The Highlands & Skye

The big one. From the sea-lochs of Wester Ross to the peaks of Lochaber, the length of the Great Glen and every corner of the Isle of Skye — this is the Scotland the guidebooks put on the cover, and the part of the country we keep coming back to. Here is everywhere we have been.

The North-West & Wester Ross

• Applecross (A Chomraich) — the Sanctuary Peninsula & the Bealach na Bà.
• Lochcarron & Strathcarron — Loch-Side Wester Ross on the Road to Applecross & Skye.
• Shieldaig — A Row of White Cottages, a Pine Island & the Sea Eagles of Loch Torridon.
• Gairloch — Wester Ross Beaches, Loch Maree & a Whale-Watching Coast.
• Inverewe Garden, Poolewe — A Subtropical Paradise on the Same Latitude as Siberia.
• Assynt — Ardvreck Castle, the Kylesku Bridge & the Wildest Corner of the North-West.
• Ullapool — The White-Washed Ferry Town on Loch Broom — and the Beach at Ardmair.
• Durness — Smoo Cave, the White Sands of Balnakeil & the Top-Left Corner of Scotland.

Lochaber & the Great Glen

• Glen Coe — Scotland’s Most Dramatic Glen — the Massacre, the Three Sisters & the Mountains.
• Over Rannoch Moor to Glen Coe — the great road west.
• Glen Nevis — Under Ben Nevis — the Gorge, Steall Falls & Britain’s Highest Mountain.
• Kinlochleven — Sleep Right on the Loch — Waterfalls, the West Highland Way & an Aluminium Town.
• Glenfinnan — The Harry Potter Viaduct, a Jacobite Monument & the Head of Loch Shiel.
• Neptune’s Staircase, Banavie — Telford’s Great Eight-Lock Ladder Under Ben Nevis.
• Laggan Locks — A Free Canal-Side Stopover on the A82, Just Before Loch Ness.
• Fort Augustus — The Caledonian Canal Locks, Loch Ness & the Heart of the Great Glen.
• The Caledonian Canal — Telford’s Coast-to-Coast Highway Through the Great Glen.
• The Well of the Seven Heads (Tobar nan Ceann) — Loch Oich’s Grim Monument to Highland Justice.

Kintail & the Road to Skye

• Eilean Donan Castle — Scotland’s Most Famous Castle, Where Three Sea Lochs Meet.

The Isle of Skye

• Portree — Skye’s Colourful Capital — the Harbour, the Headland Walk & the King’s Port.
• Dunvegan Castle — 800 Years of Clan MacLeod, the Fairy Flag & Skye’s Great Stronghold.
• The Old Man of Storr — Skye’s Great Rock Pinnacle — and the Honest Truth About Parking.
• Staffin & the Quiraing — Skye’s Dinosaur Coast, Kilt Rock & the Great Trotternish Walk.
• Kilmuir — The Skye Museum of Island Life, Flora MacDonald’s Grave & Duntulm Castle.
• Sleat — The “Garden of Skye” — Armadale, Clan Donald & the Museum of the Isles.
• Stein — Skye’s Oldest Inn, a Row of White Cottages & the Quiet Beauty of Waternish.
• Talisker Distillery, Carbost — Skye’s Oldest Malt, Made on the Shore Under the Cuillin.

Explore more: Lochs · Castles · Clans · Standing Stones · Kirks & Abbeys.