🗺️ NC500 Attractions

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 …

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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 …

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…