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Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom - Things to Do in Scottish Highlands

Things to Do in Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom - Complete Travel Guide

The Scottish Highlands begin north of Stirling, where the road bends around lochs the colour of cold tea and the air carries that Atlantic-sharpened bite. This landscape rewards slow looking. Heather-purpled moors roll toward jagged ridges, peat smoke drifts from white-washed crofts, and the light shifts from silver to gold to slate-grey in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. You'll pull over more than planned, just to listen to wind move through Scots pine or watch a red deer pick its way across a hillside. The atmosphere in the Scottish Highlands tends to be more contemplative than energetic, even in summer when campervans queue along single-track roads. In small villages, doors stay unlocked, bakeries sell out by noon, and the publican will tell you unprompted which glen has the best stalking and which loch the salmon have returned to. There's a stubborn warmth to people here that contrasts beautifully with the often-bleak weather, a sense that life is lived in defiance of, and in conversation with, the land. What might surprise first-time visitors to the Scottish Highlands is the sheer scale and emptiness of it. Vast tracts of the region carry fewer inhabitants per square mile than almost anywhere else in Europe. You can drive for an hour through the Cairngorms or the wilds of Sutherland without passing a petrol station, and at night, in places like Glen Affric or the Knoydart peninsula, the sky darkens enough that the Milky Way reveals itself with clarity most people never witness.

Top Things to Do in Scottish Highlands

Driving the North Coast 500

The route loops out from Inverness around the wild edges of Sutherland and Wester Ross, hugging cliffs above gunmetal seas and unspooling past beaches the colour of bone. Allow at least five days rather than three, because the magic is in the stops, not the mileage. The white sands at Achmelvich and the Smoo Cave near Durness deserve unhurried hours.

Booking Tip: Reserve accommodation in Tongue, Lochinver and Applecross months in advance for summer, as the route has been quietly oversubscribed since 2017 and roadside vans get turned away at full carparks.

Hiking in Glen Coe

The Lost Valley walk takes you up through a hidden hanging glen where the Clan MacDonald reputedly hid cattle, and the air smells of crushed bracken and wet rock the whole way up. You don't need to be a Munro-bagger to feel its weight.

Booking Tip: Go midweek and start before nine, because by eleven the carpark below the Three Sisters fills with coaches and the trail loses its quiet.
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A boat trip on Loch Ness

The loch itself is strange. It's deeper than the North Sea, holds more freshwater than all the lakes in England and Wales combined, and on a still day the surface looks like polished obsidian. The cruises out of Drumnadrochit pass beneath the ruins of Urquhart Castle, where the stone is the same colour as the hills behind it.

Booking Tip: The late-afternoon sailings tend to be quieter and the light on the castle ramparts is softer than at midday.
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A whisky distillery tour through Speyside

Walking into the still room at a working distillery, the air thick with the sweet, yeasty smell of fermenting wash and the copper stills humming, is a sensory experience that lingers. It delivers the smoke-and-honey heart of Scotland in a way no museum can.

Booking Tip: Skip the famous-name distilleries on weekends and seek out the smaller producers around Aberlour and Craigellachie, where the dram in your hand was likely poured by the person who helped make it.

The Jacobite steam train from Fort William to Mallaig

Often called the Hogwarts Express because of its film cameos, it crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct above a glen so cinematic it almost feels staged. The carriages still smell faintly of coal smoke, the whistle echoes off the hills, and the run-in to Mallaig harbour gives you the islands of Eigg and Rum framed in the window.

Booking Tip: Tickets for the first-class observation carriage tend to sell out by April for the whole summer, so book in winter if you want a window seat.

Getting There

Inverness sits at the practical way into the Scottish Highlands, with its small airport handling direct flights from London, Manchester, Bristol, Amsterdam and a handful of other European cities. From the south, the train journey up the East Coast main line from Edinburgh or Glasgow to Inverness takes around three and a half hours and is, in itself, one of the great rail journeys of Britain, climbing over the Drumochter Pass with the Cairngorms on either side. The sleeper service from London Euston, the Caledonian Sleeper, leaves late evening and deposits you blinking into Highland light by breakfast, which still feels romantic despite the modernised berths. Driving up from Glasgow takes around three hours to reach the southern Highland fringe at Tyndrum, where the road forks for Oban, Fort William and the west, or continues north toward Inverness. From the west of Scotland, the Skye ferries at Mallaig and Uig connect the Hebrides into Highland itineraries, and the small airport at Wick serves the far north for those short on time.

Getting Around

Bring a car. The Highlands open wide once you leave the A9 corridor. Inverness Airport rentals sit mid-range for the UK, but summer spikes and scarce automatics mean booking early. Single-track etiquette is simple. Pull into the passing place on your left. Stop opposite one if the other driver reaches it first. A quick hand lift says thanks. No wheels? The West Highland Line from Glasgow to Mallaig and the Far North Line from Inverness to Thurso still reach the wilds. Trains run only a few times daily and fares stay mid-range. Citylink and Stagecoach buses link Inverness with Skye, Ullapool, Aviemore and Fort William. Expect long waits in lonely glens. Late spring cycling on quiet B-roads is glorious. Midges have not hatched yet. Inverness and Fort William outfitters rent touring bikes by the week for mid-range rates.

Where to Stay

Inverness is the smartest base for first-timers. Fly in. Plot loops by car. Victorian terraces along Ness Bank and Ardross Street hold comfortable mid-range B&Bs. The old town near the castle hides boutique hotels in converted townhouses.

Aviemore sits in central the Cairngorms. Walkers, skiers and wildlife spotters love it. The village itself is plain. The pine forests, lochs and mountains are not. The rail link to Inverness is reliable.

Fort William is the climber's choice. Ben Nevis towers behind the town. Glen Coe and the West Highland Way start close by. The place feels workaday. Lochside hotels along Loch Linnhe make up for it. Sunset over the Ardgour hills is free.

The Isle of Skye is technically separate. A bridge fixes that. It feels like the Highlands extended. Portree lines painted houses around its harbour. Hotels and guesthouses cost more here. Carbost on the western shore is quieter. Cuillin ridge access is better.

Ullapool on Loch Broom is the northwest gateway. Ferries to the Outer Hebrides leave from here. Whitewashed waterfront. Ceilidh nights at The Ceilidh Place. One of the most atmospheric Highland villages for an overnight. Seafood straight off the boats is exceptional.

Plockton sits on a sheltered sea loch on the way to Skye. Palm trees survive thanks to the Gulf Stream. Prettiest village in Scotland? Many say yes. Rooms are scarce. Book early. Summer nights with boats clinking at moorings linger long.

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Food & Dining

Highland cooking has grown up. Deep-fried everything is out. Proper seafood, game and small-batch produce are in. Inverness restaurants around Castle Street and Church Street, along the river, serve mid-range tasting menus. Moray Firth langoustines. Black Isle beef. Cromarty oysters. Weekend stalls at the Victorian Market sell smoked-salmon bagels for budget-friendly prices. In Ullapool, the Seafood Shack on the harbour dishes hand-dived scallops and crab claws. Boats bob thirty feet away. Queues start by half-eleven in summer. Smokehouses around Tain and Achiltibuie sell hot-smoked salmon and kippers. Buy direct at the counter for budget-friendly prices. Skip the restaurant markup. Speyside is venison country. Grantown-on-Spey and Aberlour estates pair red-deer haunch with juniper and bramble jelly from the hills. Aviemore cafés along Grampian Road serve cullen skink after a wet day. Smoky haddock soup. It works. Skye punches above its weight. Three Chimneys at Colbost on the Duirinish peninsula has drawn diners for thirty years. Splurge and reserve ahead. Portree and Carbost cafés sell langoustine rolls and home-cured gravadlax at mid-range prices. Applecross Inn sits at the end of Britain's most dramatic pass. Dressed crab and a view reward the white-knuckle drive.

When to Visit

May and early June are, for most people, the sweet spot in the Scottish Highlands. The days are long. Heather is still shy. Yet trees glow in full leaf., midges have not reached full fury. The trade-off is that wildflower meadows and the brightest purple heather peak later in July and August. That is also when midges turn vicious. Roads clog. Accommodation prices climb to their highest. September is, in many ways, the connoisseur's choice. Light turns amber. Hillsides flame into autumn colour. Stags begin to roar in the rutting season. The worst of the midges have died back. Accommodation softens slightly in price. Coach tours thin out after the first week. You'll often have a Munro summit to yourself on a Tuesday morning. Winter is harsher and more committed but extraordinarily rewarding for those prepared for short daylight and serious weather. The snow-line on the Cairngorms supports a small but genuine ski season at Aviemore, Glencoe and Glenshee. The dark-sky reserves around Tomintoul and the Galloway forest deliver some of the best aurora viewing in Britain on clear, cold nights. November and early December tend to be wet and grey. Many smaller restaurants and B&Bs close for the season. Check opening hours before committing to remote bookings.

Insider Tips

Carry midge repellent containing Saltidin or DEET from May through September. Pack a head net for any walking trip into damp glens or near standing water. The midges in the Scottish Highlands are a different proposition to the mosquitoes most travellers know. Even hardened locals will admit that a still, humid evening in July near a peat bog can be unbearable without protection.
Fill the petrol tank whenever you find a station open, in the northwest and on Skye. Stations in places like Lochinver, Kinlochbervie and Glenelg can close on Sundays, on bank holidays, or simply because the owner has gone fishing. The next forecourt might be sixty miles further on. The same logic applies to cash. Many of the smaller pubs, ferry crossings and craft shops still prefer notes. Mobile signal for card payments can vanish for hours at a time.
Learn to read a weather forecast in layers rather than as a single verdict. The Mountain Weather Information Service forecast is dramatically more useful than a generic app. In the Scottish Highlands, the valley floor can be sunny and warm while the ridge a thousand feet above is in cloud, sleet and a forty-mile-an-hour wind. Locals will tell you, with a half-smile, that you can experience four seasons in a single hour up here. They're not exaggerating.

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