Welcome to Highland's, Coast and Seaside...

The enormous area of Highland covers the whole of the northern third of Scotland, some 12,000 square miles including the former counties of Invernesshire, Ross and Cromarty, Nairnshire, Sutherland and Caithness. It includes the inner Hebridean islands, the largest of which is Skye.
Its principal town is Inverness, the ‘Capital of the Highlands’ and home to the Highland Games and the Northern Meeting (bagpipes). Inverness is the location of Macbeth’s castle in Shakespeare’s play, and nearby is the site of the Battle of Culloden (1746) which ended the Jacobite Rising in a massacre.
North of Inverness is the Black Isle, actually a peninsula, mainly agricultural but peppered with castles and small settlements. There are beaches, particularly along its north shore. Dornoch is a small resort further north, and here is Skibo Castle, the former home of Andrew Carnegie. The road north clings to the coast, winding through several attractive small villages to Wick, where there is a small airport, a harbour and railway terminus. South of the town are the ruins of Old Wick Castle dating from the 1100s and three miles to the north-east of Wick are the ruins of Sinclair and Girnigoe castles.
John O' Groats is possibly the most visited location in the area, the starting point for many a long distance walker en-route to Lands End. On the well-trodden tourist trail of the north-east Scotland, the village offers a range of facilities for its many visitors. A seasonal passenger-only ferry makes the short crossing from here to Orkney. Two miles further east from John O' Groats is the lighthouse and spectacular cliff scenery of Duncansby Head. Between John O' Groats and Thurso you can find Dunnet Head, a windy, lonely spot and the most northerly place on mainland Scotland.
Much of the economy of Thurso today is tied up with the presence of the Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment, located on the coast eight miles west of the town. Thurso has an interesting old town, to be found near its harbour. Here are the ruins of Old St Peter's Church, which dates back to 1220, and the Thurso Heritage Museum, which exhibits the intricately carved Pictish Skinnet Stone. Just to the west of Thurso lies Scrabster, the main ferry port for Orkney, whose outline can be seen rising from the sea to the north.
The North coast has some of the most dramatic scenery in the whole of Europe, especially on its western fringe where the mountains meet the sea. These include high sea cliffs, and very old mountains composed of Precambrian and Cambrian rocks. The Western facing coast is a series of sea lochs, deep long inlets peppered with offshore islets and rocks. The remote and beautiful landscape is mountainous, empty and full of spectacular views. The only settlement of any size is Ullapool, which enjoys a temperate climate, and even boasts palm trees. It is a centre for music and the arts, and a tourist mecca in summer.
The Isle of Skye is renowned for its spectacular scenery, vibrant culture and heritage, and its abundant wildlife including the Golden Eagle, Red Deer and Atlantic Salmon. Linked to the mainland by a bridge since 1995, Skye is dominated by the Cullin Hills. Its principal town, Portree, is a small picturesque fishing port on the sheltered east coast.
Mallaig is the main ferry port for Skye, and also links the mainland to the isles of Eigg, Rum, Canna and Muck. It is the terminus of the railway from Glasgow, voted one of the world’s most scenic lines, and the location used for filming the ‘Hogwarts Express’ in the Harry Potter films.


See our Featured Accommodation OR a Selection of Great Places to Visit