Visiting Scotland’s North Coast 500 2023

I am sitting in a charming Bed and Breakfast looking out at Loch Carron. We’ve found ourselves on the last day of our journey on Scotland’s North Coast 500 – the incredible road trip circling the most northern coast of Scotland. The lovely lady that is host of this B&B told us to keep an eye out for otters and I keep moving my head between this screen and the scene of beauty in front of me. Visiting Scotland’s North Coast 500 in 2023 is a fantastic way to explore the Scottish countryside.

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To say that this trip was incredible might be an understatement. I’m not sure I’ve ever finished a vacation and been quite as tired as I was at the end of this road trip adventure, but it was worth it. It’s great to remember not only the natural beauty that surrounds you but also the natural beauty that might be at your own back door.

What Is Scotland’s North Coast 500?

Scotland’s North Coast 500 (or the NC500 for short) is a road trip that circles the northern most part of mainland Scotland, focusing heavily on the route closest to the coast. If you are one that loves the highlands though, don’t let the fact that this route is along the coast dissuade you – you will see plenty of mountains (and drive over a lot of them, too).

The NC500 starts in Inverness and, if you go strictly along the route, goes 516 miles up and around the coast. We happened to do the route counter-clockwise (or as they would say in Scotland, anti-clockwise). I’m not sure there is technically a right or wrong way to go around and I think there could be arguments either way.

Should You Go Counter-Clockwise or Clockwise on Scotland’s North Coast 500?

While Scotland’s North Coast 500 route has a somewhat designated route – it really is a choose-your-own-adventure kind of road trip. After making the decision to go on this incredible road trip the next big decision will be which direction to go. Here are my two cents on it:

Arguments for Going Counter-Clockwise:

Going counter-clockwise around Scotland’s North Coast 500 I felt it eased us in to the truly awesome beauty. Let’s call it “saving the best for last”. Don’t get me wrong, the east coast is magnificent and much of that part of the drive is spectacular. However, the west coast is a bit more untouched by civilization, more single lane roads and wildlife nearly right up to your car, that I found quite incredible.

You know when you see something incredible for the first time and it just wows you to no end? Then, after you’ve spent a bit of time around that incredible wonder it just feels like another day and unless you remind yourself of the wonder in front of you it becomes a bit less spectacular because it is familiar?

I kind of feel like if we went clockwise around the NC500 I would have felt like that. Going up the east coast we spotted a couple deer deep down a valley and pulled the car off and watched them run across a river and we were a bit mesmerized. After driving down the west coast – where there are more deer and stags than you could even count – I feel that seeing those first deer – in this wild and incredible setting – might have felt a bit less spectacular.

Arguments for Going Clockwise on Scotland’s North Coast 500:

Now, while saving the best for last and slowly building the spectacular level is one way to look at it, I can’t help but think of how exhausted we were when we got home from our trip. Exhaustion in your bones – like one of those long days at work where everything goes wrong and when you finally get to the end of the day you don’t even have the energy to take a shower – kind of exhaustion.

Luckily we didn’t have to go to work the next day. This is the next day and I am now sitting in our kitchen writing this blog post. If we had to go to work the next day though I would have felt a bit like I needed a vacation from our vacation.

This could be the argument for going clockwise around the NC500. The driving is harder and you’re more fresh. You see the spectacular things and then as you get towards the last couple days of the road-trip you can relax a bit. Maybe sleep in a touch longer at the B&B, have a longer lunch, have an easier drive. I think going around it clockwise would leave you feeling more well rested when you arrived back in Inverness.

How Long Does The North Coast 500 Take?

It’s recommended to plan on at least 5 days. Technically if you were really just doing the drive itself you could do it faster than that. We took 7 days to do it and felt like it was about right. That includes a day driving to Inverness to start the trip and the last day largely being our drive south.

An advantage of taking a bit longer would be to either explore more, have shorter days of driving, or to just not have to pack and unpack every single night for a week. We stayed at a different bed and breakfast/hotel every night. I think a nice way to break up the trip would be to stay a couple nights in the same hotel, and then take that day in between either to relax, read a book, sleep in, take a bath, or adventure even more – maybe go on a nice day hike.

The more you truly want to explore on this road trip the longer you should plan on taking.

Where to Stay/Accommodation on the North Coast 500:

Below is where we stayed during our coastal Scotland road trip. If you are looking for more ideas on where to stay on Scotland’s North Coast 500 in 2023 I would recommend checking the official North Coast 500 website, and then of course, google can be your best friend as well.

Day 1: Falkirk to Inverness. Inverness accommodation, Strathness House
*relatively inexpensive, clean, close to town, river view
*bed comfort – B (the pillows weren’t great)

Day 2: Inverness to Wick. Wick accommodation, Mackay’s Hotel
*close to town, has self-catering apartments as well, on the river
*bed comfort – C (could feel springs

Day 3: Wick to Forss. Forss accommodation, Forss House Hotel
* 4 star hotel next to a river with a beautiful waterfall. Relatively upscale. Fancy restaurant and whisky bar on site.
*bed comfort – A+, among the most comfortable hotel beds I’ve slept in.

Day 4: Forss to Durness. Durness accommodation, Smoo Cave Hotel
*local feel, pub & restaurant on site, good views
*bed comfort – B, the bed, sheets, pillows, etc, were all fine. But, it was two twins pushed together and the crack nearly swallowed me whole.

Day 5: Durness to Ullapool. Ullapool accommodation, Lochview Guest House
*nice room, lovely coffee setup, can be loch view, get breakfast as you have more access to the house
*bed comfort – A-, pretty comfortable overall.

Day 6: Ullapool to Loch Carron. Loch Carron accommodation, Castle Cottage
*wonderful host, lovely breakfast room that you can use for board games in the evenings, good views, large en-suite
*bed comfort – A-, loved that it was actually a king sized bed. Bedding was pretty but not quite as silky as some.

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A Day-By-Day of Our Journey Around Scotland’s North Coast 500:

Day 1: Falkirk to Inverness

I find it interesting that in the British-English language (or maybe it’s just the Scottish?) someone will ask, “Where do you stay?” to find out where you live, versus the American-English, “Where are you from?”. They really are two entirely different questions although culturally they are used for the same type of exchange. ‘Where are you from?’, while used in the US to ask someone where they live doesn’t really give the full picture. In British-English it seems that those two concepts – the difference between where one lives versus where one is from – seems to exist by this small change in language. When I’m in the UK I tend to get both. When we are at the local pub and someone says ‘where do you stay?’ I say, “just up by the Scot-Mid”. They hear my accent and then adjust the question to ‘well, but where are you from?’ (and then almost always guess Canada). Maybe I am overthinking it, but in a world where people often move so far from where they are from, it feels like this change in language answers the real question more effectively.

Back to the NC500. When I am visiting Scotland I ‘stay’ in a village near Falkirk. (And, even though I stay there it is not where I am from, see my ramblings in the last paragraph were going somewhere.) Falkirk is where the famous Kelpies are and is a pretty central point in Scotland. For the first day on our NC500 adventure we drove from Falkirk to Inverness. This drive is about 3 hours and is nearly entirely on a motorway (the UK equivalent of a US highway/interstate).

As check in at our hotel wasn’t until 3:00pm we didn’t rush to get on the road. Instead we focused on making sure we had packed everything we might need. As we decided to do this adventure in February, that included a lot of warm clothes.

Arguably the best thing that we packed though was a cooler (cool-box) that could be plugged into the lighter in your car or adapted to plug into the socket at your hotel. Our brother/sister-in-law lent it to us and it’s absolutely incredible. This allowed us to bring things for sandwiches and snacks that we might not have otherwise been able to bring with us. On parts of this route there are long stretches without much for food available or open (especially in the winter), so this cooler might have been the best thing we had with us. Huge shout-out of thanks for this from our bro and sister-in-law.

The drive to Inverness gave us a small taste of the majesty we would be seeing over the next week with an absolutely stunning view like this:

Where to Stay on the North Coast 500: Strathness House

Once we got to Inverness we checked in to our hotel. We were staying at the Strathness House. This hotel offered a view of the river as well as Inverness castle and was our least expensive stay of the week at £55. The ground floor of the hotel was an Indian and Chinese restaurant (that we didn’t try thanks to my peanut/nut allergy), but seemed very busy which I would take as a good sign that the food was good.

Our room was on the second (ehhh-hem, in the UK the first floor is the Ground floor and the second floor is the first floor) – okay, we stayed on the “first floor”, which was one floor up this beautiful flight of stairs.

The view from our room was beautiful and the room was comfortable. Some of the finishings looked a bit like they were trying to be fancy but without the budget that went with it.

The room itself was comfortable though, with an adequate en-suite bathroom, a fairly comfy bed (although the pillows weren’t that great), and a tea kettle with a good assortment of coffees/teas/hot chocolate.

There was no parking with this room although there is on-street parking next to the building that is free from 4:00pm-10:00am so this worked out well enough for us.

This hotel is near enough to down-town Inverness that you can easily walk to pubs, restaurants, and shops. As a word of caution though most of the shops close early (4:00 or 5:00pm), and even the bigger stores like Primark (similar to J.C. Penny), close at 6:00pm. So, if you want to do any shopping either get to town early or plan on doing some shopping in the morning.

Day 2: Inverness to Wick

Along the way we made a few stops. We stopped at Dornoch Beach and then just slightly further north at Dunrobin Castle.

If you only associate white sand beaches and turquoisey water with the tropics – Scotland has news for you. The beaches up around the coast of Scotland were incredibly beautiful white sand beaches. And, while the water wasn’t as clear (or calm) as that of the Caribbean or French Polynesia, it still had this lovely turquoise-y hue to it.

Dunrobin Castle is very well marked along the A9 which was helpful. Not much was happening at the castle when we visited (remember we visited in the winter). However, during the day the grounds are still largely open to the public. While it’s not as lush as I’m sure it is in the spring and summer when everything is in bloom, it was still a grand place to walk around. Not sure it’s quite big enough for us to buy as a summer home though – better keep looking. (Ha!)

Where to Stay on the NC500: Mackay’s Hotel:

In Wick we stayed at Mackay’s Hotel. This was a perfectly fine little hotel on the actual shortest street in the world. We made the mistake of not making a reservation at the restaurant until we got to the hotel and while they did fit us in it was to sit in the bar area. The restaurant at Mackay’s is called the “No. 1 Bistro” and features some beautiful dishes – and while we were grateful they fit us into the bar area, I think I would have preferred to eat in the dining room. My brain seems to associate price with the corresponding venue, and while none of what we ordered was incredibly expensive, I think the atmosphere in the dining room would have made me feel it was more worth the money.

This hotel does offer a breakfast if you book into a “Bed and Breakfast” room. I had opted for us to stay in a self-catering apartment instead of one of the rooms at the hotel. I figured if they are the same price why not have more space? Not sure I’d choose the same again, as while our self-catering apartment was big – realistically with the two of us – it was unnecessary and the breakfast might have been nice. The bed in this room was probably the worst of all of the places we stayed – I could feel springs a bit – but we made it through.

We had dinner slightly late that night, so prior to dinner took a walk around the streets of Wick. It’s a small town but there were some shops (although all closed by the time we got there). We did somehow manage time to visit the local pub.

Day 3: Wick to Forss

Realistically we could have spaced these two stops further apart. However, in the winter probably at least half of the bed and breakfasts (and really any accommodation) along the north/north-west side of Scotland are closed. This means that sometimes you pick where you stay based on what’s open and not necessarily what makes the most sense.

Plus, I also thought the hotel we were staying at would be kind of cool – the “Forss Lodge”. It is a 4 star hotel and by far the fanciest of the places that we stayed during our journey.

Between Wick and Forss are two of the most well-known towns in Northern Scotland – John O’ Groats and Thurso. John O’ Groats is famous for being the most northernly point in mainland Scotland and Thurso is famous because it’s the biggest city up in the far north.

Castles

Along the way we also stopped to look at two castle ruins. To drive to either of these you feel a bit like you are driving to the middle of nowhere, through a lot of sheep pastures, and most likely on someones driveway. Don’t worry if you feel like this (drive slow and avoid the potholes) but you’ll get there eventually.

Each of these castles – while definitely in “ruin” state – offered some beautiful views of the ocean as well as the cliffs that make up much of the coastline.

The first of these castles was the “Old Castle Wick”. This one is very much in a ruined state without much left; but, the cliffs that it sits along are stunning (even if it made my slight fear of heights come very much to the forefront).

The second was Castle Sinclair Girnigoe. This castle takes a bit of a walk (probably about a mile) to get to from the small car park there is for it. It’s well kept and is fun to walk around.

On the other side of John O’ Groats on this stretch is another castle – Castle Mey. Castle Mey is owned by the royal family (Charles at present). It is closed during the winter to visitors; however, there is an inn just between Castle Mey and the ocean called Granary Hall. After looking on their website we found that there are tours of the Castle offered to guests of the inn (if prebooked and charging 50 pounds per person) even through the winter. So, if you are really looking to see Castle Mey but it is closed for the winter, maybe stay at the Granary and get a tour. Plus, while it is relatively fancy looking (with gorgeous ocean views) it didn’t seem to be that wildly priced for what it is.

And, even though the castle was closed you could still drive down along the side of it towards the water and look back up at it.

John O’ Groats

John O’ Groats is a small town, but it has a rather famous sign post that probably everyone that’s ever visited John O’ Groats has taken a picture with. We also went over to look at the Stacks of Duncansby. It was insanely windy though, with a bit of rain/snowy slush mixed in, so to be honest here we mostly just went up and took a picture and then hopped back in the car.

Where to Stay on Scotland’s North Coast 500 in 2023: Forss House Hotel

We made our way to our hotel for the night, the Forss House Hotel. This was definitely the fanciest place we stayed and did have a feeling of “posh” to it. Our little Peugot 107 looked slightly out of the place in the driveway full of BMW’s, Audi’s, Land Rover’s, and Volvo’s. We were booked into the most basic room that was offered in the main house. They have some adjacent properties that I think would be really nice to stay in the summer season. I think it was nice we were in the main building though so as to not have to walk in the rain to get to the bar or for breakfast the next morning.

Our room was nicely finished. A lovely tile shower with a rain shower head, a heated towel bar (that worked very well), you could even tell in the carpet that this place was a cut above the rest as it had the nice touch of squish that you know comes from both good carpet and a nice carpet pad. I also enjoyed the decorations in the room, with a gallery wall of hand painted flowers, interesting lamp shades, an antique desk, and armchair. Nothing felt cookie cutter in this room. The highlight of the room though was the bed. This bed and pillows and sheets were all just incredible. Wrap yourself up in it and delight at how lovely it is kind of incredible.

The building and grounds to the lodge were nice as well. They had several benches outside to sit in (although I am sure used much more in the summer months). The building had a beautiful whisky bar (with extensive whisky and wine menus), as well as a sitting room, nice entrance hall, dining room, and breakfast conservatory.

While the hotel does have a restaurant/dining room, the dinner was fairly expensive at the hotel (they had a tasting menu going for 58 pounds per person), so we opted to head into Thurso for dinner.

Dinner at the Upper Deck

For dinner we ended up at a place called “The Upper Deck” down by the ferry docks and water front. It is up a flight of stairs, but it wasn’t that busy, had good food (and not insane prices), and was pretty easy to get to. Our server (I forgot her name) was busy, worked hard, and attentive. After watching her work that one shift I would have hired her (not that I’ve got any jobs to offer but sometimes you can just tell when someone has that magnetic gift of being both smart and hardworking).

We did enjoy breakfast at the hotel though and it was quite nice. While the plating was more sophisticated I am not sure the quality of food was any more exciting than some of the other places we stayed at along the way.

Check out the next morning was at 11:00am.

Day 4: Forss to Durness (aka the Smoo Cave)

I think I will more-so blame this on the weather.

This particular day we had planned on visiting a couple spots a bit more in depth – beaches mostly – and opted to explore those less due to wind/rain/and snow. If it had been nice weather I think our time exploring would have made this timing work out quite well.

We stopped at Ceannabeinne Beach, explored the Smoo Cave, and went to Sango Sands beach as well.

As there had been a lot of rain the Smoo Cave was only open to go part way in, but what we could see was pretty incredible and (bonus) it was free to visit. When it is warmer out and the waterfall isn’t coming through quite as strong apparently you can take a boat in further (although this costs some money).

We were able to refuel the car here as there is a small 24 hour gas pump. Whatever kind of car you are driving for this journey – make sure you keep yourself fueled up. There are fairly long stretched between gas stations/electric charging stations so make sure you don’t let yourself get too close to empty.

Thinking of doing this journey in an electric vehicle? Rich and Helen from Visit with Us have a great YouTube series on the NC500 where they took their Tesla (named Scarlet) on this incredible journey. They also note where they charged their car along the way (and some of the different charging adapters they needed).

Where to Stay on the NC500: Smoo Cave Hotel

We stayed at the Smoo Cave Hotel. This hotel was probably my husbands favorite on the trip and it had everything to do the hotel basically being at the local pub/restaurant. This was definitely a “where the locals go” kind of place and gave that feel. When I called to make the reservation they took my name and phone number but nothing else. They didn’t take a credit card number to hold it, basically just took it on my word that we’d show up. When we had a couple drinks at the pub and dinner they said we could charge it to the room – still with no credit card on file – but figured we could pay after breakfast the next morning. The honor system was in full force at this hotel and I liked that vibe.

The room itself was comfortable enough. The bed (a king sized) was really two twins pushed together and you could definitely feel the crack between the two. Not ideal but not the worst. There was a nice selection of teas and coffees and the bathroom was fine. While I wouldn’t have called our room an “ocean view” room, if you looked at the right angel you could in fact see the ocean.

Breakfast was included and it was nice and made to order. They had a small selection in a continental breakfast set up but then there was a hot breakfast as well. We both opted for the full Scottish breakfast.

We found anywhere that included breakfast on this trip offered a full hot breakfast. This typically offered items like salmon, scrambled eggs, toast, and the typical Scottish breakfast items (black pudding, sausage, bacon, beans, eggs, toast). If you are used to American style hot breakfasts do not expect any pancakes (those are dessert over here), or waffles or French toast or anything like that.

Day 5: Durness to Ullapool

There were also a ton of deer, stags, and sheep throughout this drive which kept the drive interesting and kept me busy with the camera. This section also includes the Kylesku bridge – a rather lovely modern bridge.

Where to Stay on the North Coast 500: Lochview Guest House

In Ullapool we stayed at the Lochview Guest House. While it is described as loch view (and there are rooms that are loch view) we opted for a garden view room. It was an extra 25 pounds for the night to upgrade to the loch view and figured since when we got there it would be at night we didn’t want to spend the extra money.

The room was comfortable and the hosts friendly. When you walk into the house it is right up the stairs and to the room. As we didn’t have breakfast with our stay we never saw the breakfast room and based on the pictures on the website the breakfast room was a beautiful room with nice views out to the loch. It didn’t seem as though it was open to use or enjoy while we stayed there outside of breakfast time (and we weren’t shown where it is) so while the pictures online make it look lovely we never saw it. We also never were able to see the gift shop (although I didn’t specifically ask I suppose).

Our room was nice enough. I liked the furniture choices and the fact there were two arm chairs. The arm chairs were on either side of the bed though so when we were both sitting having a cup of tea we were all the way across the room from each other.

The bathroom, while dated, was perfectly functional. The bathroom floor was so cold though. It was “where your slippers” cold (not that we had brought slippers). There was a small towel warmer in the bathroom although it never got very warm and it certainly wasn’t warm enough to warm up the bathroom.

One feature that did stand out in this room over the others was a coffee machine that included pods for cafe o’ lait and cappuccino. My husband quite enjoyed his fancy coffees. Additionally they had a nice selection of teas and a kettle.

They also had a very thorough and knowledgable binder of information in the room. This pointed us in the direction for dinner which was quite helpful.

Dinner in Ullapool

Ullapool is a town big enough to have multiple gas stations as well as a few restaurants. We made our way from the guest house down into town for probably a 5 minute walk and found ourself at a small pub/restaurant.

Day 6 of the North Coast 500 Drive: Ullapool to Loch Carron

As there was a gas station right in town we filled our car up and went into the shop to grab a couple basic supplies to top up our lunch cooler. Ullapool also as a Tesco (grocery store) if you need quite a few things but we decided not to take the time as this was our second to last day.

Not far outside of Ullapool was our first stop of the day, at the Corrieshalloch Gorge. This gorge will also test those with any sort of fear of heights, but it really was breathtaking. There is a bridge you can walk over as well as a viewing platform just a little bit further down.

The rest of this day was largely about the drive, the scenery, animals, and vistas. Honestly, if you didn’t plan anything for the whole drive and just went where the road took you and stopped to enjoy this largely unspoiled part of the world, you could have a happy trip.

A great view point is the Bealach na Ba view point and the road that it’s on. If you head into Applecross this is how you would get towards Loch Carron by going right over a mountain. This was also the only road that we found that says “this is nearly impossible to drive on in wintery conditions”. Luckily the day we were going over it was pretty dry. If you happen to be driving the NC500 on a wintery day you can make your way back through Applecross and there is a short cut. Also, trust the signs that say “don’t do this in a motorhome” and “NC500 alternate route for motorhomes, caravans, RVs”.

It was along this stretch that we saw stags standing on the crest of a mountain and literally swimming across a loch. So spectacular.

Where to Stay on the North Coast 500: Castle Cottage

For our last night we stayed on Loch Carron in the Castle Cottage.

I don’t know if it was the charming street that this cottage was on, the loch view from our room window, the actual king sized bed (that wasn’t just made up of two twins next to each other), or if it was the very nice lady that hosted us, but this might have been my favorite stay. I could easily see me bringing my mom up to stay on this loch sometime when she visits Scotland.

Our room was comfortable and big enough to spread our suitcase out without tripping on it. There was a comfortable chair (that even reclines a bit) to sit and look out over the water (and it is where I started writing this post from).

The bathroom was among the largest of those from our trip and boasted not only a shower stall but a corner bathtub. The bathroom had it’s own small wall unit electric heater which was great as the bathroom did get a bit chilly.

The breakfast room was where you entered through and they had a nice selection of board games. The breakfast room also has a gorgeous view looking out on the Loch and I swear at breakfast I saw an otter.

In the evening they asked you to fill in what you’d like for breakfast the next morning and what time. We both opted for a full Scottish breakfast and our table was set even with a small flower. On this trip I think I really found that it’s the little things that make a place you’re staying feel special. The flower on the breakfast table just added something at this place that felt warm and welcoming.

For dinner we made our way down to the Loch Carron hotel. This hotel was very recently bought by an English family (as in two weeks ago), and they are excited for their new venture. I had the lasagna and my husband had a curry and it was nice.

Day 7: Loch Carron to Falkirk

Before leaving the coastal way though we had a couple last stops to make. The first was at Strome Castle. This is a castle ruin but is really in a beautiful spot and only a short drive from our B&B on Loch Carron. It was incredible peaceful here and made even more so by the birds on a particularly sunny morning.

Our next stop was at the Eilean Donan Castle. This castle is well preserved, fairly famous, and most importantly, the castle featured in the jigsaw puzzle I am currently working on.

The castle is obviously a hot spot for visitors with an entire visitor centre, cafe, and gift shop. However, should you find yourself visiting in the winter you will find that all of those things are closed. The benefit of this is that you can walk around the castle grounds without paying. The downfall of this is that you can’t go in the castle. Based on the information on the visitor centre it looks as though it is opening back up on March 2nd.

It was a beautiful stop and with the Scottish flag waving in the wind I felt like maybe I should start watching Outlander again.

Our final stop of the trip was at the Ratagan Pass viewpoint. This was a nice drive up (basically through a forest) to a beautiful view of the 5 Sisters.

After this we made our way back down south. Let’s not diminish this drive though as somehow being less than that of Scotland’s North Coast 500, as if you’ve ever done the drive to Fort William you will know that the highlands are their own special (and massive) kind of beauty. This section of the drive was the first time that we really saw much for tourists and it was very busy. We were also driving down on a Sunday afternoon and realistically that felt like slightly poor timing on our part for that section of the drive.

Scotland’s North Coast 500: Final Thoughts

This trip was incredible. We had originally planned to do it in March but work schedules changed and we found ourselves going, “well, should we just go for it?”. Part of me had wanted to take a tropical vacation somewhere but even just the drive on the first day had me convinced we had made the right choice to explore this particular slice of the world.

The biggest advice I can say is to not rush yourself. It’s such a treat to be driving along and see something beautiful and stop to look at it just for the sake of it’s beauty. How often do we drive around where we’re from and look right past the beauty that’s there? This trip gave us the time to really stop and appreciate it.