Hidden Scotland
Sign in

Cafés
in Sutherland.

It’s 20:05 in Sutherland.
Sutherland

Scones in Tongue, truffles at Balnakeil.

Cafés in Sutherland are often old buildings given a second life. In Tongue and Bettyhill, two village stores have become a bakery and a bistro, one with its original shelves still in place. A whitewashed cottage in Bettyhill doubles as the tourist information point, and a craft shop café looks out over the Kyle of Tongue. At Balnakeil, by Durness, and on Castle Street in Dornoch, a chocolatier pours a hot chocolate it calls The Best. Dornoch's High Street has a busy café for breakfasts and home baking. Fill a flask when you can, as the gaps between stops are long.

Bettyhill Tourist Information & Cafe→
Sutor Creek Café→
Milk & Honey→
Ceilidh Place→
Burr’s of Tongue→
Cocoa Mountain Balnakeil→
Weavers Craft Shop & Café→
Cult Cafe→
Cocoa Mountain Dornoch→
The Store Bistro & Bar→
Café of the day18 hours ago

Bettyhill Tourist Information & Cafe.

A whitewashed cottage on the A836 in Bettyhill, home to the village's tourist information point and a small café, with benches and picnic tables out front.

See the place
From our guide17 hours ago

Milk & Honey.

On Dornoch's High Street, a wooden sign swings from a stone shopfront: Milk & Honey. It is a small, popular café, and at busy times you may wait a few minutes for a table. Breakfasts are hearty, and lunch brings soups, toasties and wraps, with a specials board that changes. The coffee is good, but the baking is the real draw, from carrot cake to cheesecakes, with a counter of cakes to take away. There is plenty for anyone eating gluten-free. The cathedral and the green are just round the corner.

See the place
Stay15 hours agoSutherlandLundies House7.9 milesSutherlandKyle House11.1 milesSutherlandKeeper's Cottage14.4 miles

Stay near The Store Bistro & Bar.

The three good places closest to it: Lundies House, Kyle House and Keeper's Cottage.

See The Store Bistro & Bar
From our guide14 hours ago

Cocoa Mountain Dornoch.

On Castle Street, the chocolate makers from Balnakeil on the north coast have a second shop, in a long, low building of warm sandstone. The same handmade chocolates and truffles sit in rows under glass. The thing to order is the chaser, a hot chocolate that comes with four chocolates of your choosing. There are cakes too, and croissants filled with chocolate. The cathedral, the old bishop's palace and the long beach are all a few minutes' walk away.

See the place
From our guide12 hours ago

Burr’s of Tongue.

For much of the last century, Burr's was where everything happened in Tongue. Peter Burr took over the village store in 1932 and built it into a bakery, tea room and haulage business, selling fuel and goods and giving travellers somewhere to rest. After years of decline, the Wildland estate has restored the old buildings, and there is a bakery on the site once more. Inside, it is warm timber from floor to ceiling, with the ovens behind the counter and tables by tall windows. Come for good coffee and bakes fresh from the oven.

See the place
Somewhere to eat9 hours ago

Cult Cafe, Sutherland.

A small New Zealand-inspired café on Argyle Street in Ullapool, open from early morning for flat whites, brunch on sourdough and homemade cakes.

See the place
Did you know8 hours ago

In Ullapool, The Ceilidh Place began in 1970 as a small café in a boatshed, started by the actor Robert Urquhart at Broomview Cottage, where he was born.

He meant it as a place for eating, meeting, talking and singing. It has since grown into a hotel, café-bar and bookshop with a Scottish literary bias, and its venue was voted Music Venue of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards. Live music is often on. The café opens from 8am, and the bar from 11am until late.

See Ceilidh Place · Sutherland
From the magazine6 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 11Issue 11Autumn / Winter 2025–26

When the old Burr's Store in Tongue, on Scotland's north coast, was brought back to life, the community was asked what it wanted, and a bakery topped the wish list.

The trading post dates back to the early 1900s, and in 1932 Peter Burr expanded it into a transport hub, tearoom, bakery and store, a vital lifeline for the community. Over time it fell into disrepair, ending up as a tired shop and petrol stop. Now restored, it houses an artisan bakery, a café and a bookshop, with space to show local crafts, and it holds regular markets and events. It has become a favourite stop on the North Coast 500, the driving route round the top of Scotland.

See Burr’s of Tongue · Sutherland
From our guide5 hours ago

Norse Bakehouse.

A few minutes east of Tongue, on the high ground above the coast, the Norse Bakehouse is a family-run café that does its own baking on site. The focaccia is the thing to order, thick and soft and split for sandwiches, and there are pizzas too, with homemade puddings and good coffee to follow. The room inside is tall and bright, but on a fine day take a table in the garden, where the view runs over the moor to the sea. Dogs are welcome, and there is a small gift shop.

See the place
From our guide3 hours ago

Cocoa Mountain Balnakeil.

On the road out to Balnakeil beach, a long, low building clad in pale blue has two words across its white portico: cocoa mountain. Chocolates and truffles are made by hand here, about as far from a cocoa plantation as you can get. The café pours a rich hot chocolate the makers call, simply, The Best, and there are croissants and cakes, including a rocky road made with ginger biscuits. Order a hot chocolate with a few chocolates on the side after a walk on the beach. Dogs are welcome.

See the place
From our guide2 hours ago

Lochinver Larder.

Lochinver Larder has been feeding hungry travellers on the road north since Ian and Debra Stewart opened it as a deli in 1986. These days it is famous for its pies, made on the premises in a long list of fillings, from steak and ale to venison and cranberry, with sweet ones such as apple and blackcurrant. They have won national awards, and the shop will post them anywhere on the UK mainland. Take yours outside to eat by the River Inver, looking over the sea loch, or find a table inside. Ask for gravy.

See the place
From our guide1 hour ago

The River Bothy.

Pull off the A9 at Berriedale, just north of the Sutherland border, and you find a stone cottage full of cake. The River Bothy sits on the bank of the Berriedale River and has been looking after people on their way north since 2016. Breakfasts are built round Latheronwheel sausages, haggis and Stornoway black pudding, and lunch brings fresh soup, toasties on sourdough and, when there is some, local crab. The cakes are baked daily in the kitchen. The shelves hold local jams, chutneys and Caithness chocolate to take home. Dogs are welcome.

See the place

You are up to date.

The next post goes up at 20:32, and a new day of them starts tomorrow morning. Or have the best of it in your inbox each morning in the Daily.