Once upon a time, there was a quiet girl with a head full of stories and a heart that longed for places she’d only read about.
That girl was me. And maybe, in some way, she’s you too.
This retreat isn’t a tour—it’s a love letter to women who dream in chapters. A gathering for readers who’d rather wander ruins than rush through checklists. A journey into a land where standing stones hum with mystery, castles whisper old legends, and the Highlands feel like something borrowed from fiction.
If Scotland has been calling to you…
this is your sign to answer.
Hosted by Kate Ciullo: founder of Lumina Literary Tours
Route: Edinburgh → Inverness → Fort William → Edinburgh
For fans of: Outlander, Scottish folklore, historical fiction, romantasy, time-slip stories, Harry Potter
You arrive in Edinburgh, where the old stone seems to breathe. The air carries a hint of rain, peat smoke, and possibility — the scent of a story just beginning. After a private transfer, you settle into your boutique hotel tucked inside the heart of Old Town. Maybe you wander the golden-lit streets. Maybe you curl up with a book.
That evening, we gather — softly, warmly — to meet your fellow travelers.
Strangers for now. Plot-critical characters soon.
DoubleTree by Hilton
Edinburgh City Centre
Included Meals:
Breakfast,
Welcome Dinner
Welcome gathering · Settle into Old Town · Free evening
Today we step into Edinburgh — a city built on layers of stories.
You’ll wander the medieval closes of Old Town, pass the cafés where modern legends were written, and stand atop Castle Rock, where kings and queens carved their fates.
As the city unfurls around you — moody, ancient, alive — you begin to feel the shift. The soft hum of recognition. The spark of stepping into a world you’ve only known in your imagination.
That night, we share our first dinner together: warm conversation, good wine, the beginning of something beautiful.
DoubleTree by Hilton
Edinburgh City Centre
Old Town tour · Edinburgh Castle · Literary landmarks
Included Meals:
Breakfast,
Welcome Dinner
Moderate,
cobblestones
If you’ve ever wished you could step into a story — today is your day.
We wander the ochre village of Culross (Cranesmuir in Outlander), explore Doune Castle (Castle Leoch), and walk the haunting halls of Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. Blackness Castle rises over the Firth like something conjured from a legend.
You can almost hear ghostly footsteps on ancient stairs.
You can almost feel Claire brushing past you.
It’s cinematic. It’s uncanny.
It’s the kind of day that makes your inner reader swoon.
DoubleTree by Hilton
Edinburgh City Centre
Culross · Doune Castle · Linlithgow Palace · Blackness Castle
Included Meals:
Breakfast
Private Transport
The road into the Highlands feels like an exhale you didn’t know you needed.
Rolling hills. Soft mist. A landscape that holds its own secrets.
We pause for lunch in a Highland village before arriving in Inverness — where a private guide shows us the city through local eyes. A traditional kilt-making demonstration brings history to life in a tactile, intimate way.
By evening, something inside you feels steadier.
Like the ground itself is listening.
Macdonald Drumossie Hotel
Highland village lunch · Inverness tour · Kilt-making demo
Included Meals:
Breakfast
Scenic Highlands drive
Culloden is sacred ground.
The air feels heavy with echoes — grief, courage, sacrifice.
You stand where history cracked open.
Then we move to Clava Cairns, a prehistoric stone circle where time feels thin and quiet. The connection is visceral. Unexplainable. A place that invites you to listen with your whole body.
We continue to Fort William for a peaceful evening — carrying everything the day asked us to feel.
Bay Caledonian Hotel
Culloden · Clava Cairns · Great Glen drive
Included Meals:
Breakfast
Private coach
Today is wonder, bottled.
The Jacobite Steam Train carries us past lochs, through mountains, and over the Glenfinnan Viaduct — one of the world’s most iconic railway views.
It’s the kind of magic that sneaks up on you:
the whistle of the train, the wind in your hair, the vastness of the Highlands stretching out like a painting.
Childlike awe becomes a shared language.
Joy becomes a form of connection.
Bay Caledonian Hotel
Glenfinnan Viaduct · Coastal Highlands · Free evening
Included Meals:
Breakfast
Jacobite Steam Train
We stop in Glasgow to wander the gothic cloisters — arches that feel like portals to another realm. The kind of place that makes you walk slower, breathe deeper, think bigger.
Back in Edinburgh, we gather for our farewell feast: candlelight, laughter, last-night tenderness.
The kind of dinner that ties a ribbon around the whole experience.
DoubleTree by Hilton Edinburgh City Centre
University of Glasgow cloisters · Final dinner
Breakfast, Farewell Dinner
Private coach
Your next chapter begins with a simple yes.
This Scotland retreat is an intimate, story-driven experience crafted with care — from the places we explore to the way the group forms, grows, and travels together. Your deposit secures your spot, and flexible payment options make the journey feel absolutely doable.
Kate is a lifelong reader, a devoted Amagansett local, and the woman who believes travel should feel like coming home to yourself — not running away from your life.
She’s the quiet-power kind of guide: the one who remembers your coffee order by day two, who notices when you need space or companionship, who plans with precision but leads with intuition.
Her love for story runs deep. Her love for creating spaces where women feel safe, seen, and softly lit from the inside out runs even deeper.
Kate built Lumina for women who crave meaning in their miles — the ones who want to wander beautiful places, meet beautiful souls, and feel a little more alive than they did before they boarded the plane.
On this retreat, she’ll be the grounding force, the big-sister energy, the storyteller, the logistics queen, and the person who reminds you — gently — that you deserve joy without an asterisk.
You bring the spark. She’ll handle the rest.
Kate Ciullo — Founder of Lumina Literary Tours
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