Scottish Highlands & Skye: attractions & sights guide
A stop-by-stop guide to the best things to see along the Scottish Highlands & Skye route — 5 destinations, their must-see sights and how to drive between them.
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Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, built across a dramatic volcanic landscape and dominated by the castle perched atop its ancient rock. The city is split between the medieval Old Town, with its narrow closes and tall tenements, and the Georgian New Town, whose ordered squares and crescents form a striking architectural contrast.
Top attractions in Edinburgh
Edinburgh Castle
A fortress perched atop an extinct volcanic rock, home to the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny, used for royal coronations.
Royal Mile
The main thoroughfare of the Old Town, running from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace and lined with historic closes, shops, and pubs.
Arthur's Seat
The main peak of an extinct volcano rising above the city in Holyrood Park, popular for hiking and offering sweeping views over Edinburgh.
Palace of Holyroodhouse
The official royal residence in Scotland, built beside the ruins of a 12th-century abbey and once home to Mary, Queen of Scots.
National Museum of Scotland
A wide-ranging museum covering Scottish history, world cultures, science, and natural history, housed partly in a Victorian glass-roofed hall.
Glencoe
Glencoe is a narrow, steep-sided glen in the Scottish Highlands, carved by glaciers from volcanic rock and framed by the peaks of the Three Sisters ridge. It is one of Scotland's most photographed landscapes and is remembered as the site of the 1692 Massacre of Glencoe, when members of Clan MacDonald were killed by government soldiers they had hosted.
Top attractions in Glencoe
Three Sisters
Three dramatic ridges of Bidean nam Bian rising above the glen's south side, among the most recognisable mountain views in Scotland.
Buachaille Etive Mòr
A pyramid-shaped mountain guarding the eastern entrance to Glencoe, widely considered one of the most photographed peaks in Scotland.
Glencoe Visitor Centre
A National Trust for Scotland centre with exhibitions on the glen's geology, wildlife, and the 1692 massacre, and trailheads for short walks.
Loch Leven
A sea loch bordering the glen to the south, ringed by mountains and popular for its lochside villages and scenic viewpoints.
Signal Rock
A wooded knoll reached by a short forest walk, traditionally said to be where the signal was given to begin the 1692 massacre.
Fort William
Fort William sits on the shore of Loch Linnhe beneath Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles, and is widely known as the Outdoor Capital of the UK for its hiking, climbing, and mountain biking. The town grew around a garrison built to control the Highlands and today serves as the main service centre for the western Highlands.
Top attractions in Fort William
Ben Nevis
The highest mountain in the British Isles at 1,345 metres, with a well-worn footpath to the summit starting near Glen Nevis.
Glenfinnan Viaduct
A curved railway viaduct made famous by the Harry Potter films, crossed daily by the Jacobite steam train on the West Highland Line.
Neptune's Staircase
A staircase of eight locks on the Caledonian Canal just outside town, the longest such lock flight in Britain, raising boats nearly 20 metres.
West Highland Museum
A local history museum in the town centre covering Jacobite history, tartan, and Highland life, with a well-known secret portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Nevis Range
A mountain gondola and outdoor centre on Aonach Mòr, offering views over Ben Nevis and access to mountain biking trails and ski slopes.
Portree
Portree is the largest town on the Isle of Skye and its unofficial capital, built around a sheltered harbour lined with brightly painted houses that once guided fishing boats home. Its name is thought to derive from Gaelic for "king's port," marking a royal visit in the 16th century, and it remains the island's main hub for shops, ferries, and services.
Top attractions in Portree
Old Man of Storr
A distinctive pinnacle of rock beneath the Storr cliffs, reached by a popular uphill trail and one of the most recognisable landmarks on Skye.
The Quiraing
A landslipped landscape of towers and hidden plateaus at the northern tip of Trotternish, crossed by a scenic single-track road and walking trail.
Fairy Pools
A series of clear waterfalls and pools beneath the Black Cuillin, reached by a streamside walking trail near Glenbrittle, southwest of Portree.
Portree Harbour
The town's working harbour, lined with colourful houses and fishing boats and a popular spot for wildlife boat trips out to sea eagles and seals.
Cuillin Hills
A dramatic range of jagged peaks visible across much of southern Skye, among the most challenging mountains in Britain for hillwalkers and climbers.
Inverness
Inverness is the capital of the Scottish Highlands, a city on the River Ness where it meets the Moray Firth, and has been an important crossroads since medieval times. Its compact centre, anchored by a red sandstone castle, mixes shops and restaurants with riverside walks and views toward the surrounding hills.
Top attractions in Inverness
Loch Ness
A vast, deep freshwater loch stretching southwest from near Inverness, famous worldwide for legends of the Loch Ness Monster.
Urquhart Castle
The ruins of a once-major medieval castle on the shore of Loch Ness, offering some of the loch's best views and centuries of contested history.
Culloden Battlefield
The moor east of Inverness where the 1746 Battle of Culloden ended the Jacobite rising, now a preserved memorial site with a visitor centre.
Clava Cairns
A Bronze Age burial complex of stone circles and chambered cairns near Culloden, among the best-preserved prehistoric sites in the Highlands.
Inverness Castle
A red sandstone castle overlooking the River Ness in the city centre, built in the 19th century on the site of earlier fortresses.
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