Places in the Highlands to visit...

[AmericanFan]

Contemplating a return to Scotland and Europe this summer for Euro Cup.

Where in the Highlands and maybe some of the other islands would you recommend visiting?

I've been to Mull, Staffa and Iona. Other places I've already been are Oban and Glencoe. I guess I should get to Skye at some point but I'm assuming it will be packed with tourists in the summer.

 

 

[ICTJohnboy]

1 hour ago, AmericanFan said:

Contemplating a return to Scotland and Europe this summer for Euro Cup.

Where in the Highlands and maybe some of the other islands would you recommend visiting?

I've been to Mull, Staffa and Iona. Other places I've already been are Oban and Glencoe. I guess I should get to Skye at some point but I'm assuming it will be packed with tourists in the summer.

 

 

 

Hire a car or a camper-van and hit the NC-500.

https://watchmesee.com/blog/25-unmissable-things-to-do-on-the-north-coast-500/

[Enigma]

1 hour ago, ICTJohnboy said:

 

Hire a car or a camper-van and hit the NC-500.

https://watchmesee.com/blog/25-unmissable-things-to-do-on-the-north-coast-500/

Along with everybody else...

[Benjamin_Nevis]

The NC500 will be hoaching and shite in summer although to see the best of the NW highlands you'll have to suffer some of it. Head up towards Kyle of Lochalsh but cut off to Plockton before you get to it - lovely wee place, then head to Torridon via Bealach na Ba and Applecross. That stretch of coast is glorious. You can then head up to Gairloch and eventually Ullapool. Great for scenery etc. 

The midges will be fucking torture btw

[Hamish's Passenger]

Contemplating a return to Scotland and Europe this summer for Euro Cup.
Where in the Highlands and maybe some of the other islands would you recommend visiting?
I've been to Mull, Staffa and Iona. Other places I've already been are Oban and Glencoe. I guess I should get to Skye at some point but I'm assuming it will be packed with tourists in the summer.
 
 

Arran is a brilliant and beautiful island with a fair amount to see and do and with ferries to Ardrossan or Claonaig you can either leave there for the football or the mountains. Heading to Claonaig leaves a short drive for the ferry to Islay too.

[The_Kincardine]

2 hours ago, AmericanFan said:

Contemplating a return to Scotland and Europe this summer for Euro Cup.

Where in the Highlands and maybe some of the other islands would you recommend visiting?

I've been to Mull, Staffa and Iona. Other places I've already been are Oban and Glencoe. I guess I should get to Skye at some point but I'm assuming it will be packed with tourists in the summer.

Lots of beautiful places in Scotland and the NW Coast and islands is the most gorgeous of all.

However, if I were organising a trip such as yours, I'd start with a simple, "Where are the nicest places to stay and which serve the best food" and then organise my tour around that.

[ICTJohnboy]

7 hours ago, Day of the Lords said:

The NC500 will be hoaching and shite in summer although to see the best of the NW highlands you'll have to suffer some of it. Head up towards Kyle of Lochalsh but cut off to Plockton before you get to it - lovely wee place, then head to Torridon via Bealach na Ba and Applecross. That stretch of coast is glorious. You can then head up to Gairloch and eventually Ullapool. Great for scenery etc. 

The midges will be fucking torture btw

 

Plus you've got the added excitement caused by Americans who persist in driving on the wrong side of the road.

[AmericanFan]

On 18/12/2020 at 00:56, ICTJohnboy said:

 

Plus you've got the added excitement caused by Americans who persist in driving on the wrong side of the road.

I'll try not to add to that. I would likely have some note taped to the steering wheel to get me out of habit.

[highlandcowden]

off the NC500 the road to lairg along loch shin,the road from lairg to bettyhill and lairg to inchnadamph are fantastic for scenery.so is the newtonmore to spean bridge road.my recomendation would be to buy decent maps and go on the quieter roads-it never ceases to amaze me when i see cyclists doing something like LEJOG and cycling along the A9 when theres a quiet road runs parallel to it half a mile away,do they not research their route?

[Empty It]

The midges will be fucking torture btw

They won't be as bad as the weedgie benidorm crew hiring a campervan and leaving shit all over the place again.

[G51]

The west side of the Highlands is the bonnie bit. Smoo cave, Applecross, Clachtoll beach, Cape Wrath all highly recommended. Though a warning on Cape Wrath: there’s an island just off it that the RAF sometimes use for live bombing drills, and the Special Forces use the Cape for training sometimes too, so if either of those things are happening you won’t get over there. They try not to do this in the summer, but it’s just a heads up.

For anyone interested in the Clearances, I’d recommend taking a short detour to look at some of the Clearance villages around Bettyhill, and just try to imagine how on Earth people were expected to work these crofts. Some of them are built near enough on cliff faces. Badbea in Caithness worth seeing for this too.

The east side is the populated bit. If you’re crossing on the north coast, as soon as you hit the Dounreay nuclear power and testing centre you’re into land with more houses than views. That’s a good thing though, because the people are brilliant and will look after you. And there’s still the odd thing worth seeing.

In terms of places to stay, I’d try and stay in hotels or B&B’s if possible. There are loads of good ones out there and everyone tries to take a campervan when the area isn’t really built for that.

[TheScarf]

Inverness and get fired into the dirties.

[welshbairn]

And don't miss the Nipp Inn, ask for a taste of their craft ales before deciding, they'd be disappointed if you don't. 

[MONKMAN]

Forget the highlands. Head to the Southwest. Portpatrick, mull of Galloway, Galloway forest, Isle of Whithorn etc

[vikingTON]

38 minutes ago, MONKMAN said:

Forget the highlands. Head to the Southwest. Portpatrick, mull of Galloway, Galloway forest, Isle of Whithorn etc

^^^ kens the score

Most of all in the summer when the only parts of the Highlands worth visiting are drenched in alternating clouds of rain/midges respectively. 

[Stu]

17 hours ago, MONKMAN said:

Forget the highlands. Head to the Southwest. Portpatrick, mull of Galloway, Galloway forest, Isle of Whithorn etc

The correct answer. Even my recent stay in a holiday cottage about 30 miles from home in Dumfries was fantastic.

[Comrie]

There were Midges kicking about when I last visited An Lochan Uaine in November, so it seems to be getting harder and harder to avoid them.

Would recommend swathes of Wester Ross and Sutherland- avoid most of Easter Ross (mostly flat and boring, though the Souttars are cool to see) and Caithness, which other than the cliffs is pretty dull. Wick has some right headbangers who live there too.

[SandyCromarty]

On 17/12/2020 at 21:01, AmericanFan said:

Contemplating a return to Scotland and Europe this summer for Euro Cup.

Where in the Highlands and maybe some of the other islands would you recommend visiting?

I've been to Mull, Staffa and Iona. Other places I've already been are Oban and Glencoe. I guess I should get to Skye at some point but I'm assuming it will be packed with tourists in the summer.

 

 

Definately visit Orkney and take the ferry from Scrabster as just off the ferry is the famous Italian Chapel which is amazing and built by Italian POW's during WWII, then you have Maes Howe which is older than the Pyramids, then the stone age settlement of Skara Brae which had been covered with sand for centuries until a storm revealed it, plus you have the Ring of Brodgar which is a Unesco World Heritage site.

The twice we've been hotel accommodation was readily available providing good food but in the present covid climate finding accommodation in the summer might be difficult