Ross and Cromarty. Ross and Cromarty guide
The Black Isle and its dolphins, old Cromarty, Strathpeffer's glens and waterfalls, and Eilean Donan in Kintail.
The four parts of Ross and Cromarty
Ross and Cromarty is the old county that runs right across the north of Scotland, from the Atlantic to the North Sea. On its west side are the sea lochs and big mountains of Kintail, Torridon and Wester Ross. On its east side the land softens into farmland, firths and long sandy shores. Until 1975 the county even reached out over the Minch to take in Lewis. Between the two coasts lies the middle of the county, a lovely, easy-going place to spend a few days. Here are the Black Isle, the old spa village of Strathpeffer, the county town of Dingwall and the wide, sheltered water of the Cromarty Firth.
Fortrose and the Black Isle
Fortrose has its ruined red sandstone cathedral and a little Telford harbour, and Rosemarkie a long sandy beach, the Pictish stones of Groam House and the waterfalls of the Fairy Glen. Between them, Chanonry Point runs out into the firth, and inland are the Clootie Well at Munlochy and the Black Isle Brewery's farm.
Cromarty and the firth
Cromarty sits at the tip of the Black Isle, a handsome old town of Georgian merchants' houses and fishermen's cottages, with a little cinema, independent shops and a summer ferry across to Nigg. Along the shore to the west, wading birds gather at Udale Bay, and Newhall Mains keeps a farmstay among its fields.
Strathpeffer and the glens
Dingwall is the market town at the head of the Cromarty Firth, and Strathpeffer the Victorian spa just up the glen, with the Touchstone Maze in the woods above. West of Contin, the Falls of Rogie and the Black Water tumble through birchwoods, and a long, quiet track leads in to Loch Glass under Ben Wyvis.
Kintail and the west
West of Garve, the road to Ullapool crosses wide, empty moorland past Loch Glascarnoch. Far to the south-west, Kintail is all mountains and sea lochs, with Eilean Donan on its island where three lochs meet, the Five Sisters above Glen Shiel and the Ratagan Pass looking down Loch Duich.
“Sandwiched between the Cromarty and Beauly firths the Black Isle is a sleepy low-lying peninsula often overlooked as tourists career north.”
Lucy Gillmore
Travel writer, on a stay at Newhall Mains
Best known for.
Ross and Cromarty is known for its wildlife and its old stones. People come from far and wide to watch the bottlenose dolphins at Chanonry Point, and the cross-slabs carved at Rosemarkie, Shandwick and Hilton of Cadboll are some of the great works of Pictish art. Whisky is made at Glenmorangie, Balblair and Glen Ord, and the Black Isle brews its own organic beer. In the west, Eilean Donan Castle and the road over the Bealach na Bà are famous far beyond Scotland. Add quiet beaches, woodland waterfalls and easy coastal walks, and there is plenty to fill a week.
More about Ross and Cromarty
The Black Isle is not an island at all, but a green peninsula just over the Kessock Bridge from Inverness. It is gentle country of farms, woods and red sandstone villages. At Chanonry Point the dolphins of the Moray Firth come in to fish within sight of the shore. Rosemarkie and Fortrose share Pictish stones, a ruined cathedral and some very good baking. At the far tip, Cromarty is a handsome old town of Georgian houses and fishermen's cottages, with a little summer ferry, a tiny cinema and plenty of independent shops to wander through.
West of Dingwall the land climbs towards the hills. Strathpeffer still wears the grand Victorian hotels and villas of its spa days, and the woods around it hold waterfalls, gorges and a labyrinth of standing stones. Ben Wyvis, 1,046 metres high, fills the skyline over all of it. Head north and the road runs past the distilleries around Tain to the Pictish coast of the Tarbat peninsula. Head west and you are soon among the sea lochs, castles and mountain passes of the far coast. Whichever way you go, the drive is half the pleasure.
What would you like to look at?
See and doPictish stones, old towns and Eilean Donan
Eat, drink and shopBakeries, village inns and wood-fired pizza
History and storiesPicts, pilgrims, Mackenzies and a Victorian spa
ItinerariesDays we have driven, stop by stop
Getting hereThe trains, the roads and the ferry
What is on in Ross and CromartySomething new from the region every dayWhat is on in Ross and Cromarty
Friday the 16th of October.
Sunrise 07:54, sunset 18:12.
Coming up in Ross and Cromarty
- Oct16Nature Club - Fortrose LibraryOn today
- Oct16George Bain: The Continuous LineOn today
- Oct17Culbokie Community Market
- Oct17Cammy Barnes
- Oct17Destitution Road Drama Workshop
The news in Ross and Cromarty
Things you might not know.
The Touchstone Maze above Strathpeffer was built in 1995 from 81 rocks gathered across the Highlands and Islands, and one of its outlying stones lines up with the midsummer sunrise.
From Unravelling the mysteries of the Touchstone Maze in StrathpefferNewhall Mains, a farmstay on the Black Isle, has its own grass airstrip, and guests can take scenic flights from it up the Great Glen to Ben Nevis and Skye.
From Newhall Mains: One of Scotland’s Finest Farmstays
The Mains at Newhall, where the farm's workers once lived, lay derelict until Euan Ramsay, whose family has farmed the land for four generations, turned it into a hotel that won a Michelin Key in 2024.
From Newhall Mains: One of Scotland’s Finest FarmstaysKirk & Co., an interiors shop, design studio and café on the Black Isle, is a Highland church of 1886, and its old pews and pulpit have been reused in the fit-out.
From Inside Kirk & Co. with founder Erica MacphersonThe dolphins off Chanonry Point on the Black Isle come and go with the tide, so the locals check the tide times before heading out to watch.
From A Weekend Exploring the Black Isle
Photographs by Graham Newell, John Griffin, Susanne Klimt, Kevin Black, Nicole P, IV10 Cafe Bar Deli, Paul Finch, Jaanki-Radha, The Anderson, Tori, gallery48 and Ingrid's House via Google