Hidden Scotland
Sign in
Wester Ross.
A gravel track follows a curving shingle beach beside a calm loch beneath misty hills.

Getting to Wester Ross and around.

The roads, the train and the buses

Travel in Wester Ross takes time. Roads are narrow, winding, and often single-track, especially once you leave the A832. Driving is the only realistic way to explore the area in full, with distances that look short on the map often taking far longer than expected.

Public transport is very limited, with occasional buses connecting Ullapool to Inverness and Gairloch, but they aren’t designed for flexible travel. Cyclists get the scenery, but also exposed roads and long gaps between services, so plan ahead.

Walkers, climbers and photographers tend to plan trips around the weather. Paths are often unmarked, and some of the best routes require confidence in remote terrain. But there are plenty of accessible short walks too – woodland trails, coastal loops and beach paths, often starting right from a layby or village car park.

By road

Inverness is the nearest city, about ninety minutes from Torridon by road, and the A835 takes you across to Ullapool.

Fill up with fuel when you can, because petrol stations are few and far between.

By train

The Kyle line from Inverness stops at Achnasheen, Strathcarron and Plockton on its way to Kyle of Lochalsh.

It's a beautiful ride, but beyond the stations you'll want a car.

Getting around

Roads are narrow and often single track once you leave the main routes, and the Bealach na Bà, with its hairpins and gradients of 1 in 5, isn't for learners, big vehicles or caravans.

Buses are few, linking Ullapool and Gairloch with Inverness, so plan your days around the car.

Ullapool is the biggest village, with the ferry to Lewis, shops and places to eat. Gairloch and Poolewe suit Loch Maree and Inverewe, Torridon and Shieldaig the mountains, and Plockton the south.

Give it four or five days, because the roads are slow and the views stop you every mile. A week lets you walk in Torridon and take the Bealach na Bà over to Applecross.

Yes, in a car, if you're happy on steep single track with hairpins and a drop at the side. It isn't for learners, big vehicles or caravans, and it can close in snow; the coast road round by Shieldaig is the gentler way to Applecross.

The weather comes off the Atlantic, so it changes fast and rain is never far away, but a clear day on this coast is as beautiful as anywhere. Pack waterproofs, and midge repellent for summer evenings.

A garden on the shore of Loch Ewe near Poolewe, planted from 1862 by Osgood Mackenzie, where the warm sea air lets plants from around the world grow much further north than you'd expect.

Yes. Gairloch has sandy beaches and boat trips to see whales and seals, Plockton has seal-spotting boats in summer, and at Corrieshalloch Gorge a suspension bridge hangs over the Falls of Measach.

Photographs by The Old Inn Gairloch, Carsten Seick, John Mackenzie, Florinel Voicu, Gavin Jones, Edwin Day, Richard Roberts, Craig Townsend, Wenyi Lee Stones, Robert Collins, Jim Ewing, Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve Visitor centre, Michael Celentano and Raquel via Google

More of Wester Ross.

Palm trees line a row of harled houses facing a walled garden and bench in Plockton.See and doPlockton, Inverewe Garden and Strome CastleFishing boats rest on the tideline at Plockton harbour, autumn woodland rising behind.Eat, drink and shopSeafood by the harbour and village cafésA white cottage with a lit chimney stands above a seaweed shore, a sailboat anchored offshore.Where to stayA lodge on the loch and houses by the shoreA broken stone arch of Strome Castle on its grassy bluff above Loch Carron.History and storiesSaints, Mackenzies, herring and the Arctic convoysA row of whitewashed cottages lines a curving shingle beach beneath misty hills.ItinerariesDays we have driven, stop by stopLow cloud clings to a cliff-edged hill above a calm sea loch in Ross and Cromarty.What is on in Wester RossSomething new from the region every day