Getting around

Getting around the Black Isle is simple and rewarding, with short distances and quiet roads linking its villages and viewpoints. Most visitors arrive from Inverness, crossing the Kessock Bridge onto the peninsula. From there, the main route, the A832, curves through open countryside and connects North Kessock, Fortrose, Rosemarkie and Cromarty. Smaller side roads thread inland to places like Munlochy, Culbokie and Resolis, passing farms, woodlands and glimpses of sea on both sides.

A car offers the most freedom, but the Black Isle is compact enough to explore by bicycle or on foot in sections. Cyclists often follow the marked Black Isle Loop, a gentle circuit on backroads that takes in farmland, coast and forest, with regular chances to stop for a view or a coffee. The roads are generally quiet, though they can be narrow, so patience and awareness go a long way. For walkers, paths like the Fairy Glen trail near Rosemarkie or the coastal route from Cromarty to the Sutors offer memorable ways to experience the landscape at a slower pace.

Buses run between Inverness and Fortrose, Rosemarkie and Cromarty, though they are infrequent, especially in the evenings and on Sundays. For a change of route, the small seasonal ferry between Cromarty and Nigg operates through the summer months, carrying a few cars and passengers across the firth in just a few minutes. It’s a simple crossing but a scenic one, and for many, part of the Black Isle’s charm.

The distances here are short, and the pace is unhurried. Roads dip and rise between fields, and at almost every turn there is a view of water, a stretch of woodland or a steeple marking the next village.