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Travel || 10 Things to Do Around Inverness, Scotland

Posted on August 23, 2018

When Sam, Harold and I went on our Scottish holiday, I was very excited to camp around the Scottish Highlands, but I was also extremely excited to hang out with my aunt and cousins for a few days in a lovely house outside of Inverness for a few nights.

It was so much fun to explore the area with family!

10 Things to Do Around Inverness, Scotland

1. Visit Culloden Moor

Any fan of “Outlander’ will be able to tell you what happened on Culloden Moor. The Battle of Culloden, of course! The battle ended the Jacobite cause and also ended the clan system. The museum and visitor’s centre is excellent, and there’s an interactive battle film that’s actually very moving.

2. Tour Inverness Castle

Inverness Castle sits imposingly on a hill overlooking the River Ness. It was built in the 11th century. It was laid siege to 7 times and the castle is on the £50 Scottish note. At the moment, only the North Tower and the castle grounds are open for public viewing.

3. Nairn

Nairn is a beautiful little seaside town, 15 minute train-ride away from Inverness. Situated on the Moray Firth it’s supposed to be the sunniest and driest place in Scotland. It’s also where actress Tilda Swinton lives, so there’s that.

4. Hike to Rogie Falls

There is a short, but very popular walk from A835 next to the village of Contin through the forest to the Blackwater River. The water is almost beer coloured because of all the peat in the area and the suspension bridge above the river is amazing. It’s supposed to be one of the best places to see salmon leaping upstream; however, I saw no salmon.

5. Visit Cawdor Castle

There was only one reason that a) I knew of Cawdor Castle and that b) I wanted to visit it. ‘Macbeth’. Cawdor Castle is the seat of the Thane of Cawdor, which is the title given to Macbeth after the previous Thane was executed for treason against King Duncan. It has little else to do with Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ but it is a 15th century castle with beautiful gardens.

6. Make a wish at the Munlochy Clootie Well

Luckily, my aunt knew exactly where this was, otherwise I never would have known to visit it! It’s an ancient Celtic tradition of ripping off a piece of cloth – “a clootie” – dipping it in the “fairy” well and then tying it to a nearby tree. It’s supposed to cure you of ailments. It’s definitely an eerie place to visit, with thousands of rags tied to trees around the well; but it’s also probably one of the most magical places that I’ve ever been.

7. Pay a visit to Inverness Cathedral

Inverness Cathedral has a picturesque location along the banks of the River Ness. It has the honour of being the first Protestant Cathedral completed in Great Britain after the Reformation. (It was finished in the mid- 1800s.)

8. Hunt for Nessie down at Loch Ness

To people outside of Scotland, Loch Ness is surely the most famous Loch in the whole world so it doesn’t need much explanation. Visit it for yourself to see if you can find that tricksy beasty, the Loch Ness Monster. (After our visit, I took to calling Harold “Lil Nessie”.)

9. Visit Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle is a ruin that stands on the banks of Loch Ness, but it’s supposedly the best spot for Nessie spotting. Aside from a mythical monster, it’s an interesting place to visit anyways. There’s a full-sized trebuchet siege engine, and it’s not every day that you can say that you’ve seen one of those!

10. Tour Glenmorangie Distillery

No Scottish “to do” list would be complete without one whisky distillery tour on there, at least, right? Glenmorangie offer three different tours, and you can rest-assured that you’ll taste some of their single-malt Scottish whisky.

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