Part of the Rural Scotland series. We also have a writeup of the Inverness Highland Games experience.

Location: Dead centre in the north of Scotland. It’s the gateway to the highlands.

Getting There: ScotRail has routes coming in from Aberdeen via Elgin (east), Edinburgh & Glasgow via Perth (south), Thurso (north) & Kyle of Lochalsh (west). There are also a number of buses that run from Scotland and even from London (MegaBus Gold & National Express). Buses & tours run from Inverness to Loch Ness.

Short Excursions from Inverness:

• Loch Ness / Urquhart Castle: The most famous Scottish loch where people come for the chance to spot the Loch Ness monster aka Nessie. It’s quite a massive& deep loch North-South where the eyes can only see the horizon at the other end. Apart from that, the loch has a distinctive blue-black colour which adds to the mysterious feel. We’ve done the Jacobite Loch Ness boat tour & recommend it. That tour can be padded with a visit to the ruins of Urquhart Castle.
  

  The Jacobite Queen

  

  Trebuchet at Urquhart Castle

  

  Urquhart Castle

  

  

  Nessie helped us navigate, of course. He’s also looking over his abode.

  Getting There: Scottish CityLink 917/919 & StageCoach Highlands 17/19 buses take you to the Clansman hotel in front of the boat tours dock. Note that few buses run per day so plan ahead & the timing may or may not be met (we’ve had a bus late by an hour).

• Inverness Castle & Cathedral: A 20-30 minute city-centre walk covers a pleasant stretch between the small Inverness castle to the more imposing cathedral which are on opposite banks of the river Ness. The walk can be extended by going south on the Inverness castle side to access a small island in the middle of the river.
  

  

  Inverness Cathedral

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  River Ness from the river island

• Clava Cairn: This is a famous bronze age structure to the east of Inverness. We’ve not been here ourselves yet but seen from pictures via a friend & it looks quite interesting.

Food & Drink:

The Black Isle taproom for some excellent beer and good pizza.

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