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Highland is a region in Scotland.

Regions

Cities, towns and villages

Cities

Map of Highland

Towns

Villages

Glenfinnan Monument

Other destinations

Ruins of Ardvreck Castle on the banks of Loch Assynt
  • Cape Wrath - the extreme north-west point of Scotland. It can be reached either by a long walk or by a ferry followed by a minibus along a road unconnected with any other.
  • Loch Maree - (correct spelling) - possibly the finest inland loch in the Scottish mainland, surrounded by peaks of Torridonian Sandstone.
  • Inverewe Gardens - wonderful NTS Gardens that take full advantage of the Gulf Stream to grow tropical plants at this very un-tropical latitude.
  • Sandwood Bay reckoned by Undiscovered Scotland to be the best beach in Great Britain.

Islands

  • Handa Island - wonderful bird reserve north of Kylestrome. Headware is advised in the breeding season as skuas are quite aggressive.


Mountains

There are far too many mountains in Scotland to cover them all here.

General definitions:

Munro - mountain above 3000 feet.
Corbett - mountains between 2500 and 3000 feet.

Some popular mountains by group (pronunciations of difficult names in italics).

Far north

  • Ben Hope
  • Ben Loyal
  • Foinaven
  • Ben Stack - neither particularly high nor well known but a little gem.

Northern Torridonian mountains

Mountains of Torridonian sandstone north of Ullapool.

  • Quinag - An easy Corbett for beginners as it's possible to start well up from the main road south from Kylescu.
  • Suilven - easier than it looks but its distance from roads makes it a challenge.
  • Cul Mor
  • Cul Beag
  • Stac Pollaidh (pron. "Stack Polly") - Less than a Corbett but with an outstanding shape and rock ridge -unfortunately much eroded because of its proximity to the road.
    Beinn Aligin

Torridonian Munroes

  • An Teallach (pron. "An Tyallach") - a fairly hard ridge walk above Little Loch Broom.
  • Slioch - on the 'non-road' side of Loch Maree.
  • Bein Eigh - above the Loch Maree road and much of the road from Kinlochewe to Torridon.
  • Liathach (pron. "Lee-a-hach") - above the village of Torridon.
  • Beinn Aligin - above the minor road from Torridon to the Aligins and Lower Diabaig.
  • Bein Bhann - otherwise known as the Applecross mountains.

Glencoe and Fort William

  • Ben Nevis - the highest start from the distillery on the road north.
  • The Mamores - a picturesque group of numerous Munroes between Glen Nevis and Kinlochleven.
  • Aonach Eagach (pron. "Annach Eegach") - a superb ridge above Glencoe.
  • The three sisters of Glencoe - shapely peaks on the other side of the glen.

Cairngorms

A range second only in height to the Nevis range, located east of the A9. There is a railway up Cairn Gorm (which is not the highest). However you make the height, it's relatively easy to walk more peaks, with excellent views. It is the only area in the UK where wild reindeer can be seen - re-introduced from Scandinavia after becoming extinct in Scotland. Red squirrels are also to be seen in the remains of the old Caledonian Pine Forests.

  • Ben Macdhui
  • Braeriach
  • Lairig Ghru - not a mountain but probably the most spectacular mountain pass in the UK - making a fine and well known walk.

Understand

Sad but true - owners of land in Highland, often absentees, have not on the whole shown much consideration for their tenants. Some of what may appear lovely, natural, unspoiled areas were actually forcibly cleared of their human inhabitants in the interests of deer hunting or sheep farming. [1]

Talk

Generally English is spoken, but you will see and hear some Gaelic. Some road signs are bilingual, but Gaelic is less obvious here than Skye and the Outer Hebrides.

Get in

Near Tulloch Station

By plane

Inverness has an airport served by FlyBe (both their own flights and flight operated on behalf of Scottish based airline Loganair to Kirkwall, Sumburgh and a few Western Isles), Easyjet and some seasonal charter flights. It is sited between Nairn and Inverness and accessible from the Inverness-Aberdeen road. Limited charter services fly out from this airport.

By car

Inverness can be reached from the south by the A9 from the south (Perth & M90 from Edinburgh, Glasgow) and from Aberdeen, 110 miles by the A96 road. The A82 reaches Inverness from the south-west, Loch Ness, Fort William and eventually to Skye. None of the roads to Inverness are entirely dual-carriageway. The A9 continues to Thurso on the extreme north coast of the Scottish mainland.

By train

Wikivoyage has a guide to Rail travel in the United Kingdom.

There are direct services to Inverness from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and London.

If you're travelling from London, the sleeper train is an excellent way to travel. It leaves from London Euston and arrives between 0800 - 0830. East Coast also operate a daily service to and from London King's Cross (known as The Highland Chieftain) which leaves at around 0900 (southbound) or 1200 (northbound). Journey time is around 8 hours.

By bus

Get around

By train

There are two scenic lines: to Thurso and Wick, and to Kyle of Lochalsh.

By car

By bus

  • For longer distances coaches operate on the main roads from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, Ullapool and Wick.

By boat

The Caledonian Canal links the Beauly Firth through Loch Ness to Fort William at the foot of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain.

See

Glen Affric

Itineraries

Do

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This region travel guide to Highland is an outline and may need more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. If there are Cities and Other destinations listed, they may not all be at usable status or there may not be a valid regional structure and a "Get in" section describing all of the typical ways to get here. Please plunge forward and help it grow!
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