Things to do in Highlands & Northern Islands
-
A
Urquhart Castle
Commanding a brilliant location 1.5 miles east of Drumnadrochit, with outstanding views (on a clear day), Urquhart Castle is a popular Nessie-watching hotspot. A huge visitor centre (most of which is beneath ground level) includes a video theatre (with a dramatic ‘unveiling’ of the castle at the end of the film) and displays of medieval items discovered in the castle.
The castle was repeatedly sacked and rebuilt (and sacked and rebuilt) over the centuries; in 1692 it was blown up to prevent the Jacobites from using it. The five-storey tower house at the northern point is the most impressive remaining fragment and offers wonderful views across the water. The site inclu…
reviewed
-
B
Ferry Boat Inn
Known as the FBI, this inn is to Ullapool what the castle is to Edinburgh. The pub’s a little less traditional-looking these days with its bleached wood and nonstained carpet, but it’s still the place where locals and visitors mingle. Some dishes on the menu are a little bland, but a well-run dining room, quality ingredients and great presentation compensate.
reviewed
-
C
Café 1
Café 1 is a friendly and appealing little bistro with candlelit tables amid elegant blonde-wood and wrought-iron decor. There is an international menu based on quality Scottish produce, from succulent Aberdeen Angus steaks to crisp sea bass with chilli, lime and soy sauce. Lunch and early-bird menu (two courses for £9.50) is served noon to 6.45pm weekdays, and noon to 3pm Saturday.
reviewed
-
D
Café Arriba
Arriba is a funky little cafe, brightly decked out in primary colours and offering the best choice of vegetarian grub on the island, ranging from a veggie breakfast fry-up to Indian-spiced bean cakes with mint yoghurt, as well as carnivorous treats such as slow-cooked haunch of venison with red wine and beetroot gravy. Also serves excellent coffee.
reviewed
-
Davy the Ghost Tours
Davy the Ghost Tours offers 1¼-hour tours led by an ‘18th-century ghost’ in period costume. Expect tales of the city’s horrific past, including ghosts, witches, murders and hangings. Tours depart at 7pm from the blackboard outside the tourist office.
reviewed
-
E
Frigate Café
This waterfront cafe is a popular venue for coffee, tea and ice cream; it also sells a very tasty local smoked cheese. But you can also sit down and graze the Italian-influenced menu of salads, pizzas and pastas, or just drop by for a glass of wine or a beer.
reviewed
-
Skye Guides
A five-day basic rock-climbing course costs around £800 and a private mountain guide can be hired for around £190 a day (both rates apply for up to two clients).
reviewed
-
F
-
Taversoe Tuick
Taversoe Tuick is an intriguing burial cairn constructed on two levels, with separate entrances – perhaps a joint tomb for different families, a semi-detached solution to a shortage of afterlife housing. You can squeeze into the cairn and descend a steel ladder to explore both levels, but there’s not much space.
reviewed
-
Dunrobin Castle
One mile north of Golspie is magnificent Dunrobin Castle, the largest house in the Highlands. Although it dates back to 1275, most of what you see today was built in French style between 1845 and 1850. One of the homes of the earls and dukes of Sutherland, it’s richly furnished and offers an intriguing insight into the aristocratic lifestyle.
This classic fairytale castle is adorned with towers and turrets, but only 22 of its 187 rooms are on display, with hunting trophies much to the fore. The exhibits also include innumerable gifts from farm tenants (probably grateful that they weren’t victims of the Clearances). The castle is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a green…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Tomb of the Eagles
Set in a spectacular clifftop position, this 5000-year-old chambered tomb was discovered by local farmers who now run it privately as a visitor attraction. It’s as interesting for their entertaining and informative guided tour and for the unusual access (lying prone on a trolley, you wheel yourself into the low entrance tunnel) as for the tomb itself.
Before taking the mile's airy walk out to the site, an excellent personal explanation is given to you at the visitor centre; you meet a few spooky skulls and get to handle some of the artefacts found in the tomb, including some sea-eagle talons.
On the way you visit a circular Bronze Age stone building with a firepit, indoo…
reviewed
-
G
St Magnus Cathedral
Founded in 1137 and built out of local red sandstone and yellow Eday stone, fabulous St Magnus Cathedral is Kirkwall’s centrepiece. The powerful atmosphere of an ancient faith pervades the impressive interior. During summer, 40-minute tours of the cathedral’s upper levels start at 11am and 2pm on Tuesday and Thursday and cost £6 per person.
Earl Rognvald Brusason commissioned the cathedral in the name of his martyred uncle, Magnus Erlendsson, who was killed by Earl Hakon Paulsson on Egilsay in 1117. Work began in 1137, but the building is actually the result of 300 years of construction and alteration. The bones of St Magnus and St Rognvald are interred in the rectan…
reviewed
-
Callanish Standing Stones
The Callanish Standing Stones, 15 miles west of Stornoway on the A858 road, form one of the most complete stone circles in Britain and are one of the most atmospheric prehistoric sites anywhere. Its ageless mystery, impressive scale and undeniable beauty leave a lasting impression. Sited on a wild and secluded promontory overlooking Loch Roag, 13 large stones of beautifully banded gneiss are arranged, as if in worship, around a 4.5m-tall central monolith. Some 40 smaller stones radiate from the circle in the shape of a cross, with the remains of a chambered tomb at the centre. Dating from 3800 to 5000 years ago, the stones are roughly contemporary with the pyramids of Egy…
reviewed
-
H
Shetland Museum
This modern museum is an impressive recollection of 5000 years’ worth of culture, people and their interaction with this ancient landscape. Comprehensive but never dull, the display covers everything from the archipelago’s geology to its fishing industry, via a great section on local mythology – find out about the scary nyuggles (ghostly horses), or use the patented machine for detecting trows (fairies).
The Pictish carvings and replica jewellery are among the finest pieces here; the museum also includes a working lighthouse mechanism, small art gallery, and – what great smells! – a boatbuilding workshop, where you can watch carpenters at work restoring and re-crea…
reviewed
-
Arnol Blackhouse
One of Scotland’s most evocative historic buildings, the Arnol Blackhouse is not so much a museum as a perfectly preserved fragment of a lost world. Built in 1885, this traditional blackhouse – a combined byre, barn and home – was inhabited until 1964 and has not been changed since the last inhabitant moved out. The staff faithfully rekindle the central peat fire every morning so you can experience the distinctive peat-reek; there’s no chimney, and the smoke finds its own way out through the turf roof, windows and door – spend too long inside and you might feel like you’ve been kippered! The museum is just off the A858, about 3 miles west of Barvas.
reviewed
-
Ring of Brodgar
Situated about a mile north of Stenness, along the road towards Skara Brae, is this wide circle of standing stones, some over 5m tall. Last of the three Stenness monuments to be built (2500–2000 BC), it remains a most atmospheric location. Twenty-one of the original 60 stones still stand among the heather. These mysterious giants, their curious shapes mutilated by years of climatic onslaught, fire the imagination – what were they for? On a grey day with dark clouds thudding low across the sky, the stones look secretive and seem to be almost sneering at the jostling summer crowds. Free guided tours leave from the carpark at 1pm from June to August.
reviewed
-
Eilean Donan Castle
Photogenically sited at the entrance to Loch Duich, near Dornie village, Eilean Donan Castle is one of Scotland’s most evocative castles, and must be represented in millions of photo albums. It’s on an offshore islet, magically linked to the mainland by an elegant, stone-arched bridge. It’s very much a re-creation inside with an excellent introductory exhibition. Keep an eye out for the photos of castle scenes from the movie Highlander. There’s also a sword used at the battle of Culloden in 1746. The castle was ruined in 1719 after Spanish Jacobite forces were defeated at the Battle of Glenshiel, and it was rebuilt between 1912 and 1932.
reviewed
-
I
Ness Islands
The main attraction in Inverness is a leisurely stroll along the river to the Ness Islands. Planted with mature Scots pine, fir, beech and sycamore, and linked to the river banks and each other by elegant Victorian footbridges, the islands make an appealing picnic spot. They're a 20-minute walk south of the castle - head upstream on either side of the river (the start of the Great Glen Way), and return on the opposite bank.
On the way you'll pass the red-sandstone towers of St Andrew's Cathedral, dating from 1869, and the modern Eden Court Theatre, which hosts regular art exhibits, both on the west bank.
reviewed
-
Ruthven Barracks
The roofless Ruthven Barracks was one of four garrisons built by the British government after the first Jacobite rebellion of 1715 as part of a Hanoverian scheme to take control of the Highlands. Ironically, the barracks were last occupied by Jacobite troops awaiting the return of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the Battle of Culloden. Learning of his defeat and subsequent flight, they destroyed the barracks before taking to the glens. Perched dramatically on a river terrace and clearly visible from the main A9 road near Kingussie, the ruins are spectacularly floodlit at night.
reviewed
-
Highland Wildlife Park
The Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig, 6 miles southwest of Aviemore, features a drive-through safari park and animal enclosures offering the chance to view rarely-seen native wildlife, such as wildcats, capercaillies, pine martens, white-tailed sea eagles and red squirrels, as well as species that once roamed the Scottish hills but have long since disappeared, including wolf, lynx, wild boar, beaver and European bison. Visitors without cars get driven around by staff (at no extra cost). Last entry is two hours before closing.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Maes Howe
Egypt has the pyramids, Scotland has Maes Howe. Constructed about 5000 years ago, it’s the a Stone Age tomb built from enormous sandstone blocks, some of which weighed many tons and were brought from several miles away. Though nothing is known about who was interred here, the scope of the project suggests it was a structure of great significance.
Creeping down the long stone passageway to the central chamber, over 6.7m high and 3.5m wide, you begin to sense the indescribable gulf of years that separate us from the architects of this mysterious place.
No remains were found when the tomb was excavated in the 19th century, so it’s not known how many people were originally …
reviewed
-
Aros Experience
On the southern edge of Portree, the Aros Experience is a combined visitor centre, book and gift shop, restaurant, theatre and cinema. The visitor centre (adult/child £3/2) offers a look at some fascinating, live CCTV images from local sea eagle and heron nests, and a viewing of a strangely commentary-free wide-screen video of Skye’s impressive scenery (it’s worth waiting for the aerial shots of the Cuillin). The centre is a useful rainy-day retreat, with an indoor, soft play area for children.
reviewed
-
Gallan Head Hotel
If you fancy dining or staying somewhere really unusual, head to the Gallan Head Hotel, possibly the most remote fine-dining restaurant in Europe. It’s housed in a converted, pine-clad military prefab that’s perched above a wild, cliff-bound Atlantic cove 3 miles north of Timsgarry. The food is superb – local seafood, lamb and venison expertly prepared – and the setting unique. Booking is recommended. If you want to stay the night, there are five beautifully refurbished double rooms (from £35 per person).
reviewed
-
J
Highland Park Distillery
Among Scotland’s more respected whiskymakers, this distillery, where they malt their own barley, is great to visit. You can see the barley and the peat kiln used to dry it on the excellent, well-informed hour-long tour (hourly when open, and weekdays at 2pm in winter).
The standard 12-year-old is a soft, balanced malt, great for whisky novices and aficionados alike; the 18-year-old is among the world’s finest drams. These and others can be tasted on more specialised tours (£15), which you can prearrange.
reviewed
-
Oystercatcher Restaurant
Seafood aficionados shouldn’t miss the bright and cheerful Oystercatcher Restaurant. There’s a bistro menu at lunchtime, where you can choose your serving size, and a classy brasserie evening menu with lots of lobster available, among other delights.
It also offers three cosy rooms (s/d £43/98). The rate includes what has to be the most amazing breakfast in Scotland, with numerous gourmet options – you can book it even if you’re not staying there overnight (£20).
reviewed
