Tours from Inverness · Run by Timberbush Tours
Urquhart Castle · Fort Augustus · Falls of Foyers · Dores Beach
Loch Ness without the long drive: a relaxed day out from Inverness, back by teatime.
If you're staying in Inverness, Loch Ness is right on the doorstep, and this is a gentle way to see it. The coach follows the Caledonian Canal out of town to Urquhart Castle, the ruin on its headland over the loch, then carries on to Fort Augustus for lunch beside the locks. On the way back along the quieter south shore you walk up to the Falls of Foyers and finish at Dores Beach, one of the best places to look down the length of the loch. You can add a cruise. It's back in Inverness at 5.30pm, so there's an evening left for the town.
The places it stops at, in order. Routes can change with the weather and the traffic.
The day
Where it starts
Railway Terrace, Inverness IV1 1NW
Leaves at 8.45am
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Seen from the coach
Thomas Telford's 60-mile canal through the Great Glen from Corpach to Inverness, with 29 locks, Neptune's Staircase and the Fort Augustus flight.
More about Caledonian Canal
A stop
The ruins of a castle that was once among Scotland's largest, on a headland over Loch Ness, with the Grant Tower to climb and a café on site.
Entry optional
More about Urquhart Castle
Lunch
The village at the southern end of Loch Ness, cut in two by the Caledonian Canal and its flight of locks, named after a fort built after 1715.
1-hour Loch Ness cruise optional
More about Fort Augustus
A walk
A waterfall of about 140 feet in a wooded gorge at Foyers on Loch Ness, reached by a stepped path from the road, where Burns composed a poem in 1787.
More about Falls of Foyers
A walk
A shingle beach at the north end of Loch Ness, eight miles from Inverness, with long views down the loch and a famous resident Nessie hunter.
More about Dores BeachWhere it ends
Back at about 5.30pm
Photographs: Timberbush Tours
Railway Terrace
Railway Terrace, Inverness IV1 1NW
Leaves at 8.45am. Opens 15 minutes before departure and closes 5 minutes before.
Children aged 4 to 16 pay less; their price shows when you book.
Run by
Timberbush Tours has been taking visitors round Scotland since 1998. June and Gary Voy, a husband and wife team, started it with a single coach, and it now runs its own fleet, with driver-guides who have been with the company for years. Their tours leave every day from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, and from Portree on Skye, and you book with them directly.
Timberbush Tours answer them, and you book with them directly.
8.45am to 5.30pm from Inverness, from £51 an adult.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before a day tour, and up to 7 days before a tour of several days, by Timberbush’s own terms.
Booked with Timberbush Tours, or call them on +44 (0)131 226 6066
From Inverness8 hoursBack 5pm
Cawdor Castle · Dores Beach · Inverness · Glen Ord Distillery
Off the ship at Invergordon for Cawdor Castle, Loch Ness, Inverness and a distillery.
About 3 hours of it on the roadUp to 53 on a coach
From £75 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
From Inverness11½ hoursBack 6.45pm
Urquhart Castle · Glenfinnan Viaduct · Mallaig · Dores Beach
Loch Ness, the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the Road to the Isles to Mallaig, all from Inverness.
About 6 hours of it on the roadUp to 37 on a coach
From £60 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
From Inverness12 hoursBack 8pm
Eilean Donan Castle · Portree · Kilt Rock · Strome viewpoint
Skye in a day from Inverness: Eilean Donan, Portree and the Trotternish coast.
About 7½ hours of it on the roadUp to 37 on a coach
From £63 an adult
Run by Timberbush Tours
