Tour Scottish Highlands and Islands

Part of the magic of the Scottish Highlands and Islands is that everyone sees them a little differently and each visitor finds his or her own particular favourite area or spot. My own favourite area is Wester Ross and the North West Highlands, but other visitors will have their own special places. Wherever you intend to visit, I hope these web pages might spark off further reading in the extensive range of books available.

One or two points must be mentioned. The first is that
visitors sometimes tend to think that because a place is
small and remote, there will be no difficulty in getting
overnight accommodation without prior booking. Many of
the loneliest spots have very few if any hotels or guest houses, and during the peak summer months of July and
August all the available bed and breakfast space has often been snapped up. Accommodation lists can usually be obtained from the Tourist Information Office of the largest town in the area, and arrangements can be made in advance, and of course, you can always browse the world wide web for sites of interest.

Transport can be a headache in some of the outlying areas, too. Some roads in the far north are single track and winding with passing places where oncoming traffic meets, and these roads need particular caution; caravan towing is difficult in these conditions. It’s a good idea to check up on the capacity of car ferries which can involve long queues. Again, when steamer and bus services are advertised, it should be borne in mind that timetables can vary from day to day, and that some services are not daily events. In particular, some of the islands do not favour Sunday transport at all.

Perhaps the best months in the year to visit the Highlands and Islands are May and June, before the tourist season really gets going, or September and October when the Autumn colours are present.