The Scottish Highlands is a spot we had been keen to visit for a long time. So we hopped on an 8 hour train journey (highly recommend) and landed in the wonderful city (town?) of Inverness. Inverness is really beautiful and is a great place to base yourself for a few days. The main sites can be seen pretty easily in a day – the Castle, Cathedral, River Ness and plenty of pubs and live music. While all these are great, our absolute highlight of Inverness was visiting the Culloden Battlefield. It is the site of the very bloody last battle of the Jacobite Rising in 1746. It costs £10pp to visit both the museum and battlefield, and is definitely worth the entry cost. It’s the perfect size to explore without getting museum fatigue, it is set up really well and incredibly informative.
When in Inverness everyone flocks to see the famous Loch Ness. We drove past it a couple of times and were suitably unimpressed. Maybe it was because it was always a little dreary as we ventured past it, or maybe because the hype is so high that it will never live up to it. Who knows, but I wouldn’t really bother putting it on your ‘must-do’ list. Instead, visit nearby Glen Affric and Loch Affric for some truly gorgeous views and walks. The drive into the area alone is fantastic and we stopped a couple of times for some cheeky pics.
While at Glen Affric we did a big 17km loop trail around the loch. There are plenty of maps and guide boards at the River Affric car park to help you decide what tracks to walk – just remember to bring some coins for the parking meters (no card!). We can definitely recommend the big loop around Loch Affric, which took us about 4.5 hours.
It is not just lochs to see in the area, the Highlands are also renowned for their mountains, in particular the Nevis Range. When we visited I was 7 months pregnant so a big hike up Ben Nevis was not really on the cards. Instead we took the gondola (a bit pricey at £22pp) up into the Nevis Range where there are a couple of short walks to some viewpoints. The walks are really easy and are a nice casual way to see the mountains, in particular, views of the famous Ben Nevis.
While I relaxed and enjoyed the views, Andrew, and a few of our friends, hiked further up into the Nevis Range to follow the ridgeline for a while. I was assured the views were absolutely stunning, as you can tell from the gorgeous, mountainous pictures they took.
Other than Inverness, our second base in the area was the small village of Muir of Ord. This village is really lovely and we can recommend the Bad Girl Bakery for amazing breakfasts and baked treats, as well as the Old Arms Hotel for some great pub vibes. It is also not too far from Dornoch Firth, which is a great place to visit for some beach views. Unfortunately we didn’t have the best weather but the moody atmosphere it created certainly leant itself to the rugged romanticism of the Highlands.
The small village of Tain sits on the edge of Dornoch Firth and is home to my Dad’s favourite whisky distillery – Glenmorangie. So we of course had to make the pilgrimage there for a tasting. Due to covid restrictions we couldn’t do a tour but we thoroughly enjoyed walking around the place and learning about the whisky during our tasting session.
Overall our time in the Highlands was exactly how we imagined it would be – filled with fantastic walks and plenty of whisky. Cost wise, your activities are pretty cheap considering you are mainly going on walks, and eating out is not too pricey either.
Here is a breakdown of our costs for 2 people for 6 days:
Accommodation – £295 (NZ$581)
Food/Drink – £348 (NZ$685)
Activities – £96 (NZ$189)
Miscellaneous – £10 (NZ$20)
Petrol – £45 (NZ$89)
Car rental – £250 (NZ$492)
Total spent – £1,044 (NZ$2,056)
