Loch Ness, Outlander & Urquhart Castle from Inverness
★★★★★ 4.9
(1,852 traveller reviews)
Down the Great GlenUrquhart ticket an optional extraCruise an optional extra
Nine hours down the Great Glen, out to Urquhart Castle on the shore of Loch Ness and back through the Clava Cairns and the moor at Culloden. It is the lowest per-person fare of any Highland day sold out of the city, and the reason it is worth reading carefully is that two of the best things on it are sold as options rather than built in.
Hours, prices and access verified by the Inverness Scotland Tours team — last checked 2026-09-14
The longest single stop of the day, on the headland where the tower looks down the loch.
Thirty minutes on the water, if you add it
A Loch Ness cruise is offered at checkout rather than inside the fare.
Ninety minutes at Culloden
Open moor, the clan graves, and the lines of the 1746 battle marked out on it.
Half an hour at the Clava Cairns
Bronze Age burial cairns in a ring of beeches, free to walk into.
An hour at Beauly
A village square with a ruined priory in it, and the day's lunch stop.
A distillery on the way back
The Singleton at Glen Ord, as a pass or a stop depending on the day.
What you are actually paying for
The fare buys the driving, a Scottish guide for nine hours, and a route that reaches five
places you could not link up on public transport in a day. It does not buy the gates.
That matters most at Urquhart Castle. Historic Environment Scotland charges £14 for an
adult booked online and £16 at the door, and this day sells that entry as a checkout
option. The Culloden exhibition is bought on site. If you would rather pay once and be done, the
Glen Affric day below carries its admission inside the fare.
What the option does buy you is choice. You can take the castle grounds and the loch without
the exhibition, or add the thirty-minute cruise and see the castle from the water, which is the
angle everybody photographs.
From 15 Union Street. Check in across from the Victorian Market fifteen minutes before departure; look for a blue or yellow bus.
South down the A82. The road runs the western shore of Loch Ness with the hills coming down to the water on both sides.
Urquhart Castle. An hour and ten minutes on the headland. Add the entry at checkout if you want to go through the gate.
Beauly. An hour in the square, with the priory ruins beside it. This is where lunch happens; a Sunday is quieter than you would like.
The Singleton distillery. Forty-five minutes at Glen Ord on the way east.
Clava Cairns and Culloden. Half an hour at the cairns and an hour and a half on the battlefield to finish.
Back in Inverness. Nine hours after you left, at the same kerb.
Who this suits, and who should book something else
Book this one if
You have one day and want the loch, the battlefield and the cairns in it.
You would rather choose your own extras than pay for a bundle.
You are watching the budget: this is the lowest per-head fare of the Highland days.
You want a Scottish guide for the driving rather than a recorded commentary.
Book something else if
You want the castle ticket and the boat already paid for. The
Glen Affric and
Culloden day puts its admission in the fare, and the short
cruise-and-castle run includes both the boat and the entry.
You are travelling with a child under five: this operator cannot carry them.
You want mountains rather than history — that is the
Isle of Skye day.
What the fare covers
In the fare
Air-conditioned vehicle
Local Scottish English Speaking Guide
Loch Ness Cruise (30mins) (if option selected)
Urquhart Castle Entrance (if option selected)
Not in the fare
Food and Drink
Culloden Battlefield Exhibition (buy on site)
Gratuities
Highland Whisky Experience
Where it leaves from
15 Union Street, Inverness, across the road from the Victorian Market entrance. Check in
fifteen minutes before departure and look for a blue or yellow bus — this is a kerbside
stop, not an office, and there is no desk to queue at.
It is three or four minutes on foot from the railway station and about the same from the Rose
Street multi-storey if you are driving in. Note that a different operator uses 25 Union Street a
few doors along, so check the number on your confirmation rather than the street name.
Know before you go
Read the options at checkout. The Urquhart entry and the thirty-minute cruise are both extras. The base fare covers neither.
Bring lunch money. Food and drink are excluded, and Beauly is the stop.
Children must be five or over. Infants who do not need a seat cannot travel.
The castle is a ruin on a slope. There are a lot of steps between the visitor centre and the tower.
Sunday is quieter in Beauly. Fewer places open for lunch; carry something.
Free cancellation. Up to 24 hours before departure, in full.
What travellers said about this day
★★★★★
A thirty-minute cruise on the loch, Urquhart Castle, a whisky tasting, lunch in Beauly at the priory where the Outlander wedding was filmed, highland cows, then Culloden and the Clava Cairns. A great deal for one day.
Mitchell C. · Family · August 2026
★★★★★
Torquel's commentary and his choice of music added a lot, and there was enough time at every stop rather than a rush between them.
Catherine L. · Couple · August 2026
★★★★☆
The cruise and the castle were the best of it. We travelled on a Sunday and found few places open for lunch in Beauly, so take something with you.
Not in the base fare. The listing offers the Urquhart Castle entrance as an option you select at checkout, alongside a thirty-minute Loch Ness cruise. Historic Environment Scotland charges £14 for an adult online and £16 at the door.
How long do I get at Urquhart Castle?
An hour and ten minutes, which is the longest single stop of the day. That is enough for the grounds, the tower and the visitor centre at a reasonable pace, though not for a long lunch as well.
Is the Loch Ness cruise worth adding?
It changes what you see. From the middle of the loch the hills read at their real scale and the castle makes sense as a defensive site in a way it does not from the car park. It is thirty minutes and it is an extra.
What is the Outlander connection?
The route takes in the Clava Cairns and Culloden, both of which appear in the books and the series, and Beauly Priory, where a wedding scene was filmed. They are all real places considerably older than the story.
Can I do this and the Isle of Skye on the same trip?
Yes, and on separate days. Skye is twelve hours in the other direction, so give it a day of its own — the Isle of Skye day trip is the one most people pair with this.
Is there a toilet on the coach?
The listing does not name one, so plan around the stops. There are facilities at Urquhart Castle, in Beauly and at the Culloden visitor centre.
Other ways to spend the day
If nine hours down the Great Glen is not the shape you want, the other two featured days go west to the Isle of Skye by way of Eilean Donan Castle, or east to the battlefield with the ticket already paid.
Nine hours, the lowest per-head fare of the Highland days, and a route that reaches five places you could not link by bus. Check dates and the checkout options.
