Getting to Inverness

Inverness is the last big town before the north of Scotland stops being reachable by ordinary transport. That is exactly why every Highland day tour seems to start here. Getting to the city is straightforward; getting from the station to the right kerb the next morning is the part people underestimate. Once you are here, the day tours from Inverness do the rest of the driving.

Arriving by sleeper

The Caledonian Sleeper runs overnight between London Euston and Inverness, and it is the one arrival that gains you a day. You go to bed in London and get off a short walk from the departure kerbs. The same service also runs to Fort William, the other end of the Glenfinnan line, if you are building a longer trip.

Arriving by train in daylight

ScotRail and LNER run daytime services into Inverness from Edinburgh, Perth and Glasgow. The station sits in the middle of the city. The Inverness Castle Experience is about ten minutes on foot, and most of the tour departure points are closer than that.

Arriving by air

Inverness Airport is nine miles from the city centre, run by Highlands and Islands Airports, and sees up to a million passengers a year. Loganair and easyJet are among the airlines serving it. The number 11 bus runs from the terminal into town in around thirty-five minutes. From the bus station it is another ten minutes on foot to the castle.

Driving the A9

The A9 is the spine of the Highlands and the road every northbound tour uses. It runs south to Perth and the central belt and north towards Golspie and Caithness — Dunrobin Castle is fifty miles up it. If you are driving to a tour rather than on one, park and leave the car: the days that matter here are eight to twelve hours long.

How the journeys compare

Getting from the station to your kerb

Everything is walkable and nothing is far. Railway Terrace is directly behind the station and Station Square is beside it. Union Street and Rose Street are three or four minutes away through the middle of town. Ardross Street and Ness Walk are across the river, about ten minutes. Allow fifteen if you have a case with you, and check the street number the night before — two different operators use Union Street.

Where to leave a car

The Rose Street multi-storey is the nearest large car park to the centre, and it is the one the coach operators point drivers at: one Skye listing names it directly, at 24 Rose Street IV1 1NQ. It is about ten minutes on foot from the castle, and beside one of the pick-up points. There are smaller car parks at the Eastgate Centre and on Gordon Terrace, and on-street spaces around the middle.

Arriving by cruise ship at Invergordon

Cruise ships do not dock at Inverness; they dock at Invergordon, about twenty-five miles and forty-five minutes north. A couple of tours collect at the port itself and a private day will meet you there. A tour that leaves from a city kerb needs you to get yourself in first. One listing states outright that it does not pick up at Invergordon, which is worth reading before you book rather than after.

Is there a tour from Edinburgh?

No, and it is worth saying because people search for it. An Edinburgh to Inverness tour is not something this catalogue carries: every one of these days starts in Inverness itself or at Invergordon. Come up by train or road, stay the night, and take a Highland day from here — which is also the only way to be on a 7:45 kerb.

Leaving on your last day

Do not book a twelve-hour Skye day on a departure day. It returns around eight in the evening and the coach parks where it started, not at the station. A Loch Ness half-day finishes by mid-afternoon and leaves the evening clear, which is the better shape for a last day.

Frequently asked questions