Places to visit
in Inverness-shire.

It’s 20:06 in Inverness-shire.

Inverness-shire

Loch Ness, Culloden and the Great Glen.

Inverness-shire runs down the Great Glen from the Moray Firth, with Inverness at the top and Loch Ness stretching away south-west between wooded hills. You can climb the tower of Urquhart Castle on its headland, take a cruise from Inverness or Fort Augustus, and walk the moor at Culloden where the last Jacobite Rising ended. To the west lie the pinewoods and waterfalls of Glen Affric. To the east and north come the Clava Cairns, the sands of Nairn, the Black Isle and the Pictish stones of Easter Ross. Give it a few days, and bring boots for the glens.

Place of the day19 hours ago

Leakey's Bookshop.

Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop, in an old Gaelic church on Church Street in Inverness, with a hundred thousand books on two floors round a wood stove.

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From our archive19 hours ago

Coyote Burger, Inverness.

A family-run burger bar on the first floor above the River Ness in Inverness, with smash burgers, loaded fries, milkshakes, cocktails and river views.

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Places to visit19 hours ago

The Highland Wildlife Park.

The Royal Zoological Society's park at Kincraig, home to Scotland's only polar bears, with snow leopards, wolves and red pandas.

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From our guide19 hours ago

Nairn.

Fifteen miles east of Inverness on the Moray Firth, Nairn became a seaside resort after the railway arrived in 1855, when Victorian holidaymakers came for the sand and the sea air. It is really three towns in one. Big villas, many of them now hotels, line the leafy avenues of the west end beside the golf links. The old market town holds the main shopping street. Down by the harbour that Thomas Telford built in 1820 is Fishertown, a warren of small cottages where the fishing families lived. Sandy beaches run away on either side of the river.

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From the magazine18 hours ago

Issue 12Spring / Summer 2026

Andrew Cowderoy, who runs Boath Cabin near Nairn, says the place to go on a rainy day is Culbin Forest, where the Scots pines give shelter from wind, rain and snow.

He suggests going in through Kingsteps, where the trails are great for family walks or a quick 5K run. Culbin was once shifting sand dunes and is now a vast pine plantation, and the highlight is climbing the tower at Hill 99 for sweeping views across the treetops to the sandbanks. Nairn Beach, a short drive from the cabin, is good in most weather, with a splash pad for children nearby in summer, and at Brodie Castle the Playful Garden Café has soft play and good coffee. 'These places are beloved by locals, simple, restorative, and easy to enjoy during your stay'.

See Boath Cabin · Inverness-shire

Places to visit18 hours ago

Cruise Loch Ness.

Cruises and speedboat trips on Loch Ness from Fort Augustus, run by a local family since 1968, from a gentle 50-minute cruise to a high-speed RIB ride.

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From the JournalThe journal18 hours ago

Behind Boath Cabin: An Interview with Andrew Cowderoy

Andrew Cowderoy spent the best part of a year searching Scotland for somewhere midge-free, near an airport and close to the sea. He found it in the Nairn Triangle, a pocket of the Moray Firth coast that locals reckon gets its own...

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Did you know18 hours ago

The Hilton of Cadboll Stone, on the Easter Ross coast, puts a woman at the centre of its hunting scene.

The carved cross-slab was put up in about 800 AD, fell, and was raised again soon after. Its hunting scene is unusual for showing a woman in the central place. The original is now in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, and a replica stands on its old site at Hilton of Cadboll.

See Hilton of Cadboll Stone · Easter Ross

From our guide17 hours ago

Inverness Castle.

The red sandstone castle on its hill above the River Ness is the landmark of the city, and after years as a courthouse it is now open to everyone. The building you see dates from the 1830s and 1840s, on a site that has held a castle since the 11th century. Inside, the Inverness Castle Experience tells the story of the Highlands, its land and its people, through exhibitions and hands-on displays. The gardens, café and shop are free to wander. Outside stands the statue of Flora MacDonald, who helped the Prince escape after Culloden, gazing out over the river.

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Places to visit17 hours ago

Hilton of Cadboll.

The northernmost of the three Seaboard villages on the Easter Ross coast, a fishing village above the shore, by the site of its famous Pictish cross-slab.

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New at Inverness Town House17 hours ago

Inverness Town House opens its doors for guided tours from 13 October.

A local guide takes you through the Main Hall, the Council Chamber, the ornate stairwell and the stained-glass windows in about an hour. The first tours are at 10am on 13 and 28 October, with Christmas tours on Tuesdays from 24 November.

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Free17 hours ago