stephen was energetic and full of life. He brought his personality and wit each day and made everything so interesting. We saw so much we would have missed if we had tried to drive ourselves or do a large tour with more people. We loved Stephen's sense of humor and his great taste in music!!We highly recommend Hairy Coos and Stephen!!
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Paradise07308570934
Jun 11, 2024
Above and beyond expectations - We did the 5-day tour and Stephen was our driver/guide. I have to agree with all the other people who gave 5 stars, it was an amazing experience thanks to his expertise in all aspects of the tour. I particularly liked his morbid sense of humour. You might call it "Leith-al" (he's from Leith) :)We would definitely do this and/or another of the Hairy Coo tours again. Well worth it!
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Paradise53102108522
Jun 1, 2024
Fantastic tour, highly memorable and recommended! - Our tour guide, Michael, was awesome! He was courteous, friendly, very knowledgeable and provided the ultimate experience for us during our tour. We've been to Scotland before, but we experienced Scotland through a Scottish man's eyes on the Hairy Coo 5 day tour and it was well worth it!
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Thomas_b
May 9, 2024
Excellent trip April 24-28, 2024. - The trip, April 24-28, 2024, was beyond anything I could have hoped for. First off, John, our tour leader was incredible! When you spend 5 days with someone leading a tour, they really have to bring it and he did. His knowledge of the highlands and the storytelling, my God, the storytelling, was vast! We saw all the sights on the itinerary and even more because our group was punctual and considerate and we never had to wait for anyone beyond a minute or two maybe once. There were plenty of "pee" breaks as each destination was not more than an hour or so apart. So do not be concerned at all that there is no toilet on the bus. Speaking of the bus, it was super comfortable with large windows to see everything! The towns we stayed in overnight were a delight and the locals were most welcoming. If you are thinking of doing this trip, do it! You will have the time of your life!! You will hit the jackpot if John is your guide!!
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743carliep
May 1, 2024
5 Day Tour - I booked the 5 day tour with the Hairy Coo and I can’t even put into words how incredible those 5 days were. John ‘the only King of the north’ was a fantastic tour guide. I have been on quite a few tours and John was the best guide I have ever had. He is knowledgeable and cares so much for his homeland, it’s truly remarkable. I can’t wait for the day when I come back to take this tour again, because I 110% will be back. He was right, I do feel like I left a part of myself in Scotland.Thank you John and the Hairy Coo!
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Anne5252
Aug 29, 2023
Freddy with Hairy Coo Tours - Our tour with Freddy was fabulous! So informative so funny, with great music to accompany the tour. Personally helped this older couple find their hotel too! Got to meet some Hairy Coos, too!! Not a boring minute. Extras included that were personal to Freddy. Loved it and highly recommend Hairy Coo tours.
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Y3405cnmichaelm
Aug 29, 2023
Chock-Full 5-Day Tour! - It is said “if you love your job, it’s nae work!” That would be the philosophy of our tour guide Stephen! A narrow-trail thrill merchant, expert driver and a passionate and patriotic Scotsman, whose love of his country always shows when he is relating his constant and always-amusing (albeit often gory) tales about his fellow Scots. I took this 5-day Highlands tour as a senior citizen with youngest daughter in tow. If you do this tour, ask for Stephen and try to partake in every activity in his itinerary. He never hesitated to point out the longest, biggest, deepest, widest etc. which all belong to Scotland (go on, Steve; I’ll give you that record Tay salmon!). Great tour. Thanks, Stephen!
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Gigifl
Aug 27, 2023
BEST TOUR EVER - After doing a ton of research, I chose the 5 day tour with the Hairy Coo, I loved that we were a small tour of 15 people. Our driver/tour guide Freddie was amazing. He was so personable and professional. The roads can be quite intimidating but this was the first time I felt perfectly comfortable with Freddie driving. He gave us a lot of history, great music and was hilarious. Our group had such a fantastic time. We saw too many things to list! All in all a great tour. We even visited some things off the beaten path which was lovely-Pitlochry was a rest stop but we were able to have even time to check out the Heather Gem factory (which is a must do and so very Scottish) and Freddie stopped at an ice cream shop known for its Whisky ice cream (omg)! Day 1 of the tour we happened upon a motorbike accident. Two cars ahead of us drove around the man laying in the road however, Freddie stopped the bus and since there were three US medics on our tour, we were able to help stabilize the victim along with three others from England and France until the ambulance arrived and also the helicopter. Everyone shared their food and drinks until the accident was cleared. I mention this because this is what makes the Hairy Coo tour outstanding. Whereas other tours would be sticking to a strict timeframe and “rushing you”-they’re quite accommodating and really go the extra mile to make sure you’re well cared for. Despite the delay, we still managed to see everything we needed and wanted to see and then some. Our sprinter van was quite comfortable with air conditioning and the seats even reclined. It was such a fun and friendly atmosphere that our group are still in touch. Freddie was great, walking along with us, guiding us and you can genuinely see how much he loves his wee little country. We definitely plan on going back and touring with the hairy coo as often as possible! Side note, you’re not just a nameless face either. One standout note of particular-is that we chose to book our own accommodations instead of having them book for us. I received an email from The Hairy Coo asking for my itinerary with the accommodations to make sure I have everything arranged. It being high season, they wanted to check if there was anything I needed. Lovely!
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Elena
Aug 25, 2023
I’m on my way (ah-hah) - The 5-day tour was a great opportunity to discover the precious “gems” of this beautiful land. The minibus was comfortable and being in a small group was ideal for socializing and for keeping up with the schedule. Our driver-guide Freddie went above and beyond, by adding his personal touch to the story telling. The tour was even more entertaining with his selection of music. Absolutely recommended!
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Spktravel2015
Jun 12, 2024
Mixed review. Loved the guide but not the back office - This review is in 2 parts. A) Review of actual tour conducted by Stephen which was 10/10 and B) Review of the Hairy Coo back/admin office which is a 3/10.a) Review of actual tourStephen our guide was absolutely amazing. He is extremely knowledgeable about Scotland and gave us tons of information about the places we saw, historical time lines and places to eat at each town we visited.During the entire tour he played music from musicians with Scottish ancestry and his selection of music and the timing on when he played it was impeccable.He has a great sense of humor and not only did we learn a lot about Scotland, we also laughed a lot at his very funny jokes.We covered a lot of places in Scotland and almost all the places were incredibly scenic and very worth visiting.b) Review of back office/adminWe were extremely disappointed with the admin side. At the time of booking, our drop off points were mentioned on their website and also specified in the conformation email. Based on that email, we reserved hotels in 4 places Oban, Portree and Inverness 10-12 months before the tour.During that 10-12 months, the city of Inverness asked them not to use the original drop off point but instead switch to another drop off point on the other side of the river,Hairy Coo company is our opinion should have informed us about this change so we could have revisited our Inverness hotel booking. We would have changed it closer to the new drop off location. When we emailed them indicating that they should have informed us via email about this change after we booked the reservation, they did not reply initially. When I pressed them for a reply, they replied that they had changed it on their website as if to suggest that it was my responsibility to keep checking their website and not trust their original conformation email which was the basis of my hotel bookings. When I replied back to their reply saying that they were being insensitive and not communicating effectively about itinerary changes, I again never heard from them (to this date).The 2nd issue we had with the back office of the trip was in acquiring hotel reservations. Portree in particular is very challenging as it is a very small place and there is very limited accommodation near their drop off points. They have listed a few recommended hotels on their website but we were unable to get reservations at any of them even though we were trying 10-12 months ahead of the trip dates. When we reached out to Hairy Coo asking for other hotel suggestions, they basically told my wife bluntly that they cannot help and it was up to us to find accommodation.Bottom line, again they were insensitive, lacked empathy and did not show any willingness to help us with trip related issues.While I loved the tour with Stephen, I found the Hairy Coo back office very disappointing.
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