All NC500 Attractions
91 attractions
🌊 Loch
Loch Ness
Loch Ness is one of the most famous bodies of water in the world, stretching 23 miles through the Great Glen and containing more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined. At depths of up to 227 metres, it is the largest loch in Scotland by volume — and the legendary home of the Loch Ness …
🏰 Castle
Free
Inverness Castle
Inverness Castle is the iconic starting point of the North Coast 500, its distinctive red sandstone towers rising above the River Ness in the centre of the Highland capital. The current castle was built in the 1830s on the site of earlier fortifications dating back to the 11th century — the …
⚔️ Historical
Culloden Battlefield
Culloden Moor is one of the most emotionally charged places in Scotland — the site of the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, the last pitched battle fought on British soil and the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising. In less than an hour, government forces under the Duke of Cumberland crushed Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army, endi…
🦌 Wildlife
Free
Chanonry Point
Chanonry Point on the Black Isle is one of the finest places in Europe to watch bottlenose dolphins from the shore. The headland juts into the Moray Firth at a narrow channel where the tidal currents concentrate fish — particularly sa…
🥃 Distillery
Glenmorangie Distillery
Glenmorangie Distillery at Tain is one of Scotland's most celebrated and visited whisky distilleries, famed for its extraordinary pot stills — at 5.14 metres, the tallest in Scotland, said to give the spirit its distinctive light, floral character. Founded in 1843 on the site of a former brewery, Glenmorangie produces a range of single malts that are matured in a var…
🥃 Distillery
Glen Ord Distillery
Glen Ord Distillery sits in the quiet farming country of Muir of Ord on the Black Isle, one of the oldest continuously operating distilleries in Scotland. Founded in 1838, it was for many years one of Scotland's most important suppliers of malt to the blending industry. Toda…
🥃 Distillery
Dalmore Distillery
Dalmore Distillery sits on the southern shore of the Cromarty Firth near Alness, producing one of Scotland's most recognised and prestigious single malts. Founded in 1839, Dalmore is renowned for its unusual 12-sided wash stills — unique in Scotch whisky production — and…
🥃 Distillery
Balblair Distillery
Balblair is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, with origins in 1790, sitting in the Eddern Valley south of Tain. The distillery produces vintage-dated expressions rather than age-stated releases — meaning each bottling is from a sp…
🥃 Distillery
Clynelish Distillery
Clynelish Distillery at Brora in Sutherland is one of the NC500's must-visit whisky destinations. The current distillery dates to 1967, built next to the original 1819 distillery (which operated as "Brora" distillery u…
🥃 Distillery
Old Pulteney Distillery
Old Pulteney Distillery in Wick holds a special place in Scottish whisky — it is the most northerly mainland distillery and bills itself as "The Maritime Malt", a reference to the salt-spray, briny, sea air character that permeates its whisky. Founded in 1826 in the planned fishing town of Pulteneytown (now part of Wick), the distillery uses famously unusual sti…
🥃 Distillery
Wolfburn Distillery
Wolfburn Distillery on the outskirts of Thurso is the northernmost distillery on the Scottish mainland — a craft operation founded in 2013 on the site of a distillery that operated in the 1820s. Wolfburn is a small independent operation producing whisky in tiny batches, which means every bottle is genuinely limite…
🥃 Distillery
Badachro Distillery
Badachro Distillery is a small craft spirits operation in the remote Badachro community near Gairloch, producing gin using water drawn from the nearby Loch Bad an Sgalaig. The distillery uses locally foraged botanicals alongside traditional ones, giving its gin a distinctively Highland chara…
🥃 Distillery
Dornoch Distillery
Dornoch Distillery is one of the most talked-about craft spirits operations in Scotland. Run by brothers Phil and Simon Thompson in a converted Victorian fire station and church hall in the heart of Dornoch, i…
🥃 Distillery
Dunnet Bay Distillers
Dunnet Bay Distillers, producers of the award-winning Rock Rose Gin, sit near Dunnet Head — the true most northerly point of mainland Britain — in the dramatic Caithness landscape. Founded in 2014 by Martin and Claire Murray, the distillery uses water drawn from a spring on the Dunnet Head estate and…
🥃 Distillery
North Point Distillery
North Point Distillery at John o'Groats is Scotland's northernmost rum distillery — and one of very few rum distilleries in the country at all. Situated right at the iconic northeastern tip of mainland Britain, it produces the Pentland Firth Rum range using import…
🥃 Distillery
8 Doors Distillery
8 Doors Distillery is one of the newer craft spirits operations on the NC500, established in Wick in 2020 and producing whisky, gin and vodka. The name references the eight doors of a traditional Caithness flagstone cottage — a nod to local vernacular architect…
🥃 Distillery
Stannergill Distillery
Stannergill Distillery is a small craft gin producer based in Thurso, adding to the growing cluster of artisan spirits operations in Caithness. Using locally sourced botanicals including heather, bog myrtle and coastal plants from the Caithness landscape, Stannerg…
💧 Waterfall
Free
Falls of Shin
The Falls of Shin on the River Shin south of Lairg are one of the best places in the Scottish Highlands to watch Atlantic salmon leaping upstream during their autumn and summer migration. The falls themselves are not dramatically high, but watching 1-metre-plus salmon hurling themselves up against the white…
🏘️ Village
Free
Dornoch
Dornoch is one of Scotland's most charming small towns, a medieval Royal Burgh of honey-coloured sandstone buildings gathered around a magnificent 13th-century cathedral. The town has an extraordinary array of claims to fame: it hosts the Royal Dornoch Golf Course, ranked among the top 10 g…
🏰 Castle
Dunrobin Castle
Dunrobin Castle is the most northerly of Scotland's great houses and one of the most spectacular — a fairytale confection of turrets and spires rising above formal gardens modelled on those at Versailles, overlooking the North Sea. The home of the Earls and Dukes of Sutherland since the 13th century, the current fairy-tale exterior was designed by Si…
⛰️ Mountain
Free
Stac Pollaidh
Stac Pollaidh (pronounced "Stack Polly") is one of the most immediately recognisable and photographed mountains in Scotland — a compact, steep-sided peak with a wildly jagged pinnacled ridge, rising sharply from the flat Coigach moorland above Loch Lurgainn. At 612 metres it is not a Munro, but the walk to its summit ridge is one of the most dramatic short hill walks in the co…
⛰️ Mountain
Free
Suilven
Suilven is perhaps the most dramatically distinctive mountain in Scotland — a great sugar-loaf dome of Torridonian sandstone rising 731 metres almost vertically from the surrounding bogland of Assynt. From every direction it presents a different profile: from the west, a rounded dome; from the east, a sharp spike; from …
🏖️ Beach
Free
Achmelvich Beach
Achmelvich beach is the proof that Scotland does not need the Mediterranean — on a clear summer day, the turquoise water and white shell sand of this small cove on the northwest Sutherland coast is genuinely breathtaking, more reminiscent of the Maldives than the Scottish Highlands. The beach sits in a sheltered bay surrounded by low rocky headlands of ancient Lewisian gneiss, some of the oldest rock …
👁️ Viewpoint
Free
Old Man of Stoer
The Old Man of Stoer is a dramatic 60-metre sea stack of Torridonian sandstone rising from the sea off the Point of Stoer, one of the most spectacular coastal formations on the NC500. The stack is separated from the mainland cliffs by a narrow channel and is a celebrated rock climbing destination — th…
👁️ Viewpoint
Free
Kylesku Bridge
Kylesku Bridge is one of the iconic landmarks of the NC500 — a graceful curved concrete bridge completed in 1984 that replaced the old car ferry crossing of Loch a' Chàirn Bhàin in the heart of northwest Sutherland. The bridge is itself architecturally striking, curving in plan to align with the two shores, but it's the setting that m…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Sandwood Bay
Sandwood Bay is one of the most spectacular and remote beaches in Britain — a vast, pristine arc of white sand backed by dunes and a freshwater loch, with the dramatic sea stack of Am Buachaille ("The Herdsman") rising from the waves at the southern end. The beach is accessible only by a 4-mile footpath from Blairmore, which keeps crowds to a minimum even in summer. The 8-…
🏘️ Village
Free
Durness
Durness is the most northwesterly village on the British mainland, a scattered community of crofts and whitewashed buildings above dramatic cliffs and beaches. Despite its remoteness, it offers a surprising range of things to see and do: the expansive beaches at Sango Bay and Bal…
🕳️ Cave
Free
Smoo Cave
Smoo Cave near Durness is one of Scotland's most impressive natural wonders — a vast limestone sea cave with the largest cave entrance in Britain, measuring 15 metres high and 40 metres wide. The cave was formed by the combined action of seawater eroding the limestone from the seaward end and a freshwater burn …
👁️ Viewpoint
Cape Wrath
Cape Wrath is the most northwesterly point of mainland Britain — a genuinely remote headland of immense drama, guarded by 281-metre sea cliffs at Clo Mor (the highest vertical sea cliffs in Britain) and a lighthouse built by Robert Stevenson in 1828. The cape is only accessible via a passenger ferry across the Kyle of Durness (no vehicular crossing exists) followed by …
👁️ Viewpoint
Free
Applecross & Bealach na Bà
The Applecross Peninsula is one of the most celebrated detours on the NC500, and the Bealach na Bà ("Pass of the Cattle") is the reason why. This remarkable mountain road climbs to 626 metres via a series of severe hairpin bends on gradients up to 20%, making i…
⛰️ Mountain
Free
Torridon Mountains
The Torridon mountains are among the most ancient and dramatic peaks in Britain. The great ridges of Liathach, Beinn Eighe and Beinn Alligin are formed from Torridonian sandstone deposited 750 million …
🏘️ Village
Free
Gairloch
Gairloch is a scattered community of small settlements on the western coast of Ross-shire, centred on a beautiful bay with the mountains of Torridon and Flowerdale Forest rising behind it. The village has an excellent heritage museum, a good fuel station, a Tesco Express and several excellent cafés and rest…
🌿 Garden
Inverewe Garden
Inverewe Garden is one of the great horticultural surprises of Scotland — a lush exotic garden on the shores of Loch Ewe, at the same latitude as Siberia and Labrador, but warmed by the Gulf Stream to a degree that allows plants from Chile, New Zealand, the Himalayas and the Mediterranean to thrive. The garden was created from 1862 by Osgood Mackenzie, who transformed a barren promontory into 54 acres of extraordinary…
🌲 Nature Reserve
Free
Corrieshalloch Gorge
Corrieshalloch Gorge is one of the most dramatic natural features in northwest Scotland — a classic box canyon gorge, 60 metres deep and over a mile long, carved by meltwater at the end of the last ice age. The gorge is a National Nature Reserve and the walls are clothed in ancient woodland dripping with mosses and ferns in t…
🏘️ Village
Free
Ullapool
Ullapool is the most lively and complete town on the western NC500, a planned village founded in 1788 by the British Fisheries Society to exploit the herring shoals of Loch Broom. The distinctive grid of whitewashed houses by the loch has a genuine charm, and the town is well-equipped with shops, re…
👁️ Viewpoint
Free
Dunnet Head
Dunnet Head is the true most northerly point of mainland Britain — a fact that surprises many visitors who assume John o' Groats holds this distinction (it doesn't). The dramatic headland rises to 127 metres above the Pentland Firth, with views across to Orkney (just 8 miles away at it…
🏰 Castle
Castle of Mey
The Castle of Mey is one of the most personal and touching royal residences in Scotland — the beloved summer home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1952 until her death in 2002. The Queen Mother discovered the neglected 16th-century castle while in the depths of grief following King George VI's de…
🏰 Castle
Castle Stuart
Castle Stuart is a beautifully restored 17th-century tower house on the southern shore of the Moray Firth, just east of Inverness. The castle was originally built around 1625 by the Earl of Moray and has a notorious reputation for being haunted — le…
🏰 Castle
Free
Redcastle
Redcastle is one of the oldest castle sites on the NC500, with origins dating to the 12th century when it was said to be built by William the Lion. The castle stands on the southern shore of the Beauly Firth on the Black Isle, in various states of ruin after centuries…
🏰 Castle
Free
Kilcoy Castle
Kilcoy Castle is a well-preserved 16th-century Z-plan tower house in the interior of the Black Isle, built by the Mackenzie family around 1618. The castle is notable for its strikingly intact round towers at diagonally opposite corners — the hallmark of Z-plan c…
🏰 Castle
Free
Fortrose Cathedral
Fortrose Cathedral is a beautiful ruin in the heart of Fortrose town on the Black Isle, the remains of a 13th-century cathedral dedicated to St Peter and St Boniface. The building was largely demolished in the 17th century when Cromwell's forces used the stone to build Inverness Citadel…
🏰 Castle
Free
Tarbat Castle
Tarbat Castle near Portmahomack on the Tarbat Peninsula survives only as scant remains — little more than earthworks and a few stone fragments — but the site is historically significant as part of the broader Portmahomack complex that includes one of Scotland's most important Pictish monastery sites. The adjacent Tarbat Discovery Centre tells the remarkable story of the excavations that uncovered evidence of a major Pi…
🏰 Castle
Free
Carbisdale Castle
Carbisdale Castle is one of Scotland's most dramatically positioned buildings, a large Edwardian "castle" completed in 1917 commanding a hilltop above the Kyle of Sutherland and the Far North railway line. It was built by the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland — nicknamed the "Castle of Spite" because it was deliberately positi…
🏰 Castle
Free
Skelbo Castle
Skelbo Castle is a small but atmospheric ruined stronghold on the shore of Loch Fleet, just north of Dornoch, within the Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve. The castle dates to around the 14th century and was associated with the Sutherland family. Today only modest walling sur…
🏰 Castle
Free
Helmsdale Castle
Helmsdale Castle stood at the centre of one of the most dramatic poisoning plots in Scottish history. In 1567, the Countess of Sutherland poisoned the Earl and Countess of Sutherland here in a bid to secure the earldom for…
🏰 Castle
Free
Castle Sinclair Girnigoe
Castle Sinclair Girnigoe is arguably the most dramatically positioned castle ruin in Scotland — and one of the most impressive anywhere in Britain. Two castles (Girnigoe built 15th century, Sinclair added in 1607) merged into a single complex standing on a narrow prom…
🏰 Castle
Free
Old Wick Castle
Old Wick Castle — also known as Castle Oliphant — is one of the oldest standing castle structures in Scotland, built in the 12th century on a remarkable sea stack south of Wick. The castle consists of a simple rectangular tower (the "keep") standing on a narrow rock promontory above the sea, with …
🏰 Castle
Free
Keiss Castle
Keiss Castle is a striking 16th-century tower house ruin dramatically positioned on the clifftop above Keiss beach on the Caithness coast. The roofless tower stands adjacent to the later Keiss House (18th century, still occupied) creating an interesting archi…
🏰 Castle
Free
Ackergill Tower
Ackergill Tower is a remarkably well-preserved 15th-century tower house standing directly on the shore of Wick Bay, now operating as an exclusive private events venue and luxury accommodation. The tower has a turbulent history including a siege in 1547 and connections to the Gunn and Keith clans. From the A99 co…
🏰 Castle
Free
Bucholie Castle
Bucholie Castle is one of the most dramatically situated and least-visited ruins on the entire NC500 — a 12th-century Norse stronghold balanced on a narrow clifftop stack between two inlets on the Caithness coast, accessible via a narrow path between the sea and the rock on both sides. The castle is associated with Swein Asleifsson, the celebrated Norse warrior described in the Orkneyinga Saga as "the gr…
🏰 Castle
Free
Freswick Castle
Freswick Castle is a 17th-century fortified house incorporating an earlier tower, standing above Freswick Bay on the Caithness coast between Wick and John o'Groats. It is a private estate and not open to visitors, but the exterior can be seen from the road and beach. The bay below the…
🏰 Castle
Free
Thurso Castle
Thurso Castle stands as a substantial ruin on the eastern edge of Thurso town, at the mouth of the Thurso River. The castle was the seat of the Sinclairs of Ulbster (later the Dunbars) and the existing ruins date primarily to the 17t…
🏰 Castle
Free
Nybster Broch & Castle Site
Nybster is primarily known for its Iron Age broch — a circular tower typical of the Caithness and Northern Isles coastline — sitting on a narrow promontory north of Wick with extensive coastal views. The Caithness Broch Project has documented the site and the surrounding area has a high density of prehistoric and histo…
🏰 Castle
Free
Castle Varrich
Castle Varrich is a ruined 15th-century tower on a prominent hillock directly above Tongue village, offering what many consider the finest short-walk viewpoint on the entire NC500. The climb from the village takes about 20–25 minutes and the reward is breathtaking — a 360-degree panorama encompas…
🏰 Castle
Free
Borve Castle
Borve Castle near Durness survives as minimal remains of a medieval Mackay clan stronghold, sitting in the open moorland south of the village. The remains are fragmentary — little survives above foundation level — and the site is largely of historical interes…
🏰 Castle
Free
Ardvreck Castle
Ardvreck Castle is the most photographed castle ruin on the entire NC500 — a 15th-century MacLeod stronghold standing on a rocky peninsula jutting into Loch Assynt, with the vast bulk of Quinag mountain rising behind it and the waters of the loch reflecting the ruins on calm days. Few scenes in Scotland are more cinematically beautiful. The castle has a dramatic history: in 1650 the Marquess of Mont…
🏰 Castle
Free
Calda House
Calda House is a substantial roofless ruin standing adjacent to Ardvreck Castle on Loch Assynt — the two ruins complement each other perfectly and are always visited together. Calda House was built in 1726 by the Mackenzie family (who bought the Assynt estates from the MacLeods) as a much grande…
🏰 Castle
Free
Hermit's Castle
Hermit's Castle is unlike any other "castle" on the NC500 — a tiny, single-room concrete structure barely the size of a garden shed, built by an eccentric English architect named David Scott who used it as a hermitage in the early 1950s, reportedly spending a single winter there before abandoning it. The structure sits dramatically on the rocky Atlantic shoreline near Achmelvich beach, with a chimney, a sleeping alcove…
🏰 Castle
Free
Strome Castle
Strome Castle is a National Trust for Scotland property — a dramatic ruin on the shore of Loch Carron, sitting at the narrowest crossing point of the loch where a ferry once operated. The castle was a MacDonalds of Glengarry stronghold and was blown up by the MacKenzies in 1602 during one of the endless…
🏰 Castle
Eilean Donan Castle
Eilean Donan Castle is the most photographed castle in Scotland and one of the most recognised images of the country worldwide — a medieval stronghold dramatically rebuilt in the early 20th century, sitting on a small island at the confluence of three sea lochs (Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh), connected to the mainland by a stone bridge. Though just off the main NC500 route (a 10-mile diversion south from the A890 junction near Achnasheen), it is universal…
🏰 Castle
Free
Dunscaith Castle
Dunscaith Castle is a remote and atmospheric ruin on the southern tip of the Applecross Peninsula, sitting on a sea stack connected to the shore by natural rock bridges. The castle has legendary connections to Scathach (or Sgathach), the mythological Irish warrior-woman who supposedly trai…
🏰 Castle
Free
Forse Castle
Forse Castle is a little-visited 14th-century ruin on the Caithness coast between Whaligoe and Lybster, sitting on a clifftop above a dramatic geo (narrow cliff inlet) that acts as a natural moat. The castle was a Sutherland stronghold and the ruins retain some walling. The surrounding area has other points of inter…
🏘️ Village
Free
John o' Groats
John o' Groats is the symbolic end of the North Coast 500 and the most famous point on the northeast tip of mainland Britain. Though not actually the most northerly point (that's Dunnet Head, 15 miles west), it holds a unique place in the nationa…
⚔️ Historical
Free
Whaligoe Steps
Whaligoe Steps are one of the most extraordinary and undervisited places on the entire NC500 — a staircase of 330 flagstone steps cut vertiginously into the face of a 70-metre cliff above a tiny natural harbour used by herring fishermen from the 18th century. The steps were cut to allow the herring fisherwomen (the "gutting girls") to carry their heavy baskets of fish up the cl…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Rosemarkie Beach
Rosemarkie Beach is a beautiful sandy cove on the Moray Firth coast of the Black Isle, backed by dramatic red sandstone cliffs that give the beach its distinctive warm colouring. The beach is exceptionally popular for dolphin watching — the resident Moray Firth bottlenose dolphins regularly pass …
🏖️ Beach
Free
Redpoint Beach
Redpoint Beach sits at the tip of a long peninsula south of Gairloch with breathtaking views across the Inner Sound to the Isle of Skye and Raasay. The beach has a distinctive warm, pinkish-red tinge from Torridonian sandstone fragments. Access requires a drive down a…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Big Sand Beach
Big Sand Beach is a magnificent 2-kilometre sweep of golden sand on the Gairloch peninsula, consistently rated among the finest beaches in Scotland. The beach faces northwest across the Minch toward the outer Hebrides, with the jagged peaks of the Torridon mountains ma…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Gairloch Beach
Gairloch Beach is the main village beach between Charlestown and Achtercairn at the head of Loch Gairloch — the hub of Gairloch's coastal life. The beach is clean and sandy with safe, shallow swimming, backed directly by the village with all amenities close at han…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Firemore Beach
Firemore Beach is one of the most intriguing beaches on the NC500, known for its unusually red-hued sand — a result of local red sandstone geology that colours the beach a warm terracotta glowing magnificently in evening light. The beach sits on the eastern shore of Loch Ewe near Poolewe, looking west across the loch toward Inverewe Garden. The s…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Mellon Udrigle Beach
Mellon Udrigle Beach is a hidden gem of the Wester Ross coast — a crescent of white shell sand with clear turquoise water and some of the most spectacular mountain views of any beach on the NC500. The great peaks of An Teallach, the Fisherfield Hills and the Wester Ross mountains create an extraordinary backdrop tha…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Gruinard Bay
Gruinard Bay is a spectacular sweeping bay on the A832 between Gairloch and Ullapool, with multiple sandy beaches and laybys offering magnificent coastal views. The bay is backed by the great peaks of An Teallach with Gruinard Island sitting in the middle — an island with a dark…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Ardmair Beach
Ardmair Beach sits in a wide bay 4 miles north of Ullapool, a pebble and coarse sand beach with spectacular views south to the Ben Mor Coigach ridge and across to the small uninhabited Isle Martin. Ardmair Point Holiday Park is immediately adjacent, making this a convenient overnight stop just a short drive from the …
🏖️ Beach
Free
Clachtoll Beach
Clachtoll Beach is one of the finest on the northwest Sutherland coast — a sweeping arc of white sand and clear turquoise water framed by ancient Torridonian sandstone headlands. The beach takes its name from the remarkable "Split Rock" (Clach Toll in Gaelic), a massive boulder cleaved in two creat…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Clashnessie Bay
Clashnessie Bay is a beautifully quiet and sheltered sandy cove on the Stoer Peninsula, notable for the nearby Clashnessie Waterfall which tumbles down the hillside a short walk from the beach. The cove has crystal-clear water and white sand, one of the most picturesque on the NC500 despite being largely unknown.…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Oldshoremore Beach
Oldshoremore Beach is a strikingly beautiful remote beach near the fishing village of Kinlochbervie, accessible via a narrow single-track road through an extraordinary landscape of ancient Lewisian gneiss. A crescent of white shell sand with clear turquoise water, backed by low rocky headlands. A short walk over the headland…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Balnakeil Beach
Balnakeil Beach is one of the finest and largest beaches on the entire NC500 — a vast sweep of brilliant white sand backed by machair grassland at the northwestern tip of mainland Britain. Famous for its sunsets across the open Atlantic. The adjacent Balnakeil Craft Village has an excellent chocolate maker, …
🏖️ Beach
Free
Sango Sands
Sango Sands is the dramatic beach directly below Durness village, reached by a steep path from the clifftop where Sango Sands Oasis campsite sits. Two sandy coves divided by a rocky headland, with impressive limestone sea cliffs rising on either side. The views north…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Ceannabeinne Beach
Ceannabeinne Beach is a lovely sandy cove on the north coast between Durness and Tongue, notable for the cleared crofting township ruins on the clifftop above — a poignant reminder of the Highland Clearances. An interpretation board tells the story of the evicted families. The beach itself is sheltered and sandy with clear wate…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Coldbackie Beach
Coldbackie Beach is a beautiful secret of the north Sutherland coast — a small, sheltered sandy bay near Tongue with remarkably clear turquoise water. Reached via a short walk from a layby, keeping visitor numbers low. From the beach and surrounding headlands, views inla…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Torrisdale Bay
Torrisdale Bay is a large, beautiful sandy bay at the mouth of the River Naver — one of Scotland's finest salmon rivers — on the north Sutherland coast near Bettyhill. A popular surf spot, the beach picks up consistent north Atlantic swells. The wide sandy beach is backed by an impressiv…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Strathy Bay
Strathy Bay is a sheltered sandy beach with an impressive backing dune system on the north Sutherland coast. Broader and more sheltered than many exposed north coast beaches, making it a reliable swimming and surfing spot. Strath…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Melvich Beach
Melvich Beach is a wide, exposed sandy beach at the mouth of the River Halladale — one of the finest salmon rivers in the far north. The beach faces directly north into the Atlantic and receives consistent surf, popular with the growing Highland surf co…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Sandside Bay
Sandside Bay near Reay offers one of the more surreal views on the NC500 — the beach is genuinely lovely with soft pinkish-white sand and clear water, but the decommissioned Dounreay nuclear power station dominates the horizon to the east. Despite its unusual industrial backdrop, the beach is clean, safe for swimming, and often quiet. A memorable and unusual…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Dunnet Bay
Dunnet Bay is a magnificent 3-mile arc of sand on the north Caithness coast, frequently cited as the finest surf beach in mainland Scotland. The bay faces directly north into the Pentland Firth — one of the most powerful tidal passages in the world — and th…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Bay of Sannick
The Bay of Sannick is a small, sheltered bay near Duncansby Head, just southeast of John o'Groats, known for its shell-rich shoreline glittering with different coloured shells. Far quieter than nearby John o'Groats. From the headland above, the path to Duncansby Head leads past dramatic sea stack…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Keiss Beach
Keiss Beach is a pleasant sandy beach in the quiet fishing village of Keiss on the east Caithness coast. The beach is sheltered and clean, with the ruins of Keiss Castle — a 16th-century tower house — providing a pictures…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Brora Beach
Brora Beach is a double-sided beach on the Sutherland coast, with the "Front Beach" facing the sea and the "Back Shore" on the sheltered Brora River estuary side, separated by the dunes of Brora Links golf course. Both sections offer clean sand and good swimming in settled weather. Brora village has a fuel station, café and the fas…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Golspie Beach
Golspie Beach is a clean, sandy beach adjacent to the small Sutherland town of Golspie, stretching south from the river mouth below the town. Popular with local families, offering safe swimming in settled conditions with mountain views to the west. Golspie has a…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Dornoch Beach
Dornoch Beach is one of the finest and most accessible beaches on the eastern NC500 — a vast, award-winning Blue Flag expanse of clean sand stretching for miles along the southern shore of the Dornoch Firth. The shallow, gently shelving sand makes it one of the safest swimming beaches on the whole route. The medieval town of D…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Embo Beach
Embo Beach is the quieter neighbour of Dornoch Beach, 2 miles north of Dornoch at the small crofting and fishing village of Embo. Fine white shell sand and clear water with excellent views across the Dornoch Firth. A good alternative to Dornoch Beach…
🏖️ Beach
Free
Portmahomack Beach
Portmahomack Beach is a gently sloping, picturesque sandy beach on the Tarbat Peninsula with safe, shallow swimming and a south-facing aspect making it one of the sunniest spots on the eastern route. The village of Portmahomack is a charming former fishing community with a good pub and café. The Tarbat Discovery Centr…
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