Inverness area

Inverness area Holiday and Tourism Information
 

From this page you can follow the links to Inverness area holiday accommodation, activities, attractions, historic sites, travel information, and general tourism info for the area. With its own cathedral, castle and fairy-hill, the highborn city of Inverness is much more then simply the unofficial capital of the Scottish Highlands. It is the key to unlocking rare holiday riches in a region renowned for legends, page-turning history, unusual wildlife and jaw-dropping scenery. Standing at the northern end of the magnificent Great Glen – a geological fissure separating the northwest of Scotland from its south-eastern corner - it provides access to a bevy of astonishing sights.

The mountain-fringed Glen is dominated in the south by Ben Nevis and through it runs the 700ft deep, 23-mile Loch Ness, famous as the home of the dinosaur-like monster Nessie.
 
Within its forests lie powerful castles and haunting vistas and alongside it is the Caledonian Canal, one of Britain’s most remarkable feats of engineering. Designed in the mid-19th century by Thomas Telford, it gave sail-boasts an alternative route from the Irish Sea to the Moray Firth and thence to the North Sea.
 
On the banks of Loch Ness stands the iconic Urquhart Castle whose gaunt tower house is one of Scotland’s most important tourist images. The structure commands views of both the loch and the Great Glen and has managed to survive for some 500 years.
 
North-east of the Glen, close to Inverness, is Drunmossie Muir and the site of the momentous Battle of Culloden in which the ill-starred army of Bonnie Prince Charlie was routed by the English in 1746.
 
On the western shore of Loch Ness lies the picturesque village of Fort Augustus, the start of a 22-mile military road built by General Wade in the 1720s as part of a plan to subdue local clans. Now just a track way, it climbs to nearly 2,500 feet over the Corrieyairack Pass.
 
Wade’s fort - built in 1729 and later captured by Bonnie Prince Charlie - was named after William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, known by Highlanders as ‘Butcher Cumberland’.
 
According to a legend, Saint Columba banished a water monster from the River Ness at Fort Augustus.

One of the most popular attractions in the region is the Great Glen Way, a 73-mile long-distance walk opened in 2002. Taking in some of Scotland’s most dramatic scenery, it runs in either direction between Inverness and Fort William (see Fort William area).

The city of Inverness, once the stronghold of the Picts, has managed to retain a time-worn atmosphere and on a hill called Tomnahurich the Queen of the Faeries is said to hold court even to this day.  Its splendid castle dates from the 19th century and contains local government offices. An earlier castle was captured and destroyed by Robert the Bruce in the 14th century. Its successor was then blown up by Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Nearby Fort George was built in 1748 and houses the regimental museum of the Queen’s Own Highlanders.

The Victorian cathedral of St Andrews was built in the middle of the 19th century and is the mother church of the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness.

Important attractions in the region include the Inverness Museum, the Highland Museum of Childhood and Newtonmore’s Highland Folk Museum.

The area also boasts a number of prehistoric sites, which include the standing stones and cairns of Clava and the 2,000-year-old hill fort at Craig Phadrig.

Those seeking a more adventurous dip into Highland culture could head off into the hills of the Grampian mountain range. Here, the unforgettable Cairngorms National Park is Britain’s biggest park. With moorland, forests, rivers and glens, it contains the largest area of arctic mountain landscape in the country – and some of the best skiing to be found anywhere.

North east of Inverness is "The Black Isle", not actually an island but surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Moray and Cromarty Firths. At it's tip stands the small town of Cromarty which gives its name to one of Britain's sea areas, recognised by the millions of land-lubbers who are fascinated by "Shipping Forecast" on the BBC.... "Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth......"

Chanonry Point near Fortrose on the Black Isle, provides a magnificent view of the Moray Firth and is a favoured point from which to watch dolphins. They are attracted by shoals of salmon making their way up the firth.

 

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