Destination NC500 - The Ultimate North Coast 500 Road Trip Guidebook

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Wishing you a great trip and hope you have a great time at your son’s wedding in Tongue! If you have any questions as you plan your trip, feel free to ask. My wife, Nicole, is in love with trains, and taking the famous steam train ride with the Jacobite is a MUST!

I think based on what you said you are looking at a Scotland itinerary that looks something like this, and if so, it seems pretty reasonable to me: Then I’d add a week or so for time on the islands. Larger Scottish islands within easy reach of the NC500 are Orkney, Lewis & Harris (the two “islands” are joined together), and the Isle of Skye (also Raasay). You could also consider Shetland (a group of islands very far north so takes a bit of time to get there). I’d allow at least 3 days for any island you choose to have enough time to explore the highlights. So if you have a week, I’d recommend choosing two islands to explore and add to your NC500 itinerary. Summer Isles Hotel in Achiltibuie – I think they allow dogs in many of the rooms plus in the bar area (but not the restaurant) You might also be wondering if you can do the North Coast 500 by train. The simple answer is no, there is no train route that approximates the route and an entire portion of the northwest of Scotland has no train connections.Since the NC500 is not a single road or highway like Route 66 or the Pacific Coast Highway, you won’t find it on a regular map and your GPS probably won’t know the route. So just to be clear, there is no actual road named North Coast 500 but it is a designated tourist route. I’d recommend at least 3 nights to do the NC500 – 5 days is ideal. We have a NC500 hotel guide that has all the main castle hotels listed. Let us know if you have a specific question about any of them. We only have a camping itinerary up so far, but will have more NC500 itineraries up before your trip in Sept., if you want to sign up for our monthly newsletter to be alerted with our new articles. I’d probably recommend 4 locations for 2-3 days each along the route to avoid having to keep driving the same part of the route too much. It depends of course on your main interests along the route but I’d say maybe in or around 1) Inverness 2) Thurso 3) Lochinver and 4) Gairloch (or Kinlochewe). But I’d look at our detailed day by day NC500 itinerary for help in where might be the best bases for you, depending on your interests and what you really want to do. It also depends if you prefer towns or plan to camp or stay in more rural locations. For a longer coastal walk you might consider the Dunnet Bay coastal hike within the Dunnet Bay Nature Reserve which is a little over 10 miles. For this hike, anywhere between John o’Groats and Thurso would be a convenient place to overnight nearby. If you have 3 full days and are starting from Inverness, I’d probably recommend 2 day exploring one section of the coast and 1 day on the other, so you get a bit of a taste of both. The east has more towns and cultural stuff, but the west is more dramatic and scenic. I’d take a look at our suggested North Coast 500 itinerary for what you can do in each area and town to help you decide if east or west is better, as either would work fine for heading over to Skye afterward.

If you have more than 7 nights, I’d suggest adding a night to some of your overnight stops. Makes the trip much more relaxing and allows you to see and do more in that particular area. The NC500 route officially begins and ends in the city of Inverness at Inverness Castle, forming a loop. However, you can begin and end the route anywhere you choose although Inverness, as the largest city along the route, is a convenient place to start and stop. Inverness Castle How Do I Find and Stay on the North Coast 500 route? For rental cars, you can see our recommendations above in the article. We’d recommend flying into Inverness Airport or getting the train there (easy to do from most parts of the UK) and then just renting a car there. There are many rental car companies. We often use Enterprise ourselves. I would recommend taking the route from Ullapool south to Inverness and stopping at the many scenic and interesting places along that part of the route. There is lots of lovely scenery, gardens, hiking, and wildlife viewing opportunities in that area and also a couple of whisky distilleries you could visit. Plenty to keep you busy for 1.5 to 2 days and you can follow the final two days of our recommended 1 week NC500 route itinerary. Perhaps also consider extending your trip if you can to do the rest of the route after the pipe band championship or planning a second trip where you’ll fully be able to enjoy the scenery and attractions that make this a wonderful area to visit. Wild animals, particularly deer, may also be on the road and are much more likely to run out in front of you. Be extra mindful for deer in the early morning and evening hours when they are most active.Spring and summer is also bird nesting season and dogs can disturb ground nesting birds so good to be aware of if doing walks/hikes. Some of the bird and wildlife reserve areas do not allow dogs for obvious reasons. Some that you might want to consider visiting along or near the route (all open to the public, although some have seasonal hours) are Cawdor Castle, Dunrobin Castle, Castle SinclairGirnigoeruins, and the Castle of Mey which all lay along the eastern part of the route between Inverness and the small village of Mey. As noted, the two stretches of the road that are usually noted as unsuitable for larger caravans and motorhomes are: If you are trying to plan your route and what attractions you might want to stop at along the route, we recommend that you take a look at our detailed 7 day North Coast 500 itinerary. For more on castle hotels along the route, you can see our North Coast 500 accommodation guide which has over 25 recommended places to stay along the route, from castle hotels to B&B’s and guesthouses.